Old Fashioned - or just different? (part 4)

A friend and I were reminiscing about days gone by - when we were in that dangerous teenage phase (i.e. driver licenses) when I realized that one of things that I am trying to hold onto are the things that I enjoyed growing up.

(I still find it hard to believe that this year is my 20th High School reunion. I am going to it - but I am not trying to lose weight or re-grow hair ahead of it)

But one of the things that I have done - is to search out books that I enjoyed reading back then - and if I don't have them - add them to my collection and read. Maybe once or twice - sometimes over and over again. My home-office - has nearly floor to ceiling bookcases on the only two walls it has. And they are basically full - of mostly paperbacks, but a couple of rows of hardbacks. And the Office Manager (wife) has said - no double stacking. So my space has reached its limit.

So you wonder where this is all going? How does it relate to 'Old Fashioned?'

Well - a couple of the books I had bought about a year ago - included CD's with previous books in those series - Star Wars and Star Trek - as PDF's on the CD.

- "Why do you want to read a book on your computer?"

- Well - why do you want to listen to a song or watch a movie on your PC?

- Because you are addicted to your PC - and can't stand to move away from it for any longer than necessary.

And you can read the book on a PDA (damn - I love Adobe Acrobat) - in the middle of a meeting - when you really don't need to be paying attention.

DISCLAIMER - read a book on your PDA in the middle of your BOSS's meeting - AT YOUR OWN RISK. Just because someone told you that you could do it on-line - doesn't mean that it is right. Or have you given your personal info to that African banker yet - in hopes that he will send you the money he has been able to smuggle out of the country under your name? HA! HA! HA!

So - what is the REAL advantage of having books as PDF - portability and storage. How much space does 13 paperbacks take up? How much does one CD? For that matter - how much space do 13 PDF files take up? Give up? 39 MB. I put the whole set on my SD card - in my test PDA - and have the whole set ready to be perused in the middle of a boring meeting.

But - what about when you don't have power - excellent point. I'll take a paperback over PDF file - esp on a long flight - stuck back in coach where they don't have power outlets.

BTW - if you want to try out PDF reading - look for this book - Star Trek: New Frontiers - Stone and Anvil (by Peter David). This was the one I bought and it came w/ the bonus CD (of all of the previous books in the series). Peter David is an excellent Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer - who has dabbled here and there, and created this whole 'sector' if you will - in Star Trek as his playland.

Traveling for Work

I think this week - when I am flying back East to take care of some server moves - is going to be my first true test of how well I do as a Road Warrior.

My plans didn't firm up until earlier last week - and there weren't any problems booking flights or hotel rooms. Silly me. I shouldn't assume that everything is taken care of - until I actually have a seat assigned to me. I went to check in this afternoon (for my 9am flight) to find that the web wouldn't let me. Uh oh....

Never a good sign - if the automated on-line system can't process the reservation/check-in - it usually means that something is wrong - like the plane has changed (different seat layout or fewer seats), or that there isn't a seat available.

Login to the corporate travel system - and see if I can pull up a seat map from my reservation. NO. OK - next step - go directly to the airline - and try to buy ANOTHER seat on the same flight (this is the only way to see how full the flights are these days). NOT GOOD. There is ONE seat left unassigned - and that is an exit row - middle. On this airline - the exit row seats are assigned at check-in - and only to Frequent Flyers.

So - looks like I better try back later tonight to see if the system has released the hold - or plan on getting to the airport early tomorrow morning - to try to have the earlier check-in time for the flight.

And the best part of this whole fiasco in the making is - that I still have to change planes to get to my interim destination (and then drive 90 mins to get where I need to be).

Happy Happy Joy Joy