Floppies, Cassettes, and Video Tapes

My Luddite tendencies notwithstanding, most of my life's work is stored or recorded on floppy disks, audio cassettes, and VHS videotapes.  Yes, I still have devices that can play all of these "ancient" recordings, and my old Senoma pickup and Buick Rendezvous have tape decks in their dash boards. I still listen to my Boston cassette tape (from high school!) and do, on occasion, watch certain older recordings on VHS format.

(And by the way, what is the purpose of the "tracking" button on the video player, anyway?  Is this just an engineering ruse to trick us into thinking we can actually improve the quality of a VHS tape by adjusting a knob?  And would anyone like to watch an Andy Griffith episode with me that was recorded off the TV in 1985?) 

Video tapes and audio cassettes are now, however, my claim to fame.  No.  If you want to see a true Luddite at work, drop by some time to inspect my vast trove of computer floppy disks (yes, I still use 'em!).  At last count, I had upwards of 1000 of these floating around, most of them filled to the brim with writing that, like Coors in Golden, Colorado, I have been been producing from pure mountain spring water since 1984.

I mention floppy disks because, from time to time, I do get the nod from an editor to submit a piece of work that I wrote a long time back (I'm talking a former lifetime ago, back when my wife and I were bachelors).

As of the writing of this blog, I am currently in search of a floppy disk that contains some of the most astounding work I produced circa 2002-2004.  There's a story on one of those disks, I'm not kidding, that could now make me some money.  Like, folding type.  Green stuff.  I just remembered this piece today and, Lord, I know I can sell it.  

Now . . . can I find it?  Somewhere on one of my old computers, or maybe stored on a floppy itself, I have a floppy disk "key" which contains information about the location of all of my floppy disk material by date and floppy number.  But I've been sloppy with my floppies.  Trouble is, I don't know where I put this floppy disk containing the "key", which was probably written in Dewey Decimal system or in Latin.

As soon as I find this floppy, I'll be exchanging my story for a paycheck.  But until then, I'll get back to Boston and the video-taped highlights of my wedding ceremony, August 27, 1984 (Sullivan, Indiana).  My wife will be pleased that I remember this date and know where I can find our wedding highlights.  It's on the same video tape as the 1984 Super Bowl, and the kickoff begins just as my wife was getting ready to say "I Do".  I must have pressed the "record" button the VHS recorder by mistake.