Today, I’m feeling like somewhat of an anachronism because I’m computing by candlelight. You might think it would be fun or romantic, but I can report that actually it’s not. In fact, it’s kind of a drag.
Yes, you guessed it. This issue of Computor Companion is brought to you courtesy of battery and generator power, since we are in the midst of an extended power outage. Because we live in the middle of nowhere, we have a generator that can power our offices and our computers. Here in the sticks, winter power outages are relatively common.
The bad news for the magazine is that we’re almost out of gas for the generator. Before the power went out, my laptop was fully charged. So, while the generator was running, I copied some files onto a CD and transferred them to my laptop. This afternoon, I edited Computor Companion articles until the laptop battery ran out of juice.
We turned on the generator for about an hour, so we could check email. While I was doing that on my main computer, I plugged the laptop into the UPS, so its battery could recharge. By the time it was time to turn the generator off, the laptop was ready to roll again.
So now I sit here in almost darkness, writing away. The oil lanterns are flickering and visions of writing in a dank garret in the 1800s are dancing in my head. But hey, when Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, she didn’t have the Delete key.
Speaking of the Delete key, I’ve learned that it’s really hard to find in the dark. It’s a good thing I touch type, but let’s face it, laptop keyboards are weird. If you don’t have good illumination, figuring out where they’ve hidden the teeny weenie Delete key is a serious challenge.
This experience brings home the fact that sometimes you have to make do with what you have. In this issue, we have a few articles for those of you who don’t have every software product under the sun. Maybe it takes 6 months to get a requisition through the Purchasing department, so the software you really need might get to your office sometime next year. Or maybe you’re just starting out as a self-employed professional and your budget just doesn’t allow for buying much software yet.
The articles in this issue show you how to get creative with software you probably already have. Even if you don’t have Microsoft Publisher, for example, you probably do have Word. So you might not be able to make a fabulous pretty calendar, but in about 10 minutes, you can create a serviceable calendar using Word features you probably already know. If you need to get some files up onto your web site, but don’t have dedicated FTP or web development software, you probably do have Internet Explorer. James Byrd’s article explains how you can use IE all by itself to FTP files.
Most of us have to live within budgetary and software limitations. But the next time you’re sitting in your cubicle under some horrid, evil fluorescent lights, you can be thankful for one important thing you generally don’t have to live without: electricity. Power makes your job (not to mention getting Computor Companion done) a whole lot easier.
Here’s hoping that by the time the Spring issue rolls around, the snow will be gone and it will be a little easier to get Computor Companion done 😉