Hi Anthony,

On 5/5/2016 7:25 AM, HerHusband wrote:
To each his own. SWMBO had something tied to one of the checking
accounts. Then, ended up with a hassle when she closed that account;
have to notify the vendor of new account, etc. Easier just to decide
how you're going to pay *when* you go to pay, IMO.

I encountered something like that when someone made unauthorized charges to
our credit card. I had to get a new card which meant updating all the
accounts that were tied to it. Yeah, it's a hassle, but it's a very rare
event. The convenience of not having to spend a lot of time and effort
paying bills each month is worth it.

SWMBO is *really* obsessive about tracking expenses. She logs all
of them in a database she built so she knows what each credit card
bill will be before it arrives. At least once a month, I'll get
grilled over some "missing receipt": "Do you think you spent $37.23
at Home Depot on the 15th?"

This, of course, is code for: "What the hell did you buy for $37.23
at Home Depot and why didn't you give me the receipt??!"

I don't like flash drives because they hide information regarding
their operating state.

For backup purposes, flash drives cost way too much per gigabyte.

We only use the one as a "backup" in our bug-out-bag (for our most
recent financial data). Whatever you use for that purpose has
to be easily updated, accessible from a variety of other computers
and reasonably durable (as you won't be "babying it" if you need to
"bug out")

I just tossed a (practically new!) 32G drive

I have a drawer full of old flash drives that I've probably used less than
5-10 times each. We upgrade to new drives with more capacity long before we
wear them out. I have a 256MB and a 512MB drive on my desk now, basically
useless these days, but I don't know what to do with them.

I save small ones (512-8G) for bootable media. I.e., I have clonezilla
on one (512MB being *roughly* the size of a CD-ROM so any "live CD"
is a potential candidate to move onto a small thumb drive). I also
have little "utility CD's" (that are, in fact "utility thumb drives")
for things like resetting Windows passwords, etc. I have OPHCRACK
installed on some of the larger ones (with the "enlarged" rainbow tables).

None of these are uses that would justify *buying* a thumb drive;
a CD/DVD is more economical. But, the thumb drives are more resilient
than optical media and, "no longer of use, anyway..."

I also have a stack of 8GB SD cards on my desk from our digital cameras. We
upgraded to 16GB or 32GB cards for the camera and camcorder, so now I've
got a bunch of empty cards sitting around.

I typically use my camera to document some *thing*. Then, quickly
pull those images off the camera (memory card). So, any card that
I use is usually blank -- and more than capable of holding the
next batch of photos "documenting something".

SWMBO is more the typical photographer -- taking countless photos
until the card fills; then, spending hours trying to sort the
photos as she moves them onto her photo archive.

(the idea of yet another "organizing chore" is enough to turn me off
to that! Hard enough keeping my desk, bookshelves, desktop, etc.
organized without adding to the list)

Obviously, I've got a lot more "data" in my archive. :
I've got about 1T of audio/music, alone

Sheesh, I only have about 100GB on my C: boot drive, a bit over 500GB on my
D: data drive, and roughly 100GB on my daughters computer.

Music is "unfortunate". I could live with the original CD's -- but
they are a hassle to access (and must be played on a CD drive).
Hence, the appeal of the disc storage and the effort to rip them.
But, I also need them in a different/special format for my "network
speakers" as decoding MP3's each time you want to listen to something
is a silly waste of resources (time/memory). And, would also require
*encoding* all audio into that format in order to have the speakers
capable of reproducing the audio (e.g., VoIP, movie "simulcasts",
front door intercom, etc.).

Sorry, I meant "backup BluRay drive, backup *tape* drive, etc." I.e.
whatever hardware is required to access the media on which your data
resides.

Oh, nope, I don't have a backup Blu-Ray drive, but they're still widely
available at this point. I don't really rely on the blu-ray backups to be
readable anyway, they're just one more layer of protection. My main drive
and both external backup drives would have to fail before I need the blu-
ray backup.

Yes. I was mentioning it as I have used many different media types
over the years (including 9T tape; having a spare transport was
a HUGE space consideration! : ). It's not enough for me to
have *a* way of accessing the media but also need a BACKUP way
as well! (e.g., my MO drives)

apparently all that red meat is not a good thing

I can relate. My parents used to buy a full side of beef and keep it in the
freezer. Almost every meal was a steak, hamburger, etc.

Now I only eat beef once a week or less.

SWMBO is not fond of beef (understatement). So, any that comes into
the house is intended for my own consumption. E.g., 6 lbs of ground
beef yesterday will go into the batch of sauce I'm making this afternoon
(with some made into burger patties to be frozen).

I'm excited in that I've managed to add beef w/broccoli to our weekly
menu. And, I make a big enough batch that I get an extra meal out
of it! (on the agenda for tonight)

OTOH, I will counter with something like braised asparagus and linguine
agli e olio (not fond of pasta w/o red sauce!) -- on the agenda for
TOMORROW night (maybe *I* can eat a hamburg?? : )

My problem is GOING to bed and STAYING in bed. E.g., I went to bed
just before 6A this morning. And, was up at 8:30A. It's now 11P
and I'm just getting into my "stride"...

I was a night owl when I was a teenager, but now we're usually in bed by
9:30pm and up by 5:30am.

I've never been a lark. When I was younger, I was involved in a
research project that tried to monitor biological rhythms (in this
case, circadian rhythms). For months (and eventually, years), I
carried a doctor's sachel around with sphygmomanometer (blood pressure),
peak expiratory flow meter (lung capacity), dynamometer (hand strength),
thermometer (body temperature), etc. I would sit down periodically
and run through a battery of tests on myself: the above plus things
like how quickly I could add (and record) 100 pairs of single digit numbers,
digital dexterity, etc.

In my initial exposure, this went on for several months before the data
was "processed" -- trying to fit a curve to the data. From the *data*,
the result came back suggesting my *body* was operating at its best
in the evening -- specifically, around 6P. Despite the fact that it
was being forced onto the normal schedule of a child. This coincided
with what I knew personally to be true of my own physiology.

Of course, its possible that this has changed over the decades. But,
I still "feel" like I am more productive later in the day. E.g., I won't
be hungry for many hours after rising. And, left to my own devices,
end up inverting my sleep-wake cycle (e.g., to bed at 6:30 this
morning, up at 10:00 -- did I mention lack of sleep? : )

I've got some back problems -- but no back *pain*. I'm very aware of
how I use my back lest I aggravate things.

My build causes a lot of my problems, since my back arches more than most.
Makes me look stupid when I walk too.

Don't let your knuckles drag on the ground!!

But, I usually don't realize I've overworked my back until it's too late. I
get focused on whatever task I'm working on, and end up paying for it
later.

I guess I've been relatively lucky. My arms will get tired from too much
lifting. But, I can't recall ever having a sore back -- despite all
the digging I've done over the years.

Of course, the older I get, the more out of shape I get, and the easier it
is to overwork my muscles. I still try to act like I'm 30 but my body soon
reminds me I'm over 50.

Yeah, I keep wondering who that old man is that I keep meeting in the
bathroom! He never gives me any PRIVACY...