Computers – Auxiliary Memory

Searching for My Lost Mojo

by James Wallace Harris, 7/17/25

I organize my thoughts by writing these essays. For this essay, I define mojo as the ability to accomplish a hard task. Mojo is often associated with magic or a magical ability, and I consider the knowledge to achieve a flow state and work with razor focus as an almost mystical ability. After being retired for twelve years, I feel I’ve lost that mojo.

A prime example of this kind of mojo is when I landed the Records Systems Analyst job in 1987. I had taken computer programming courses as far back as 1971. In 1977, I got a job working with computers, using and teaching others to use microcomputers. However, programming wasn’t part of my job description.

In 1987, I was hired by a college of education to set up a database system to track student teachers. I was given an office. On my desk was an unopened box of Novell 2.11 with a 5-user license, five Ethernet cards with coax connectors, and an unopened box of dBase III. I had no experience with any of those products. Within weeks, I had a multi-user system collecting data, and I was augmenting this local information from the data downloaded from the university’s mainframe student database system.

This was my first salaried job. I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t blow. My mind stuck to the task. I can recall other times when school, or work, or personal desire made me jump in and focus on a project until it was finished. I will admit that unless I had some kind of pressure to succeed, I seldom finished a task. I usually succumb to laziness.

Being retired has removed all pressure to accomplish anything. Before I retired, I planned to return to school and get an M.S. in computer science. I didn’t do that. I also planned to write science fiction. I didn’t do that either. I planned to do a lot of things, and I didn’t do any of them.

I’ve lost my mojo to focus on a task. That doesn’t mean I’ve given up. I’m just trying to find my lost mojo, and this essay is my way of thinking about how I could do that.

The obvious solution would be to go back to work or school. Those always gave me a purpose. However, even before I retired, when my university decided to standardize on one language and framework, I couldn’t make myself learn it. I don’t know if it was because I was an old dog incapable of learning a new trick, or because I knew I’d be off my leash soon and retired.

Recently, I purchased a 2-bay Ugreen NAS and two 12TB drives to set up a Jellyfin server. I planned to rip all my TV shows, movies, and albums and create a digital library. I figured spending $800 would put pressure on me to learn the system. It didn’t. Using Hulu or Spotify is just too easy and much cheaper.

I realize now I need a different kind of pressure to get my mojo working. I have too many fun things I can do that take no effort. Fear of losing my job or failing a class used to get my mojo working. Knowing this makes me wonder what creative efforts I’ve done just for fun.

I suppose the most productive creative work I’ve done without the push of a boss or teacher is blogging. I’ve had several blogs over the last twenty years, and I’ve written more than 2,000 essays.

I’ve always wanted to write science fiction, but I’ve only written science fiction when taking a class, either in high school, undergraduate and graduate courses, and at Clarion West in 2002. Evidently, fiction takes focus I don’t have, but I can write short essays.

I’ve also dreamed of writing computer programs as a hobby, but I’ve never written any programs, other than for work or school, except for developing a few simple websites. I did teach myself PHP and MySQL for one site. Most of my sites were created from simple HTML and CSS. The most successful site I’ve worked on for fun is CSFquery. My friend Mike did all of the programming for that site. All I did was data entry. Mike is my poster boy for being able to focus.

A long time ago, I published fanzines with my friend Greg. And for several years in the 1970s, I published APAzines. However, those really were precursors to blogging. I can easily write short essays. But do not write complex, well-researched essays. I have a knack for nattering, but not journalism or nonfiction.

For the moment, those are the creative efforts I made without outside incentives. This inadvertently tells me something else. I’ve had rather limited creative ambitions in the first place. I vaguely want to write computer programs, and I’ve always desired to write science fiction. Maybe it’s not the mojo that’s missing, but a specific goal?

There is no task in my life that I want to automate with programming. And even though I daydream about science fiction stories I want to write, earning a few thousand bucks just isn’t enough of an incentive. And I know I could never write anything better than the best stories from a Mack Reynolds or Robert F. Young.

I have no reason to write computer programs, but I have dreamed of writing a program that could create art like this:

And that might be another reason why I don’t have the mojo. I have no idea how something like this is created, and it might take me years of highly focused research and learning to acquire that knowledge. Do I unconsciously know I’ll never succeed even if I could focus on the task?

It’s like the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” That deep in my subconscious, I know the difference between what I can and cannot do. Or is that my laziness rationalizing?

You might think this essay is crying in my beer, but it’s not. I’ve never been to a psychotherapist, but writing this essay has given me psychological insight. I started out thinking I was missing something, my mojo. But what I’m really missing is a purpose to solve.

The other day, I watched a YouTube video that stated various pitfalls to retirement. The first one given was a lack of purpose. I was well-prepared for retirement in terms of planning for my basic needs. But I never considered that having a purpose is a basic need.

