Me v. Technology Gods

Fun Fact No. 68: Salsa ain´t fancy. It´s not that they can´t do the fancy stuff, it´s just that they prefer simplicity. Peruvians LOVE salsa (as in the music) and they dance it very, very well. And while there are those who will bust out the crazy turns and flips, most prefer a solid rhythm, no tricks. And DAMN these people can move. You would think that Americans were born without hips compared to these people. Seriously. I always feel under pressure dancing salsa in the States but here, I´m a lot more comfortable with it and my hips are slowly but surely latinizing!


OK, who´s read the book American Gods by Neil Gaimon? It´s about all the gods that the various inhabitants of North America have brought with them (Native American, Nordic, Christian, Asian, etc.) and their all out war with the recently empowered gods of technology. The neat thing about the book is that the American gods have their secret meetings at roadside attractions. Anyway, I´m losing my technology fight. I know that I haven´t had it nearly as bad as Michael O´Brien (ask him about it...scary stuff), but I have had a grand total of 3 (brand new Dell less than a year old) computer meltdowns. As luck would have it, my hard drive on my desktop at home in Austin also managed to completely crash, allegedly irreversably (although a friend brought it down here to try to fix it with this amazing tecky guy I found). I only had about half of that stuff backed up, thinking (stupidly) that because it wouldn´t be in use that it would be ok by itself for 10 months (it crashed in February).

The point is, I really believed that technology was infallible. I´m not sure where I got this silly idea, but even my external hard drive has been having issues lately. I´m realizing that hard copies of everything is vital if you want to really keep all that info. But isn´t that impossible? And undesireable for a packrat trying to reform herself? But what else should I do? Nothing is safe. And that is crushing. I feel like I felt when I realized there´s no Santa.

Luckily (knock on lots of wood!), my Edirol Roland 09 is still kicking strong. Here´s hoping I can maintain it until I get back! But if I lose all those interviews that I have as mp3? Well, we can ask Michael O´Brien how that feels and I garantee that it sucks. Royally.

What´s the solution? Any ideas, let me know.


On another, unrelated note, I really love the American collage artist, Joseph Cornell. There´s an exhibit in Salem, Mass this month and then in San Francisco later on. I´ve seen so few of his works in person - at the Menil Collection in Houston and at the Art Institute of Chicago - but I´m in love. Here´s a beautiful piece: