The taper
Going through some of the accumulated paper piles, this morning, I came upon the original notes for a server project I was working on. A simple firewall/DNS/mail server; the kind you can buy “off the shelf” nowadays.
Except that this was circa 1996. In my workplace (which had nominally nine hundred employees), I was the only one with the “mad skills” required to attempt the project… and I didn’t. I was calling in favours from across the universe, and carefully stockpiling the hints in binders of printouts. I’m sending the papers to recuperation, but the really deserve to be buried in a time capsule.
I also found my “taper”. That’s the gadget with a sharp edge and some seriously thin plastic tape, used to keep boxes closed. For a few minutes, at least. If ever I find one of these that actually works without eliciting potty mouth comments, consider it stolen. By me. I’ll leave you the junky one from my stockpile.
Maybe the fault lies with the tape. Too thin. And so, filled with hope, I joined the hundreds of other shoppers in the nearest box store. The display held dozens of rolls of tape – all the same thickness and price (just north of a loonie), and all from the same factory. I guess some products are uniformly bad.
I have closed and sealed a number of cartons, the better to impress the moving company with my zeal. Since the cartons will go in and come out of the truck, one time, it may prevent box breakout.
