Small favors

 

I looked over at my old macbook pro sitting in the closet hopefully the other day.  And the universe granted me a lovely favor!

BACK STORY:

When I spilled water on the keyboard back in October just as I was about to take my niece on *the* college tour, I tried to be grown up about it.  I whipped the back up computer (that some friends had graciously gifted me) into shape.  I read up on possible ways to save the motherboard from water damage.  Unfortunately, I had already inadvertently done all the things that it said NOT TO DO.  So, there was little hope.  

But I took all my dad's doomsday rice (it's a long story, and I'll get to it someday) and poured it into a box over my computer.  The idea was the rice would soak out all the moisture -- magically -- as far as I could tell because you didn't have to open the computer up and expose its guts, just leave it in the box with the rice.  I had already let it sit upside down while I researched.

I tried not to think about it while we were on the trip, after all I had the back up computer (the one I am typing on right now) and it is a champ! I still haven't saved up to buy it the extra memory it needs, but as long as I don't open too many windows in the browser or run more than two applications, it doesn't complain at all.  It is a champ!

But as soon as we were back and unpacked and reasonably recovered from the interminable train ride from Seattle, I dug my computer out and tried to fire it up.

Nothing ... not a blip or a sound or a light.  

When I plugged it in, no lights flickered.  It was the deep void of nothingness.  

It seemed the only thing the rice had accomplished was to fit itself into every small crevice - and the only ones I could not completely fish out are between the screen and the rest of the computer.  BIG SIGH.

In lieu of having to mourn one more thing, I placed it gingerly into the closet and tried to forget about it.

Obviously, I wasn't really forgetting -- but I was trying not to think about why I hadn't done a much better job of backing it up ... and I was not looking at the last back up because I didn't want to find out that way just how bad a job of backing up I had done.

In my mind, like a cryogenically preserved person, someday the technology to bring it back to life would materialize -- or a very cheap way of getting the hard drive out would materialize, at least.  Maybe I would meet someone who could fix it!  Or I could take it to Denver someday and have my friend with magic computer knowledge smudge it with sage or something.

So... back to the main story:

One day (I can't remember which) early this week, I looked over at the computer, gazing upon it as I do often.  Instead of shaking my head and indulging in negative self talk, I saw a little glimmer out of the corner of my eye.  The thought that went with that glimmer was "Why not try to start it up now?"  Maybe it was just tired!!

So, I did ... and it did!! 

It is not one hundred percent -- the reason for this back up computer was because that computer has been on its last legs for a long while.  

But, it is at least as good as it was before I spilled a half a glass of water on it.  I haven't taxed it ... just charged it up and gingerly copied as much data from it onto CDs and jump drives and placed as much as I could in the good old dropbox.  

[At least once in the process, the screen just sent black and the computer shut down.  It powered right back up, but it is a pretty good sign that during its rest it didn't rejuvenate or something.]

I went for the photos first -- and I still need to spend another evening with it to get all the academic work I did for those first four years in grad school.  I should try to get all the financial info, too.  To be sure there is a lot of data on that computer -- music and what not.  But, honestly, I was just so glad to have recovered the tons of photos I have scanned on to it in the past year.  It is not like I could not scan them all again, but ...

So, thanks to the universe for that small favor -- and for the beautiful sunset on Sunday evening -- that photo above is one of the photos I interrupted my walk to take.  Just gorgeous.  

And I feel compelled to say that all this happened right in the middle of Mercury in Retrograde!  I am not going to scream it from the mountain tops, though I did just spread it on the internet, because I still believe that those three fates are hovering over my head in their little basket just waiting to wreck havoc.

Blessings in whatever form are gratefully accepted...thank you! WINK!