So I’m sitting there working, and the whole system starts blinking. Then, the monitor goes black — nothing on the screen but darkness. The monitor light is on. It’s still working, but the computer driving it dies.

I called my genius computer-savvy friend, and she said she could not help me as she was right in the middle of her 160 employees gathering for a meeting she called.

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I had seen through advertisements and their vans, so I reached out to them. I got a really nice guy who remotely connected to my computer, and after two hours of poking around, he gave up and suggested I call the nearest Best Buy and see what they could do in person.

By that time, I’m a wreck. In tears. Feeling helpless, totally incapable and stupid. Beyond frustrated. So I called the Lynwood Best Buy, and a friendly female voice calmed me down and said they could send someone out in two days. That was the soonest. I waited and they came out. They being a guy named Jonathan Corn, accompanied by a man named Casey. Corn had a confidence about him that I wanted to bottle!

He worked for hours to unravel the mess. It was complicated. It was a 2013 system and it turns out that Microsoft no longer supported that version of Outlook. It was out of date, but still, he tried to make it work because he could tell installing something brand new and unfamiliar would be a big challenge for me.

Long story short, he had to go that route. And I actually was up for the challenge because it works! Yes, it’s strange and unfamiliar and a pain in the bazooka, but I owe Jonathan Corn and Best Buy — and its subsidiary Geek Squad — a massive debt of gratitude.

Yes, that’s what they do for a living, but the kindness and the patience Corn showed me was incredible, as was his whole level of service.

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He got into this business nine years ago because he’s been on computers from the time he was a young kid, playing video games. He was always around the culture, he told me, and before you know it, you find a job like Geek Squad and there it is, he said, it fit like a glove.

It’s working one-on-one with people that he likes best. That and the education he is able to impart. He told me he’s developed an absolute joy for the coaching part of it, which he thinks may have also come from his years being a personal trainer before this tech career.

The people he helps are of all ages, but a large percentage are 45 and up. And they usually pepper him with a laundry list of general questions. How to do this, how to do that, etc.

The most frustrating thing for people, he said, is not understanding the abilities of computers. It’s all cloudy, and that causes worry and stress, and they think a worst-case scenario is happening.

I certainly did.

They think if they click one thing, everything will be deleted and it’s irreversible. But Corn said computers nowadays never totally delete things without making sure three times over that’s what you really want to do. Relax, he told me. You can be a bit more adventurous with computers now.

I asked him for more tips to share with you, and he said security awareness is at the top of the list.

Make sure emails are not contaminated before you open them. He goes out on many calls where there have been hacking attempts. The most important giveaway? The email does not match the name of the sender.

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More tips from Corn and Geek Squad

• Scammers are getting really good actors pretending to be someone else
• If you get a call from your bank or other company, it’s vital that if you are ever unsure or uneasy, you are always free to hang up and contact the company they are pretending to be if the person on the phone or the computer tries to prevent you from doing that. Banks encourage you to check, so never be afraid to hang up. They know this happens all the time. Their desks are piled high with cases of fraud. Don’t let it happen to you.
• If you ever hear “gift card” as any form of payment, hang up.
• If you get a membership charge you’re not familiar with, never call the number on the email.  Never reply. Those numbers, Jonathan said, are always scammers. And they’re good at what they do.
• All great tips from a guy who came out to unravel my crashed computer. Hats off to Best Buy and Geek Squad for having folks like Jonathan Corn on their teams to help computer-challenged people like me.
• AMEN!

I’m Patti Payne, and that’s my perspective.

Patti Payne is a Seattle-based media personality and a contributor to “Seattle’s Morning News” on ����Xվ Newsradio. You can read more of her commentaries here.

All the facts are there, from his love of wilderness to his family’s pioneer roots going back four generations.

My heart and mind are filled with personal memories of him. My daughter Lee Keller was his press secretary when he was senator.

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I’ll never forget coming to know him, and having him and his amazing wife Nancy Bell Evans over the house many times. In fact, he performed the marriage of my daughter to her then husband, in my house — and both he and Nancy were open to guiding my grandson Jacob from when he was born almost to this day. That was 22 years ago.

