LIFE 2.0 – UNPLUGGED
May 24th 2007 17:35
One bleak evening in late March of this year, my hard disk decided to dislodge a microscopic grain, which miraculously materialised in its airtight, impregnable, stainless steel casing. The grain in turn wreaked havoc on all my documents, spreadsheets, emails, photos, music, movies rendering me an entertainment and information cripple.
The upshot of this unfortunate incident was that I was left without access to a computer for nearly 2 months as I waited for data recovery experts to marvel at how the microscopic grain made it into the hard disk in the first place.
‘A modern day miracle’, ‘In all my years…’, ‘It’s unbelievable’ and ‘Oh, by the way…you’re screwed!’ were just some of the comments the global team of technicians assigned to my case offered me in sympathy.
But it wasn’t all bad news because if it wasn’t for this unfortunate incident I would never have discovered that my external back-up drive had also been experiencing miraculous manifestations since Christmas last year.
After a minor bout of disorientation, I slowly rediscovered life prior to the mid 90s - the Unplugged version…
For the last few months for example, MySpace has literally been my ‘space’. The only difference is that in the unplugged version, you avoid the people requesting to be added as your friend.
Snail mail is fast mail when it’s your only mail. I even got to say hello to my postman. Unfortunately he was listening to his iPod at the time and didn’t notice.
No news is good news, especially when your only source for news is television. For goodness sake, can someone do something about the cats-in-trees infestation that seems to be plaguing this city!
I was never one for the unexplained and supernatural but without access to a computer, I found myself falling behind in my ISP payments for the internet service I could no longer use as I was without a computer. The problem was that I couldn’t access their bills as they were being sent by email as part of a ‘more intimate service’.
This in turn got me thinking; if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Unfortunately I couldn’t google the answer. You know what we need? A printed version of Wikipedia! I can see it now, the perfect reference tool for the offline world encompassing humanity’s collective wisdom and knowledge. I’ll call it the…‘Encyclopaedia’!
I even got to see the inside of bank again and WOW! modern furnishings, the latest technology and open spaces almost disguise the same old clueless and unfriendly service that we all pay through the nose for.
But thank goodness for mobile phones and voicemail, as a client of mine was still able to terminate me without notice despite my termination email bouncing the first time.
As I already have a Second Life, I am treating this experience as my third one!
The upshot of this unfortunate incident was that I was left without access to a computer for nearly 2 months as I waited for data recovery experts to marvel at how the microscopic grain made it into the hard disk in the first place.
‘A modern day miracle’, ‘In all my years…’, ‘It’s unbelievable’ and ‘Oh, by the way…you’re screwed!’ were just some of the comments the global team of technicians assigned to my case offered me in sympathy.
But it wasn’t all bad news because if it wasn’t for this unfortunate incident I would never have discovered that my external back-up drive had also been experiencing miraculous manifestations since Christmas last year.
After a minor bout of disorientation, I slowly rediscovered life prior to the mid 90s - the Unplugged version…
For the last few months for example, MySpace has literally been my ‘space’. The only difference is that in the unplugged version, you avoid the people requesting to be added as your friend.
Snail mail is fast mail when it’s your only mail. I even got to say hello to my postman. Unfortunately he was listening to his iPod at the time and didn’t notice.
No news is good news, especially when your only source for news is television. For goodness sake, can someone do something about the cats-in-trees infestation that seems to be plaguing this city!
I was never one for the unexplained and supernatural but without access to a computer, I found myself falling behind in my ISP payments for the internet service I could no longer use as I was without a computer. The problem was that I couldn’t access their bills as they were being sent by email as part of a ‘more intimate service’.
This in turn got me thinking; if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Unfortunately I couldn’t google the answer. You know what we need? A printed version of Wikipedia! I can see it now, the perfect reference tool for the offline world encompassing humanity’s collective wisdom and knowledge. I’ll call it the…‘Encyclopaedia’!
I even got to see the inside of bank again and WOW! modern furnishings, the latest technology and open spaces almost disguise the same old clueless and unfriendly service that we all pay through the nose for.
But thank goodness for mobile phones and voicemail, as a client of mine was still able to terminate me without notice despite my termination email bouncing the first time.
As I already have a Second Life, I am treating this experience as my third one!
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Comment by Ha!
on You Have Mail…Well Sort Of
Ha Moments
Here is a link for anyone who may have gotten themselves in trouble:
http://joewein.net/419/emails/2006-05/12/522220.58.htm