tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38857904.post1970903329206640628..comments2008-08-12T21:55:59.927Znjrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08980758986023344486noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38857904.post-40740038358145446762008-08-12T21:55:00.000Z2008-08-12T21:55:00.000ZThanks, Vic<BR/><BR/>Nicknjrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08980758986023344486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38857904.post-66854958029701746402008-08-12T04:26:00.000Z2008-08-12T04:26:00.000ZBrilliant and heaps heaps funny!<BR/>Vic Webstervictorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18399252941576848951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38857904.post-17704340812441798522007-12-21T20:29:00.000Z2007-12-21T20:29:00.000ZAh, we've all been there, haven't we?<BR/><BR/>Excellent stuff - thanks, Steve.njrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08980758986023344486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38857904.post-43127750363158188862007-12-21T19:19:00.000Z2007-12-21T19:19:00.000ZHeh. Someone knows their SciFi. I suspect Nick you will also enjoy this ... hmmmm ... *updated* poem. Albeit still dated.<BR/><BR/>Cheers!<BR/>- Steve<BR/><BR/><BR/>Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary,<BR/>System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor,<BR/>Longing for the warmth of bed sheets, still I sat there doing spreadsheets.<BR/>Having reached the bottom line I took a floppy from the drawer<BR/>I then invoked the SAVE command and waited for the disk to store,<BR/>Only this and nothing more.<BR/><BR/>Deep into the monitor peering, long I sat there wond'ring, fearing.<BR/>Doubting, while the disk kept churning, turning yet to churn some more.<BR/>But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token.<BR/>"Save!" I said, "You cursed mother! Save my data from before!"<BR/>One thing did the phosphors answer, only this and nothing more,<BR/>Just, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"<BR/><BR/>Was this some occult illusion, some maniacal intrusion?<BR/>These were choices undesired, ones I'd never faced before.<BR/>Carefully I weighed the choices as the disk made impish noises.<BR/>The cursor flashed, insistent, waiting, baiting me to type some more.<BR/>Clearly I must press a key, choosing one and nothing more,<BR/>From "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"<BR/><BR/>With fingers pale and trembling, slowly toward the keyboard bending,<BR/>Longing for a happy ending, hoping all would be restored,<BR/>Praying for some guarantee, timidly, I pressed a key.<BR/>But on the screen there still persisted words appearing as before.<BR/>Ghastly grim they blinked and taunted, haunted, as my patience wore,<BR/>Saying "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"<BR/><BR/>I tried to catch the chips off guard, and pressed again, but twice as hard.<BR/>I pleaded with the cursed machine: I begged and cried and then I swore.<BR/>Now in mighty desperation, trying random combinations,<BR/>Still there came the incantation, just as senseless as before.<BR/>Cursor blinking, angrily winking, blinking nonsense as before.<BR/>Reading, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"<BR/><BR/>There I sat, distraught, exhausted, by my own machine accosted.<BR/>Getting up I turned away and paced across the office floor.<BR/>And then I saw a dreadful sight: a lightning bolt cut through the night.<BR/>A gasp of horror overtook me, shook me to my very core.<BR/>The lightning zapped my previous data, lost and gone forevermore.<BR/>Not even, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"<BR/><BR/>To this day I do not know the place to which lost data go.<BR/>What demonic nether world is wrought where lost data will be stored,<BR/>Beyond the reach of mortal souls, beyond the ether, into black holes?<BR/>But sure as there's C, Pascal, Lotus, Ashton-Tate and more,<BR/>You will be one day be left to wander, lost on some Plutonian shore,<BR/>Pleading, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"Steve McInerneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06746275156790546021noreply@blogger.com