He and Nancy were so close and so devoted to each other. She once told me that every night they were home, no matter what, she always lit candles for dinner to make it special, whether it was hot dogs or steak.

The Daniel J. Evans Wilderness

And how he loved hiking in the wilderness. In 2000, the Olympic Wilderness, all 877,000 acres of it in the state of Washington, was officially renamed the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness. It was an honor bestowed on Evans in a ceremony at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.

“No person is more worthy to have wilderness named after him than Dan Evans,” former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said.

Evans was taken by surprise by the honor.

“They usually wait until people are dead before they name things after them, so it is a real thrill to take part,” he told me in that signature rumbling voice. “This is a big deal.”

It was just that. This was only the second time in history that a wilderness area has been named after a living person.

Days before the ceremony, Evans, his sons, one daughter-in-law and five of nine grown grandchildren had gone on a three-day outing hiking and camping in the Olympic Mountains. He was 91 at the time.

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Some of what I loved about him was his accessibility. You could call him at any time and he’d answer his phone. In fact, their number was never unlisted.

I loved his willingness to talk about any topic from marriage to politics and he always had an interesting and strong opinion.  I loved his spirit, his respect and his humility. And how when he was talking to you, you felt like you were the only person in the room, even though there was a crowd pushing to get to him.

Writing his book, “Daniel J. Evans: An Autobiography,” was something he considered one of his biggest accomplishments. (He questioned his own ability to do this when he was part way through.) He felt the same way about his strong ties to the University of Washington, his beloved alma mater.

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Evans was an avid student of history and hoped his book would give folks a better understanding about the importance of holding public office to our country and to the world.

Evans was renowned for his ability to inspire consensus so when he spoke or wrote, people listened, and learned. His book is one to read. It is an important part of his legacy.

I’m Patti Payne for ����Xվ Newsradio, and that’s my perspective.

Patti Payne is a Seattle-based media personality and a contributor to “Seattle’s Morning News” on ����Xվ Newsradio. You can read more of her commentaries here.

And he has started a non-profit with a mission to build more of these much-needed wells in this country, where only 57% have access to drinkable water within a half hour of their homes.

Angel, now 66 years old, is probably not a name you know, but he is the creator of — one of the top bestselling games on Earth. And his story is fascinating.

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Rob Angel’s amazing journey

Angel has claimed more than 50 million Pictionary games have sold, so it’s not a stretch to say more than a billion people have played Pictionary at one point.

His journey to success did not start with a big dream. Angel graduated from Western Washington University in Bellingham in 1982 with a degree in business. He tried to launch a pizza franchise while waiting tables at a restaurant in South Lake Union in order to pay the bills and figure out his next move.

He told me that game nights with his roommates were a high point of every night. They would play a simple game they dubbed “charades on paper,” staying up until all hours of the night.

He moved to Seattle from Spokane in 1984, hoping the big city would inspire a career. But for three years, he couldn’t get that game they played out of his head. Then he came across something he’d scribbled down years before: “If you don’t do it, somebody else will.”

He was on his way to the big time without knowing it. And almost immediately, the people he needed to handle what he couldn’t do on his own presented themselves to him. A fellow waiter alongside him was a graphic artist and the first to join Angel, followed by an entrepreneurial CPA who came on to run the business and operations.

With Angel handling marketing and sales, a perfect combination of three people who all had the same mission was developing. They believed in the game as a team.

Everything was on a shoestring budget. There was no “how to” manual or internet, so they made it up, step-by-step, trusting their instincts.

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An uncle of his loaned him $35,000. With those funds, they assembled the first thousand games by hand in his tiny Seattle apartment. After a year of development, they launched Pictionary in June 1985 at the Lake Union Cafe, where he was still waiting tables. He sold it door-to-door everywhere until Nordstrom ordered 72 games. That significantly got the ball rolling.

Long story short, by June 2001 — 17 years after it launched — Angel sold Pictionary to Mattel for $29 million. And he did it all with only two employees. He called it his 17-year startup.

