Congratulations to:

Chester G., Arkadelphia, AR
David W., Tulsa, OK
Dan L., Paradise, CA
Leslie G., Edinboro, PA
Jordan L., Lookout Mt, GA
Miles T., New Orleans, LA

Sure wish I had an external backup solution then!

This day will always be one of the most memorable days of my life, not because I achieved my first real rite of passage by graduating high school, but because this would mark the next four years of Data-Loss misery.

During my time in college I got repeatedly “punked” as my hard drive crashed three times, I had to get a new  motherboard (which to date I still think is something that has to do with aliens), had to get a new power cord, and my computer screen completely zonked out. Each time resulted in serious data loss from demolished hard drives and computer technicalities.

I have lost everything from pictures from my time in Italy, to my senior thesis, to thousands of dollars in iTunes music, to job applications, all because of this con-artist of a laptop that kept crashing and so too my entire virtual life. These experiences jaded my relationship with computers. After the fourth hard drive crash over a year ago I tried for months to get somebody that could get the information off my computer without success.  I know in this digital age computers are still essential to everyday life, and yes I do have a work laptop, but still have not nor do I plan to buy my own personal computer until I can find a program that ensures I will not lose more time, money, and memories due to unnecessary data-loss.

I wish somebody or something would have been able to “save my bacon,” because time after time all my data got was a one way ticket to the butcher shop.

But it gets worse: This semester for my freshman English class, I needed to write a 30 page paper on a topic of my choosing for extra credit. All I would have had to do was add a few more pages on my already-written paper, and I would have probably gotten an A. As it was, I had to re-write the paper from memory, and I\’m anticipating a B+ at best. If only I had known that Norton could save my bacon…

When I woke up, I looked down to see that I was wearing this goofy pink dress in a barren, locked room. It was a really strange, confusing, and frightening situation! Suddenly, this massive DINOSAUR or something that looked like a dinosaur burst into the room, looked at me cowering in fear, burst out in this menacing monstrous laughter, then left as quickly as he’d entered.

At some point, I began to hear shouting and all sorts of ruckus going on outside the door. I pressed myself to the door to hear better, but had to back away because something outside was heating up fast! It sounded like something big was jumping all around. Every time it landed, the ground shook. Suddenly, there was a hard THUD that shook the entire room, and then there was silence. Moments later, I heard a key unlocking the door, and then my boyfriend came in wearing this ridiculous red plumber’s outfit. It was so strange and wondrous and relieving all at once! We embraced, and then felt and heard the world shaking all over again. The world went dark.

We woke up back at home, which looked like an earthquake had ran through [earthquake insurance finally pays off!]. I glanced over and saw that my laptop was in a wreck of pieces. There were a bunch of hammers/mallets surrounding it. I was like WTH?!?! We don’t even own any hammers! Reminiscing back on that whole event, I think it really would’ve been nice to have Norton’s online backup to recover the life I had on my laptop. It would’ve been nice if anyone ever believed my story too, but no one ever does.

I bought a cool little 7 megapixel camera about a year ago and it’s become my new travel log. I’ve taken it on all my trips this year – upstate to family lake house, July 4th at the shore, and an awesome tour of London in the Fall with my grade school buddy. When I get back I always upload all my pictures to my laptop so I can sort through, share, and update my desktop image. Good idea, right? Well it was until I left my laptop in a cab on the way to the airport this Thanksgiving. What an idiot – total nightmare. All my travel pics – gone, as well as my budget files, my resume and some music I’d just downloaded. Of course, now I find out about how Norton Online Backup could’ve saved my bacon…argh.