I had two deadlines on Feb. 28, and I didn't think I could manage both. So, I was jokingly thinking what excuses I could use. A kid might say "Dog ate my homework," but a middle schooler could be telling the truth when he told his teacher: "My MacBook ate my homework."

My Mac is not even one year old, so I didn't think I could blame IT for missing the two deadlines. I was thinking about working as much as I could, to finish at least one (minor revision of a note). I must have become impatient, and started to click too fast. The Mac screen froze, and it died. I decided to take the thing to the Apple Store since it's only 5-min walk, and I was lucky to get a technician to work on my Mac right away. A few minutes later, he told me the good news, that is, the hard disk/drive is fine. He reinstalled the operating system and showed me how to bring things back from the TimeMachine. I went home, and started to copy things from the TimeMachine. My heart sank, when I saw "... one minute remaining." I should have more things backed up than just one-minute copying.

Nothing is more important in my life than going to the Yoga class these days when I am under stess. But, I could not concentrate during the class. I went straight to the Apple Store with my Yoga mat, and had a cold welcome by a stiff young woman at the store (for the first time). She told me to come back at 5:45 pm (when it was 3 pm). I said I only wanted to ask a couple of questions. She won't budge, but I stood on my ground, literally. I waited until Greg finished with his client, and went to talk to him (since he helped me earlier). Greg told me not to touch anything, and come back earlier in case there is an opening.

My heart reamined at the rock bottom, because I feared for the worst, that is, there was nothing in the TimeMachine. (Yeah, I tend to fear for the worst from time to time.) I made up my Plan B: to restore Microsoft Office, and to bring back the mailbox. Without the Microsoft Office, I cannot do editing. Without the mailbox, I would lose this year's accounting.

I didn't want to rush back to the store, so I took a break and went back at 5:30 pm. A young woman tried to restore my files, and failed. A young man took over, and tried and failed. He was really nice. He said there must be something wrong with my portable hard disk, but he could bring back file folders one by one. Luckily, I don't have many folders. I spent about three hours at the store, and got the most important folders back: my mailbox, and two folders for editing. By then, I was too tired and too cold; my knees were frozen. I asked for a new appointment on the next day (to restore my photos, etc.) and went home.

Even when I knew the worst was over, I was still shaken by the experience. This is the first time I feard I have lost valueable files. I wanted to think positively, so I told myself I was lucky: All I lost was the files saved in the past 7-8 days. (I didn't know I lost all the notes on the Mac note pad. Now, I have my note pad linked to my gmail, so it's recoverable, too.)

The most important lesson I have learned is to save a copy, or two copies, of what you cannot afford to lose.

Happy Mac-ing!