Pictionary was everywhere, including in sitcoms like “Friends” and “Facts of Life” to movies like “When Harry Met Sally.” It was even pictured on a champagne bottle in France.

His book, “Game Changer,” launched in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a mesmerizing read, from his journey to the lessons learned. Rob Angel’s dream began with the simple intention of creating a game so riveting and fun that anyone who played it would love it as much as he did. Me thinks he accomplished that goal.

I’m Patti Payne and that’s my perspective.

I know leadership is not just spewing empty political talk and platitudes on both sides of the aisle. I wish for people in positions of power to stop rattling on in jibber-jabber and put some integrity — oh my gosh — even honesty in their words.

And that takes listening to the people who voted for them, and listening to those who didn’t. What? I can wish, can’t I?

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So what exactly is a leader, without naming anyone in particular?

My hair designer Michael said a leader is someone you listen to and not get bored. Michael’s actually quite a leader, and he doesn’t even know it. He said a leader has to have something to say that stops and makes you listen. Even if you disagree, you listen and you hear. Those are two different things. Think on that, ya hear!

Take the case of Dan Wilson, the current manager of the Seattle Mariners. Wilson has “it” — that special something that is leadership. So long as I’ve known him, he’s had it, going all the way back to when he first came to the M’s. People are drawn to him because of that “it” factor.

I’ve learned indelible lessons from leaders like Wilson, important lessons from well-known national leaders, and even more lessons from very low-key individuals who wouldn’t be considered conventional leaders, but are still leaders nonetheless.

Let me share some of those lessons leaders taught me to live by.

1. Joy is a choice. Choose joy every day. We can always find it even in the smallest things.
2. Small things are often the biggest, never discount them.
3. Be your authentic self and love that person.
4. Find the highlights of each day, not the lowlights. Commit them to memory or write them down.
5. Practice kindness. It needs to come naturally. It feels so good.
6. Laugh with abandon. Leaders do.
7. Better yet, laugh at yourself!
8. Surprise yourself too.
9. Leaders learn from the most unlikely sources, including plants and animals. Be humble enough to know that.
10. Leaders look people in the eye.
11. Leaders listen to understand before they respond.
12. Leaders stay relevant. They’re up with the times … and all the technology.
13. They help, but never manipulate.
14. They learn the right time to say yes.
15. Leaders are for any imaginable scenario. Always.
16. Leaders cry at the news. It’s horrific what’s happening in our world.
17. In your own orbit, be your best self.

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So there it is. The greatest leaders radiate a spotlight on others to let their lights shine. That’s a leader for you.

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It’s hot, it’s cold — the buzz is sparked by weather,

We speculate when we all get together.

The weather folks try each and every way

To let us know how we should plan our day.

The weather diverts us from political blather

As we can think of other things we’d rather.

The true important issues of the day

Like whether 18 holes is plausible to play.

Should we wear jackets, long pants and galoshes?

Or do we don our favorite shorts, by goshes.

The broadcast weather teams are very popular

But what’s it mean when they haul out that Doppler?

Those detailed charts they use, my mind they boggle

And skeptics ask, “Is it a big boondoggle?”

From A to Z, atmosphere to zonal flow

They stretch the limits of the things we know.

Sometimes I wish they’d bring it to my level

A simple explanation, not disheveled.

Like the movie “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”

Or just picturing the great Snoqualmie Falls.

Instead of Doppler, dream upon a star.

We all can do that, no matter who we are.

Or pray those stranded astronauts touch ground.

And that they slide to earth all safe and sound.

And what’s the story on this “climate change?”

Temps so high and low, our lives will rearrange?

The weather teams are studying it as we speak

The summer snows, white-heat in winter’s peak.

If I were into weather, this I knows

I’d be in conversation with the crows.

Those brilliant birds give forecasts with a ‘caw!’

Don’t fool yourself! They also know much maw …

And like the rainbow song, I’d tell you too

Of skies of red and orange, pink and blue.

Huge thanks to weather folks for all their work

And all the efforts that they never shirk.

My weather skills are poor, for what it’s worth.

But folks, we’re in the best place on Earth!

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