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My conscience is clear
Feb. 11th, 2020 01:08 pmI keep a lot of tabs open on my browser (Firefox, though I don't think knowing that adds anything to the story). When I say 'a lot', I mean 'a LOT'. I make an effort to close some, from time to time, but I keep opening more.
I can, up to a point, justify this. Things I want to read, but but I don't have time right now, for example. Or sites like this one, which I visit so often that it isn't worth closing and re-opening - though that may shade into laziness. Ditto sites I'd rather keep open and logged in than go to the trouble of looking up my log-in details (not as many of these as there used to be, as I gain confidence in the browser's ability to remember these; quite apart from - but I'm getting to that!).
But most of the open tabs are (or were) related to work in progress. Useful links, whose usefulness related to a post I hadn't written, or photos I hadn't edited yet, references I had found once and wasn't sure I woud find again. Sites I maintain for clients, where I had long-term plans for updates, or things I needed to check from time to time (because it would be nice if clients remembered to pass on their news, but it's also nice that thet rely on me to know everything automatically) ... A sort of professional conscience, which reminded me of my obligations.
Of course there's a snag. Spot that past tense? Yes, I have managed to lose all those open tabs.
It had to happen, I suppose. I'm pretty careful about opening new windows - or rather, about closing them - but sooner or later one was going to slip through, and next time I opened Firefox, instead of my accumulated tabs, what I would see would be that one rogue site. And I have now arrived at sooner or later, and my carefully curated treasures (ahem) have been replaced by a random Amazon search.
I feel bereft, of course, but also liberated. My conscience has been cleared, through no choice of my own, it's a fresh start. I'll salvage what I can. No, I'll try to salvage only what I need.
I can, up to a point, justify this. Things I want to read, but but I don't have time right now, for example. Or sites like this one, which I visit so often that it isn't worth closing and re-opening - though that may shade into laziness. Ditto sites I'd rather keep open and logged in than go to the trouble of looking up my log-in details (not as many of these as there used to be, as I gain confidence in the browser's ability to remember these; quite apart from - but I'm getting to that!).
But most of the open tabs are (or were) related to work in progress. Useful links, whose usefulness related to a post I hadn't written, or photos I hadn't edited yet, references I had found once and wasn't sure I woud find again. Sites I maintain for clients, where I had long-term plans for updates, or things I needed to check from time to time (because it would be nice if clients remembered to pass on their news, but it's also nice that thet rely on me to know everything automatically) ... A sort of professional conscience, which reminded me of my obligations.
Of course there's a snag. Spot that past tense? Yes, I have managed to lose all those open tabs.
It had to happen, I suppose. I'm pretty careful about opening new windows - or rather, about closing them - but sooner or later one was going to slip through, and next time I opened Firefox, instead of my accumulated tabs, what I would see would be that one rogue site. And I have now arrived at sooner or later, and my carefully curated treasures (ahem) have been replaced by a random Amazon search.
I feel bereft, of course, but also liberated. My conscience has been cleared, through no choice of my own, it's a fresh start. I'll salvage what I can. No, I'll try to salvage only what I need.
