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How much is enough?
Nov. 26th, 2000 06:59 pmGalina finally noticed the computer bag I've been schlepping in and out the door for the past couple of weeks. "Why," she asks, "did you buy a computer?"
One the one hand, she has a point. The place is crawling with 'em. Only one of them is a laptop, though, and it dates from - what? - three years ago and is (in my eyes) hopelessly underpowered, slow, etc. Plus it's the machine we bought for her to use in her real estate business.
"Why don't you use my laptop?" she asks. "I can do without it."
I try to explain that her machine is slow, its hard disk is small (500 MB), its memory is miniscule (16 MB), and its screen is definitely VGA, but all I get in response is: "So you need what, a super-duper speed demon machine to do translations?"
Ultimately, I guess not. I could do them on her Toshiba. I could do them on my Palm Pilot, too, or on a typewriter, or on a pad of paper using a #2 lead pencil. But my ability to do work would be impaired, and I've done enough "getting-by-with-mediocre-tools" pilgrimages in my day. They've never been worth the effort, except to know afterward that yes, I can successfully do the equivalent of building a fire by rubbing sticks together.
I've loaded several dictionaries on the new Sony. I've got a test-drive version of a database-driven tool that looks like it might just double my productivity, assuming I can get people to give me electronic files to work with, instead of papers that depict text that has been photocopied and faxed several times. All of this requires a fast machine with a decent display and a lot of disk space.
After tomorrow morning's telecons, the next assignment on the radar is ISS flight 4A that blasts off on Thursday night and runs for 10 days or so. The interim should give me enough time to get some details out of the way.
Cheers...
One the one hand, she has a point. The place is crawling with 'em. Only one of them is a laptop, though, and it dates from - what? - three years ago and is (in my eyes) hopelessly underpowered, slow, etc. Plus it's the machine we bought for her to use in her real estate business.
"Why don't you use my laptop?" she asks. "I can do without it."
I try to explain that her machine is slow, its hard disk is small (500 MB), its memory is miniscule (16 MB), and its screen is definitely VGA, but all I get in response is: "So you need what, a super-duper speed demon machine to do translations?"
Ultimately, I guess not. I could do them on her Toshiba. I could do them on my Palm Pilot, too, or on a typewriter, or on a pad of paper using a #2 lead pencil. But my ability to do work would be impaired, and I've done enough "getting-by-with-mediocre-tools" pilgrimages in my day. They've never been worth the effort, except to know afterward that yes, I can successfully do the equivalent of building a fire by rubbing sticks together.
I've loaded several dictionaries on the new Sony. I've got a test-drive version of a database-driven tool that looks like it might just double my productivity, assuming I can get people to give me electronic files to work with, instead of papers that depict text that has been photocopied and faxed several times. All of this requires a fast machine with a decent display and a lot of disk space.
After tomorrow morning's telecons, the next assignment on the radar is ISS flight 4A that blasts off on Thursday night and runs for 10 days or so. The interim should give me enough time to get some details out of the way.
Cheers...
