I heard my wife call my name the other day as she was standing in our home office.  “Hon, can I get you to do something for me?” she asked.  With a look of determination in my eyes, I bounded up the stairs headed for the “Command Center”, a place where I would be surrounded by a myriad of electronic tools.  Monitors of all sizes, computers, printers, scanners, input and output devices and cables of every imaginable type, laptops, flash drives, software and utilities for any contingency, a world of knowledge at my fingertips and even a refrigerator to keep my drinks cold, all within arms reach.  As I settled myself down into the “Captains Chair” ready to do her bidding I noticed that she was giving me the look.  “I just need you to run to the store for some milk.” she said.  Begrudgingly I extricated myself from my chair and headed for the door.  As if she sensed my disappointment I heard her call out, “My laptop hasn’t been acting right lately.  Could you take a look at it when you get back?”  My step lightened and I had a smile on my face as the front door closed behind me.

It was at this point that I really began to think about just how important our computers have become to our existence.  I will readily admit that if the house were on fire and you could only take one item with you, (most would mention their kids or a pet or maybe even a favorite old photo album here) I’d be the one yelling to the kids, “Hey, we each get to take one thing!  Grab a computer and follow me.”  Well that may be a little extreme but it does lead me to an interesting point.  These machines that we have come to rely so heavily on are more often than not treated like the ugly stepsister.  They are stuck in a dirty corner and asked to do most of the work while their needs are for the most part ignored.  While this certainly doesn’t apply to everyone, even some of the people that rely on their machine to earn a living are guilty.

My intention is to write a series of articles detailing some of the things that I have learned about turning that ugly stepsister into a beautiful princess.  David Potter has graciously agreed to lend me a little space to do just that.