Juxtapose the magic of a successful ping from the middle of West Africa's outback with the buzzing of an old serial modem making a connection. Add in the frenetic flashing of the lights on the cable modem, and the amazement of connecting to the internet over a device that fits in your pocket. Here's my take on how it's all worked out:

Back in 2000 I first ventured onto the 'Net via a 56K dial up modem over telephone lines, and the Internet was mostly built around those needs. Times have changed, and the idea of dialing up a connection seems quaint, even antiquated. With some careful planning, dial up isn't so bad at all. But in a world where the average webpage is now an order of magnitude heavier than it was back when everybody dialed up, some planning is indeed necessary.

Linux to the rescue. It's easy to set up a Linux computer to run a downloading mission every time it connects, and take care of your mail and even your basic web browsing, all in one fell swoop. Here's the secret:

My operating principle has always been: use the best tool for the job. Where computer work is involved, I insist on a good keyboard. In my case, it's the Kinesis Advantage keyboard, which is ergonomic, comfortable, and built to last. Read on about why I love it.

Yesterday my primary writing machine succumbed to the African dust and quickly degenerated from a crash to a failed boot to a dead screen. Kudos to Apple, who made the machine somewhat self-serviceable, but in my case it looks like I'm in the queue for some Apple Service Desk help, a bit of check-writing, and an unpleasant recovery. The only thing that makes this situation even vaguely bearable is that by serendipity, divine intervention, or plain dumb luck, my G5 crashed only 4 days after I had finished a complete back up - pictures, music, documents, everything. So hardware woes notwithstanding, I'm feeling pretty good: I'm not going to lose anything except time and money, both infinitely more expendable than my work, which is essentially irreplaceable.

I've been a backup nut for ages, twisting over the impermanence of digital medium, agonizing over the forced incompatibilities of proprietary document formats, and loathe to commit my more important stuff to heavy and burdensome hard copy. But writers take note - a backup strategy is essential, and when your machine gives up the ghost it will be the sole factor that determines whether you are put out or hung out to dry. In an increasingly digital age, being smart about our data and our media is essential. Let's look at the options.

On 21 July 2006 I updated www.therandymon.com from Joomla 1.04 to 1.10. In about the same time period I built a completely new site, http://www.gotonicaragua.com. This article looks at both sites simultaneously because the latter was installed with 1.10.