TB--Technology Burnout

I think I have it. Last night I reloaded the software on my HP laptop for the 4th or 5th time in a year--I've learned not to keep valuable files on it. But the cd burner works, which doesn't on my old PC. My new PC is in the guest room still boxed up--I bought it before Christmas. Not only will I have to learn Vista, but some of my favorite programs will not work, because they are generations old as software counts its age. My A-fib kicks in just contemplating moving from my old Family Tree Maker to the new version. What if I lose a great great grandparent in the transition? That cute little photo printer I wrote about last July? Still in the box.

My husband wants to show his photos of Haiti to the children at Highland school where he helps in the math/science class. This preciptated the great CD hunt for the photos from last year; then looking at the disc someone else made because that's all we could find; which meant a hunt for our old DVD player (got a new one at Christmas from our daughter), thinking our disc might be in it; and sorting through various untitled discs in my office; and finding the new mouse that doesn't work with anything. Once I got the laptop up and running, we inserted various discs and I taught him how to look at those files and tediously move 167 photos into a new folder I'd created on the laptop--truly you don't want to subject 4th graders to 700 photos, some (many) badly composed. Whoever had made the disc we were viewing had folders within folders within folders, plus had misspelled Ouanaminthe on everything (used a Q in stead of an O, and it doesn't really matter, it's just annoying--and I often misspell it too--think "Juana").

All this leads up to Walt's 100th edition of Cites & Insights. Although he is writing for the library crowd, both the IT people and librarians (he's IT), he covers a lot of territory that I think is useful for people like me--teetering on the edge of insanity over technology changes and frustrations. His style of writing is so much like mine I often resolve to change after I read an issue--adverbosity, side bars, parentheticals, interesting asides, philosophical insights, etc., but he is left of center and I am right of center. He pretty much stays out of politics in his professional writing, so that part doesn't matter much. Being a reformed liberal, I notice it, however. Even after reading his assessment on the paper/print costs of various printers, I printed the whole issue and plan to enjoy it this morning at the coffee shop. If I can get there. We had an ice storm last night. Thanks, Walt, and congratulations on your 100th issue. I need you more every day!