« Can I make a difference against Microsoft? | Main | Near miss migrating to Linux »
April 06, 2004
Cleaning up old memories
I got a microwave from my wife for my birthday, to put in my office. So today I had to clean the stack of papers off my refrigerator to make room for the new appliance. As long as I was cleaning, I cleaned off my desk, too.
As usually happens, at least when I clean, I find all sorts of interesting relics from the past. Each one reminds me of how good I used to have it, or how much easier things are now, or about a rough time-period that's now long-forgotten. And I drop it in the trash.
After the desk, I decided to tackle a cleaning project long overdue. I inherited several file cabinets full of papers and files when I started three years ago, and never took the time to go through them. They've been moved several times, from an old building to the new one, from one office to another.
The first cabinet was full of papers, minutes, contracts and diagrams going back to 1995, when UEN was looking for a replacement for NSFnet and Internet was still the domain of university researchers. There were early diagrams of SuperNet (used to be the Colorado equivalent of UEN) just after it was acquired by Qwest. There was the RFP for a NSFnet replacement, and the Sprint response that was ultimately accepted, including pricing. The documents included names of some people I have only heard of, and many who I still work with every day. I took my time and kept some of the most interesting papers.
I only made it through one drawer, and I've got about 5 times more papers to go through. I'm excited to see what turns up.
Posted by pete at April 6, 2004 11:29 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry: