How to have fun with a recession

My brilliant, Brittish buddy, Lee, sends out regular emails about how frustrated he is with the decisions his country and mine are both making in response to this mess. I’ve asked him to make his insights public, on his own blog, but he’s “not that kind of guy”.

His latest email included a priceless nugget:

I’ve got a new hobby - reading Yahoo! Finance headlines and replacing the word “Government” with “Lee”.

A quick look at today’s headlines:

• Chrysler to seek $7 Billion in loans from Lee
• Ford tells Lee it may be able to go it alone [good for them - although the word “may” sounds ominous]
• GM says it needs $12 billion loans from Lee by late March
• FDIC’s Bair: Lee’s rescue plan needs an exit strategy [damn right it does]
• Recession Remedy: Big, Bold and Quick Stimulus, More help for Homeowners [from Lee]

Favorite hummus brands

1. Sabra (might be local to New England)
2. Tribe
3. Cedar

There’s a major drop-off after #1.

2 & 3 are pleasantly edible, but not enjoyable.

Please don’t bring up Athenos.

This list is non-negotiable.

Dropped my hard drive :-(

My MacBook Pro had a 200GB internal HDD, that was basically full. I ordered a 500GB drive to replace it, but switching out a computer’s internal hard drive involves taking the whole thing apart, and should only be done by trained professionals. So that’s why I took it to one.

He gave me back my computer with the old drive in a separate case, so I could transfer all the info from the old 200GB drive into the new 500GB sitting in my computer.

I got about 20 minutes into that transfer that was slated to take 19 hours, and moved my computer slightly on the table, knocking the old drive off the table. It fell 3 feet to the ground, and landed with a thud on a hard wood floor.

Since that moment, when I try to connect the old drive to the computer, it is not recognized as a readable disk. I’ve run some data recovery software, and it was not helpful.

I just finished a full backup of most of my significant files 5 days ago through a service called Mozy. It would’ve been better if this full restore had been though a Time Machine backup, but Time Machine has been so buggy, that I don’t have a full backup more recent then about a month ago.

This is not a catastrophe. Here’s the bright side:

• I’m the one that knocked the drive off the table, so I don’t have to be mad at anyone else, and no one else has to feel guilty.
• I recently completed a full backup of all my video and photo files. None of my precious memories should be lost.
• This will keep me vigilant in the future about backing up everything. I think I always had a healthy respect for the impermanence of hard drives, but it’s been reaffirmed.
• I can tell my friends and family about this, and hopefully it might inspire them to take backing up more seriously.
• Perhaps the act of recreating my preferences will inspire me to break out of old habits, discover new ways of doing things, and grow more productive or creative. A little like how moving to a new home is a pain in the ass, but it helps you to get rid of junk and creates opportunities for refined interior design.
• I’ve grown even closer to my iPhone, which I didn’t think was possible.