The Great Scan Initiative

(me in ice skating shows circa 1983)

I have only one friend I can think of who is actually an L.A. native, born and raised here. Last November her mother lost her house in a fire. Since home prices are so exorbitant here, my friend, like me, rents an apartment. This works out for her as she does have family nearby where she can store unneeded items. Until the fire. My friend lost every treasured item from her childhood. All her barbie dolls, childhood toys, all her photos. The devastation to her mother's life was obvious, but I was struck by how much my friend, who didn't even live in the home, was affected by this fire. So she's inspired me to start scanning my old photos, and spread copies around my family, so that if any one of us lose data, we can use each other as backups.

Thus the Great Scan Initiative. I have opened one of my six three inch binders of photos on the floor of my office, and I'm scanning four or five pictures, about a page of the book, each day. It will make an incrementally slow dent in my collection, but over time I know this effort will add up. And it's been a great way to start my day with a smile, taking strolls down "memory lane." More often than not, I email a picture to a family member for identification, and I hope they'll begin to look forward to finding my name in their in-box.

I talked to my parents today, and my dad mentioned that their computer "exploded" this afternoon in a puff of smoke and smell of melting wires. Guess we'll need those back-ups sooner than expected.