Clicking the light switch turns on the water...

Errrr, that headline needs some explanation. The following epistle explains how an early computer adopter could find room in his life in 2006 for an MSNTV2 device. So, here you go...

It's true I was on the net before Al Gore invented it . For that matter, I was using some hard-wired computers before I bought my first 8086 PC back in the 1970's and later upgraded to an 8088. The latter model had turbo mode! Imagine that! Press a button on the front panel and you'd get a nosebleed from the sudden speed boost from 4 MHz to 8 MHz. Blah blah blah. Please forgive my moment of nostalgia. That was then, and this is now.

More to the point, I'm one-off -- or even two-off -- when it comes to my being part of anything that is mainstream. Oh, I think I'm a pleasant enough person, and I like people, but I'm also reserved and UNopionated about the day-to-day affairs of life. For me, excitement exists in the land of geekdom and innovation. Bring on the new stuff!!!

Better yet, reinvent and improve the old stuff. I can't get enough of it. What really thrills me is to adopt a technology and apply my own twist to it. In my house, when you turn on the light switch, it may very well turn on the water .

It's a fact that I have wanted to buy every electronic toy/device/computer that came out since the mid '70s. When I could afford to, I bought many of them. Except for games. I'm so afraid of going into that strata of unreality (or reality). I already know that games are my Waterloo, just waiting to happen. When that time comes, I'll become hopelessly addicted and that will be my last electronic frontier to conquer. I can see it now. I'll buy an Xbox and I'll be sitting on the front porch of the resthome playing games when I unwittingly rock off the porch and break my neck. Lord, please help me to avoid computer games. I don't want to go out of this life with a joystick in my hand. That sounds vulgar. Let me try again. Lord, please help me to choose my games carefully .

Finally, I'm getting to the point. This weekend I purchased an MSNTV2 device and hooked it to my home network and my TV. I love it! I don't know how that can be, but I love it. Yes, it occupies a very small part of my geekdom, but I really appreciate that part. I don't have to think about anything when I use it. I just lie in bed and play on the net while using my wireless keyboard. No mouse needed. A blind person could operate it easily. There's no hassle whatsoever. I don't have to feed it anti-virus software, anti-popup software, anti-cookie software, nothing. For someone like me who wakes up in the middle of the night, say around 2:30 a.m. or so, it's a perfect fit. I find that I am able to check a few things on the net and before I know it I'm getting drowsy again and I've fallen back asleep. I tried sleeping with my laptop, but it only served to wake me up. Your mileage may vary.

I find that the device is finding more and more ways to fit into my life. In recent posts, I indicated I had gotten rid of cable TV. This gadget fills that void. In the evening, I come home, turn on my desktop PC, and also turn on the MSNTV2 device and listen/watch the top news videos of the day. I never have a problem with the signal. It's always crystal clear since it outputs to my TV. I get the weather, the latest headlines, and everything I want to check out without having to sit and listen to some TV newsperson drone on and on until I'm depressed beyond belief. In the morning, I click it on and listen to music on internet radio stations. Even as I write this I have it playing some nice classical music in the background. It gives me a sense of control in my life. "The most elegant solutions are the simplest solutions." I'm not sure who said that, but it's true.

When you turn it on, it's almost an instant-on. There's no bootup sequence or popup hassles from vendors pestering you to download the latest upgrade. While I always thought this was the product I would buy a grandparent who wasn't computer savvy, I find that it fits beautifully into my geekdom and has already achieved an honored status. It sits proudly next to the Mac, the Vaio and the Compaq.

My next adventure with it involves making a multimedia business video which I will save to a jump drive. I plan to take the device to work, plug in the jump drive, connect the overhead projector and give my presentation. It has a really cool remote control as well as the usual wireless keyboard.

Somehow this sounds like an infomercial . It definitely isn't. I just thought I'd share my thoughts. While I wouldn't recommend it as a primary computing resource, I do recommend it for anyone who likes comfort and wants to drift away from the stresses of life in 2006. It's totally hassle-free.

That said, whatever happened to small form factor PCs for cars? I guess that's another post.

Thanks Grandpa T...

A Letter to Grandpa T...

Although you have been gone from this dimension of life for many years now, I want to tell you that you gave me the confidence to survive by expressing your belief in me when I was a small child.

I'm almost as old now as you were when you used to hold me on your knee and tell me scary stories about hunting bears in the woods. In those days, all the dozens of other grandchildren were afraid of you, but we were always friends. I remember it as if it were yesterday. In fact, you were my first friend in this life. In all the time since, I have never had a better friend.

I just want to take this moment to say thanks for believing in me, for saying that I was a fine boy and for looking out for me in those early days of my childhood when I had no parents. I feel as close to you now as I did all those years ago.

I don't know how it is that the rest of the family didn't see your merits as clearly as I did. I guess they didn't know you. We had a special bond.

As a kid, I recall your being strong, your being a character, and your driving the car really fast. I remember you didn't put up with bull, and you walked alone for the most part. Yet, you always made time for me, and you always let me know that I was worthy, that I was a fine boy, and that I was going to be somebody, someday.

Looking back over my life I realize that you never gave me any instructions whatsoever regarding what I should or should not do. You left that up to me. You merely championed who I was as a person. In that little small town where you lived, people always used to tell me I was my grandfather's favorite grandchild. At the time, that didn't mean too much. I just figured it was adults being goofy. I now know they were telling the truth.

Although I don't suppose I turned out to be "somebody" in the grand scheme of things, if you were here now, I'm sure you would be telling people that I was somebody.

Thanks grandpa ... for everything ... for believing in me when nobody else did.

January 2006 - It is well with my soul...

After completing my first full 5-day work week in 2006, I am thrilled to begin my weekend.

May god bless all of us in our journeys.