So, right after I finished my blog post last night (literally while I was checking the page view stats like I do after every post) Beth the Laptop decided to turn itself off in a rather catastrophic manner. Just one of those moments when everything is working fine and then the screen suddenly goes "bloop" and you quickly realize how long it has been since you've backed up your hard drive. I don't know quite what happened and will have one of my tech guys look at it later this week but I have a feeling that it may be rather severely fried. I'm just hoping that I will be able to rescue the data. Even though all of my writing is on the blog I would rather not have to compile over 100,000 words of blog posts back into Word format just so I could keep all my writers journals together.
What this also means is that I have brought Julie the Laptop out of retirement for the time being. Julie was the computer of choice for the blog at the beginning and is still the computer that I am most accustomed to. I have had this laptop since 2001 and it went through grad school, the blog, and several attempts at writing a novel. There really isn't much that I have not used this laptop for. She's probably the best computer that I have ever had given that nine years later I can get her to run while Beth failed shy of the two year mark. (For the record, Julie is a Sony Vaio with a Julie Delpy screensaver. Beth was an HP with a Beth Orton screensaver. And yes, my computers all have names.)
While I do have a computer up and running there is something uniquely horrible about having your computer fail. Your entire life is tied up with your computer and the idea about being separated from your data and the online world is rather scary. For me it is more of a matter of being away from my information. I don't have my journal or my CD collection spreadsheet or the list of all of the books that I've read. None of that information is vital to my day to day existence and most of it could be recreated but it really is a huge component of who I am. I've kept the journals for 12 years now and I have each one in a Word document. Same for the list of books. It is kind of silly but it means the world to me. Luckily most of my pictures are stored in numerous places and my music still exists in CD form. I couldn't imagine losing my entire music collection in one instant.
Given that I am writing this online now I probably shouldn't say this but I think that I could survive without the internet at least in the short term. I guess I should temper that by saying on a personal level as obviously I can access the net from work. It probably won't be a bad thing if I spend less time online over these next few weeks. I could use some time away from Facebook and celebrity gossip sites. I don't have to spend all evening reading reviews of television shows that I have already watched to see if I missed some pithy comment that I could make regarding a line of dialogue. Sometimes you just need to turn the information spigot off. Maybe I'll do that.
Showing posts with label Computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computers. Show all posts
Monday, November 08, 2010
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
What is in a name
Well, it looks like I will be adding to my laptop collection sooner rather than later. After some checking it appears that Natalie has suffered a rather fatal hardware error. It is fixable, I think, but the time and effort that it would take to completely diagnose, acquire parts and repair could probably be better spent just by getting a new machine and saving myself the hassle. Plus, it would benefit the economy so I could consider myself to be an upstanding American in the process.
However, Natalie's early demise makes me wonder why I didn't name her Lindsay like I had originally thought. She acted much more like a Lindsay: showy, unstable, prone to viruses and leaving the stage much earlier than one would have anticipated.
The most important part of obtaining a new computer is, of course, the naming of it and for that I should give a little background.
My first computer (or at least non-Commodore 64 computer) was a Packard Bell and possibly the only computer that was promoted as having been built out of cheap, second hand parts. I believe a hamster was involved in its operation at one point. What I remember most about it was the fact that when you started it a chipper female voice would say "Welcome to Packard Bell's Navigator". My original plan was to call my first PC Hal (as I am a good Illini) but the female voice required a change of strategy. Hence my first computer (and several after that) were named Helena, partly after Hal and partly after Helena Bonham Carter. This lasted through my first business school laptop (the Helena Mark IV) whose useful existence was cut short by a misplaced bottle of Sprite.
When I picked up the replacement laptop I decided it was time for a change and hence named the new machine Julie (after the lovely and talented Julie Delpy). Given that I am typing this on Julie as we speak I have to say that this has been the best, and certainly longest lasting, machine that I have ever owned. And at nearly eight years Julie outlasts every relationship I have ever had by several miles. Think about it, night after night I sat down at this machine and wrote and surfed the internet and thought. When I bought Natalie to replace her I was actually saddened by the thought that I would no longer be using her.
