From My Keyboard

From My Keyboard –
The On the Road Edition

BY BILL CHACHKES

May | June 2004
Issue No.16

This issue we will talk about the road. There is nothing like being “on the road.” You can be on the road in Central Park, on a city bus across 23rd street, or on a trip to the Berkshires. You can be on the road from anywhere, or nowhere at all. Before you all think I have become a philosopher, I use the term “on the road” to refer to portable computing.

I spend close to 4 hours a day on the road, traveling from home to work and back, with other side trips as well. I spend as much of that time as possible (even on the subway) with my old beat up but trusted clamshell iBook. Before the clamshell, I had two different powerbook duos, a 2300c, and a 230. Even before that, I had a 145b. Although I have always had both a desktop and a portable system, I usually did 80% or more of my work at home. These days it’s closer to 60% at home and 40% on the road because of my increased travel time since moving to Long Island last summer.

I also use my clamshell at work and at school. At work, I plug into our T1 network and place it on my desk next to my job computer, a CRT iMac. At school, I take a post-graduate level course where all of the students must be online during part of the class to file our course assignments.

Probably my favorite use for my clamshell (named Sir Graphite) is as a portable photo studio and storage drive for the thousands of still photos I have taken with my different digital cameras over the last 6 years. Even though my display isn’t as bright as newer iBooks’ displays, I can even do some work in PhotoShop. All in all, there is nothing like being “on the road” when you have to get some work done.

This weekend (April 24, 25) I’ll be getting some work done as I do every year at this time, at the NFL draft. I have said before that this is my busiest weekend of the year as a football writer. I am always thrilled to see several hundred of my fellow football writers, ex-coaches, scouts, and television sports personalities. I am always also thrilled to see all the people who use Macs to get their work done. One of them is Sporting News and NFL.com writer Vic Carrucci, who swears by his 15” Powerbook.

Many of the photographers who shoot sporting events also use Macs to get their work done. Last year, I had to fight to get an outlet to recharge my battery. This year I won’t have that problem, as I now have three Batteries for Sir Graphite.

So enjoy the great weather we are having, and remember to keep your laptops’ batteries juiced up.