Technical Difficulties
This particular newsletter comes with a rather amusing, and yet partially frustrating, story. Those of you who looked at it before my final edit know something of it, as I desperately tried to explain what happened before I got a lot of emails pointing out my boo-boo, but this will be written in a more coherent, less rushed, and perhaps halfway-more-amusing sort of way this time.
You see, it was a Monday afternoon. I was at work, and I happened to have a little time - something that is a rarity recently. I decided to use the time in the hobby that I most enjoy, and remembered that I had a newsletter to write.
I pulled up this site, and as always, it is blocked because the net labels it as 'forums', and that's a no-no at my work. However, a lovely tech angel made it possible for me to override the filter for 15 minutes at a time when it comes to this site, and so I decided to go ahead and use the override, then write my newsletter. Good plan, yes?
No. 
I spent around 30 minutes writing the newsletter, then another hour or so working out what items I'd like to highlight. (That's the hardest part for me.) I had to override every 15 minutes, but it's not such a big deal, because what I typed before or what I clicked before still goes through.
Or so I thought.
I spent all this time working on the newsletter and making it lovely, then I clicked the "Submit Newsletter" button. Relieved, and happy that I'd spent some time on my hobby, I went back to putting my full attention to my work as a content and more relaxed teacher.
Tuesday evening, a bit after midnight, I get an email from a friend. The email copied my newsletter, and said a simple, "This is what I got... FYI." And then I scrolled down... it was empty. The newsletter I'd spent an hour and a half on was gone.
I racked my brain - did I save my article before I put it on the site? Surely I.... no, I didn't. Everything I'd written was gone.
I used to know a joke back in the day - it's a Christian joke, but the reference fits this situation quite well.
Jesus and Santa Claus were having a coding competition. They had exactly two hours to come up with the best program ever created. Both contestants worked feverishly at their keyboards, clicking and clacking desperately to finish within the alotted time. Just as the last minute of the competition was approaching, the power completely went off, and both contestants, the judges, and the spectators were left in darkness.
Only a momentary power flicker, within seconds, the power came back on. Both contestants booted their computers, hoping and praying that their work would be there.
Santa Claus pulled up the program, then sighed in defeat. It was all gone.
Miraculously, Jesus was able to proudly add one last line to his program, then wow the judges with his amazing work.
How can this happen, you ask? Well, I am certain that by now, you have already guessed.
Only Jesus Saves.
Yes, yes... bad on all levels, but incredibly appropriate. (You could giggle to save my pride, but alas, I have little pride left when it comes to my bad jokes. I know they're terrible.  )
See, backing up our writing is so, so important. In this case, I just lost the content of a newsletter - small peas in comparison to what most people put at risk daily.
Hard drives crash. Notebooks get lost. Internet sites go down, or get bugged. Sometimes you think things go through, and they don't.
My advice, based on my rather embarrassing public experience, is to save your writing in two places. If you have it written in a notebook, type it up on a word processing document, too. Or put a copy on the web. If you have something on the web, save it somewhere else, too. Always have it in two places.
When rewriting, certain things are lost. Emotions are altered. Descriptions are changed. Flow is disrupted. It's different from editing - and not necessarily in a good way.
If it's important, be sure to find a way to back it up. If something goes wrong, at least you won't lose that, too. I hate when things go wrong, but each time, it gives me a chance to learn a lesson! |
Mystery: April 27, 2011 Issue [#4358]
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