Burying the Bodies

In an attempt to burn the bridges that lead back to PC use, I did some house cleaning this weekend. The pile now sits on our dinning room table and what a pile it is. The equipment I have mostly revolves around peripherals of one kind or another. Included are memory systems, routers, printers, microphones and web cam parts. The table seats six and, right now, there isn't room for a sugar bowl.

Yes, I know. I'm a gadget hound. I did the same thing with camera equipment and golf clubs, but even I have to admit this was pretty spectacular. I have no idea how much any of this is worth only the magic hand of E-Bay will determine that, but the cost had to be significant.

The software alone would have paid for a new moped, if my daughter-in-law Anne hadn't helped me with either getting it for me through the MS employee store for a low price or, as in many cases, just giving it to me.

Than there are those systems that relate just to laptops. I have about fifty to seventy five 3.5 inch disks with information on them going back to software systems that aren't even supported anymore. I have a drives and data storage in two forms nobody has used for years.

Each system has a connecting cable for attachment to the computer, than there is a power source. The power plug is usually one of those huge clunky plugs that caused them to redesign the power sticks so you could get more than two plugs on a six outlet stick.

Now we come to the books. I like the claim that David Pogue's informative how-to-compute books make. They claim they are "the books that should have come with your software." I've always said pretty much the same thing, that when you buy new software Amazon has a thirty dollar book you'll need to really learn how to run the program well. I have them all, and multiple books for some programs.

In simplifying my life by going to Mac, I had no idea how complicated my PC life had become. In essence, my frustration with an overloaded and complex system led me to a dinning room table that pointed out my own complicity in my situation. Most of the stuff I've acquired I didn't need or use very often. From now on, I have to be more attuned to why I'm adding something to my life. After going through the why, what when, where and how questions, I need to ask one more. So What!