Thank you, Google. No I mean it, thank you so much for what you did for my grandfather.

My grandfather called my mother today almost in tears. He could not figure out what was wrong with his computer. He simply did not understand how to do the most simple of tasks. So of course I, being the family's IT go-to-guy, was threatened with bodily harm if I didn't drive over there immediately and help him.

Reddit, you would have cried yourself. He was using Verizon.net for email. Internet Explorer for a browser, and his router was hooked up... you aren't going to believe this... OUTSIDE on the screened-in porch. As you could imagine his email was damn near useless. IE was a couple of Kb/sec away from dead, and all the websites loaded worse than a 56K modem.

So over the course of 3 hours I introduced him to Gmail, Chrome, and indoor routing technology. He works in real estate and car sales, so I blew his freaking mind showing him Street View, explaining to him he no longer had to drive out to a property just to look at it, or order maps just to see the size of a lot from above. I honestly can not explain the joy in his eyes. It was as if he got to live in a future he never thought possible.

I showed him the neat tricks with Gmail as far as sorting his emails and stuff, as well as the wonders of tabbed browsing and bookmark toolbars. Everything ran so smooth and simply that even at 78 years old he could navigate Street View like a champ.

So thank you, Google. Thank you so much for making a lonely frustrated old man happy today.

Even though I'm going to have to go back tomorrow to remind him how to do it all over again.

EDIT: Grammar and sentence structure.

EDIT 2: I'm glad my story made a lot of you happy tonight. Thank you all for sharing!

EDIT 3: User pointui has mentioned this website for anyone dealing with the same issues: Teach Parents Tech