The obvious question here is why do I name inanimate objects and why do I name them after somewhat famous women (Natalie is short for Natalie Portman.) The naming is pretty straightforward in my mind. When you spend as much time on a computer as I do you begin to develop a rather personal relationship with the machine and it helps if you can speak with it on a first name basis. As for the famous women, while some might argue that it has to do with the screen backdrop I just always view my computers as being female: mysterious, powerful and prone to doing whatever they want to do without my input whatsoever.
So I am putting out a request for ideas on what to name the new laptop. The current leader is Beth in honor of Beth Orton. Any and all suggestions are welcome in the comments. Plus if anyone has any recommendations on what type of machine I should get I would love to hear those as well. Otherwise it will be a trip to Best Buy and a random look about the store and then blindly choosing one. It has worked in the past.
However, Natalie's early demise makes me wonder why I didn't name her Lindsay like I had originally thought. She acted much more like a Lindsay: showy, unstable, prone to viruses and leaving the stage much earlier than one would have anticipated.
The most important part of obtaining a new computer is, of course, the naming of it and for that I should give a little background.
My first computer (or at least non-Commodore 64 computer) was a Packard Bell and possibly the only computer that was promoted as having been built out of cheap, second hand parts. I believe a hamster was involved in its operation at one point. What I remember most about it was the fact that when you started it a chipper female voice would say "Welcome to Packard Bell's Navigator". My original plan was to call my first PC Hal (as I am a good Illini) but the female voice required a change of strategy. Hence my first computer (and several after that) were named Helena, partly after Hal and partly after Helena Bonham Carter. This lasted through my first business school laptop (the Helena Mark IV) whose useful existence was cut short by a misplaced bottle of Sprite.
When I picked up the replacement laptop I decided it was time for a change and hence named the new machine Julie (after the lovely and talented Julie Delpy). Given that I am typing this on Julie as we speak I have to say that this has been the best, and certainly longest lasting, machine that I have ever owned. And at nearly eight years Julie outlasts every relationship I have ever had by several miles. Think about it, night after night I sat down at this machine and wrote and surfed the internet and thought. When I bought Natalie to replace her I was actually saddened by the thought that I would no longer be using her.
The obvious question here is why do I name inanimate objects and why do I name them after somewhat famous women (Natalie is short for Natalie Portman.) The naming is pretty straightforward in my mind. When you spend as much time on a computer as I do you begin to develop a rather personal relationship with the machine and it helps if you can speak with it on a first name basis. As for the famous women, while some might argue that it has to do with the screen backdrop I just always view my computers as being female: mysterious, powerful and prone to doing whatever they want to do without my input whatsoever.
So I am putting out a request for ideas on what to name the new laptop. The current leader is Beth in honor of Beth Orton. Any and all suggestions are welcome in the comments. Plus if anyone has any recommendations on what type of machine I should get I would love to hear those as well. Otherwise it will be a trip to Best Buy and a random look about the store and then blindly choosing one. It has worked in the past.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Better living through technology
Sometimes you have to love modern technology. I went out and bought a new printer this weekend. Not because I had an issue with my old one, which was a ten year old HP that simply would never fail. I’ll still hold on to it just because it is such a workhorse. No, what happened is that my new laptop for some reason doesn’t have a parallel port so I literally could not connect my old printer to my new laptop. So I went out and bought a new HP printer (which also doubles as a copier and a scanner) and when I went to hook it up yesterday I discovered that HP in its infinite wisdom decided to sell it without a USB cable. Which means that I replaced one printer that I couldn’t connect with my laptop with another printer that I couldn’t attach to my laptop. Would it be that much of a challenge to include the cable in the packaging?
Oh well, one trip to Best Buy later and it is up and running. I’m looking forward to actually having a scanner. This means that I can post all of these pictures of myself from back in the days before digital cameras. Not sure if that would be a good thing or not. Plus, I could probably break down and just scan the magazine articles that I like and not have half of my closets filled with back issues. Seriously, I found copies of Writer’s Digest from 1993 last night during another ill-fated attempt to organize my life.
