March 4th, 2011
All Or Nothing.
Judy always tells me “Oh Francesco you are so Italian. In your country people are all black and white, there in no grey area in the middle.” I’ve always kind of disagreed with her, I mean this is obviously an American stereotype of Italian, but since I got here I haven’t been able to prove her wrong considering that well, I’m actually one of those who are “black and white” indeed.
A few weeks ago I found myself discussing with Charlie how the younger generation relies on technology and he was stating that if a black out would occur we would all be disoriented without knowing how to go through daily life with the absence of out digital helpers.
Well, you all know how I am, in most cases I take critics personally and guess what? I took it personally and I decided to prove him wrong and to prove myself right. I went to get my computer, took the battery out of it, unplugged the charger from the power strip and brought both parts to Judy to insure I wouldn’t be able to use my laptop even if went through a crisis.
Seven days without a computer is not that bad, actually the first couple days I felt like I was released from prison. I found myself waking up in the morning and going to pee without checking my e-mails first. I found myself using a paper-made map to find a bar in Pacific Beach. I was having more time to do different things that I wouldn’t have done normally. I actually read half book, which is not something to underestimate. I’ve probably read three books in my entire life which is not something I’m proud of but unfortunately is the way it is, so…
Not having a computer brought also disorder in my life. After three days I went to check my incoming e-mail box to make sure nothing bad happened (you never know), and what did I see? An e-mail from my father asking if I was in jail or I was kicked out of my home again or God knows what. He seemed to be very worried so I called him. I explained everything was alright. Some friends got upset at me saying that just a selfish person like me would have isolated himself from the rest of the world for a whole week just to prove himself to be strong enough. I procrastinated too long on an online physics extra credit assignment.
Overall this experience brought both, good and bad.
I don’t know how this started exactly but approximately one week, right after the no-computer week, I decided to fix Judy’s computer for 50 bucks. Right the day after that had a laptop and a desktop to fix in my room coming from his son in law. Just this 3 PCs sucked the life out of me for an entire weekend.
Reinstalling Windows XP on a computer with a SATA hard drive and no floppy disk makes you hate Microzoz so effing badly!
WTF?
And yes, I tried all freaking possible tricks you can find online but I guess the fate didn’t want me to have an easy time. I had to download three different versions of Windows XP before finding something that could have actually run properly.
*** CAUTION! Read the following if and only if you define yourself to be a nerd ***
Please observe that the power cord of the floppy disk is coming from a computer (let’s call it A) and the actual IDE connector comes from the actual computer (let’s call it B) where I was trying to reinstall Windows XP on. I was able to change the IDE cable with a floppy connector on computer B but I didn’t really feel like exchanging the power supply so I used the power supply of the computer A. It’s the first time I see a floppy installed on a computer but powered by another.
***
After spending zero time in front of a computer I ended up working on it for more than 10 hours straight. And Judy was right another time. All or nothing, black or white, no grey area in the middle.
And this is what I’m about to distribute all over San Diego to get some extra spending money so I’m no longer a prisoner in my room.
mitico!!!!
Proud of you, although you need a little bit of grey.
“Est Modus In Rebus ……. In Medio Stat Virtus” Orazio
mitico pinky, penso che questo sia stato uno dei piu bei post del blog, mi è piaciuto un sacco.
resti il mio italoamericano preferito dopo i ragazzi di Jersey Shore
50$ mi sembrano pochini.
@ Papa’: Judy dice che in questi due anni l’area grigia sta’ comparendo piano piano…
@ Frost: grazie Frostolo! Mi ha fatto molto piacere leggere che ti e’ piaciuto l’articolo
@ Matti: Io intanto comincio con $50.. Se vedo che i clienti arrivano allora alzo il prezzo, ma prima devo farmi conoscere. Poi non sono un professionista. Non ho attrezzi, non ho un negozio, etc… vedremo!
secondo me chiudi bottega presto :=)
@ Dado: speriamo di no dai…
hey francesco! it’s been forever.
actually I’m kind like this too… no grey area in the middle. sometimes it sucks hehehe
WTF happened to your facebook??
spero che arrivino prima i clienti che la gente dell’ufficio immigrazione o della finanza… cmq anche io al mare quest’estate sono stato 8 giorni senza computer ne internet… ho rischiato…conosco gente ricoverata per molto meno…
@ Gonzo: Facebook e’ stato terminato irriversibilmeente.
- social network
+ privacy
- troubles
+ time for studying
@ Dani: No va beh alle fine quello che sto’ facendo dovrebbe essere legale. Come c’e’ il tipo che da i corsi privati di matematica, c’e’ il tipo che ripara i computer.
adesso senza fb sei scomparso definitivamente.. magari manda qualche mail ogni tanto!!
io cmq sto ancora aspettando che tu mi venga a salutare prima di partire…ASPETTA E SPERA SARA!
stammi bene caro
@ Sara: non e’ vero dai… Adesso mi rimetto a scrivere come facevo una volta! (o almeno ci provo…)