The Art of Multi-Tasking

It's after 11 p.m. and I'm still right here at the computer. But I'm proud of myself 'cause I'm multi-tasking.

1. I'm drinking coffee.

2. I'm checking in to my three email addresses every now and again.

3. I'm listening to Internet radio, a "lite jazz" station from Tampa. For all the hours I spend at the computer, you'd think I'd remember there's such a thing called Internet radio. Nuh-uh...but somehow tonight I remembered and searched for some light background music to listen to as I do my work.

4. I'm inputting editorial corrections to a manuscript that I'm copy editing. This has to be in California tomorrow as promised.

5. I'm reading blogs every now and again.

6. I'm letting the dog in and out of the room, as necessary.

7. And I'm posting on my own blog.

Okay, you might think I'm not multi-tasking, just being distracted by many things. Okay, then you're right. But I'm always distracted, so this time 'round I thought I'd give it a fancier title: multi-tasking. (Wait, I have to close the office door; the dog just walked in, circled the room and left again to get attention elsewhere.)

Guess it's back to just the music and the manuscript now -- investment tips and money management for retirees. I have a few years yet till I officially retire, but I can squirrel away the ideas until then. If I would squirrel away ideas from all the books I've ever edited and copy edited, I'd really be distracted, wouldn't I? Hmmm... another potential idea for MULTI-TASKING!

Haiku for Windows

[Rabbi Neil, perhaps you'll like these...]

Haiku poem version of Windows In Japan. Sony Vaio machines have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with their own Japanese haiku poetry:

****************

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Web site you seek
Can not be located
but Countless more exist
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask way too much.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yesterday it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen
dies so beautifully.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
With searching comes loss and the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao,
until You bring fresh toner.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stay the patient course
Of little worth is your ire
The network is down
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A crash reduces your expensive computer to a simple stone.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You step in the stream,
but the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.