In other news, I found out the results of the Notre Dame ticket lottery and as opposed to last year I actually won tickets to a game. Of the five games I asked for I only one ticket for one, which is the Duke-Notre Dame game. Because when I think of epic football rivalries I think of Duke-Notre Dame. Plus, it’s the last home game of the season so I’ll get to relive the experience of freezing my ass off during the Rutgers game while wondering why several of my classmates had disappeared.
To be honest, the Duke-Notre Dame game is going to be a rather awkward experience for me. I’ve never been to a Duke game where I wasn’t cheering for Duke. Not even during a Duke-Illinois game when I was technically an Illinois senior. Everyone knows that I did not take a single exam at ND without wearing something that said Duke on it, often several layers if I felt that I needed some additional luck. But that said, those bastards have rejected me from every school up to and including the college of divinity so I hope ND crushes them. Not that it should be a major challenge.
(Note to the usual suspects: as always I have two tickets and there is only one of me so if anyone wants to join me at the game, or the Backer, which is probably more likely, let me know.)
One last note for the night. In this month’s issue of Esquire, featuring a cover story on John Edwards and a rather sub-par essay by Chuck Klosterman, Julie Delpy is featured with a piece on 8 Things You Do Not Know About Women. This makes me happy for two very different reasons. The first is that I consider her to be the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world and she still tops my list of Perfect Mates so anything that brings her more publicity is a good thing. The other reason is her 2nd point in her essay “We only want to date guys who can troubleshoot computers. The broken laptop is the leaky faucet of the twenty-first century.” This means that I have a skill that Julie Delpy finds attractive. I might just have a chance after all.
(Ok three reasons. It gives me a chance to post a picture of her to my blog. It classes the place up a little.)
Oh well, one trip to Best Buy later and it is up and running. I’m looking forward to actually having a scanner. This means that I can post all of these pictures of myself from back in the days before digital cameras. Not sure if that would be a good thing or not. Plus, I could probably break down and just scan the magazine articles that I like and not have half of my closets filled with back issues. Seriously, I found copies of Writer’s Digest from 1993 last night during another ill-fated attempt to organize my life.
In other news, I found out the results of the Notre Dame ticket lottery and as opposed to last year I actually won tickets to a game. Of the five games I asked for I only one ticket for one, which is the Duke-Notre Dame game. Because when I think of epic football rivalries I think of Duke-Notre Dame. Plus, it’s the last home game of the season so I’ll get to relive the experience of freezing my ass off during the Rutgers game while wondering why several of my classmates had disappeared.
To be honest, the Duke-Notre Dame game is going to be a rather awkward experience for me. I’ve never been to a Duke game where I wasn’t cheering for Duke. Not even during a Duke-Illinois game when I was technically an Illinois senior. Everyone knows that I did not take a single exam at ND without wearing something that said Duke on it, often several layers if I felt that I needed some additional luck. But that said, those bastards have rejected me from every school up to and including the college of divinity so I hope ND crushes them. Not that it should be a major challenge.
(Note to the usual suspects: as always I have two tickets and there is only one of me so if anyone wants to join me at the game, or the Backer, which is probably more likely, let me know.)
One last note for the night. In this month’s issue of Esquire, featuring a cover story on John Edwards and a rather sub-par essay by Chuck Klosterman, Julie Delpy is featured with a piece on 8 Things You Do Not Know About Women. This makes me happy for two very different reasons. The first is that I consider her to be the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world and she still tops my list of Perfect Mates so anything that brings her more publicity is a good thing. The other reason is her 2nd point in her essay “We only want to date guys who can troubleshoot computers. The broken laptop is the leaky faucet of the twenty-first century.” This means that I have a skill that Julie Delpy finds attractive. I might just have a chance after all.
(Ok three reasons. It gives me a chance to post a picture of her to my blog. It classes the place up a little.)
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
And I used punch cards...
(It’s Springtime! I mean, officially this time. We’ve been having good high school baseball weather here for the past week or two so I feel like we’ve already entered the new season. Just always nice to know that you made it through another winter.)
