After my little nephew was born, my sister will always get on my case for swearing in front of him. “Hey, be careful what you say, he picks up everything.” True enough, at four, he has already surpassed the little devil I was when I was 21.
Last year, he went to my cousin’s wedding and observed that the bride’s breasts were very shining (actually, he meant her gown). And early this year, he told a toddler, just two years younger, “Come come, uncle carry you.”
Lately, I am beginning to feel that my hard disks, Macs, and photographic equipment are all like kids too, and maybe I should not swear in front of them so much. Or, they will just throw a tantrum and show me some colors.
When my two Maxtors died last year, I got so fucking upset and just threw them down the rubbish chute. OK, to be exact, I sent one of them to three specialists, including one in Minneapolis, for thorough checks, before giving up.
They were then replaced by six Western Digitals, which served me well until lately. One started singing when I wanted him to do some work (what so difficult with your job, all you have to do is to eat data?), I recognized the tune to be the same one as one Maxtor made on his last days.
Now, WD Singapore 1 is sitting with two other uncooperative members of this household. Serve you right, play punk and you are out! OUT! OUT! Another member, WD Asia 1 has a plaster on her that says “SICK”. I will check on her later, after lunch that is, to see if she is really sick.
What exactly have I done for you all to be misbehaving? Tell me. When it is hot, I turned on the aircon for all of us. Once a week, the cleaning help comes and give all of you a nice wipe. When I go on a holiday, you get a break too.
Huh, maybe you chaps just don’t like to be chained together by Firewire 400. OK, tell me, I switch to USB2. We can talk right?
Or are you all just worried that I will do the same thing to the iMac globe? Yes, it was funny. For three years that he was plugged in, everything was working fine. The day after I brought home a new 20in and ship globby to a friend’s house, he just refused to wake up. Can u believe, just went to sleep forever.
See, now I have no choice but to bring in three Lacies. I like to call them replacement workers but they are not. These French babes are sleek, and damn expensive, but more importantly, they all have on-off-standby switch. And since this is a new relationship, I am going to try a different tact with them that I never thought of before – a mix of diplomacy, humanity, welfare, love etc.
Don’t get upset WDs, Lacie and Leica have exactly the same alphabets, and my Leica has never left me since 1993. Accept it, they are just in a different league.
For a start, these babies will not be fed to the brim. I am going to give them each a generous buffer. And since they are so flexible and accommodating as to come with options for Firewire400, Firewire800, USB2, and eSATA connectors, I might just try new positions with them once in a while.
For now, they are also very quiet, I hope they stay that way.
In a few more weeks, if these Lacies prove that they are worth my investment, I am going to be nice and add a few more to my stable. And, I might just get them a new playmate, someone who also have eSATA.
But most of all, I promise not to use bad language on all of you. Lets see how far that will take us. OK?
