Back to the Electronic Records!

Tomorrow would have been the day that I was scheduled to return to my desk in Electronic Records at my place of employment.  However - for the past week, since October 1 - I have been furloughed from my job due to a lack of appropriations - the budget.

Washington has been a ghost down since the shutdown began.  You have all surely read of the trials and tribulations going on here in the nation's capital.  I am going to keep my tongue and not let fly with the expletives and other salty commentary.

Suffice to say, I would prefer to be back at work.  I have been keeping myself busy at home, doing some records management, house cleaning, and taking care of LBA and SoBA - who have been taken out of aftercare for the duration of the shutdown.

There is no sign of any progress of resolving this in the near future - so for now, we will sit and wait.

As far as the electronic records waiting for me back at work - they have been worked on in my institution for about forty years and thirty years ago, computers began to appear in most places of business, including the New York Times.  From scribd via kottke.

Employees of the Old Gray Lady were instructed to make sure that "nothing should be in the computer that isn't totally relevant to the production of The Times."  If individuals want to send "indiscreet or potentially embarrassing messages," they should continue to use The Times' typewriters.

Electronic Communication

There are days that I long for the days of actual letters. I am a big fan of the letters between John and Abigail Adams (they are used in part in 1776), where they signed their letters, "dearest friend" or some other affectionate closing. Those kind of things don't exist anymore. We are a society that communicates electronically (email, Facebook status updates, tweets, etc.). Part of my job responsibilities include providing reference service and it is very rare to receive an actual letter anymore - it's 95% email.

This article, which appeared in the Washington Post some time ago (yes, I saw it online - but I did read it in print as well - one of the last people to still read a newspaper, I know), concerned how to close emails. Gone are the days when one would sign, "Your obedient servant" or "Sincerely Yours," in email, which by definition is much more instantaneous, it almost begs for a "fluffier" closing.

I find myself often using "Best," which is my shorthand (and others) for Best Regards. In responding to my reference inquiries, I often use "Sincerely" as I am more or less cutting and pasting a letter into the email, so that "Sincerely" is appropriate. I will use "Love" when corresponding with Mrs. BA or a member of my family, but it still looks a little weird in email. More often than not, I both receive and send emails without a closing (sometimes there isn't even a name - that gets discerned from the header information).

What do you all think? Be sure to sign your name if you leave a comment :)

With my very best regards,
Brave Astronaut

Houston - We Have A Problem

Over the weekend, the Brave Astronaut Command Console (also known as the desktop computer that I use for everything at home) suffered a major malfunction. At this time, the computer has been diagnosed with a dead motherboard. I am hoping to be able to retrieve the data that is on the hard drive.

For now, Mission Control will be dark while I get this resolved. I'm going to need a new computer, likely a laptop. To my former Syosset High School friends (specifically the one in Louisiana and Florida), can you get in touch with me? I know you've got the IT background that I might need right now along with the recommendations of what I should be looking for.

Adieu, Mr. Floppy - Fare Thee Well

That versatile piece of plastic-covered tape that most of us grew up with is going away. PC World, one of the largest commercial retailers in Europe, announced it will stop selling floppy disks as soon as their existing inventory is depleted. Dell Computers stopped putting floppy disk drives in their computers four years ago.

Hey, floppies aren’t that bad. I even remember using 5¼” disks when I first started using computers. I was carried around a stack of floppies for some time as it was the way to backup your files. My wife, who started a new job today, threw away a stack of floppies partly because of the article, and partly because it was unclear if the material could even be retrieved or read today.

Of course, the new preferred medium for backup today is the CD-ROM. But I will still hold a soft (hard?) spot for that little piece of plastic that held my Word Perfect documents, my Lotus 1-2-3 “documents,” and backups / saved games from games that had been loaded on my Commodore 64 from those 5¼” floppies.

And let us not forget Matthew Broderick’s extensive use of floppies (the big ones) in playing “global thermonuclear war” in the classic 80s hit, War Games.