The Digital Dumps

Yesterday my husband commented that I needed to clean out the archived files on my computer because I was close to maxing out my storage. Oh, joy.

Last week he commented that my filing system on the computer was a mess, which it is, because I didn't always know what I was doing when I downloaded or saved things. And now that I know, I sometimes forget.  He said I should fix it. Oh, joy. Oh, joy.

The first fix isn't difficult, even for me. It's just tedious. Almost unbearably so. And I don't think I can do it while watching an old movie, because once it's deleted and I've emptied that tiny but capacious trash can, it's gone. I can't risk it. Much of what I archive I end up needing and as long s I can search for it, I'm okay. But I can't get rid of things willy-nilly. I'm going to have to pay attention.

The files and other saved things are a totally different matter. Especially the downloads. There are a lot of repetitions because when someone sends me something, sometimes it take a few tries to open the file, but somehow all the tries are saved. And lots of times I just opened it again when I wanted to re-watch a grandkid doing something unbelievably cute. I'm not sure how to find it again.

I know that is downright pathetic. I'm sure that with several tutoring sessions by someone who knows more than I do, possibly the neighbor's 12-year-old, I could get better at dealing with all of this.  I'd have to take careful notes since there's often long enough between doing some of these things that I forget the How To.

But the idea of going back and cleaning up the mess that exists from years and years of  doing it wrong makes me want to cry.

Probably I'll go with my Scarlett O'Hara shtick and think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow, in this case, meaning possibly sometime in September, because my summer calendar got filled up so fast my head is still spinning.

Maybe I'll just run away to an aboriginal tribe that is struggling to figure out written language. I could really shine there!