July 18, 2001
Dear Everyone:
Got into work yesterday morning to discover that my computer had suffered a heart attack during the night and absolutely would not boot up. Not an auspicious beginning to the day, which sort of went downhill from there.
I reported the problem, then moved the defunct machine into the (currently vacant) cubicle next to mine and stole a computer out of one of the work rooms to use in the meantime. All well and good for general stuff, but you quickly realize how dependent you had become on shortcuts and favorite bookmarks on the Internet. It’s like having speed-dial on your phone; a great time-saver until you find yourself at a different phone and can’t remember that all-important phone number.
Lesson learned: Back up! Back up! Back up! And in more than one place.
And defrag more often. Certainly more often than once every year or so. (For more information on Defragmenting, click on Start… Help… Type in “defrag” and click on Display.)
All of these machines at work were originally scheduled to be replaced around last March, when they graduated to three years old (officially “old” in PC Years). But the announcement of the Merger (pending FTC approval, of course) with That Other Company threw a spanner into the works in this area as well as all those others.
So an email message went out a while back recommending that people take better care of their machines. A message to which I, as Technical Support, should have paid better heed. Ah well. My machine, brought back to life last night by a technician with a bigger bag of tricks than mine, is currently “defragging” it’s ducky little C: drive and may even be finished by tomorrow morning. When I’ll start defragging the D: drive.
(Note to self: Defrag home PC this weekend.)
In other news…
I am now on one sub-team, one sub-sub-team, and “consultant” to another sub-team, all having to do with what will happen to inactive records once the Merger with That Other Company is actually approved. They’re all “sub” teams of the overall Records-In-General team. I can’t say much more than that except to mention that I’m learning to use Microsoft Project (Time Line software) and, honestly, data-mapping isn’t all that tough when it’s about the third time you’ve done it in the past eight years or so.
“Jeannie” and I saw The Score last weekend. It was my turn to pay for the movie ($11.00). However, I hadn’t had time to get to the bank for more cash, so “Jeannie” paid for the refreshments ($14.45). “Jeannie” is now of the opinion that paying for the movie is a lot cheaper and has volunteered to pay for all movies if I pay for all refreshments. (I think we’ll continue to trade off.)
The Score takes place in Montreal. Really. Not like when they film in Toronto but the story is taking place in London, or Paris. This really takes place in Canada. In fact, the movie revels in its Canadian-ism. De Niro says “Bon jour” instead of “How ya’ doin’.” He plays a master thief who wants to pull off one last “score” so he can retire and set up housekeeping with Angela Basset.
Marlon Brando also wants De Niro to pull off this one last score. Edward Norton doesn’t want it to be the last, but he sure wants in on this one. This is a film with not one, but three, very strong actors doing what they do best. Director Frank Oz (aka Master Yoda and Miss Piggy) did the smart thing. He handed the scene to the actors, then stepped back and let them run the show.
It’s a delight to watch these three play off each other. Remember that De Niro and Brando both played the same character, at different ages, of course, in the Godfather series. And Norton is no slouch, either. He’s the young dog. De Niro is the old dog, and Brando is the old, old dog who still has some bite left in him.
In a field of not-very-good-so-far summer flicks, this one stands out. Enjoy.
Love, as always,
Pete
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