March 09, 2007
Thumbs Up
filed under: Stuff you never, ever needed to know
A month or two ago I belatedly got on the USB thumb drive bandwagon - I have five years or so of personal stuff on my computer at work, and (a) that's a bad idea in general and (b) they're theoretically upgrading our workstations soon. One of the IT dudes suggested a thumb drive to get all that stuff off. So I toddled over to J&R (I feel about their blue bags the way most people feel about the Tiffany's blue bags - sheer, unreasoning joy) and picked up a Kingston DataTraveler 2GB drive.
Side note that shows my age: 2GB = 2000MB. I remember when PJ and I heard, in 1992, that they were coming out with a computer with a 128MB hard drive, and we were like "what would you POSSIBLY do with all that memory? You could, like, NEVER fill that ever..."
Anyway, I loaded up the entire contents of my computer, with room to spare. Also on board is a long term project I've been working on, which I've picked up again recently, which last week it was making me happy to have on my person at all times. Periodically I'd reach into my pocket and toy with the thumb drive like a talisman.
Then it went missing. It wasn't on my dresser, or with my wallet, or in the pockets of the pants on my dresser, or at work. Hmm, I thought, that's not so great.
Last night Lisa called me while I was at the theater gearing up for the show (last minute subliminal plug):
Lisa: I found your thumb.RJ: Some what?
Lisa: Thumb. Your thumb. I found your thumb drive.
RJ: Oh! Yay!
Lisa: No. Not yay.
RJ: ...it was in the wash, wasn't it.
Lisa: Yep. Washed and dried. On high. I was afraid to plug it in.
So last night I got home, muttered a minor prayer, and plugged it in.
The little green LED lit up. And blinked. I opened the Finder, and there it was, all the files intact.
Consider this, then, a ringing endorsement for Kingston Thumb Drives
I like your blogs, your are very clever. What you doing is something we are trying to incorparate into the website by the links. We offer a reward system which you can choose what you would like to do with. Take a look at the website. May be we can a have telephone conversations as soon as you are available
Posted by: Leo at March 9, 2007 11:48 AMWow - that was quick. This comment hit about three minutes after the original post. Quick fingers, Leo. And thanks, but no thanks.
Posted by: rjt at March 9, 2007 11:52 AMI realized that we could now put all of the programs and all of the files and games that we owned on our first three machines (two 20 meg 16khz desktops, and then the power house pentium PC with the 1.6 gig harddrive) and put all of it on your appliance-proof keychain drive. I think those three machines cost us (or our parents) about $5000 combined, and stacked on top of each other, they would fill a coat closet. But I SWEAR, the next computer I buy is going to be future proof.
Optimist Prime
Posted by: Perj at March 11, 2007 12:09 PMHopefully it washed all the smut of that "personal project" that you were constantly fondling...
(my dad washed his memory stick, too, and it worked afterwards -- smelling all springtime fresh!)
Posted by: beeg at March 12, 2007 12:58 PMGood lord. The amazing thing is not just that it could be washed and still work--the amazing thing is that I actually got one of those things before you did! Of course, I hadn't used it yet, and had gotten the 1 gig instead of the 2 gig (because with rebates and a coupon it cost a ridiculous $30). Am about to use it tonight so as to bring some new photos with me when I come there this week. I hate traveling with my laptop!
A note on my age: in the old days I would have brought photos in a cute little photo book. The teensy drive is smaller and lighter...but you can't just sit and look at it, and the photos aren't worth fondling the drive about.
Posted by: Procrastimom at March 12, 2007 07:17 PM