Friendly Service Reminder...TIME TO BACKUP your files

Today I helped my father-in-law transfer all of his files that were so preciously saved onto an external hard drive (by me) back to his computer. The relief and overwhelming joy you feel watching your beloved files restore is indescribable. I am very very careful to backup my computer files regularly. I try to do it each and every Sunday. How is it that I became so regimented in my backup system? Well I must admit, I once was the victim of HARD DRIVE FAILURE. Last year my computer crashed. I mean completely crashed. I got the infamous BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. The day my computer turned blue, I spent FOUR hours on the phone with a computer support technician so I could learn what I already knew –big surprise ... my computer crashed and was completely worthless. Well technically I only spent a couple of minutes actually talking to a computer technician. 3 hours and 45 minutes of my day were spent holding the phone to my ear listening to “Your call is very important to us, please continue to hold.” I have to say, I have serious doubts to the sincerity of that statement. How can keeping me on hold for over 3 hours show your complete and total concern for my welfare?? Anyway, after the 3+ hours of listening again and again and again to how important I was, the remaining 15 minutes I spent waiting for the computer technician to get to the end of his checklist. Each computer technician has a checklist that must be combed through precisely IN order. You cannot in any way convince the technician that you did steps 1-83 already, but instead must painstakingly go through each item just so the technician can get to the part where he tells you that your computer is broken. "I am sorry to inform you that your computer is not working properly." Gee thanks. I then checked to see if there was any way possible to retrieve my computer files only to be faced with hysterical laughter and the sounds of taps being played over the phone.
Yes, the computer was dead. I lost everything. I mean every letter, every downloaded song, every email and every record of every check I have ever written. Gone. Gone forever. I felt empty and quite frankly a little sick. My entire collection of the greatest R.E.M. singles vanished into thin air. Photos, essays, documents...all gone! How could I have lost everything?! What would I do now?
As I sat there grieving and trying to fight the growing nausea, my husband came in the room and asked me how everything was going. I told him about the demise of our beloved computer. His response was a very nonchalant, “oh well – at least you backed up all the files.” OH. Right..... a back up file. Well wouldn't that have been great? I then had to tell him that – “uh….. no….. actually, I forgot to back up the computer.”
...Let me stop here and share a little wisdom for husbands everywhere. The next thing you say should NOT be: “You should have backed up your files”. You should instead say you are sorry, or say how sad you are and somehow you will find a way to make things better, or even say honey, let me take you out to dinner, you have had such a hard day. Say anything but the dreaded “You should have backed up the files.” So what does my husband say??? He says, “You should have backed up your files.” REALLY??!!!!? You see – I KNOW this. I figured that out ALL by myself the instant I lost everything. I didn't look at my blank dead computer and think.... How fortunate!!!! How lucky! WOW- it is a good thing I don’t have a single copy of anything from the past 4 years. WHEW! – what a relief!!!! I am particularly overjoyed in knowing I lost all my electronic tax returns. I mean who needs all that clutter in their life? I am on CLOUD nine! Amazingly, in that instant I was completely capable of coming to the conclusion that backing up the computer would have been the best route to take. I called my mom for a little support. Moms are good like that. Or at least they should be. She was happy to let me know that she thinks that I should have backed up my files. My sister was next on the list. Surely she would lend me a shoulder to cry on. No luck. Same obvious advice... “You should have backed up your files.” Even my son was of no help. At the wise old age of 12, he was happy to let me know that he does a complete backup of his computer once a week. Whose side was he on anyway?! So People – take it from me – BACK up your files. You never want to experience the agony of losing everything. It feels AWFUL! Back up your files regularly. Do it now! It is easy, it is painless, and it will save you from an eternity of hearing.... “You should have backed up your files!”