Crash and Burn

I saw something on my computer that I hoped I would never see.... The Blue Screen of Death. Yep. I actually read the the words 'WARNING: Complete disk failure is eminent.'

The word 'WARNING' was even flashing. Scary.

Then my computer crashed. It happened so fast. There wasn't time to even say goodbye. One minute the kids were playing "The Cat in the Hat Living Books" and the next minute the computer was gone. Jerry and I stood there with it at the end - a silent vigil as the screen went from blue to memory check to flashy words... and then to a black and silent screen. *makes a flatline beeeeeeeeeeeeeep."

This was my home computer. Not the one I use to access the internet. Completely unrecoverable data. My documents. My letters. My book. All of my Pictures since J was a baby. The 2 years worth of painstaking scans of my grandpa's WWII pictures and letters. 12 years of genealogy research. My banking records. My taxes. All of it. Gone. In a flash. Kaput.

It is a good thing I am married to an IT manager and that I was a computer operator at USU. I know about the need for backups. I do them. Often. If fact, I stayed up until 3 in the morning just 2 months ago doing a complete and full backup of my whole computer. (everything except the game files... forgot them cuz they were in the program files. We'll have to start over on ALL those levels and Nancy Drew Mysteries.)

ummmm... this is a not so gentle reminder for all y'all to do the same. Today.
Beware the Blue Screen of Death. Don't be in denial. It is real. It could happen to you soon.