I am a regular reader of Men’s Health magazine. That probably comes as a shock to most people. Especially given that I look as if I have never seen a gym in my life. That is not true, though I definitely need to get back into my workout routine. And it definitely helped me lose the fifteen pounds of fat I shouldn’t have been carrying. Anyway, they published a stat in this month’s magazine that was very telling.
They ranked each city by the quality of drivers and Kansas City basically came in last. They received a failing grade while the Twin Cities received an A. That makes sense since to drive in Minnesota means you have to be able to handle snow and you just become a better driver as a result. (New York City also got an A, though I have a feeling that is because a) no one drives and b) those who do drive can’t exceed fifteen miles an hour so it is tough to get into a bad accident.) But it is kind of fitting to see KC being given a failing grade. I’ve never quite seen a city where people completely lose their ability to drive whenever the weather changes and even when it is nice out you can be cut off by a sixteen wheeler like I was today.
(Oh, and I just missed getting pulled over by the cops this morning. Have to appreciate 8 AM speed traps.)
Geek note: I have to mention the passing of someone who had a great influence on my life. The guy who invented Fortran (I think his name was Backus) passed away this week. For those of you who weren’t around prior to Windows, Fortran was a programming language and one of the first ones that I learned. It’s also the one that I am most proficient in, which because the best version was written in 1966 is quite possibly the least marketable skill that I have acquired in my life. I’ve been able to pass off my addiction to reality shows as “being attuned to pop culture” in job interviews. Knowing Fortran just means that I am old.
It was a great language to use though. Define your variables upfront, set up a ton of procedures, and write nested if-then statements to your hearts content. For someone like me (who was an effective but horribly inefficient programmer) it was powerful stuff. So, even though no one uses it anymore, there are a lot of us old computer guys who are going to pour out a forty in memory of the man who wrote the original code.
(Hey, computer geeks can be gangster)
One last note. As you can tell, I’ve been really struggling for topics this week. When I have entire posts about America’s Next Top Model, a show that really doesn’t need my in depth analysis, it basically means that I can’t think of anything even moderately interesting to write about. I do have a couple of pieces that I want to write but most of those are for the book, which I really, really need to work on. All of this is just a long way of saying that I am going to take tomorrow off from the blog. I figure that I am due one day off a quarter from my usual routine. I’ll be back on schedule next week with hopefully a refreshed mind. See you then.
I am a regular reader of Men’s Health magazine. That probably comes as a shock to most people. Especially given that I look as if I have never seen a gym in my life. That is not true, though I definitely need to get back into my workout routine. And it definitely helped me lose the fifteen pounds of fat I shouldn’t have been carrying. Anyway, they published a stat in this month’s magazine that was very telling.
They ranked each city by the quality of drivers and Kansas City basically came in last. They received a failing grade while the Twin Cities received an A. That makes sense since to drive in Minnesota means you have to be able to handle snow and you just become a better driver as a result. (New York City also got an A, though I have a feeling that is because a) no one drives and b) those who do drive can’t exceed fifteen miles an hour so it is tough to get into a bad accident.) But it is kind of fitting to see KC being given a failing grade. I’ve never quite seen a city where people completely lose their ability to drive whenever the weather changes and even when it is nice out you can be cut off by a sixteen wheeler like I was today.
(Oh, and I just missed getting pulled over by the cops this morning. Have to appreciate 8 AM speed traps.)
Geek note: I have to mention the passing of someone who had a great influence on my life. The guy who invented Fortran (I think his name was Backus) passed away this week. For those of you who weren’t around prior to Windows, Fortran was a programming language and one of the first ones that I learned. It’s also the one that I am most proficient in, which because the best version was written in 1966 is quite possibly the least marketable skill that I have acquired in my life. I’ve been able to pass off my addiction to reality shows as “being attuned to pop culture” in job interviews. Knowing Fortran just means that I am old.
