Last week I explained why we do not anger the technology.
If only I knew.
Last night I returned from a weekend business trip, fired up the laptop (which performed perfectly out of town) and heard a Very Bad Sound. The kind of sound you do not ever want to hear from your computer. The kind of sound that suggests your ASUS laptop has decided to start a new career as a lawnmower. Or a paperweight.
Fortunately, it didn’t blow up or start smoking (like the lawnmower…but that’s another story) and this morning I took it in for repairs. As I feared, the fan needs repairing, which means two-to-four-impossible-weeks without the machine.
The bad news is that this puts me one day and one laptop into the weeds. I pulled out the old Vaio that predated the ASUS Beast, so for the moment things are stable (to the extent that one can be stable when deprived of the primary technological lifeline) and we’ll see how it goes.
That story told, permit me to share today’s Lessons Learned About Angering the Technology:
1. Purchasing new laptops for the other members of your household will anger the existing technology, causing it to break and/or malfunction within seven working days.
2. If you back up your data regularly, the laptop’s aneurism is far less likely to be contagious.
3. The success of any my diet plan is directly proportional to the happiness level of my technology. (In other words: there is a direct linkage between computer malfunctions and mass consumption of lemon cupcakes.)
4. Backed up data isn’t as awesome if your backup computer runs Office 2003 and all your files are saved in 2007. (Yes, I know there’s a conversion program. In the last year, I created over 4,000 word files. I’d rather have a root canal without anaesthetic than even say the word “conversion.”)
5. Discovering you have one unused license install on your Office 2007 CD redeems the awesomeness of backed up data.
6. Lemon cupcakes are also useful for celebrating the recovery of data. (And backup computers. And Mondays.)
In case you haven’t picked up on this one already: back up often and before the technology gets angry. Losing the computer put a real hitch in my week, but it would have been much, much worse if I hadn’t had backups in place.
Then again, if I had lost everything I could have justified more cupcakes.
So very true. You know that I’d replaced my busted video card on a Friday and wouldn’t you know, the very next Wed. Kim’s monitor dies :(. Technology components plot their revenge at the local water cooler I think! Down with Techn… errr, wait, never mind. Don’t want to disturb whats working :).
Yikes. Sorry to hear about the monitor, but it’s always the way, isn’t it? I’m just grateful the Vaio is working. Slow but working is better than busted any day.
You know, I just never realized the power of lemon cupcakes. I’m ready to convert to the Cupcake Cult because I have a gift for angering technology. My husband found me a tiny USB that can live in my computer all the time wthout chancing getting broken so backup is second nature. That man deserves a cupcake. Really enjoyed your post. All the best.