Case Study: Crash and make unavailable to subjects their personal computer. Test reactions and alternate habits.
Subject Number 9: Reaction: Reacted calmly. No sign of panic or anger. Alternate habits: went to Pilates class, did food shopping, read, practiced piano, then subject did something not perceived as previous habit. Subject cleaned.
So there you have it. My computer crashed. Thankfully, Thursday morning, after reading Mary DeMuth's writing blog, So You Want to Be Published, I realized, per her reminder, that I hadn't backed up my writing file in a while. I promptly did. Which meant that when my computer crashed Thursday night, worst case scenario, I lost one day of writing (and a few random files), rather than months of writing. Hence the lack of panic and anger. Thank you, Mary.
I'm disappointed I didn't get to participate in Robin's Poetic License, to which I'd been looking forward. But c'est la vie.
My husband, being the genius he is, saved my hard drive and reinstalled all the software. We suspect that the culprit was software I attempted to install in order to convert wmv files to mov files so that I could post my podcasts to iTunes (if anyone has any suggestions for that, I'm all ears). So we spent the weekend reinstalling. This morning, I'll copy all my files from the extra hard drive back to my computer and get back to life (back to reality).
Two interesting things: is it an accident that contemporaneous with the technology problem we've been watching Battlestar Galactica, in which cylons--artificial intelligence created by humans--take over the world?
Also, I remembered that, while I missed my cyber friends, I enjoy my non-cyber life. I even cleaned (start breathing again--it's not that shocking). Although, I'm glad to be back. Maybe I should learn some balance in this.
So, again, if anyone has suggestions for converting video files, I'd love to hear it. I bought QuickTime Pro hoping that would take care of the problem, but QuickTime Pro is not compatible with my webcam.
The problem with Macs:
I had to laugh because my advice was going to be just like Chris's and then I saw his comment. GMTA!
Theoretically, you'd have more time to clean if you had a Mac. Not that I use my spare time for cleaning or anything...
You know I'm gonna say "get a Mac," so to save us time, pretend I did. Then let's go grab a coffee.
Glad all was not lost. how timely that Mary DeMuth can be! and i am glad that you remembered your non-bloggy life and enjoyed it! (although let's not get carried away with cleaning and "real world" stuff too often . . .)
uh, yeah, no clue. Seriously.
Besides, that-I'm glad that you had everything backed up.
My only advice is back up back up back up.
I've been thru the ringer this spring and summer with computers. I actually entertained the thought of quitting entirely.
I've been forced to do some cleaning lately, too. (bad news... cat wars. oh dear)
I don't know anything about podcasts, video stuff, or the like, but I cleaned. My Christmas tree is down. :)
Reminds me of the week I went blogless. Computer, um, christened with full mug of water. I started playing guitar again after years away from it. And I cleaned too.
It stuck. I blog less, play more, clean more. I hope your freedom sticks too. : )
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