Coopernundrums

    Ah the doldrums of late winter.  I sit writing this while my mind pines away for the sunshine and warmth of spring.  I am sure many of you reading this feel the same way.  Thinking of what to write has been tough lately, but today I had a fun thought and in a flash knew what this post would be about.

    Being a technophile means I will never be without work, thankfully. That being said here is a list of the invaluable tools that I believe every card carrying  computer geek needs to do their primary job and of course al the side work we have as well.

The trusty USB Thumb Drive

Unless you just enjoy hauling a 9 pound brick of a laptop with you everywhere you go, having a small key chain, compact USB flash drive is a lifesaver.  I have one that is 32 GB large.  No “mine’s bigger than your’s” jokes, please.  I have mine set as a bootable device with a whole cavalcade of recovery and “fixer” programs.  I never leave home without it and I have everything I need to get any PC up and running with me at all times.

Dedicated Web Space

You might think this is more of a luxury than a tool, but I assure you in times of need having a virtual medium out there on the World Wide Web that you can send files to and retrieve files from ANYWHERE in the world is an INVALUABLE tool.  When the old thumb drive is full or cant be used, say on a PC with no USB ports free, this tool is my “go to GUY”.

 FTP Program

Well, if you have web space out there in the virtual world you have to have a way to get to it right?  A good QUALITY File Transfer Protocol program is a true necessity.  I won’t go into my likes and dislikes about FTP app cause I have some quirky needs.  What I will say however is make sure you try out several programs before you settle on one you will stick with for a while.  Lots of great freeware programs for this but beware many of the free ones are garbage.

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    So I just spent 6 days attempting to install a computer game that was originally released in the year 2000 on my laptop which is now running windows 7, the new thoroughbred of operating systems.  As I spent quality time perusing old old forums and blog posts trying to figure out ways to sidestep and circumvent old installers and windows 98 configuration files i realized that I can actually define my life by the games I have played that are near and dear to me.  So here goes.

In 1977 Atari Pong was released with much hoopla and mass market appeal.  I remember clearly going to another child’s birthday party and having the old stand alone PONG console as the main party fun. Hours and hours we spent blipping that ball back and forth, utterly mesmerized by the tiny glowing orb as it bounced from one side of the screen to the other.  I can recall NOT wanting to leave his house.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to get my hands on a home video game console until the early 80’s.  It was then that the joy of ATARI came into my life. I have only the fondest of memories and still play these games today.  Combat, Space Invaders, Missile Command, Yar’s Revenge, Berserk, Demon Attack, Pac- man and Pitfall were all my favorite pastime from 1980- 1986

In 1987 I spent the night at a buddies house for a guys sleepover.  He had Nintendo Entertainment System.  After 15 minutes of Glorious, full color, in your face Super Mario Brothers I was hooked.  I wanted one of these so bad that I begged my mother for months to get me one.  Here is the greatest thing I remember about this system, besides the plethora of AWSOME titles for it.  My mother, the greatest mom ever, spent her income tax return getting me this game system.  I played the hell out of Dragon Warrior, Punch Out, Metroid, Double Dribble, Castlevania and many, many more from about 87 till the early 90’s.

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    I am very lucky to have what I consider a true friend for every stage of my life.  I am also very lucky in that I have somehow, through the buzz and blur that is life, always managed to keep in touch with my buddies.  My Wife and constant companion for the last 18 years is of course exempt from this post, since she is my ultimate best friend and confidant.  I felt like this was interesting to share since after I thought about it long enough I came to realize that I seemed to make great friends at almost every key stage of my life.  Maybe you can relate and maybe just maybe you are lucky enough to be one of the folks I am talking about here!

    I don’t suppose too many people can say that they had a friend in kindergarten that they still hang with today.  I am proud to say I have just that.  Although we went through a period of almost 7 years where we lost touch, I am happy to say that we reconnected recently and will try not to let so much time pass between form here on.  Now he has a lovely wife and baby girl that I hope to see more of real soon.

  
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In high school I had several buddies but one in particular kept me laughing and hanging in there.  We shared a love of 80s tunes and a passion for Dungeons & Dragons . After high school graduation we even worked together at local McDonald’s for a while.  We drifted,  as friends tend to do, but once we got settled with our families we reconnected and still talk and hang today.  He now has a wonderful wife and a gaggle of kids that are a hoot to hang out with.

    Speaking of the golden arches, that is where I met my young adult to mid life pal of pals.  We met working a burger prep table laughing at the odd songs of the mid nineties.  I will forever remember the way we first got introduced.  He asked if I knew what the strange chorus of the enigma song return to innocence meant when the old Indian sang.  “I like Sheep big and small he said”.  I laugh my ass off about that even today.  We both work in the same industry today and still hang out often.  He and his Sweetheart of a wife, have a daughter that calls me Uncle Jay.  Its like the Daughter I never had.

  And so we come to my latest job, where I have met a new com padre, someone that I am only starting to really get to know personally after almost 10 years of working together.  He is an accounting and numbers whiz, so I hang out with him mostly hoping that his logic powers will rub off on me.  Just kidding!  Really, he and his Adorable wife have have teenage boys also so we share teenage angst stories all the time.

    As you can see I am an undeservedly lucky human being to be surrounded with such great friends.  I hope you have a circle of friends that you cherish also as I cherish mine.

see ya!