Last Week's Menu: Fried Computers and a Side of Crashed (and mashed) Hard Drives

Funny how God works. He has quite the sense of humor

Right after I declared email bankruptcy, my computer crashed--external hard drive and all. Thankfully, everything was rescued off of my external hard drive which contained all of my music and pictures. In the grand scheme of life, I realize it's just a computer and I have all of the CDs to reload--but still it was NOT a fun moment! And so much for keeping up with email as it arrives in my inbox!

I honestly thought that I had covered my bases with the external hard drive--little did I know that something as simple as the darn thing accidently getting unplugged from the computer could cause it to crash! I mean, come on! Grrrrr....Reason number 1058 I'm not a computer person. My computer is almost four years old, so I got the external hard drive figuring that would be 'enough' back up for what didn't fit on my computer anymore. I also keep all of the memory cards from my camera 'just in case' (yes, I'm a bit obsessive, or so I thought--but I STILL came close to loosing all of my 'stuff')

When my mom sent out a mass email to my Iowa family cancelling this month's newsletter since I had no computer, my cousin Mary wrote the best response: "When I got your email I was worried that it was Emily who had crashed. I am glad that it is just her computer that crashed!" (I'm not getting the wording exactly right, but it made a good point about what matters most.)

Our friend, Bruno, rescued me. Best Buy and the GeeK Squad were able to rescue the data on my external hard drive. Bruno rebuilt my entire computer so that it now has 160 GB of memory instead of a measly 40 GB! So, now my information is in TWO places--if my computer or external hard drive crash again one of them will hopefully still safely contain all of my data. Oh, and he put all of my music onto DVDs 'just in case'....so now my bases really SHOULD be covered!

So, now, I have a pretty spiffy computer--and it's working so much better than before.

Thank you Bruno!

I have NO idea how many hours he spent on repairing this computer--but the first night he was up until 4 am working on it. I don't know how we will repay him.

And secondly, I have decided someone needs to invent a computer that normal human beings can work! (Caroline? Are you game?) Bruno says most people waste at least 20% of their time dealing with computer problems rather than being able to do the work they want to get done. Why can't someone (I think a woman needs to do this!) come up with a computer that is intuitive and easy to use?

I have to admit that I enjoyed the unplanned 'computer vacation.' Most folks go on vacation and leave cell phones and computers behind every once in a while. I enjoyed having the forced vacation. It gave me time for things other than being tied to the computer and I felt a bit of a relief from tackling that inbox for a few days.

At first after my computer crashed I thought perhaps the best solution might just be to throw the whole darned thing out the window. Bruno (Mr. Computer), was aghast at how pathetic my computer was and how slow it was--you know 10 minutes to start or shut down.

Now that it's working about 100x better, I'm happy to have it back. I realized, that as much as I want to throw it out the window some days, it is my medium to do what I love: Write.

Still I got a good (and much needed) lesson in balance and the need to take mini-vacations from the computer.

So, I'm back to blogging and overloading your inbox with updates! Haha.

Back in the saddle again,

Emily






Photo: Bruno! (I made him send me a picture of himself and he just had to try and take one with his iPhone that he thinks is soooo cool!)