So, apparently blogging has paid off big. Santa was reading my blog last week and "Dude, I got a Dell" Okay, well Santa is actually my wife's mom and step-dad out in Arizona, who I have to give much thanks. We can now work on the computer without the worry of getting a message saying "low disk space. Delete files." Well now, here I am. It's midnight, I've gotta get up for work in the morning after a 4 day weekend. And I'm sitting here uploading all the files for my various devices. This time I have company. My wife sits at the desk next to this one with the old hunk of metal. She is preparing all of our essential files for transfer to their new home. By the way, enough of this my wife stuff. From now on, my wife will be referred to as Brittny.
So, I hope all your Christmas' were as wonderful as mine. I missed my family, as they were all off enjoying themselves. However, Christmas still turned out to be a wonderful time. As I put in my Christmas letter, "Be close to the ones you love this Christmas, and love the ones you can't be close to."
Monday, December 26, 2005
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Planned Obsolescence
I firmly believe certain industries take into account planned obsolescence of their product when determining its minimum lifespan. Computers are a perfect example. You've all heard the jokes about how you could go to the store and purchase the highest grade, top of the line, most zeros in the cost computer. By the time that you get it home, set up, plugged in, and running; they've released a newer, faster, easier to use model. This fact has obviously contributed to the computer industries decisions on lifespan of the materials.
Take my computer for example. You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything since the initial night I decided to join the blogger world. There is a justified reason. I am just now able to use my computer. We purchased this new model about 3 years ago. In previous cases, we had used old obsolete computers that relatives had given us. We may have added bits of hardware here, reprogrammed software there. Well we had finally had enough. We went out and purchased a moderately top of the line retail computer. It had bells, it had whistles. It could store as much junk as we wanted. There was one recognized risk however. A family member warned us about the model we purchased. "It's a great computer, but after about 3 years it begins to fall apart."
Well, you could set your calendar by the 3 years it took this computer to start falling apart. First was the hard drive. Usually when you lose a hard drive you think virus, software problem. No, my hard drive cracked. I mean cracked physically, as in broken, as in broken beyond repair. Almost 3 years to the day after we bought the computer. After a while of waiting for a friend to repair it, we finally got it back. Of course it will never be the same computer. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my wife's name spelled correctly in her profile.
But then, the other night topped the cake. As I sat down to add to my newest endeavor. I couldn't turn on my monitor. It hadn't come unplugged, it wasn't bugging out. The power button had pushed into the housing. It simply broke, physically. So it took me 3 days to take the monitor apart, glue the PLASTIC button back into the housing, and then put the housing back together.
Now I sit typing this long rendition of why I think computer manufacturers know that most people won't keep their computers more than 3 years. And those that will, won't be able to because they'll be in pieces. So next time you make a large purchase, be sure to think about how long you plan on keeping the product. Then wonder if the product plans on keeping you that long.
Take my computer for example. You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything since the initial night I decided to join the blogger world. There is a justified reason. I am just now able to use my computer. We purchased this new model about 3 years ago. In previous cases, we had used old obsolete computers that relatives had given us. We may have added bits of hardware here, reprogrammed software there. Well we had finally had enough. We went out and purchased a moderately top of the line retail computer. It had bells, it had whistles. It could store as much junk as we wanted. There was one recognized risk however. A family member warned us about the model we purchased. "It's a great computer, but after about 3 years it begins to fall apart."
Well, you could set your calendar by the 3 years it took this computer to start falling apart. First was the hard drive. Usually when you lose a hard drive you think virus, software problem. No, my hard drive cracked. I mean cracked physically, as in broken, as in broken beyond repair. Almost 3 years to the day after we bought the computer. After a while of waiting for a friend to repair it, we finally got it back. Of course it will never be the same computer. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my wife's name spelled correctly in her profile.
But then, the other night topped the cake. As I sat down to add to my newest endeavor. I couldn't turn on my monitor. It hadn't come unplugged, it wasn't bugging out. The power button had pushed into the housing. It simply broke, physically. So it took me 3 days to take the monitor apart, glue the PLASTIC button back into the housing, and then put the housing back together.
Now I sit typing this long rendition of why I think computer manufacturers know that most people won't keep their computers more than 3 years. And those that will, won't be able to because they'll be in pieces. So next time you make a large purchase, be sure to think about how long you plan on keeping the product. Then wonder if the product plans on keeping you that long.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Time Adjustment
I've noticed over the last year. My nights have gotten longer. In past years, midnight was a time occasionally reserved for a late night movie. Now it's the time to get my work done. Everyone has gone to bed. I sit at the computer doing this or that. I'm out cleaning the garage. I'm just sitting around enjoying a quite house void of a big purple dinosaur dancing and singing on the television. Or tonight, I'm nursing my printer along as it spews out my long overdue Christmas Letters that I was up until 2 am last night typing.
I love and adore my son. I love and adore my family. It's just interesting the time we chose to find time for ourselves. Well, printing is finished. My son is stirring in the monitor. My wife is asleep with her alarm set to go off in 5 hours, and I'm ready to make another pot of coffee. That is my cue to tip toe up to bed and hope she doesn't look at the clock when I plop into bed and go to sleep. Fatherhood is definitely a new experience. One well worth it.
I love and adore my son. I love and adore my family. It's just interesting the time we chose to find time for ourselves. Well, printing is finished. My son is stirring in the monitor. My wife is asleep with her alarm set to go off in 5 hours, and I'm ready to make another pot of coffee. That is my cue to tip toe up to bed and hope she doesn't look at the clock when I plop into bed and go to sleep. Fatherhood is definitely a new experience. One well worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)