It was a great language to use though. Define your variables upfront, set up a ton of procedures, and write nested if-then statements to your hearts content. For someone like me (who was an effective but horribly inefficient programmer) it was powerful stuff. So, even though no one uses it anymore, there are a lot of us old computer guys who are going to pour out a forty in memory of the man who wrote the original code.
(Hey, computer geeks can be gangster)
One last note. As you can tell, I’ve been really struggling for topics this week. When I have entire posts about America’s Next Top Model, a show that really doesn’t need my in depth analysis, it basically means that I can’t think of anything even moderately interesting to write about. I do have a couple of pieces that I want to write but most of those are for the book, which I really, really need to work on. All of this is just a long way of saying that I am going to take tomorrow off from the blog. I figure that I am due one day off a quarter from my usual routine. I’ll be back on schedule next week with hopefully a refreshed mind. See you then.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
End of an era...
Correct me if I’m wrong but did CNN have Wolf Blitzer discussing the life and times of Anna Nicole Smith today? Somehow I don’t feel that is what Wolf imagined his career would amount to. Sure, it is a news event when a celebrity dies but I’m not sure that it ranks as breaking news requiring your top anchor to drop everything to cover every detail. It just seems so bizarre that the biggest news story of the day was the death of a former Playboy Playmate. If you want to know what our priorities are as a country, there you are.
(Oh, and I found out that Newsweek had a big article last week on kids who are idolizing Paris Hilton and her ilk. The only thing of note from the entire article is the term used to describe the young girls who dress like their skanky idols. They are called “Prostitots”. Man, I feel dirty just writing the word.)
I’m going through a bit of a transition right now as I finally accomplished one of those things that has been on my list of things to do for months and bought a new laptop. Of course, I’m not using that to write on right now as this change is going to take a bit of time as I’ll explain. It’s a very strange story.
I’ve been wanting to get a new laptop for months as Julie the laptop, my faithful companion for the past five and a half years, is really beginning to show her age and I don’t know how long her lifespan is. And since I knew that Microsoft was going to release Vista I figured I might as well wait until it was out so I can get a top of the line system with everything pre-installed. Which I did, getting this massive laptop with a 17 inch screen that is portable in the sense that you can move it from room to room but probably shouldn’t take it outside. Seriously, when I fire this machine up the lights dim. As I got it started and configured it asked for the machine’s name and I, after much consternation, typed in “Natalie”. Thus, naming my new machine after Natalie Portman. And the moment I did it I felt like I was cheating on Julie. And even as self-aware as I am I can’t quite make sense of this emotion.
First off, I’m not sure if I’m upset at myself for cheating on Julie Delpy with Natalie Portman. Mainly, this just means that my screen backdrop now features a moderately known actress as opposed to a nearly completely unknown one. But I still feel bad even though I’ve never come close to meeting either of them. It’s like I’m letting someone down who I’ve never met before because I’m no longer dedicating a computer to them. So even I think this is a bit nonsensical.
Which means that I am really saddened by the fact that I won’t be using this particular machine any more. There is at least a reason for that. I truly have used this machine day in and day out for five and a half years. It earned my MBA with me, spending more late nights at the Doermer Center than half of my class and running more regressions than any machine this side of a supercomputer should have to attempt. It’s made more than a few trips with me around the country and has always worked, no matter what I’ve done with it. The biggest thing is that every word that I’ve written over the past few years has been typed on Julie. 99.9% of the blog has been written by me sitting down and looking at this screen and writing whatever comes to mind.
I know it’s odd to feel emotion to a bunch of silicon but given all that we’ve been through I really feel like I owe a lot to this machine. That’s why Julie isn’t going to be retired just yet. Sure, I’ll start transferring more and more of my work to Natalie, especially once I get her configured and running Office and install the high speed internet. But I still have a few things in store for this old girl. This is still going to be my main writing machine, especially for my big projects. I am just too used to the keyboard to switch to anything else. Plus, I can actually use it as a laptop again as opposed to just leaving it on my desk every day. Even more, I think I’m going to turn it into a really big MP3 player and use the drive space to store most of my CD collection. Admittedly, this will mean that I will have more active computers than I have desk space but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
So if things look a little screwy over the next couple of weeks or I seem a little ill at ease know its because I’m making a pretty major life change. True, it’s involving computers but most of you know how much time I spend at a computer so, yeah, this is big. Also, for those of you wondering why I keep on talking about Julie Delpy and don’t know who in the world I am referring to I ask that you go to Best Buy and pick up Before Sunset. You can get the DVD for five bucks. Watch it and you’ll understand my attachment.