JWH

Using ChatGPT and CoPilot for Technical Support

by James Wallace Harris, 6/25/25

The average person probably feels they have no need to use artificial intelligence (AI). But anyone who uses Google to look up anything would probably be better served by using an AI. Nor do you need a subscription for casual use. All major tech companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta, have integrated AI into their apps. You only need to pay if you have big needs.

Being a computer geek, I thought I’d need powerful equipment and my own AI. However, after experimenting with several large language models (LLMs), using Ollama, I discovered most of my needs are taken care of by the free online AIs.

The other day, while helping my friend Linda with her printer, I tried asking CoPilot for help. Not only did it zero in on what I needed, but it also addressed me by name and wrote its replies in a ‘we’re just friends’ prose style. I’ve used CoPilot several times since, and it has always been useful. It’s far quicker than searching Google. Google has become painful to use because all the early search results are trying to sell me something. CoPilot finds just the right content I need and paraphrases the results. It also gives me links to the original documents. This completely bypasses the need to start my research with Google.

I use CoPilot because I use Microsoft Edge, so it’s always available. If you don’t use Edge or any other Microsoft product with Copilot, go here. I’ve also used the free versions of ChatGPT and Claude. Now, when friends ask for help, I ask them if they use Edge, and if not, I tell them to use those links. I’ve used AI to help set up a new NAS, reconfigure a stereo system, advise me on buying new underwear, and learn the rules to card games, among other things.

I know AI is being used to put people out of work – that’s evil. AI is used by kids to cheat on their homework, and that’s a big problem for society and parents. AI is used for many illegal activities that are destroying society and culture. However, AI is useful for everyday research that I don’t believe causes any ethical considerations.

I think we need to figure out how to embrace AI so it doesn’t hurt us. The next time you have a problem, from fixing a toilet to landscaping the garden, ask an AI. If you use AI like a mentor who helps you learn how to do something yourself, it might be safe. If you use an AI to do something for you, it might be trouble.

JWH

Has Retirement Made Me Lazy, Or is the Laziness a Byproduct of Aging?

James Wallace Harris, 6/22/25

Before I retired in 2013, I assumed I’d have all the time in the world to do everything I ever wanted once my 9-to-5 burden was lifted. However, I have done less and less each year. I’m still disciplined about doing my chores and meeting my responsibilities, but the discipline needed to pursue my hobbies and pastimes is dwindling away.

I’m not depressed, I eat right and exercise regularly, and I have a positive outlook. I just don’t spend my free time on hobbies like I once did. Instead, I churn through the YouTube videos or play on my iPhone during idle moments. I hear that’s also a problem for kids, so maybe it’s not aging, but it feels age-related.

Why do I think that? Well, for one, it seems like people slow down when they get older. Here’s what happens. I’ll be working on an objective I consider fun. For example, I got a new Ugreen NAS and was setting it up to use Jellyfin as a media server. The task is tedious because it’s new and has a steep learning curve. I work at it for a bit, feel tired, and decide to put it away for the day. When I was younger, I could work on a tedious problem for hours. Now I can’t.

Do I quit quickly because my older mind can’t handle the task? Or has all that web surfing, channel hopping, and doom scrolling weakened my discipline? I became addicted to audiobooks in 2002 and have read less since, is another example.

This is a kind of chicken-and-egg problem. Has technology weakened my mind? Or was my mind slowing down, and technology is a useful adaptation? I have read more books since the advent of Audible.com.

Here’s another bit of evidence. When I worked full-time, I did far more after work than I do with unlimited free time in retirement. I didn’t have an iPhone back then. Why didn’t I put the same number of work hours into my hobbies after I retired? Did being free of work responsibilities ruin my discipline?

I shouldn’t agonize over this problem if doing less is part of aging. However, does retiring make us age faster? Is technology making us lazier? I have no answer.

I could test things by limiting my screen time. My emotional reaction to that idea is about what a thirteen-year-old feels when a parent tells them they need to cut back on their screen time.

I’m constantly thinking about aging. Philosophically, it’s an interesting concept. Comparing it to the old nature vs. nurture debate, I would consider aging a problem of decay vs. mind. We know we will all end up as worm food. The challenge is to be the most interesting and creative worm food before we’re eaten. The insidiousness of aging is accepting that it’s time to be eaten.

JWH

Knowing When To Give Up Dreams

by James Wallace Harris, 1/25/25

I love computers and digital devices but I have too many of them. For some reason getting old is making me anxious about owning stuff. Like the instinct that makes birds fly south for the winter, aging has triggered an instinct to simplify my life. I’m still young enough to want all the junk I have, but I’m going through an in-between aging stage, where I want to keep stuff and get rid of it at the same time. That anxiety is gnawing at me more and more.

