It's a Slice

Had a wonderful day yesterday, until I tried to cut my finger off. I bought a new knife a couple of weeks ago - a small sudoku thing - very sharp and much lighter than the one I'm used to. Then, as I was making salad I guess it got away from me and took a little chunk off the tip of my finger. It could have been worse, of course, though typing will be interesting for a while.

Where was I? Oh yes, the old hardware and peripherals. As I recall, it was a very optimistic time. Not easy, because my York years - for all sorts of personal and developmental reasons - were some of the toughest of my life. No, optimistic because even though the studying and the personal stuff were tough, and the tools I had to deal with the personal issues were somewhat wanting, there was always the sense that things could be dealt with. There was always a sense of looking for the solution, and a belief that it was definitely out there.

I suppose those years are tough for everyone. Just cresting childhood, trying to merge onto the freeway of life without crashing into everything already on it; trying to establish yourself in a lane and hoping for trouble-free travel. Trying to reconcile the things and times that defined the boy but don't necessarily fit the man; weeding out the needed from the un-needed, defining what the man will be.

The dot matrix lasted a few years then went in the trash. The new printers didn't require the paper with the perforations on the side - and were much faster. The computer lasted a while longer, in fact I believe it came with me to Calgary when I moved after graduation. Of course, it was already obsolete, but as long as that power supply still worked I was reluctant to throw it away.

Leaping forward to today you really get a sense of how much technology has changed. Thinking about the difference between the dot matrix and the laser, the typewriter and the laptop, the rate of growth in technology has been truly remarkable. I mean, I have enough hard-drive capacity today to swallow up my first computer - without doing the math - what, 10,000 times? Remarkable.

That's going to be one of the big questions as I get ready to return to school - what kind of technology do I need to do it right? Whether I invest in a tablet or not will depend on what books are available digitally, if any. A purchase like that will need a pretty solid business case, after all my income will be zero while I'm in school.

Stay tuned.

J

Overcast, showers.  10C