Call Me "Dr. Mac"

Owing to his years of experience as a graphic designer and his wielding of the Mac as his weapon of choice, Michel has become an impressive Mac autodidact.

Last night, my computer crashed and when I tried to boot up again my 'puter gave me a grey screen and an icon with the Mac OS face alternating with a "?". (What is up with "?" signs popping up right now?) This is an "oh shit" moment. I've been working on a piece of writing that I hadn't backed up because I've been staring at it almost constantly for the last two weeks. In the back of my mind I thought, "I will only have to do the same tomorrow...and the day after....and the day after that." This is true of course and this is typical of how the procrastinator's mind works. And, now, as a result, it appeared that I was set to lose a solid 20 pages of writing. In lay parlance, that is the equivalent of forgetting your baby on the bus. I was so upset that I bought myself an ice cream.

I did what I usually do in these situations: panic. Then I called Michel who calmly and sympathetically said, "It seems that it can't seem to find your system folders. It looks like your hard drive is corrupted." [*heart stops*] When I brought over the computer, the first thing Michel did was try and boot up in "safe mode" which didn't take. In fact, it booted up in normal, functioning mode which made me look like an alarmist idiot though I didn't care. I was pleased to be given this chance to make a back up. Then Michel did all sorts of diagnostics, disk repairs and spoke some Mac jargon gibberish that even his lovely wife Jen looked puzzled at.

My new mantra is, "If it is worth producing, it is worth making a back up copy."

Thank you so much Michel. I am ever so grateful. I promise to back up faithfully from here on in.