Weekend Update
While most people are taking the three-day weekend off (in the U.S.), I am going to spend it trying to get caught up on things, in order that I may avoid never-finish-itis.
I do have a tendency to jump around from project to project, especially when I hit a stumbling block on one project.
Priorities
For this weekend, I have plans to work on a couple different projects, but in a prioritized order.
First will be finishing my eCommerce site’s rebuild. That has been and still is my priority.
Second, I have the BloggerMade project I want to get up and running this weekend. I think it will take but a short time to do this, and I will do it at some point when I need a break from the eCommerce project. (Please note that there is a difference between jumping from one project to another and taking a break from a project. Sometimes, you just need to step away to refresh your mind a little bit.) But, if I run into any snags, I’m not going to spend a lot of time troubleshooting. I’ll just put it off so as not to take away time from working on the eCommerce project.
Third, I have another website I want to get up and running. I would like to get it done this weekend, but not if it will get in the way of the first priority.
After those are done, I want to return to my other projects, in particular a couple sites that I have neglected for far too long.
Simplify
You may remember that I previously had a short term goal of getting a new computer listed in the sidebar.
I am still planning and saving for a new computer. I need one. Really.
Right now, on my desk, I have five computers. But, I only use four of them.
Computer A I have had for about 12 years. It is still my main computer.
Computer B I have had for not as long, but it is ten years old (I bought it used).
Computer C I bought last year, but it’s two years old. It was discontinued the same year it was introduced.
Computer D I also bought last year. It’s six years old and was also discontinued the same year it was introduced.
I bought Computer B for a different purpose that never panned out. When I started running into problems with software that wouldn’t run on Computer A, I began using Computer B for those things. I also used Computer B for some graphics work since it was faster than Computer A.
I bought Computer C because I couldn’t run new enough browsers on Computers A or B to access a number of websites. It wasn’t a big deal for a while, until it got to the point where I could no longer use PayPal reliably, nor some affiliate sites, nor my credit card sites.
At that point, I bought Computer C because it was used and reasonably cheap and would be able to run newer browsers.
But, software that runs on Computers A & B will not run on Computer C. Thus, the three computers.
Computer D, I originally bought for another purpose. When I outsourced that, I had a spare computer.
Now, enter the next problem. For my eCommerce site, I have an illustrator that does work for me. When he sent me files, I could not open them on any of my computers. He had to save them down to an older version of the software, which I then needed to take to the office to convert to an even older version, which I could then use on Computer A.
So, earlier this year, I upgraded my software. And, only Computer D meets the minimum requirements for the software upgrade. (Computer C, while newer, doesn’t have sufficient RAM and isn’t economical to upgrade.)
At this point, everything that I use on Computer A, I now have the upgraded versions of for Computer D, save for one piece of software. Naturally, Computer D does not have enough RAM to run it.
I could upgrade Computer D, but upgrading would only bring it up to the minimum system requirements. It’s just reached the point where it is no longer economically reasonable to put more money into it, especially considering that the power supply is a bit dodgy too.
Thus, the need for Computer E, which will allow me to go back down to one computer instead of bouncing across four different computers.
I’ve tried to save on costs by buying older and used computers. In the past, it has been frequently less expensive to buy an older computer and then upgrade it then it is to buy new. But, there comes a point where it is just not economically reasonable to buy used, and makes more sense to spend a little more money to buy something new that will have a longer useful lifespan.
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Just realized Computer F should be the new computer and Computer E is the fifth computer I forgot to describe. Computer E is maybe 11 years old (I bought it used). I’ve used it a few times, but it was purchased mainly as a backup computer.
So, where you see me mentioning Computer E in the post, that should actually be Computer F–the Future Computer.