Jump Drive
Well my man Contador won the Tour, and there ended up being only 31 seconds separating the top 3 people on GC, the lowest ever. So it was a pretty exciting tour, but the real excitement this last weekend came from another source. You might think I’m talking about watching my sisters two kids, and indeed there was a lot of excitement having six kids running around, particularly since certain skills had to be relearned like fencing kids off, interpreting baby talk and everyone’s favorite, changing poopy diapers. But the big excitement came Saturday afternoon and evening…
I had gone over to one of my partner’s houses to work on the new company and so I had taken with me my 2 GB jump drive where I basically keep all of my stuff. Normally I put the jump drive in the change pocket of my pants, but the shorts I was wearing didn’t have a change pocket so it was just loose in the same pocket with my keys. On the way home the wife asked me to stop by the supermarket and pick up some milk. When I got home the aforementioned horde of kids kept me pretty busy, so it was awhile before I decided that it was time to pull out the jump drive and see if I could get some more work done. Well it wasn’t in my pocket….
Initially I didn’t panic because I thought I had remembered having it after I arrived home, but after thoroughly searching the house I decided that it must have fallen out of my pants when I pulled my keys out, either at the supermarket or in my partner’s driveway. So I hopped in the car and retraced my steps. The supermarket parking lot was pretty full, there was a car in the spot I had parked in and cars to either side of it as well so the visibility wasn’t ideal (also I had this somewhat irrational fear that it would look like I was preparing to steal one of the cars). In any case I looked around, already somewhat resigned to the fact that if it had fallen out of my pocket in the supermarket parking lot that I was never going to find it. That, mostly likely, someone would see it and pick it up, and if it avoided that fate there were all sorts of other fates ranging from being driven over to having a bird carry it off…
After striking out at the supermarket and my partner’s driveway I headed home to consider (and mope over) the enormity of my loss (ok, it wasn’t the end of the world, but for some reason data loss always feels like a punch in the gut). I had lost all desire to be productive, and I sat there half-heartedly playing a game of solitaire. Finally after my grief had left me nothing else to do but retire for the night, I decided I would drive out and look one more time, the theory being that the parking lot would probably be empty and that would make it easier to look.
Sure enough the parking lot was basically empty, but initially it didn’t appear that it would make any difference. Every unusual spot on the pavement ended up being a piece of paper or some gum. But then just as I was about to give up and go home I saw another piece of debris. Not in among the parking spots but out in the lane, sure enough it was my jump drive. It had obviously been run over by a car, perhaps more than one. The connector was somewhat flattened, and I feared that even having found it, that I wouldn’t be able to get the data off.
Well I guess I should never underestimate solid state construction. I used some pliers to straighten out the connector and plugged it in, and sure enough there it was, all my data. Needless to say I quickly made a copy of everything and I’m going to buy another jump drive. The old one seems like it's working okay, but I wouldn’t want to risk it going bad some day as the lingering wounds of being driven over by a multi-ton vehicle finally claim it.
Somebody up there is looking out for me
I had gone over to one of my partner’s houses to work on the new company and so I had taken with me my 2 GB jump drive where I basically keep all of my stuff. Normally I put the jump drive in the change pocket of my pants, but the shorts I was wearing didn’t have a change pocket so it was just loose in the same pocket with my keys. On the way home the wife asked me to stop by the supermarket and pick up some milk. When I got home the aforementioned horde of kids kept me pretty busy, so it was awhile before I decided that it was time to pull out the jump drive and see if I could get some more work done. Well it wasn’t in my pocket….
Initially I didn’t panic because I thought I had remembered having it after I arrived home, but after thoroughly searching the house I decided that it must have fallen out of my pants when I pulled my keys out, either at the supermarket or in my partner’s driveway. So I hopped in the car and retraced my steps. The supermarket parking lot was pretty full, there was a car in the spot I had parked in and cars to either side of it as well so the visibility wasn’t ideal (also I had this somewhat irrational fear that it would look like I was preparing to steal one of the cars). In any case I looked around, already somewhat resigned to the fact that if it had fallen out of my pocket in the supermarket parking lot that I was never going to find it. That, mostly likely, someone would see it and pick it up, and if it avoided that fate there were all sorts of other fates ranging from being driven over to having a bird carry it off…
After striking out at the supermarket and my partner’s driveway I headed home to consider (and mope over) the enormity of my loss (ok, it wasn’t the end of the world, but for some reason data loss always feels like a punch in the gut). I had lost all desire to be productive, and I sat there half-heartedly playing a game of solitaire. Finally after my grief had left me nothing else to do but retire for the night, I decided I would drive out and look one more time, the theory being that the parking lot would probably be empty and that would make it easier to look.
Sure enough the parking lot was basically empty, but initially it didn’t appear that it would make any difference. Every unusual spot on the pavement ended up being a piece of paper or some gum. But then just as I was about to give up and go home I saw another piece of debris. Not in among the parking spots but out in the lane, sure enough it was my jump drive. It had obviously been run over by a car, perhaps more than one. The connector was somewhat flattened, and I feared that even having found it, that I wouldn’t be able to get the data off.
Well I guess I should never underestimate solid state construction. I used some pliers to straighten out the connector and plugged it in, and sure enough there it was, all my data. Needless to say I quickly made a copy of everything and I’m going to buy another jump drive. The old one seems like it's working okay, but I wouldn’t want to risk it going bad some day as the lingering wounds of being driven over by a multi-ton vehicle finally claim it.
Somebody up there is looking out for me
posted by DireKobold at 11:09 AM
3 Comments:
"... to having a bird carry it off ..." Wow, now that is some creative thinking.
You were very lucky that you were able to find it. So, can you babysit my kids next weekend?
Awesome tale. Thanks.
Post a Comment
<< Home