Speaking of that, next Wednesday is the big day that I always dread. Which means I’ll have to relive my tradition of watching Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. And then listen to Morrissey discs in the dark.
(Oh, and I found out that Newsweek had a big article last week on kids who are idolizing Paris Hilton and her ilk. The only thing of note from the entire article is the term used to describe the young girls who dress like their skanky idols. They are called “Prostitots”. Man, I feel dirty just writing the word.)
I’m going through a bit of a transition right now as I finally accomplished one of those things that has been on my list of things to do for months and bought a new laptop. Of course, I’m not using that to write on right now as this change is going to take a bit of time as I’ll explain. It’s a very strange story.
I’ve been wanting to get a new laptop for months as Julie the laptop, my faithful companion for the past five and a half years, is really beginning to show her age and I don’t know how long her lifespan is. And since I knew that Microsoft was going to release Vista I figured I might as well wait until it was out so I can get a top of the line system with everything pre-installed. Which I did, getting this massive laptop with a 17 inch screen that is portable in the sense that you can move it from room to room but probably shouldn’t take it outside. Seriously, when I fire this machine up the lights dim. As I got it started and configured it asked for the machine’s name and I, after much consternation, typed in “Natalie”. Thus, naming my new machine after Natalie Portman. And the moment I did it I felt like I was cheating on Julie. And even as self-aware as I am I can’t quite make sense of this emotion.
First off, I’m not sure if I’m upset at myself for cheating on Julie Delpy with Natalie Portman. Mainly, this just means that my screen backdrop now features a moderately known actress as opposed to a nearly completely unknown one. But I still feel bad even though I’ve never come close to meeting either of them. It’s like I’m letting someone down who I’ve never met before because I’m no longer dedicating a computer to them. So even I think this is a bit nonsensical.
Which means that I am really saddened by the fact that I won’t be using this particular machine any more. There is at least a reason for that. I truly have used this machine day in and day out for five and a half years. It earned my MBA with me, spending more late nights at the Doermer Center than half of my class and running more regressions than any machine this side of a supercomputer should have to attempt. It’s made more than a few trips with me around the country and has always worked, no matter what I’ve done with it. The biggest thing is that every word that I’ve written over the past few years has been typed on Julie. 99.9% of the blog has been written by me sitting down and looking at this screen and writing whatever comes to mind.
I know it’s odd to feel emotion to a bunch of silicon but given all that we’ve been through I really feel like I owe a lot to this machine. That’s why Julie isn’t going to be retired just yet. Sure, I’ll start transferring more and more of my work to Natalie, especially once I get her configured and running Office and install the high speed internet. But I still have a few things in store for this old girl. This is still going to be my main writing machine, especially for my big projects. I am just too used to the keyboard to switch to anything else. Plus, I can actually use it as a laptop again as opposed to just leaving it on my desk every day. Even more, I think I’m going to turn it into a really big MP3 player and use the drive space to store most of my CD collection. Admittedly, this will mean that I will have more active computers than I have desk space but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
So if things look a little screwy over the next couple of weeks or I seem a little ill at ease know its because I’m making a pretty major life change. True, it’s involving computers but most of you know how much time I spend at a computer so, yeah, this is big. Also, for those of you wondering why I keep on talking about Julie Delpy and don’t know who in the world I am referring to I ask that you go to Best Buy and pick up Before Sunset. You can get the DVD for five bucks. Watch it and you’ll understand my attachment.
Speaking of that, next Wednesday is the big day that I always dread. Which means I’ll have to relive my tradition of watching Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. And then listen to Morrissey discs in the dark.
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