Dear Diary,
It’s been
a week since my computer succumbed to the “Blue Screen of Death.” It turned
vivid blue, then black. The Geek Squad technician said the crash was due to a
Microsoft Windows failure. (Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United
States and other countries.)
My
automatic external back-up failed me, too. Apparently my last back-up actually
took place August 2011. Should I have had back-up for my back-up?
I feel
bereft…and twitchy. I miss my story people. I can’t think, sleep or eat. (Well,
I can always eat.)
They need to completely wipe my computer hard drive, but
will be able to save my files. After the tech quoted the price—about the same
as a new computer—an intense sound halfway between a roar and a wail emerged
from my mouth. It shook the very foundations of Geekdom. She quickly added,
“You also get one year of service protection plus a free antivirus program.”
What to
do? I watched a digital clock tick down the seconds, beeping like the countdown
clock on the old TV show, 24. Sweat coated my forehead. I had to make a
decision—fast. I could either lose a year’s worth of writing but buy a new,
faster computer OR pay the big bucks and retrieve my data.
I mulled.
Perhaps the “Blue Screen of Death” was a good thing. Maybe I should
start fresh with new projects using an upgraded computer. But what would happen
to my unfinished stories and beloved characters? Would Chaplain Jackson Waters,
be able to retrieve centuries old stolen art and avoid a bomb attack in
Afghanistan without me? Could Lorene, a young girl working as a morgue
hairdresser in the 1930’s, track down a killer by herself?
Beep, beep,
beep. Start fresh or save my characters? Beep, beep. Finally, I pulled out my
credit card and said, “Charge it.” (Okay, I pulled out my husband’s credit
card. It was an accident. Really!)
*****So, dear reader, would you have sacrificed a year’s worth of work and purchased a new computer or paid the price to save your story people?
Horrors. Once my printer broke and a techie could not fix it. It fixed itself when I drove it to a repair place and it spent the night there. In the morning the repair staff told me it worked perfectly and It has ever since. I don't know if the printer and computer got into a tiff or if the printer just was a printers' night out.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I've wondered about the sex lives and rituals of the wire hangers in my laundry. In the morning, when I do wash, I often see that somehow the hangers have become intertwined over night. I'm shocked when I think of the orgies going on in my basement while we sleep. But I never imagined that printers partied the night away. Another shocking development--technology has no morality.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your computer troubles, Kara. I get a sick feeling thinking about it.
I sympathize, Warren. I cringed when I brought in my computer thinking that it might have fixed itself. Luckily, it repeated the error and that’s when the tech told me about the Blue Screen of Death—a “real” term.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteE.B., what goes on in the laundry room at night is a big mystery. And I can’t even begin to understand the relationship between computers and printers.
What I do know is during Saturday’s tornado watch, I kept my computer next to me while cowering in the basement.
Save the stories, whatever it takes!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I've been through my fair share of melted hard drives, back in "de olde days" when backing up files was for DoD projects (I used to be a software engineer working on communication systems for the Army/Marines), not fanciful tales.
Each time, I had three or four unfinished novels and another score of little flash fiction exercises, all of which I felt vaguely depressed about and willing to scrap. Each time I shrugged and bought a new computer and walked away from those snippets. Now I wish I had them back.
I agree with Gayle. Save the stories whatever it takes.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a printer problem, and everyone I talked to said they weren't worth fixing, but I have almost $70.00 worth of ink for that printer, which is no longer made. However, my daughter found the same exact model brand new on Ebay and ordered it for me. Everything is hooked up and the buttons on the printer light up and the ink does it's little dos-si-do back and forth, but when I hit the print button, nothing happens. I went to the printer/device place on my computer and I see I now have a copy of my originial printer, but when I try to type in the security information, it doesn't work. That's my sad tale. I guess I'll try to find a teenager to help me.
Thank you for your perspective, Gayle, and sharing a lesson learned the hard way. My credit card statement recently arrived and I’ve been second guessing my decision to save the stories. But in the long run, I would have regretted it, too.
ReplyDeleteYour printer problem sounds very aggravating, Gloria. I also track down a young person when I have technical difficulties. Kids today seem to be born knowing how to use computers and cell phones. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI echo your thoughts, Kara. The blue screen of death, really, is infuriating. Maybe next time, you need to obtain more than one back up of your important files. I suggest you use online backup drive to make sure that you can still restore all your files in case of system crash.
ReplyDeleteRuby Badcoe