Tag Archives: office products

by | November 18, 2011 · 10:45 am

Eulogy for My Vaio

Vaio was a good laptop. Unpretentious, quick-thinking, always had a get-the-job-done attitude. Back in ‘08 when I first got her she was so patient with me, sitting quietly as I scrolled through her settings and fumbled with her camera configurations. She guided me gently though her setup and made our transition an easy one, with her calm and slightly teasing, “Are you sure you want to delete this program?” She knew I was naive and insecure, so she backed me up, just in case.
Our early years were so productive together. She helped me write my Master’s thesis on Edgar Allan Poe and the scandalous business that was antebellum publishing, even though she didn’t know what antebellum meant. I added it to her dictionary, as I did with so many words, mostly ones I had made up. Vaio was a picky speller, which could be annoying sometimes, with her passive aggressive red underlines. I just clicked and we moved on. We never talked about it, but now I kind of wish we had.
She was pretty too, in those days: her slim, sleek profile always made me proud to have her on my table at the corner cafe or at the library. But as the years wore on, I have to admit, I started to notice thinner models, with their cute little apples and teeny depths you couldn’t even use the word thickness to describe them… but my Vaio, well, she was starting to look a little thick. I know it’s horrible to say, but it’s true. And if one thing Vaio and I always shared, it was honesty. She respected that.

you will not be forgotten

She knew everything about me, holding all of my secrets and compromising photos tucked away in discreet folders, within folders, deep inside her C drive. That time in Mexico City? Ella sabe. The bachelorette party in Vegas, the one where none of us were actually getting married? She never judged. She just popped open her window, asked me firmly, but politely, if I wanted to save the images. She already knew the answer, but wanted to hear me say it. We had an understanding, and I owed her that much.

She traveled with me everywhere: India, Hong Kong, Europe. Quick to adapt, Vaio always found a safe Wifi and could translate in any language without much fuss. She never complained when I accidentally left her at the ski lodge in Innsbruck, or hid her in the closet in Dubai. Sure, she bitched when I installed a German hotspot program in her, then couldn’t get it out when we returned to the States… (but really, who wouldn’t?). She sighed and just learned to live with it. If there’s one thing I can say about her, Vaio always sucked it up. She was tough.

But this year, things really changed. Our communication slowed way down, sometimes to the point where she’d just shut down. I knew she was fighting a virus, but what did that have to do with us? Mac Air was so  thin and fast, I… well, I couldn’t resist. Air and I had been having an emotional affair for weeks, and I sensed Vaio knew, but again–we never discussed it. Then, when the box came, she just started at me, monitor agape, for what felt like an eternity. Then before I could say anything, she just went black. That was it.

she knows I love Chai. all day with the flirting...

I’ll miss you Vaio. Sure, Air is sexy, and fun to have around, but she’s no you. Know that you meant so much to me and I’ll make sure your death was not in vain. You’ll be recycled into your next life, go to a better place, and you can start over again, as I am doing right now.

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by | August 17, 2011 · 1:30 pm

Woolf, Space, and Tools I Like

I’ve decided to put a few fun posts up before the grand opening of CPC later this year…

It’s a fact: most writers live a pretty solo existence. We need time and space to research, write, edit, re-write, think, re-think, throw it all away, and re-write some more. And I hazard to guess that many of us have a pretty basic space where we work. Sure, plenty of writers do the coffee shop thing: citron cardigan-clad hipsters banging maniacally on our little notebooks while riding some shaky-handed caffeine high. I can write in public for short periods of time, but all told: I need to be alone with my little writer brain and my little writer musings so I can chat with myself a la Virginia Woolf to get verbiage on the screen that I’m willing to put forth as My Work. So to that albeit creepy-ish end, I need a writing space that works. Just like Virginia.

"We're obscure and ironic."

"Whatever..."

As CPC is still in construction mode, I’m doing the basics to get things started, not least of which is making over the space where I write. A few things every space needs:

It must be comfortable. Chair, desk, files… all need to be accessible and workable for long stretches of project-making mayhem.

It must be functional: Not my scenario, mind you, but a printer on the kitchen floor connected to an orange extension cord will bode troublesome for long-term use. (Damn you SF Victorian apartment power outlets!)

(For me) It must be near a window: any window. I need to look out and think when my monitor mocks me and the keyboard shrugs as if to say “I don’t know what to tell you.”

And, perhaps most importantly, it must be pleasing to the eye. Whatever that means to the writer: a spartan workspace with staid essentials, a botanical, zen, Feng Shui desk-jungle, a kitschy, cluttered, desktop fun-house… whatever works to get inspired and stay invigorated on the project.

Here are a few things I like that fit my sensibility, which is more FDR Chic with a little Martha Stewart/Thrift Shop Vintage thrown in for balance.

This Retro Camera Tape Dispenser is super fun……so is this camera pencil sharpener.

Okay enough vintage camera action. What about a spa-like tech gadget?

These are perfect for processing rejection letters for your novel… Virginia would have liked these I think.

Other things I use everyday include Mirado Black Warrior Pencils, Uni Jetstream pens in medium black, and anything from this shop just because I love pretty paper.

More fun forthcoming! Back to setting up…

 

CP

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