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February 8, 2006
Suckola
Wanna know the definition of suckola? I've got it for ya, right here.
7pm Tuesday: Computer (three-month old iBook G4) dies. Won't boot. Gives an error along the lines of "Invalid sibling link" and "underlying task reported failure on exit", and I only get that info by booting to the Tiger CD and attempting to run Disk Utility from the login screen.
Breathe, Bon. It's okay. You backed up everything on Saturday, so if your computer is dead-dead, at least you still have your life up through the 4th.
Well... sort of.
So, the short story is this: computer died. Fried fried fried. Keith was able to run a combination of Disk Warrior, Disk Utility, and Drive Genius on the computer until he could back up my more-recent-than-Saturday data to the external drive. Still couldn't get the computer to boot though. Ever. EVER. We had a brief conversation about what all we should back up, since we have access. "Documents folder should cover everything, right?" Sure! So, there we go.
And today, Keith goes over to the Apple Store and they confirm that Zed's Dead (OMG, I finally have a name for my computer: Zed! Yay!) and blow out its brains so that we can start from scratch.
Keith comes home and we start with system updates and such. There are a lot of those. Fine. Then we install Microsoft Office 2004, then import my documents folder, which includes my Entourage account settings (and tens of thousands of contacts and emails, plus my Palm backup--see earlier posts on that nightmare issue), and attempt to run Entourage. Woo! It works! Cool!
So, I'm not starting from scratch. I do, in fact, have the last email I received yesterday before the crash (from Ed... heh heh).
Okay, so it's now time to install Final Draft. Oops. We didn't deactivate the code on the computer before Apple blew it out, so we can't use our activation code, since the Final Draft database shows that we're already activated. Eff. We have to go to tech support. $2.50/minute. Eff. They're going to tell us it's time to upgrade anyway. That costs money too. Eff. Okay, fine. Not crucial. Just a pain.
Let's move over to installing In Design and the other great stuff from the Adobe Professional Suite. Oops. Keith lost the CDs. When? Oh, just last week when he took them on his casting job, to show off how you CAN edit PDFs. *grumble* *grumble* He SWEARS he put it back in his bag. Okay, then... where are the CDs now? Yeah, that's what I thought. Eff! Can't write a book without In Design. Can't even open the files for the books I've written in the past without it. Eff!
Fine! Let's install Fetch. Oops. Where are my stored user names and passwords for the 20 or so sites to which I FTP on a semi-regular basis? Oops. Keith Googles. "Looks like those live in your LIBRARY." Okay, great. When did we last back that up? Uh... um... er... EFF!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I need to breathe again. How 'bout let's open up iTunes so that I can at least enjoy my favorite CDs for a bit. EFFFFFFF! Every effin' CD I imported over the past three or four years... all of the rankings I gave the music... all of the work I did to download cover art and categorize crap... all of the data on how often anything had been played (hell, even the CDs that friends brought over and let me put into iTunes, since I couldn't find my copies of the CDs anymore) is all gone gone gone gone gone!!!!!!!!!!!!! EFFFFFF!
Fine!!!! Let's install Firefox. Holy hell, are you effin' kidding me?!? No bookmarks. No saved passwords. No saved user id info, for that matter. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY EFFIN' SITES I VISIT EVERY DAY AND HOW LONG IT'S BEEN SINCE I'VE SET UP A PASSWORD ANYWHERE?!? All of that info lives in my stored password file. Where's that? NOT IN THE DOCUMENTS FOLDER, THAT'S FOR DAMN SURE!
So, as we flash back to that moment at 4am, when we discussed backing up EVERYTHING and chose to just back up the documents folder, since that would be enough, we both just laugh. Because what else can you do, really? You have to laugh. It's just that effin' insane.
At this point, I believe I may begin going through my old blog entries (do not ask how many different user names and passwords I had to try just to get into my blog again) to see the things I've linked to in the past, hoping that may begin to ring some bells about the zillions of bookmarks I had and never thought about. If I somehow go missing from a site you're used to seeing me on, please let me know. It could mean I've forgotten how to get there OR that I can't log in anymore.
Have I mentioned my love for pen-and-paper recordkeeping lately?
Son of a BITCH this day is hell!
Bright side: I finally came up with a name for the computer. Zed. Yeah.
Posted by bonnie at February 8, 2006 3:56 PM
Comments
Hey , you got the important stuff- my email!
Ow. Stop. Don't throw things at m- hey, that's sharp- HEY! STOP THAT! OW! THAT HURT!!!
Sorry Bon. But you're still a rock star.
Posted by: Ed R at February 8, 2006 5:07 PM
ohmygawd.
*shudders*
*hugs*
Posted by: Rezus at February 8, 2006 6:28 PM
poor BonBon....
well, look at it this way...maybe it's the chance to introduce Zed (GREAT name, btw) to the wonders of feng shui
Posted by: Ali 
at February 8, 2006 7:16 PM
Oh man. I feel your pain. I was just there last summer. I've only just recovered. And still not completely. Ugh. Many hugs.
Posted by: tracyeliott at February 8, 2006 10:22 PM
Light a candle or some incense, say a prayer, take a breath and start all over again. Yee-ha.
Posted by: Susan Lee at February 9, 2006 12:38 AM
That too... shall pass...
Posted by: PameLa at February 9, 2006 2:17 AM
I hope I had nothing to do with Zed's naming OR self-destruction!
Posted by: Ed R at February 9, 2006 6:16 AM
Maybe it is time for you to Think Different.
Oh.
Wait...
Posted by: Leemer at February 9, 2006 7:37 AM
Oh, and I have a couple-three invalid sibling links. I just don't get along with 'em;)
Posted by: Ed R at February 9, 2006 8:55 AM
Yow. On the suck scale, that's like 10 "bite me"'s and a big, fat, flying FU.
I think I will, uh, go back up my data again. Also, never complain about dust bunnies...
Posted by: communicatrix at February 9, 2006 9:48 AM
Oh hey! The count-up numbers are missing.
Did I miss it?
Posted by: Ed R at February 9, 2006 12:17 PM
Holy crap!
I missed something. Did Keith come back with zed? With a new logic board, etc.? (that would be quite speedy/unusual) Or are you talking about digging into the saved docs folder from Keiths Mac? Sympathizing but ruber-necking geek minds want to know.
If you left it at the store, perhaps you can call & ask them to use the magic combo Keith did to try & retrieve your "home" folder before they frankenMac Zed.
I'm going to go do a backup
Posted by: Lipp at February 9, 2006 7:45 PM
Sorry to hear about your computer problems. Believe me when I say that I know just what you are going through. I have a nice big pile of papers at the side of me with user names, passwords and the like, ready for my next computer crisis...since I was horribly unprepared for the last one which dragged on for a good six months. And now noting that the Type Key username isn't on the list and the activation e-mail doesn't tell me (two attempts to get myself logged in and now writing it down for future reference).
I don't think I have met anyone yet who has been prepared for a computer crisis.
Oh and if you have trouble getting into the forum at the truefan-eliza site let me know and I will try and sort it for you. Incidentally Truefan's own laptop is dead at the moment too, so you are certainly not alone.
Posted by: LouisaB at February 10, 2006 10:13 AM