I’m not much into the “cloud.”
I don’t ever allow my devices to save my passwords.
I get annoyed when Google sends me unsolicited movies made from the pictures it has collected from my phone.
I don’t like the idea that Facebook has rights to my family memories.
I think I can handle making backups of my work.
But guess what – on that one, I was wrong. VERY wrong!
Every so often we have to live through a humbling experience to remind ourselves we are, indeed, NOT on top of everything.
And that happened to me a few days ago when I left my closed computer on the kitchen table and one of my cats tipped over the vase that was next to it, soaking my computer into absolute non-function. My computer was dead and the hard drive was unreadable.
***deep breath***
Why divulge this online?
Well, for one thing, we can all learn from others’ mistakes. This, my friends is certainly a bad one. May I please take this opportunity to preach about the importance of scheduled, automatic backups of your digital information.
And, unfortunately, all this will seemingly have repercussions to my efficiency moving forward in the near future and that may affect you – the teachers, educators and friends who have some investment in the work I do through The Inspired Classroom.
So, now it’s time to make a few lists…
What I’ve lost:
- So. Many. Files. Just about everything in the last five months which was the last time I did a manual backup. In case you’re wondering, I use OFFICE for just about everything. Not Google Drive. (It’s ok to make fun of me on this. I just can’t commit 100% to the cloud.)
- Numerous pictures and videos
- Emails. I can’t believe how much I relied on my email archives for information from the hex numbers of my theme colors to verbal agreements made with workshop presenters. And no, the servers for my email accounts do not have my emails archived. They only hold the last 100 or so emails per account.
- Contacts, some through the loss of emails and in my actual contact book that I refused to keep on the cloud.
- Quickbooks software and information. I was using a desktop version of QB which apparently won’t work with my new MAC. Oy!
What I haven’t lost:
- Most family pictures. Thank goodness!
- This website and blog.
- My online presence on social media.
- The opportunity to provide amazing PD for my favorite people: ALL YOU EDUCATORS! The retreats aren’t going anywhere!
- My passion to continue building all things SEAL!
- My ability to count my blessings.
A loss like this is hard, there’s no doubt about that. But this is one I can get through.
As time progresses, I will be asking for your patience with certain things, but my hope is that I can recover quickly. It’s all part of the process.
What have I learned?
- Back up everything and often. I had ignored the “time machine” that comes equipped on my computer, thinking I could handle it. Well, that bravado got me into this pickle. I have since set that up and will plug my computer in each night.
- Be careful where you leave your computer. As you walk away, look carefully around it and visualize any issues that could ensue and then prevent them from happening.
It is my hope that you too can learn something from this. As for me, I’m off to do more recreating to get caught up so I can keep moving forward. 😉
~EMP
