SUMit Roster Software > Nut's Weekly > June 2000 > Wanderer

Wanderer

Monday, 26 June 2000

June 2000

Wanderer

Thursday, 8 June 2000.

It's a regular Thursday morning. I disguise myself as gentlemen and prepare for departure. The laptop is on the table, just idle, waiting for input. Just quickly check my mail and off I go to the customer.

The laptop behaves weird. Strange ticking noises emerge. A BSOD (.../jargon/...BSOD) tells me that the C: drive has a write error. Oops. This sounds like serious trouble. I have to go, no time to sort it out. So, I just switch off the laptop and leave.

A team member gives me hope. The C: drive might be assessable using DOS. That would be great.

Friday, 9 June 2000.

Too bad. The DOS flop works, but the C: drive remains inaccessible. The joint diagnosis is "Hardware malfunction"

Saturday 10 June 2000.

My regular repair man, who successfully fixed it on several previous catastrophes, shakes his head. That's going to need a new harddisk, and those hare hard to get. The IBM website shows the correct type, with the discouraging term "withdrawn". He says bye bye to me with a "I'll call around on Tuesday".

Sunday 11 June 2000, Whit Sunday.

It's Whit Sunday. I wake up, a bit confused. It's weird to live without internet, without email. It's like loosing a part of your brain, memory and communication skills at the same time. Today I'll go into exile at verseput.com, who has offered me some computer facilities. I've written the 12th June's Nut's Weekly on paper. I've lost the source files of my own website, but Mr. Verseput himself boldly copies the whole thing from Internet in just a few minutes. I watch in delight, had no clue that this would be so easy.

Monday 12 June 2000, Whit Monday.

Didn't touch a keyboard whole day. Answered some questions, with pen & paper, preparing for a business meeting. Furthermore, defragmented the dirty dishes in the kitchen, emptied the plastic recycle bin, and tried to fight the paper administration backlog.

Tuesday 12b June 2000.

A business lunch with Mike Levyssohn restores a bit of hope. Mike is quite confident that he'll be able to get it running again. ADP (www.adp.com). offers me the opportunity to check my email. I start to feel a bit like an e-wanderer.

Meanwhile my regular repair man managed to get hold of a new harddisk. The disk is a bit smaller, but well, there's hope from that side as well.

Wednesday 14 June 2000.

Diverted to Sharon in Amstelveen. I recreate the SUMit mail paper from a printed example. It's weird to work on a text processor for which I have developed quite a large aversion. Again the feeling of being homeless grows stronger. In cyberspace there is nothing wrong with my e-dentity, but the physical locations keep changing.

Thursday 15 June 2000.

This morning I have a meeting at a new customer. My mood is way below sea level. My interlocutor is way too late. I hate this, won't have my precious time wasted by others. I cancel the meeting and leave for Bunnik, to discuss some OO and Java in the final days of my latest project.

Again this wanderer has another opportunity to send some mail. The repair man calls, no success yet with the new harddisk.

Friday 16 June 2000.

The wanderer has found some preliminary shelter. On a borrowed laptop, late night, I check up my mail.

Monday 19 June 2000.

I collect the laptop from one repairman and deliver it to Mike.

Wednesday 21 June 2000.

Late night, Mike calls. He has repaired the laptop. The thing now even has a larger harddisk than before.

Thursday 22 June 2000.

I collect the laptop. That night I'm sweating amidst of a floppy disks and CD's. First I get rid of the pre-installed Windows'98. Cute, all those gimmicks, but way too slow for my old friend. I struggle with 3 installation floppy disks. It takes hours to get Windows'95 up and running. But the external CD reader and laptop are happily playing together again. So far so good.

Friday 23 June 2000.

Got the modem working again. A very first fax leaves SUMit HQ. The printer works as well. I'm quite satisfied with the results so far, but quit anyway. I've got some other priorities, go to Suzanne and enjoy playing hide-and-seek, romping, play mailman, read stories, and make sand pies. Well, the PC crisis will have to wait for things with this magnitude.

Saturday 24 June 2000.

The first Internet software is up and running again. Spent most of the day shopping in Haarlem (haarlem.nl/...). After all, there is more to life than a keyboard. Wrote a bit of Nut's Weekly in the train. At night I installed Opera (www.opera.no), my favourite browser that allows easy speed surfing with pictures switched off.

Sunday 25 June 2000.

The end of my e-dentity crisis is near. I transfer the last files to the laptop, and return the borrowed PC. In a few weeks I hope to revive the Java investment snake. Not for now though, as I'll go wandering, with a backpack through green, green Ireland, on a quest to the perfect pint of Guinness (www.guinness.com).

Maybe till next week, or else till after my holiday.
Nut

May 2000 · Pok · Silence · Tune · Wanderer · July 2000
Home · Search...