Category: Computers
On my last trip of the summer, I brought along my latest travel buddy: the Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger.
It includes three AC outlets and two USB outlets. That means you only need to find one free outlet at an airport or in your hotel room, and then recharge five devices. Plus, as the name says, it’s got a surge protector built in.
We visited our daughter at camp this past weekend. It’s a performing arts camp, and there are performances at the end of each 3-week session. She is attending for 9 weeks, so including the trip to drive her there, that means four round-trips this summer. (Two down, two to go.)
It’s about a 3-hour drive each way, and since we are among those uncool types who play an iPod full of show tunes and sing along, the time passes quickly. But in addition to the iPod, I need to bring along a cord to connect the iPod to the rental car’s sound system, as well as a way to recharge the iPod so that it has enough juice to last both ways. I also need to bring along my EZ Pass so that we can easily navigate the tolls. (Not to mention our camera and Flip video to capture my daughter’s circus routines!)
After five and a half years of helping clients with their clutter, I have gotten accustomed to encountering what I call the Computer Graveyard.
Here’s the scenario. You get a new computer, and you start using it. You don’t want to get rid of the old computer just yet, just in case something malfunctions on the new one, so you put the old one on the floor next to your desk. Days go by, then weeks, then months, and the old computer continues to sit on your floor, despite the fact that the new one is working perfectly well. You barely even notice it’s there — it has become part of the decor.
Repeat the same scenario three or four years later when you get another new computer, and now you’ve got TWO computers on the floor, plus maybe one you brought home from work that you don’t use anymore. There they sit, like little tombstones. Voilà! You’ve got a Computer Graveyard.
In 1842, Tennyson wrote, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” Were Tennyson writing today, he would have to change that from “love” to “recycling”, based on the number of spring recycling events going on!
Sharon Lowenheim, MBA, MSE, Certified Professional Organizer®, spent 25 years working for three of the world’s largest corporations. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and did her graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Masters degree in Computer Science as well as an MBA from the Wharton School. Since founding Organizing Goddess, Inc., in 2006, she has taught organizing skills to accountants, business coaches, designers, doctors, entrepreneurs, financial advisors, health & fitness professionals, homemakers, insurance agents, lawyers, retirees, salespeople, social workers, students, writers, teachers, tour guides, and others.
