Beech Tree News Network

I’ve done several weeks of Zoom with my Sunday School class and I like it.  Granted, there are still some things that I’m figuring out.  These include simple things like turning the audio and video on.  It’s no big deal.  It’s just tapping a button but you’d think that it’s all done for you.  It’s not.  There’s a little video camera icon in the corner.  If it’s red and there’s a line through it, just click it once and…BAM…your video is back.  Facetime is a bit easier in that you call the person, they pop up on screen and you’re good to go.  I was wondering the other day: once all this is over, will I keep the app or delete? Why not keep it? If something should happen and, God forbid, we’re in this situation again, I’ll already have it on my iPad. 

Another tip: download it to your iPad instead of your phone.  Maybe this is just a personal preference but I like looking at something on the big screen instead of a smaller one.  That could be because my vision has never really been that great.  That could be said about any app, though. 

Another cool thing is that you can change your background that other people see when you’re on a conference call.  For instance, mine is a space background.  Another thing that quarantine time is good for is finding things you either didn’t remember you had or that you’d misplaced.  For instance, just a few minutes before writing this very sentence, I was looking through my drawer under my tv and found an extra set of Apple earbuds! How cool is that?!

You always hear people say that quarantine is a perfect time to learn a new skill.  I guess Zoom is my new skill.  Another thing that I’ve gotten semi-used to is posting videos of me playing guitar on Facebook.  It’s amazing what quarantine will do for your confidence.  Need proof? Just go to the TikTok app and watch some of those entertaining videos.  I guess you can credit this quarantine for the rise of TikTok and Zoom-probably several other apps as well. 

I’ll be back next week to tell you how to get out of any situation using bubblegum and a paperclip.  Okay, maybe not.  I’m not MacGyver.