Back Up Your Computer!!!

So the other night I was sitting at my computer, enjoying a little concoction I like to call "lemon drop martini."

Ok, let's stop right there. The fact that I had such a liquid substance so close to my computer is asnine to begin with. I know that now. But at the time I was just catching up on Facebook while enjoying my new favorite cocktail.

And then as I was checking my email messages, I reached to set my martini glass down on the coaster . . . except it didn't quite make the coaster.

It spilled. The lemon yummyness raced from glass to laptop in seconds. I shrieked in terror, then quickly grabbed a fistful of tissue to try to wipe it up. Ugh. It was everywhere . . . on the keyboard, under the base, everywhere.

And then the screen flickered, and the next thing I knew it was gone. I frantically tried everything I could think of, but no juice. Even the little light that indicates the laptop is powering up went dark.

I started to cry . . . I'm not even kidding.

Now, I know better. I had backed up my essential files about two months ago, before heading to NY and MN for Christmas (just in case something happened to my laptop during the trip). But I had not backed up since then and there were things - important, vital, life-altering things - that were not backed up.

I didn't sleep much, and kept waking up to see if that power light had miraculously come on. I even got up at about 3:00 a.m. and tried taking my hair-dryer to the thing (needless to say, that didn't work). I was up at the crack of dawn to call Best Buy and find out exactly what time they opened. Argh - it wasn't until 10:00! How could this electronic super-house not open until 10:00 a.m.???? I tried to wait patiently, but failed.

At 9:30 I headed out the door (in the rain, by the way - of course it would be raining). Traffic was not bad at all, and considering that Best Buy is about 2 miles from my apartment, I was there about 10 minute to 10. Apparently there were other technology-troubled souls that day because a handful of us were lined up at 10:01 waiting for them to open the doors.

Doors were opened . . . we all rushed in to our desired location, three of us heading straight to the Geek Squad desk. Where we were informed that the "Geek" had not shown up for the day, but someone would be there in about 30 minutes.

Great. 30 minutes of wandering the store, tortured by the price of the many new laptops . . . which I feared I would have to cough up the money to purchase.

45 minutes later the Geek (or substitute Geek) appeared. The woman in front of me had a Mac iBook that had apparently been in and out of "service" 3 times already. The Geek informed her that they would have to send the computer away (that sounded very ominous - "away") and that it would be 10 days to 2 weeks before she would be able to get it back.

I nearly passed out.

I cannot be without my computer for more than 2 days - and even them I am hyperventilating.

I was next. I explained what happened (I conveniently left out the part about the fact that the "liquid" that I spilled contained vodka - even though I was not even close to tipsy when the spill occurred). He asked me a couple questions, took the battery out and put it back in, then hit the "power" button. I held my breath.

It powered up! I could't believe it! Whatever the Geek did, it worked! I nearly jumped across the counter to give him a big kiss (OK, maybe not . . . he was a Geek after all).

The best part? He didn't charge me a dime! What a nice guy.

The lesson in all of this? BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER!!! I invested in an online back-up system which backs up my files every afternoon - automatically.

It was a close call . . . thank goodness for the Geeks of the world.