I’d say I’ve been phoning it in recently, but it’s more like calling in sick. All my blog energy went into finalizing the redesign, and now I’m left with a backlog of five dozen post ideas and no idea where to start. How about more crap I found when cleaning my office?
Please don’t tell me you can’t recognize these, it will make me feel old:
I can sort of forgive myself for keeping the couple dozen floppy disks with stuff from grad school on them. But 10 blank disks? Seriously? Why was I keeping these?
I still haven’t thrown out the disks with stuff on them. The hoarder in me wanted to clarify what was on them first. But then I remembered I have no way to read them. So I put them on the trash pile, only to grab for them to check what was on them before throwing them in the trash can…only to remember I can’t read them. Repeat futile cycle of hoarding obsolete technology until exhausted.
I asked Dave how to dispose of them and he laughed at me. He says I should just toss them…no one can read them (duh, including me!). God bless anyone who still has the means to read a floppy disk and who would be willing to rummage through trash to dig these out. Your reward…the results of the survey I fielded about Niagara Mohawk’s energy saving light bulb program? My thesis? My resume circa 1996? Enjoy!
I stumbled upon an out-of-the-way deserted little filing room at work a few weeks ago. I’d never been back in that suite of offices before and I was curious (and on the prowl for my favorite size post-it notes that our division never seems to order anymore–shh!). I wandered back there on my way out one evening and got thoroughly creeped out. There were 5 1/4 inch floppy disks back there! And a word processor. And an ashtray. I was afraid I’d accidentally entered the early 90s. Luckily I made my way safely back to 2012. That experience actually helped light the fire under my ass to clean my own hellhole of an office.
Do you have any unusable media lying around? Do you think it’s weird that I brought blank floppy disks home so I could take photos? Have you ever felt like you’d gone back in time?
I have been in clean out mode around the house for at least a year. I’ll pick a closet, drawer or corner and be ruthless about throwing stuff out. It’s amazing the amount of crap that we hold on to that clutters our lives. I get energized when I chuck stuff out and wonder why I don’t just get the whole house done. I guess because it actually takes a lot of effort.
Oh, and I would totally take pictures of the disks too. If you’re weird, I’m weird too!
Hi Jen, thanks for visiting! After months (years!) of procrastinating, I ended up enjoying the hell out of cleaning my office. I gleefully threw things away. But that’s work stuff.
I think I should do my whole house now too. But I know I’ll have a lot more trouble culling my own stuff. A new friend who I hadn’t realized read my blog said she needed to declutter too, so I’m hoping we can motivate each other. She even said I could blog about it as long as I kept her anonymous, which I thought was a nice touch. Because I would totally “need” to blog about it.
In terms of antiquated unusable media, we have a copy of The Beatles – “Yesterday” …and Today on 8-track. Why we have this, I have no idea… Probably the novelty of owning one 8-track.
8-track? Wow. I still have my entire record collection (and no turntable to play them on!), but the 8-track makes me feel better, thanks!
I saw that first photo and actually snorted. Oh yeah, I remember those. And I can’t believe you kept them. If you haven’t already thrown them away, then just run a magnet around them to really scramble the works…..you know….just in case someone out there actually still uses a dinosaur that reads floppy disks. 😉
Thanks, I will give them the magnet treatment and dispose of them. I still haven’t thrown out the blanks. Ugh.
Oh my goodness, floppy disks!!! Those are some of the things today’s youth has never seen. Cool!!!
Nice redesign, btw!
Thanks, Susi!
I LOVE the colors. I have to admit, I’d keep them just for the color’s sake.
Thanks, Larissa. They are kind of pretty, aren’t they? I haven’t thrown them out yet.
Love it. I agree with Larissa that the colors would be difficult to let go of. Your clean-out is such an inspiration – I actually think about your descriptions and the pictures you’ve posted & keep posting at least once a week as I strive to take on the “don’t know where it goes” room in our home. We’re still not completely moved in and we’ve been living there nearly 10 months now…arg!
Oh Jill, inspiring? You are too kind. The clean up is so overdue! And my home needs the same treatment badly. We still have pictures we haven’t hung and we moved in 6 years ago. You’re doing fine!
I did recently clean out some boxes that were packed sometime in October of 2010. Needless to say I’ve made it nearly three years without the contents, and was entertained, delighted, and a bit unnerved by some of it. I have become somewhat of a minimalist in the last two years. I threw out quite a few nick-nacks and tchotchkies (or however you spell that). I will never put up shelves upon which these items will live. Only shelves for books to live on.
I dont’ know if I’d have been able to throw away the floppies, though. Rock on, sister. THAT is strength!
I aspire to be a minimalist. But I’m a natural packrat. I recently found a clutter buddy and look forward to working with her on our home decluttering projects.
Um….I have a floppy drive on my seven year old computer. My dad built it for me and he just doesn’t let go of old technology easily. Or shoes for that matter — he’s still wearing a pair of Tevas held together with hot glue.
Oh Kimberly, you shouldn’t have told me that…now I want to use your machine to make sure I don’t “need” any of the files on these disks…that I haven’t looked at in 10 years. There’s something wrong with me.
*Whispers* I still own an external floppy drive. *Hangs head in shame*
Don’t tell anyone, but I can read your obsolete technology any day.
I’m jealous of your external drive. If I knew where you lived I’d stop by to see if there were any critical files I wanted to salvage (so critical that I haven’t needed them in 15 years, but am still wary of throwing out!).