Observations on a technological disaster

I got home from school yesterday and opened my computer. It started to load then came up with this screen that was all fuzzy black and white striped static, kinda like what would happen if Calvin Klein were in charge of analog TV static.

So that sucked.

I restarted. New static, this time colored and boldly striped. Tried again and it was colored static only little and random. Not good, eh?

I did a System Restore, which made the problem worse, and then took it to the campus computer help desk. Lo and behold, my hard drive had well and truly crashed. Faced with the prospect of finding enough CDs or thumb drives to store all my information, I said, "Let it go" (okay, I wasn't so Zen... I said "Screw it" first) and let my data be lost before they reinstalled Windows. (Not a huge loss --- it meant the deletion of a novel I didn't finish and didn't much like, my updated resume which can be easily re-updated, and pictures of my cat. Actually kinda heartbroken about that.)

Anyway, I actually learned some useful crap from this experience. See below:

1. Law of Attraction
Do you know why this happened? This happened because I think netbooks are cute.

Gah.

I've been seeing them around and really wanting one, and going, "You know, my computer is old and slow... if it broke, I'd be able to get one." This didn't necessarily mean that I wanted my computer to break. I wanted a netbook as an extra. But the universe took exactly what I intended and started making it happen. Fortunately I was able to finagle in the situation so I don't have to get one just yet... but it's in the future. This time, though, I want a netbook and a laptop. And I want that laptop to be a MacBook Pro. *happy sigh*

2. Meditation
Meditation totally works. Some of our homework for my World Religions class was on meditation (I think it was Yongey Mingur Rinpoche, a guru whose book I love love love love love) and either the reading or the professor was talking about how this guru had major anxiety as a child. He overcame it through meditation. Basically, he meditated so much in times of stress that when he got stressed, a meditative state was his instinctual reaction. And that's exactly what happened with me. The computer spazzed, and I got suddenly very calm and removed and conscious of the fact that it didn't really matter from a cosmic perspective.

Naturally that only lasted so long and I called my mother later to cry and moan, but weirdly, I then got calm again... for the most part, I felt unusually okay through the whole thing. Was tres cool.

3. Back up your data
Most of mine was backed up, so it wasn't a crisis. If I'd actually lost all those novels and essays and resumes and mp3s etc. etc. etc. this story would have moved up considerably on the Crisis Richter Scale. Just having to worry about backing it up, the extra time involved in locating CDs/thumb drives or an external hard drive and worrying about whether the data would be in one piece would have been hugely stressful. As it was, I went, "MY CAT PICTURES! ...... Okay, wipe it," and all was well with the world.

Backing up your data is kind of like colonoscopies and prostate exams: everyone says you need to do it already, and they're totally right. It's pretty easy, too... a thumb drive or two can hold an awful lot, and there are plenty of online storage sites out there. For the sake of your mental health, just do it.

Photo symbolizing electrical crises by moonsheep. Isn't it gorgeous?