charlotte, north carolina and a new brain

Day 31: If i only had a brain

April 5, 2000

12:10P - Cell phone ringing jars my eyelids open for this stranger in a strange room. I am still in
pain from last night's "spinach-not-fit-for-popeye". Cramped stomach and chilly feet.

2:01P - Clean laundry (thanks Deb), all packed and a quick stop into Dean & Deluca's. Thirty minute ride from Ms. Roth's place south of downtown Charlotte to the north where the Stewarts live. I am greeted by Bill & Michelle and Romeo - the little terrier. Barking away and ready to play with his toy. Clumsy hello - "nice place you've got here".  They have received the new Brain for the SmartBeetle.


romeo stewartTurkey Club waiting for lunch - just what the doctor ordered. that and a glass of milk. My insides stop aching and we sit down to some networking in Bill's office. Frequent breaks turn into bouncing barking toy tossing with Romeo...that dog loves to play. and i think he is USB ready



7:52P - Outside Bill & Michelle Stewart's - i transplant the new brain into the SmartBeetle. While it looks almost identical to the old one, the buttons on the new brain are placed in ever so slightly different locations so as to make my momentary note taking a bit harder and less discernable. my once cryptic right-hand keystroke 80 mph shorthand of "furl, reststip * bug" is now "deul, trestop ^& nug".
It will take me a few days to get back into late night translation groove and recognize it as "fuel, reststop & bug"

11:13P Arrive Wake Forest - My brother-in-law Bill is outside in the driveway, arms stretched in victory. The SmartBeetle finally made it. He has been following along with comments, suggestions and laughter since day 1...and my arrival means we both get some serious time on the golf course!

1:44A - Still downloading my current 3 day old last-updated-via-cell-phone-to-NewYork website. Agility is the only word that comes to mind. Agility is the key.


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Why Data backup in a digital age is crucial!

11:03P: i have spent the last two hours contemplating all that Monday's pilfering really means. While the web page was up-to-date and all that text and graphics are currently on their way down to the replacement laptop, the data loss is significant. Every ounce of actual GPS data is gone. Considering that it collected 24 hours a day for 30 days every 2 seconds, well thats...

30 times a minute x 60 minutes an hour x 24 hours a day x 30 days = 1,296,000 points of data over 11800 miles of travel.

lat/long, velocity, elevation, temperature, barometric pressure, etc. = all lost.

Figuring i have i figure i have 12 days left but only 1100 miles to go, i estimate that i have lost, no, that i had taken from me, between 71.5 & 89.0% of the raw data.

This is not what i had in mind. Of course, being the smart IT consultants they are, i have heard from no less than three of my fellow digit-heads at everyNetwork...a quorum:
"you should've backed it up".
hindsight!