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UItimately, I would prevail over The Receptionist, but she put up one hell of a fight, I'm here to tell ya. Bravo, Madam, bravo. You couldn't ask for a better gatekeeper for your company: her voice without any Bronx in it at all would still command deference and respect. I say "Bronx;" I don't know that for certain, as the brogue I encountered was somewhat attenuated. To be on the safe side, though, I assumed Bronx, and donned the threadbare cloak of obeisance people from the Bronx like to see. Something I picked up as a young person wandering the New York streets at night (just visiting, I didn't want to live there).
Three tries produced the person I needed to speak with about obtaining the drive I'll be reviewing for you shortly. The other two tries were met with (and this is a statement, there's no question mark at the end), "Can I put you through to his voicemail." The final attempt, the successful one, where I summoned a sliver of courage and asserted myself a little bit, would harrow the mightiest Greek at Troy: "You talkin' to me?"
Once I got through, everything went fine: the drive got here almost immediately after I hung up the phone. Trial by fire? That could be. In any event, I'm more of a person for having dealt with The Receptionist.
fire by trial
The drive in question, of course, is the TDK veloCD FE-241040, the 24X FireWire model. Unequivocally, I can say this is the single coolest drive I've ever played with. At first I thought it might be the novelty making that kind of impression on me. Not so: after much psycholinguistic and synechdochic examination and assessment (my specialty-cf. my c.v.), I can say, nope, that's not the novelty, that's just the coolest thing ever. And it works as advertised, too.
Unfortunately, McDaniel Labs(TM) HQ has no FireWire cards or Macs laying about. One of McDaniel Labs'(TM) satellite offices, however, has a beautiful little blue iMac, all rigged for FireWire. There's so much to be said for Macintosh machines; I love them, but it's the love that Barest not speak its name, for the consequences for McDaniel Labs would be dire (that is, I couldn't...