Sand storm
Sometimes the wind blows sand storms to Buraimi. I am in the middle of the desert so that seems to be normal. For me this a totally new experience since I have never lived in the middle of the desert before. This morning for example I woke up and heard a heavy wind outside. I went to the kitchen to make some tea and discovered that everything was very dusty. This is very normal if you live in a house with windows and doors that are not meant to shut as they would if isolation against the cold would be needed. I went to close all the windows and doors in the house because I know if something is left open there will be a lot to clean. Since little dunes grow in front of all the doors that lead outside, the house needs to be cleaned after a sand storm anyway-but still.
So I was sitting in the kitchen with my computer near the window and after a while I realized that the dust and sand is still coming into the room. My touch pad was very dusty and on the top side of my netbook I could see red sand dust:) The next time I switched on the computer it sounded very funny as if it had swallowed lots of sand… We will see what happens, I saved my data today. It seems like a tough book would be very helpful now- but actually is to heavy to transport-
The nice thing about sand storms is that you can see a lot of “American Beauty” moments outside. Things, especially plastic bags, are flying everywhere. So today I decided to stay inside and enjoy the view.
Oh dear, computers really don’t like sand or dust very much. Esfahan is also really dusty (but probably not as bad as where you are).
Here is a trick to try … Buy a towel, a bath towel, and wrap your computer in it when you are not using it. I do this even in Germany. Keeps it from getting dusty (or wet, when I water the plants). Should keep the sand out fairly well. And when the towel gets too sandy, you can wash it …
Also be careful with your USB sticks. They don’t like sand either. Good to keep those in plastic baggies when not using or when carrying them around.
Also there is a service, called drop box (perhaps you already know of it) that allows you to sync your hard drive to an online storage spot. I learned about this last week. I tend not to use my hard drive, only USB sticks, but I have backed up some of the more important files on there, just in case …
I used a youtube tutorial on how to clean a laptop and now the computer sounds normal again but I will definitely take more care now.