Well that sucked

Our computer took a dive this past week. That left me with three long computer deprived days. No Facebook, No Blogger, No Nest, No CNN, No Weather.com (although, when is the weather forecast really accurate?), No ESPN, No watching tv shows online, etc. Instead, I spent more time on the phone with various Dell representatives in two days than I have with my parents all this year (note to self- call home more often!). One particular representative, Andre, was hilarious and helped me run every possible diagnostic and repair test the two of us could imagine. In all fairness, he seemed a bit more computer savvy than me, so I think he deserves a bit more of the credit.

In the end, I had to wipe the computer and re-install everything. I believe it is some type of Dell protocol to inform you three times that all of your data will be lost during the wipe and re-install process. Thank goodness the hubs and I are somewhat responsible at backing up our files, but we definitely lost a few things. I lost two entire photo folders, which means the only copies I have of this year's ski trip are the few photos I put on Facebook (funny story, I deleted most of my FB photos earlier this week because of a comment someone made regarding my 10 albums. The other folder of pictures I lost was definitely among those FB photos that were deleted. I believe that's call irony or Murphy's Law or something like it.)

I did lose my entire collection of digital scrap booking elements and papers. Needless to say, I'm going to take a long, long, long break from digital scrapbooking. I also lost all of my Photoshop Brushes, which means I'm not making a new blog header for quite some time.

But, on a positive note, our computer is back up and running. She's actually running a bit fast, most likely because she's practically empty. Not having to spend money on a new computer is definitely a good thing, so thank goodness our Dell decided to play nice again.

But, here's my word of advice, back-up your stuff!!! We're not Carrie Bradshaw, we knew we had to backup our files, but we just slacked off on it.

How often do you backup your files? What method do you use (CD, jump drive, external hard drive, etc.)???? I think the hubs and I need to become more routine in terms of backing up our computer. The last thing we want is our computer looking like this again: