"From the Desert to the Sea, to All of Southern California." - Jerry Dunphy

Search This Blog

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Laptop Lessons

A few months ago the monitor on my laptop went black and would not come back to life in spite of my fevered attempts at computer CPR. At the time it seemed catastrophic. I used it for writing, photos and music. I checked e-mails and occasionally surfed just to kill time. Mostly it served as my jukebox while I worked on other things at my desk. All my files were backed up and the important things were easily transferred to an 8GB flash key that Phone Rat gave me.

I found myself reduced to borrowing my wife's laptop to check e-mails and other things. The laptop of course can be used with the AC adapter or with the battery. I used the battery since it was a project to dig the plug out of the wall behind things. So I could sit in my chair and be comfortable and check on things. However the most I could get was about 2 hours of life which was initially irritating. But over time I realized I really did not use the computer, on line for very many things. I took care of business and logged off. the battery life became unimportant and an important lesson was learned.

When we are plugged in and have unlimited time we tend to waste most of that time on frivolous things. I am not against the frivolous but as with television, too much is bad for us. But when we are aware of the passage of time and how little we have, as when the computer runs off the battery, we make much better use of our time and distill our session down to what is really important. The lesson obviously applies to life but many of us, including myself don't learn it until we get older.

My battery is actually running low now so it is time for me to end this overly long post and to get on to something a little deeper.

No comments: