Up and Down Update

*big breath*

Well.  We didn't make it to the Whitewater center.  Nope, Miss Chef woke up with a bad headache, the friends she had invited cancelled...and just when she was starting to feel better, our computer died.  Boom.  Shut down, never to return.

We tried a few basic things, consulted with my dad--a retired consultant in this area--and decided we'd just spring for a new one.  We never liked the old one much anyway.  So the rest of our afternoon was dedicated to figuring out our finances, comparison shopping and setting up the new baby.

Good news: a new computer, smaller and quieter than our last!
Good news: after the last crash, we'd invested in an external backup hard drive--and had used it!

Bad news: because of the odd nature of our machine (built by a friend's dad and repurposed to our use), it turns out that none of the backups we've done since 2009 actually backed anything up.
Really bad news: nearly all of the files relating to my French class--starting in two weeks--are only saved on the crashed drive. Ditto for all my pictures for the past two years.

Silver lining: at least I have two weeks to recover my course files!
Silver lining: most of my best pictures are saved online on my blog!

In spite of this new stress, in spite of missing out on kayaking, in spite of the additional blow to our finances, in spite of hating the whole "spring forward, get up in the dark again" thing, I actually am feeling more optimistic today.  Dunno why, it might be I had to be down for awhile before I was ready to go up.  It might be a hormone thing.  It might be that I decided last night that no matter what, I was leaving work at 5 today.  And it might even be that stupid daylight savings giving me hours of sunlight this evening.  But...I feel better.

And after posting the other day, and then listening to the news this morning, I felt a bit stupid.  I mean, compared to what people in Japan and Libya are living through, I've got it easy.  But I'm not embarrassed...I'm only human, and we do get caught up in our own dramas.

Plus, the real reason I posted that was because I knew if I reached out, you would reach back and make me feel better.   Which you did.  And I thank you.

So I just want to say...Justina, you are awesome for saving Patrick; Liz, I hope Teagan has a wonderful birthday, Miriam I am so jealous of your little chickies, Garrett I am jealous of your nature walk (but will catch you up on outdoor fun)...and I think that was about all the blogs I got to read today.  But I do enjoy checking in with you all.  Thanks for being my blog buddies!  (Now go check out each others' blogs if you haven't already!)

Now...onto my next lesson: hard drive recovery.