Keeping your records, photos, to-do lists, technical notes all in order and findable is a job which requires planning, testing and ultimately "settling". It is somewhat akin to building a house then living in it.
But houses last longer than IT platforms. I look back through just the posts I have here to see how the landscape is changing.
I am, in many ways, a Luddite. I don't like change. I want everything to work as it did on my Apple III, and before that in college on the Time Sharing system. Back then what drove me was, at one point, having the fastest modem connection (and the Mmdem was coupled to the phone with a set of foam cups to block out background sounds). Later it was about the fastest Graphic setup and, wow, Color Monitors and graphics. Cool to see those test curves spit out from my basic programs simulating.... (more about that later).
And now the measures are not all that different. How fast does it take to post a new product or blog entry? How fast can I find that note about the process to upgrade a Debian package, or gain root access to the forgotten File Server (the File Server probably should be reviewed and shut down if it is not being used).
Computing takes time. Time away from the fun things. Time away from some of the important things. Not all of life is on a computer, or tablet or phone.
Yes, I am a luddite. I think of my father who had a wonderful wonderful life. He was out doing more, learning more, fixing more, teaching more than anyone I have ever known. Yet, though he loved his lists and his gadgets, his greatest frustration was around keeping them all in order, in learning new systems. Not long before his passing he got a new Iphone, the most powerful one. I put together the systems so it would link with his email and his Ipad, and even bring forward all of his Palm Notes, which were built on his old Casio Notes... And though this was so important it was also a great frustration for him. His ability to learn and retain the learning was leaving him, and he knew it.
We have access to his notes. The digital kind is not so compelling as the taped and carded kind. How to use this tool, and sharpen that blade. Where to get more of this sort of light bulb. How long the last one lasted. The choke setting for this motor, the method to start that pump. And all of this placed where it may be needed. Notes to himself and notes to us with postmarks and a knowledge that he may not be there always to conjur the answers he always had.
He was the super computer and our job now is to keep the knowledge gleaned. Thank you dad!
