As I sit here contemplating the last few days of a month’s vacation time I’m wondering what happened to all the things I wanted to get done. Take iTunes Podcasts for example. Like a child in a candy shop I’d collected more than I’d time to watch or audition. Well, I’ve spent hours listening to podcasts but, with time on my hands I’ve found more that interest me so I still have a backlog of 56 hours of listening to catch up on and that stockpile keeps growing daily each time I refresh it.
The other day I reassembled my first computer that has sat dormant since September 2002 and booted it up. After three attempts it actually worked. Having been bought in the year 2000 it sports the dreaded Windows Me operating system—it hasn’t improved with age. The old IBM clunker was retired because of unreliability so I haven’t entrusted anything of importance to it; I just wanted to see if it would still work for curiosity’s sake and to engage in a stroll down memory lane. Four years in computer terms and the life of the World Wide Web is two lifetimes. Has anyone heard of the Lycos Browser—it was IBM’s proprietary browser which integrated E-mail, Browsing, Net Clubs and Downloads; one feature I did appreciate was its built-in popup blocker. Alas, we know what happened to IBM and this browser is no longer supported. There are a few games and pieces of software that XP won’t run that I can still enjoy on the old system.
I have managed to catch up on an entire year’s worth of Canadian Geographical Magazines—mainly while I waited for web pages to open or Blogs to upload; though I shudder to think of the depth of the unread back issues, at this point I suppose one could call them history. When I find them, I have copies of MacLean’s Magazine that predate 9/11—not that is history! I never seem to get as many books read as I’d like to but I did finish the Iliad at last and I’m half way through Harry Potter. I’ve watched a number of movies but I’m still behind on the TV series I’ve picked up. At least I won’t be running out of original material to watch anytime soon. I’ve started the 2005-6 Season of Smallville and just picked up One Tree Hill. Managed to work my way through the entire Wagner Ring Cycle but there are still CD’s in my collection that have never been auditioned. Five years ago had someone told me I’d listen to most of my music by means of a computer I’d never have credited it. Online Commercial-Free Radio is a marvel. Being able to stream Pipedreams on American Public Radio and other programmes that are either hard to tune in or broadcast at inconvenient times is a marvel.
I have managed to get caught up on my E-mail and for those of you who visit this Blog you know that I’ve added considerably to its archives. Summer has mellowed into fall outside and air is filled with the calls of blue jays and fog. Nights are getting quite cool and the cloud cover continues to predominate. Trees here near Lake Ontario are just thinking about turning but the cooler temperatures are finally resulting in less swamp water smell from my taps. Now it’s time I go visit my banker and see to financial matters. Guess it’s a pleasant problem to have. At work they joke about raiding the cache under my mattress.
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