Notable, Never-ending Notepad

As Windows 10 operating system was being developed, there must have been discussion at Microsoft about how to reinvent or replace their old text editor called Notepad.  (I’m speculating after decades of observing their culture and using the products.)  Opportunity for a new name or extreme makeover?  It's so ancient, clean, simple, and easy to use despite numerous limitations, it must be disdained by sales & marketing departments as an embarrassment.  Naturally, Notepad lives on with Windows 10, with a cleaner look (white top bar and narrower border) because it has not outlived its usefulness.  I can just see the exec's eyes rolling after the minor touchup for packaging Notepad with all the exciting new stuff he/she sees as light years ahead of it.  Why doesn't everyone use Sticky Notes (like Post-it notes people used to stick on their monitor.)

I love Notepad!  Unlike MS Word and others, it's lean and fast, opening and saving instantly like the stock McD 99-cent, plain cheeseburger when I'm on the run.  Since 1996, this obscure program has been my most faithful digital companion, especially for stripping away unwanted formats and codes.  One little learning curve, that’s all.  As with our 6-in. ruler letter openers, I keep counting the ways it makes my life work.  No embarrassment about clean and simple at my age.  If I live a few more years, I may proudly be the last Notepad user standing – a survivor of software wars/nightmares, programmer dreams come true, and waves of learning curves with everything except Notepad.  Like riding a surfboard instead of being battered to death by the waves, life with Notepad is on the fast track when I want to catch one, and on smooth water when I rest at ease.  At home on a lonely country road as it is on a busy freeway (carriageway or motorway in UK.)  Sharing Notepad with others, I brag about its virtues and uses.  Don't look for any news flashes or marketing of this hidden gem; it’s free of all that noise.  Notepad text is searchable and easy to copy into any word processor, spreadsheet, blog, or other social media.  Use it for journaling, short notes, long notes, to-do lists, documenting genealogy, copying website text, writing blog posts and books, etc.  As Google describes, "a boring image, but scratch the surface and it's fascinating."

Proof of Notepad's simplicity is in Windows 10 – the missing manual, a 676-page book by David Pogue, my favorite tech reviewer who always makes me smile.  He only takes one-third page to describe and teach how to use Notepad; good news for seniors and three-year-old prodigies.  “You’ll quickly discover that Notepad is the world’s most frill-free application. Its list of limitations is almost longer than its list of features. … Above all, Notepad is a text processor … The beauty of text files is that any word processor on any kind of computer – Windows, Mac, Unix, whatever – can open plain text files like the ones Notepad creates.”  (Windows 10 … ©2015 by David Pogue, pages 328-9)

Notably, the little dynamo is seriously underrated and underappreciated in a cloudy world stuffed with overrated, overvalued, flashy software.  There – I've said my peace/piece.  By 2020, when I write my personal history with 20th-century text files copied by a smartphone publishing app, I will have proved my point.

RootsTech Valentines Too

Every year around this time in the Salt Palace Convention Center, SLC, we participate in RootsTech.  ( I see their big "THANK YOU" at rootstech.org, where one can review the "Class Syllabi" outlines and watch archived sessions about genealogy and related topics.)  Last Saturday the 6th, my sweetheart Kay and I rode the train to the Family Discovery Day, which included “popular speakers and access to an expo hall [my favorite] with hundreds of exhibitors to help and assist.”  We learned some new features added to FamilySearch and got a big fan chart printed at the “World's Largest Genealogy Chart.”  We talked to other vendors who promise to send emails with more information. Learned a lot, passed by the fast-food stands (I'm satisfied with seeing,) and got free drinks at the soda bar.

A couple of years ago, I posted this observation:  "I see a connection with ... RootsTech Conference (2/6-8) and Valentine’s Day, complementary in life’s work of extending love to family and friends."  I highlighted some exemplary classes.  This year is just as loving.  For example, Anita Wells presents “Trip Planning & Heritage Travel: To Grandmother’s House We Go(ogle)”.  Kitty Cooper’s syllabus of “How to do a DNA Triangulation” includes her address, blog.kittycooper.com, where she wraps up her experience at RootsTech 2016.

Remember your family this Valentine’s Day – past, present, and future.  We’re all connected in the family tree, you see.

Heavy, old upright with family history from Grandmother Cannon

How to Lighten My Load Too

It’s been almost two years since I shared my experience with “how to get rid of stuff.”  Now a fast-food lunch break affords a chance for part “too” (two.)  Not a comprehensive guide this time, but a simple reminder to “save the earth” and my back next time our things have to be moved.  (Yes, while lightening my load, I still “recycle paper on a daily basis.”)

During pre-spring cleaning this year, we have donated many great books to thrift, but I was sure there were more to go … in the spirit of sharing, of course.  In the dark basement the other night, I grabbed a heavy book as part of my ongoing effort.  This one turned out to be a puzzle – can’t remember why I spent 99 cents a decade ago at a clearance store on 12th Street.  Was it because the West Group publisher prints 100% of their legal bound volumes “on acid-free, recycled paper consisting of 50% new fibers [and] recycles nearly 27,700,000 pounds of scrap paper annually – the equivalent of 229,300 trees”?  Or did I foresee that something would intrigue me about the legalese inside West’s New York Supplement, Volume 668 N.Y.S.2d, a 3.6-lb hardcover book of “Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals / Appellate Division of the Supreme Court / as well as the Supreme Court and Other Courts” © 1999.

“Simple definition: the language used by lawyers that is difficult for most people to understand : legal jargon …  Full definition: the specialized language of the legal profession.”  (merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legalese)

For example, I share one case on page 380 I just flipped to before recycling:

  “MEMORANDUM DECISION.  Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Stephen Crane, J.), entered November 12, 1996, which granted defendants’ motion for summary judgement dismissing the complaint as barred by the Statute of Limitations, unanimously reversed, on the law, without costs, the motion denied, and the complaint reinstated."

  "This is a product liability action for repetitive stress injury ('RSI') allegedly suffered in the workplace by computer keyboard users.  Summary judgement was granted on the basis of a 1996 ruling of the Court (Blanco v. American Tel. & Tel. Co.,  … ) which held that a cause of action in this type of case accrues upon the first use of an allegedly defective keyboard, despite the virtual certainty that an individual will not become aware of such an injury until after expiration of the 3-year Statute of Limitations (CPLR 214).”  Clearly, that makes sense.

This could go on, but I suffer from my own RSI (now called “repetitive strain injury”) after typing that much on a PC keyboard instead of using speech recognition software (Dragon, anyone?) they likely did not have in 1996.  What was I thinking?!  I will donate this book to my attorney friend, a collector of great books, in trade for legal advice.  As previously stated, “I think this writing is ready, and I am about to lighten my load.”

This one's a goner!

Keepers, as long as I have a say.