Actually, at the risk of sounding paranoid, what I told him was that I was already entertaining the idea of backup gizmos for the first set of gizmos. Realistically, by the time I get that far another domino will have fallen and a new-fangled, more efficient, better quality something-or-other will have been invented, so it’s probably a moot point.
I decided my first priority will be chasing down document files: essays, genealogy information, recipes, instructions for crafts, favorite quotes, letters, labels, addresses and all those oddball projects. There are far less of these than photographs. Some are even still stored on those outdated Zip-disks, back when I was upgrading from floppy disks. (Still own some of those and have toyed with the idea of using them as drink coasters.) When I replaced my first computer, it never occurred to me that one of those proverbial dominos had toppled and the new computer wasn’t equipped with a Zip-drive. What a shock it was when I held one of those disks in my hand with no slot to insert it! I ended up purchasing an external Zip-drive on E-bay to access old files.
I believe that after I collect all those scattered pieces of data into nice, neat little labeled folders I’ll have a real sense of accomplishment. I’m planning to reward myself with a decadent dessert.
Next I’ll begin working on photos. I’m encouraging myself to be discretionary and avoid the compulsion to save everything I’ve ever shot since pushing the button on my first Kodak Instamatic camera during grade school. Who needs half a dozen views of the exact same flower? I know composition and quality well enough by now to select the best one (okay, maybe two). But it’s the duplicated files on all those disks that will eventually drive me insane; haven’t I seen that one before somewhere, or did I just imagine it after weeks of looking at hundreds of photographs?
Some select pictures will end up deliberately duplicated into different folders according to whatever fuzzy logic I develop, based on the belief that it would be easier to locate later. I admit it’s a bit frightening to look at how my mind works when I view all the (still empty) folders and sub-folders I’ve created. The way I see it, this still has to be a huge improvement over searching through a stack of boxes and trying to remember if the picture I want was taken while on vacation in 1997 or the year the house was painted.
Mike has been racing ahead of me and started scanning photographs from his albums. He also did a few slides, which he found painfully time consuming with his scanner. Last night a friend told him about a product that will scan as many as four slides at once in much less time. It also scans negatives. I’m all for efficiency (besides, I have hundreds, too, plus my parents’ slides). So, we went out and bought another electronic ‘pet’ to add to the growing zoo.
The credit card is still warm from the latest expenditure and I can already hear Mike in the next room happily scanning away a stack of slides from our wedding 19 years ago. This batch was possibly selected due to the comment from someone in our photography class who asked if we were newlyweds, since I confessed I hadn’t finished our wedding album yet.
I asked my thoughtful husband how it was going and he said he messed up the first batch and had to redo them, because he forgot one of the settings mentioned in the instruction booklet. (Wow. He actually read the instructions. I am impressed.) His comment after that was, "It works real slick." I think that would be equivalent to a rating of 4-stars.
Meanwhile, I only managed to empty three disks today. I would have gotten a lot more accomplished, but there was that detour to the store to buy the ‘slick’ slide and negative scanner this morning. While we were out we ate lunch, since it was so handy to a restaurant. Besides, I got so distracted thinking about all this and started writing about it instead. The good news is I have this terrific new system of folders set up on my computer and I know exactly where this essay is saved.
We’re on our merry way now! Until the next domino falls.
©2010 Roberta McReynolds for SeniorWomen.com