Friends in a Box

Scrolling back through my new timeline layout in Facebook I was reminded of another “in the box” story (compare yesterday’s post). In a FB comment just before New Year, I mentioned that I intended to have friends over for the occasion. Mysteriously, as I was writing, the word friends caused an automatic suggestion to pop up  that maybe I meant FRIENDS as in the TV show!

Actually it was a little spooky, because I was in the middle of re-watching that series on DVD. But how on earth could Facebook know? And rather rude of them to suggest that I’d have nothing better to do on a New Year’s Eve! (Not to mention that the assumption on this particular occasion was actually wrong…)

Why it happened has remained a mystery – until now. I just figured it out. It so happened that when writing that status update, I used the phrase “me + friends”. It seems it was the + that did it! (Perhaps you already knew that. But I didn’t!)

Please Try Again Later

  

Three months ago I hardly knew what an “app” was (because my old mobile/ cell phone was just a phone). Today I spent the whole afternoon in an Aargh! state of mind over one. For all I know it might be a temporary problem. The problem is I don’t know!

Isn’t technology just wonderful?!

Yesterday, with some anxiety, I updated the software in my phone (because it kept telling me to). Seemed to be all right. But today when I got notifications (on the phone) of new emails, and tried to read them on the phone, they weren’t there. Luckily, though, when I turned on the computer, there they were; so they were not lost completely. They just weren’t in the phone app, even though it kept sending me notifications of them coming in. Very annoying; in much the same way as when you lose something within your small flat, and you are 100% sure that it cannot really have disappeared, and you turn the whole place upside down to find it, but it’s still missing.

What stopped working is the Yahoo Mail app which until now I’d have given at least four and a half stars. Of course I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, thinking that this might reset it back to normal. (And yes, I also turned the phone itself off and on again…) The only result is that now it won’t let me in at all. It just keeps saying: “Sorry! We are unable to access your mailbox currently. Please try again later.”

So – obedient as I am – I keep trying (every five minutes or so!) But so far to no avail. I have, however, discovered that I am able access my email from two other applications on the phone. But neither of those combines all the (former) advantages of the one that stopped working. So I’m still in “aargh” mode.

I guess eventually I’ll somehow get on with my life, though…