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Jackie Mortell, 6/21/2010

Last year I moved all of my important data to removable media; photos, spreadsheets, joke lists...  I did it so I wouldn't lose them if the laptop was stolen or the hard drive crashed.  It seemed like a great idea until I left a jump drive in my pants pocket and ran it through the washer and dryer last week. 

Talk about your data cleansing.

Oddly enough, the jump drive seems to be fine.  My files were intact and readable.  I'm still worried about rust setting in though. 

Just for fun I pulled out an old 5 1/4" floppy disk and ran it though the washer and dryer.  What a riot.

Jackie M. Mortell, 6/11/2010

I’m in love again and I’m not afraid to tell everyone about it.  In fact, I insist on telling everyone.  Have I shown you my iPad?

It goes everywhere with me.  I make it into a piano keyboard and play “chopsticks” for strangers.  I created a custom radio station for my mother with all her favorites: Judy Garland, Tony Bennet, Ella Fitzgerald.  Now Mom wants an iPad.  I turn on “Pocket Pond” and play with the Koi.  The resolution is amazing.  Maddie loaded “Godfinger” on it.  I don’t understand the point of the game but I like to fling my followers across the village. 

Sometimes I pull it out during meetings to answer pressing technical questions like “What is the current version of Visual Studio?” or “How many games did the Brewers lose last year and have we passed that already?”

The GPS is fast and so much easier to use on a large screen than on a tiny Garmin.  “No Officer, I am not texting.  That would be illegal.  I was just trying to find the nearest Milio’s from the West Beltline.”

And there’s email and books and news and Facebook and movies and photos and YouTube and there are even applications they expect you to pay for which I have not done.  Maybe when I run out of other things to do.