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the revival party
Yesterday morning, we woke up even before the phone or alarm clock rang, eager like Christmas morning: Today is the day that our modem comes back to life! We’ve been preparing for this day like only the truly obsessed can – will it be Gawker and the NFL? Fixing design glitches and the Food Network? Email and Extreme Makeover? People, it was better than words can describe. We geeked. And geeked. And then geeked out some more.
But, before all that, a huge Bravo to Time Warner for fixing the “problem” in about five minutes flat.
“Is this the modem that’s not working?”
“Yes.”
“Can I get up to the roof?”
“We have no idea.”
Three minutes later, he was back, as were the flickering modem lights.
“What was it?”
“Came unplugged up there.”
And thus began the revival party – Let’s go to Circuit City!
In homage to our Great Week of Disconnection, Forced Conversation, and Quality Time, and upon your excellent advice, I bought a SanDisk Cruzer Micro, a rockin’ $15 after rebate. We marveled that our fathers’ first home computers had barely 256K, and were a wee bit less portable than this two-inch keychain. Then, onto the routers, having finally decided after five months of sharing a single laptop with little success, to actually take mine out from the closet and connect it. We bought a Netgear router with wireless capabilities (oh, you like it when I speak geek, don’t you?), though I am not yet ready to go another round with wireless after my first traumatic experience with constantly flickering connections, café-infused viruses, and endless visits from technicians who leered at me… Shudder. Upon returning home, we brought my laptop up to speed: Internet Explorer, begone! Firefox, welcome! Goodbye chirpy Weatherbug! Sayonara clutter! Defragment! Compress! Oh, my!
Two hours later, heads spinning, eyes red and watery, we emerged for air in the form of drinks with an old friend. But this morning I am at it again, trying to the bring images and links that direct to the old site over to the new, so I can finally stop sending Typepad money. (Have you re-directed your links yet? Have you? I don’t think you have! Tsk-tsk.) Sadly, I have found not a single short-cut method for this torturously slow process, and this would be a perfect time for one of you readers who just love it when I speak geek to step forward with suggestions.
Until then, however, outside it’s raining sideways, inside, the boy is dreaming of being a football-star-slash-world-series-pitcher, and I’m back in my much-beloved laptop’s green-ish glow, coding my little fingers off, the star of my very own revival party. Not at all bad for a Sunday morning.
comments (11)
Ooh, but I have! Go me (and you!). Welcome back to the land of the sorta-living.
1 | New Blue Shoe | November 28, 2004 02:11 PM
Good choice on the USB drive. :)
2 | Scott | November 28, 2004 04:12 PM
Hey there. Been reading for a while and wanted to drop you a line letting you know I'm linking you. Love your writing.
3 | Kelly | November 28, 2004 06:03 PM
The first computer we had came with a staggering 48K of RAM, plus 16K in the language card.
And yes, I've updated my links already.
4 | Frankenstein | November 28, 2004 08:44 PM
Your posts are thoughtful humorous and a delight to read.
Earlier today I asked a few blog-friends to suggest a wonderful site ot me. I am so glad that Kelly at pureserendipity sent me your way.
I immediately thought your family to be a modern day Swiss Family Robinson, overcoming the modem trauma and tribulation. I shall return- your family is one I can relate to. I can only hope
you're not related to mine!
5 | Michele | November 29, 2004 12:59 AM
In my day if you had 64K you were grateful, dag-namit!~
6 | michael | November 29, 2004 12:47 PM
welcome back. will i see you at dinner on wednesday?
7 | jocelyn | November 29, 2004 06:00 PM
http://www.tenmax.com/teleport/pro/home.htm I don't know if that link will help or not with transferring all of your data. I'm kind of confused with all this stuff sometimes too. Try searching http://www.mandarindesign.com/ for some answers if not. It's my favorite new design help site.
8 | Anonymous | December 1, 2004 02:26 PM
http://www.tenmax.com/teleport/pro/home.htm I don't know if that link will help or not with transferring all of your data. I'm kind of confused with all this stuff sometimes too. Try searching http://www.mandarindesign.com/ for some answers if not. It's my favorite new design help site.
9 | Chardy May Cosmo | December 1, 2004 02:29 PM
First of all, this is why you should use relative links — at least site-relative. Ie, /foo/bar.html instead of http://example.com/foo/bar.html. Secondly, I'm sure that you can find someone you trust who knows a little bit of programming; with a little bit of Perl knowledge (or whatever else they prefer), it should be a snap to change all the links that fit a given pattern into some other shape. Whoever does this would need more or less access to the server depending on where/how MovableType stores the posts, whether can they be exported/reimported for this procedure, etc.
I can do that, but I don't know if I'm the first choice, being a total stranger and all. :-)
10 | Aristotle | December 3, 2004 11:20 AM
So sad and tiring-ly, I have done most of them already, the slow-as-shit way. At least all of the images will now be in an "image" folder.
11 | deb | December 3, 2004 11:37 AM