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Reboot for the New Year
Nise's Notes
By Denise Schoppe
The Marlin Democrat
December 29, 2004
The other night, I chose to do battle with a monster. I chose to fight the fight I can never win. I ambitiously began a project that I've avoided far too long.
I decided to try to make my personal computer run faster.
Yes, over time my super-duper-fast PC has become slower than a snail. It's no wonder, however, when upon inspection I found files dating back to -- wait for it -- 1999. With over five years worth of files on one hard drive, I would expect it to be natural for the system to slow down a little.
So, I began to weed out files I no longer needed and programs I no longer used. Do I REALLY need that 15-page paper I wrote on stalagmites and stalactites I wrote in Geology in college? What about this college entry essay I wrote trying to convince the admissions board I was indeed perfect for their university? Lets not forget those horrid little things called cookies in my Internet folder.
One by one I placed file after file into the recycle bin and gleefully deleted them.
Suddenly, I was struck by how fitting it was to do the project at the end of the year.
As I went through the files, I was struck by how quickly time has passed and by how many files I'd accumulated -- not all that different from my own life and the last twelve months.
I look back on 2004 and see memories I'd really prefer to toss. As successful as I feel the year has been, it hasn't come without its system crashes. Incomplete endeavors, relationships that have come and gone, and circumstances out of my control liter the recycle bin of my memory.
With a new year, I click the "empty" command. I'll not forget the lessons I've learned, but I don't want to be hung up on those things that were negative about the year. Not when I have so many good things to hang on to for a while, and not when I need that memory space for more good things to come.
Just as I save picture files, creative endeavors in writing, and fun games on my computer, I hold on to all the good things about 2004. It was a year of firsts, as most years are.
I look at the person I was at this time last year, and I tell myself, "You had a lot of growing up to do." Things I felt myself an expert about, that I felt I had a solid grasp on, and believed myself to be so mature about... well, I now see how little I knew then compared to now. Of course, as I say that, I know I'll look back in a year, and say the exact same thing again.
Much like my computer, I'm moving a little slower at the end of the year. Too many tasks to process at one time, and I can't quite seem to keep up with it all.
After installing more memory and completing 6 hours of system scans and disk checks, my computer is definitely running faster. (It no longer takes 15-minute reboot. I'm down to about 5 minutes. Go me.) I hope that, similarly, after ringing in 2005 and taking just a couple days of down time, I too will run quicker, smoother and with an all new outlook on things -- at least for a little while.
Happy New Year everyone.
Nise's Notes
By Denise Schoppe
The Marlin Democrat
December 29, 2004
The other night, I chose to do battle with a monster. I chose to fight the fight I can never win. I ambitiously began a project that I've avoided far too long.
I decided to try to make my personal computer run faster.
Yes, over time my super-duper-fast PC has become slower than a snail. It's no wonder, however, when upon inspection I found files dating back to -- wait for it -- 1999. With over five years worth of files on one hard drive, I would expect it to be natural for the system to slow down a little.
So, I began to weed out files I no longer needed and programs I no longer used. Do I REALLY need that 15-page paper I wrote on stalagmites and stalactites I wrote in Geology in college? What about this college entry essay I wrote trying to convince the admissions board I was indeed perfect for their university? Lets not forget those horrid little things called cookies in my Internet folder.
One by one I placed file after file into the recycle bin and gleefully deleted them.
Suddenly, I was struck by how fitting it was to do the project at the end of the year.
As I went through the files, I was struck by how quickly time has passed and by how many files I'd accumulated -- not all that different from my own life and the last twelve months.
I look back on 2004 and see memories I'd really prefer to toss. As successful as I feel the year has been, it hasn't come without its system crashes. Incomplete endeavors, relationships that have come and gone, and circumstances out of my control liter the recycle bin of my memory.
With a new year, I click the "empty" command. I'll not forget the lessons I've learned, but I don't want to be hung up on those things that were negative about the year. Not when I have so many good things to hang on to for a while, and not when I need that memory space for more good things to come.
Just as I save picture files, creative endeavors in writing, and fun games on my computer, I hold on to all the good things about 2004. It was a year of firsts, as most years are.
I look at the person I was at this time last year, and I tell myself, "You had a lot of growing up to do." Things I felt myself an expert about, that I felt I had a solid grasp on, and believed myself to be so mature about... well, I now see how little I knew then compared to now. Of course, as I say that, I know I'll look back in a year, and say the exact same thing again.
Much like my computer, I'm moving a little slower at the end of the year. Too many tasks to process at one time, and I can't quite seem to keep up with it all.
After installing more memory and completing 6 hours of system scans and disk checks, my computer is definitely running faster. (It no longer takes 15-minute reboot. I'm down to about 5 minutes. Go me.) I hope that, similarly, after ringing in 2005 and taking just a couple days of down time, I too will run quicker, smoother and with an all new outlook on things -- at least for a little while.
Happy New Year everyone.