I will give an analogy that young people might not understand. On the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s, Ed would have these guys who could spin plates on the top of sticks. They could keep a row of plates spinning on sticks by running between them and jiggling each stick. Being young means you have the energy and dexterity to quickly run between lots of spinning plates, but when you get older, you slow down and can only keep a few spinning.

Being 73 isn’t that old, but it’s old enough to start feeling I need to spin fewer plates. Deciding what activities I love that I need to quit is stressful. At 73, I’m already old enough to let a bunch of spinning plates fall. That’s depressing, but I don’t have the energy to keep up. I’m starting to lose the energy to even care, which is scarier. I need to decide which activities I love the most that I can manage, and psychically let go of the other ones.

I realize I’ve already been doing this for years, but I’ve been letting activities go that didn’t matter much. What hurts is realizing which activities and ambitions I still hope to pursue that I need to stop thinking about.

When I retired in 2013, I thought I’d do many things with programming and computers. I thought about getting an M.S. in Computer Science even though I would never work as a programmer again. But none of that happened. I thought I would at least learn to program Python for fun. That didn’t happen. I had many ideas for programs I wanted to write but never did. I see that I only programmed when people were paying me.

For years, I’ve kept buying computers and piddling around with them. My most productive activity was scanning old pulp magazines and science fiction fanzines to put on the Internet Archive, but I’ve stopped because of diminishing energy. However, I’ve kept all these computers, scanners, and other devices for all my dream projects that need to be thinned out.

I don’t know if my Hamlet nature keeps me from committing to one computer operating system, or if I’m a child in a toyshop who screams he wants everything. However, mining three computer systems with three different operating systems has become a pain in my psyche.

Reality tells me to give up several dreams and the equipment that went with them. Why keep a Midi keyboard after I discovered I have no musical talent? Well, I kept it thinking someday I’d see how much I could do with Garage Band on the Mac with minimal talent. I’m sure that’s a delusion.

I need to jettison everything I plan to use that is obvious that I will never use. I’ve had this insight many times before but never could pull the trigger. The present reality is my energy reserves are getting so low that too much of them are being wasted on keeping impractical hopes alive. I must commit to the operating systems and computer equipment that will do the most for my aging future self.

If Microsoft wasn’t so heavy-handed in constantly adding features and monitoring my computer, I would make everything Windows. But there isn’t a Windows phone. If I didn’t dislike MacOS so much, I could settle on buying everything from Apple, because I love my iPhone and iPad. I do love Mac hardware, I just don’t like MacOS. And if I had my druthers, I’d go Linux and use all FOSS programs because I admire the concept of open source.

The idealistic computer geek in me wants to choose Linux. And I could realistically pick Linux if I knew I’d never wanted to scan magazines again. Picking Linux also means giving up Microsoft Office. Picking Linux also means living as a computer user minority.

I love my Mac Mini M4 machine because it’s quiet. I love my Mac Air M1 laptop because the hardware is deluxe. And I can use MacOS just fine. I just prefer how Windows, or even Linux works better. However, Linux and Macs aren’t compatible with all my hardware and software.

The most universally useful computer I have is my Windows machine. My favorite phone is my iPhone. My favorite tablet is my iPad Mini. I like Android because it allows for microSD cards and is more open, but it’s nowhere near as easy to use as iOS. I wish iOS devices allowed microSD cards. Buying extra storage for iPhones and iPads is so damn expensive.

I wish I had 2TB of storage on every device I owned to fully replicate my Dropbox filesystem to every device. Dropbox is fantastic as long as I have the space to replicate everything. Selective sync could work, but it seems to have disappeared as a feature on my Mac and Linux machines. I could get an iPad Pro with 2TB of memory, but it’s $2000, and even then I’m unsure if it would sync my Dropbox drive. Maybe I should give up needing 2 terabytes of old files.

I would simplify my life by keeping my Windows computer, Mac Air M1, iPhone, and iPad Mini. But wouldn’t it be more logical to keep my Mac Mini M4 and be compatible with my other Apple devices I don’t want to give up? As Mr. Spock would say, “That is the logical solution.” But damn, I don’t know if I could walk away from Windows.

I could test the logical solution by packing away my Windows and Linux machines for several months to see how I feel.

And maybe that’s an approach I could try with other things I own. Just pack them away, and see how long I can live without them. If I can, then get rid of them.

I wrote this essay to think things through. I realize now, that I’ve written myself into a decision. I’ll let you know if I can overcome my Hamlet complex and commit.

I have decided to pack two computer systems away. I just don’t know which two.

JWH

Switched From PC To Mac After Buying a Mac Mini M4

by James Wallace Harris, 12/12/24

I’ve wanted to own a Mac since 1984, but they were always too expensive. When Apple announced the Mac Mini M4 had 16GB of memory as the base memory for $599, I preordered one from Amazon. They had it for $579.

