Blog Master G

I am typing this blog entry from the floor of my living room on my Power Mac 7600/120, which I’ve not used in years — yes, years. One of my projects for the weekend was to get this machine up and running again. Several years ago — I can’t pinpoint exactly when, but it was early on during the Treasure Island years (1999-2002), this computer decided to conk out. It simply would not start up. After lots of effort — trying to start up from CDs, alternate hard drives, Zip disks, etc. — I even went so far as to buy another Mac: the shell of an 8500 (I wanted to determine if the problem was with the motherboard and not the drives; it wasn’t) — I eventually gave up for a while. I didn’t know “a while” would be several years.

So yesterday I transferred my disk drives, RAM, and video RAM back to my good ol’ 7600 and tried to start her up using an OS 9.1 CD. I had a moment of success, then nothing. So I tried again today and it worked. But I couldn’t install a new OS. I eventually dug up my disk drive and a disk with OS 8.5 on it. I happened to have a copy of OS 8.5 installation on my secondary drive that I was able to install onto the primary.

Why all this trouble for an old school Mac that I haven’t used in years? First, the data. I have several drives full of writing, old emails (August 1995 through June 1999), old Web site (oh, just wait for this ideal candidate for my archives section), photos, college papers, etc. It’s all really important to me. Second, the software. Jen and I are gearing up to begin preliminary production on my dad’s next book, and a Mac running Quark is the only way to go. And with the recent move, the upcoming wedding, honeymoon, and other travel, we don’t exactly have a couple thousand extra bucks to buy a new Mac.

Using this computer brings back lots of memories. And reminds me how much of a Mac guy I am at heart. It’s good to take this trip back down memory lane. But wow, does my Web site ever suck when viewed via a Mac running Netscape Navigator 4.08. (My first stab at posting this before switching to BBEdit caused Netscape to crash.)

Here’s the very first email I ever sent to Jen when I was editor-in-chief of Vassar’s The Miscellany News and she was applying to be a news editor (oh, how times have changed!):

Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997
To: jedeane
From: Gabe
Subject: news editor position

hi jen,

jen h. told me that you’re planning on applying for news editor. i just want to remind you to e-mail me your cover letter and resumé ASAP, since your interview for the position will be tomorrow night.

see you in shakespeare land tomorrow!

-gabe

Oh, the formality!