Where science and tech meet creativity.

Several minutes ago I asked my beloved laptop to please
> tar -cvf AAS.tar Interviews

It said
/Interviews

and it began to tar.

That was several minutes ago.

It is still going.

I have a no longer shiny, no longer able to latch shut, sometimes failing to wake, but still much beloved Apple PowerBook G4 (1.67 GHz, 512MB). I bought in the days when I always owned what was new and hip and tech trendy. I bought it when my RAZR was something to be awed over and when my 20GB iPod was still the newest on the block.

That was before I left Harvard and got a job at a small state college.

I still have that RAZR. It now determinedly states, “You have text messages” with a silly little icon that never goes away, no matter how many times I check and delete all my text messages.

I still have that iPod. It now protests being asked to share long afternoons together by randomly freezing up and refusing to respond until its batteries have fully discharged and been recharged.

I feel like I’m trapped in 2005, and as I look at the rumors of the iPhone and of new iPods and of Leopard, I feel this quiet desperation building inside. Can I make my Mac last until October and the slated release of 10.5 and the new laptops that are sure to follow? (Maybe, please? Maybe?) Can I justify the cost of an iPhone? (No, I am now adjunct faculty.) Will the next round of iPods offer a small, low-cost device with enough memory to sate my music and podcast habit? (Maybe? Please, maybe?)

Perhaps I should post a sign: Will give Astronomy Talks for Tech!

Or perhaps I can just nudge you, my gentle reader, to consider the links at right, and when you need to go to Amazon, please go there through here. Perhaps the tech you buy yourself can help one less tech-fortunate than yourself to stay online.

I asked my beloved laptop to please
> tar -cvf AAS.tar Interviews

That was several minutes ago.

It is still going.