I love Windows. But my Intel NUC has been annoying the crap out of me with its fan noise. I even went into the BIOS and set the processor to its lowest performance level so it should overheat less, but the fan still whined, but not as much. And it got less hot to touch. I don’t know why, but even when I didn’t use it background processes were always running something. I checked for viruses and malware but didn’t find any. I opened the NUC and vacuumed the dust, making sure that wasn’t a problem. I don’t know why, but that fan whine just got to me.

I never hear the Mac Mini M4. Nor does it get warm. I added a 4TB external hard drive to handle my 2TB Dropbox drive and a folder of Plex movies and TV shows. The heavy-duty OWC enclosure with metal fins gets warm sometimes, but it’s quiet.

I love the quietness of the Mac Mini, but I’m worried about the OWC external drive. The light comes on when I’m not using the machine, and it’s sometimes warm when I haven’t used the Mac for hours. I’m worried that something is running in the background that I might not like.

Modern computers run dozens of processes in the background, and this is starting to annoy me. I was hoping the Mac ran fewer. It’s a major reason why I considered switching to Linux. I never know if those processes are essential, corporate spying, or malware activity.

The trick to switching to the Mac was finding software that served the same functions as all my Windows programs. Office 365 runs on both platforms. No problem there. I use Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and Mac. Obsidian runs on PC, Mac, and Linux.

I was quite happy with Office 365 on the Mac. It even installs Microsoft Defender, which includes more than just anti-virus tools. However, I’ve taken all the Microsoft programs off the Mac Mini because Activity Monitor shows that Microsoft runs too many processes.

I’m testing to see if I want to standardize on pure Apple apps or pure Open Source programs. I mention this because switching to the Mac is like switching to Linux. You can try to make everything work like it did on Windows, or you can go native.

My first big hurdle was Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021. My copy came with a Mac version but wouldn’t load on the Mac Mini. I thought I’d switch to Gimp because it runs on PC, Mac, and Linux. But I just don’t like Gimp. I solved the problem by using the online app, Photopea. It works great on all three platforms. Photopea works like Photoshop Elements and Photoshop, so no learning curve.

Ripping disks with MKV works even better on the Mac. Plex works fine from the Mac. I took down the Intel NUC I used as a Plex server. Since I have so much space on the Mac Mini’s external drive, and because it is quiet and power-efficient enough to run all the time, I made it my Plex server. Even my favorite CBR reader, YACReader ran on the Mac (as well as Windows and Linux).

The Mac doesn’t work with my Plustek OptiBook flatbed scanner or my favorite program for scanning and mass manipulating images, IrfanView. I just can’t find a driver for the Plustek for either the Mac or Linux and no other program I’ve ever used even comes close to the utility of IrFanView.

Also, I can’t find a screenshot program that functions as well as Windows Snipping Tool, or ShareX.

I own a copy of Abbyy Fine Reader for Windows 15, but they’ve moved to a subscription program. I don’t know if I’m ready to subscribe to the Mac version, especially since I can’t use my scanner. I used to scan old science fiction magazines and fanzines to convert to CBR files and needed the Plustek, IrfanView, Abbyy Fine Reader, and Scan Tailor for the job. That task might have to stay on my Windows machine. But it might just retire from that hobby.

I’m not keen on how Mac OS does many things, but that might be because I’m used to doing it differently on Windows for decades. I’m adapting. I can go days without turning on my Windows machine.

One thing that has made migration easier is I keep all my files on Dropbox. I’ve always been annoyed when using one machine and remembering a file I created is stored locally on another machine. It’s so much easier to keep things on Dropbox and I can access the files from Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS, and Android.

There’s a lot I have left to learn about using a Mac, but it doesn’t seem to be too much trouble to do the Mac way of doing things. I am disappointed my PlusTek scanner doesn’t work.

I’ve wanted to switch to Linux for years, but never could because it didn’t have the programs I use to scan magazines or drivers for my scanner. So the Mac and Linux are equal in that.

Now that I’ve been using the Mac Mini M4 for a couple weeks, I love the hardware, but I still don’t like Apple’s operating system. It works, but it’s not what I’ve been using for decades. Using MacOS reveals just how much I love Windows 11. I wish Windows 11 ran on the Mac Mini M4.

I don’t like having an external SSD. The OWC housing and 4TB Crucial SSD work fine, but there’s something else on the desk. That bugs me. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t try switching to a Mac. I’m going to stick with it, at least for several months.

I write this in case you’re seduced by the Mac Mini M4 mania and haven’t bought one yet.

I love the high-tech of the M4 chip. I love having such a powerful machine. However, all I really needed was a new mini PC that was quiet.

JWH