I hope I never have to deal with a situation where all of my computer data has been lost. Luckily, there is now an active industry for disaster recovery, which didn’t exist when computers first started becoming an item in every household. I have never had to deal with it, so I’m not sure how much having to take your personal computer to an expert for this would cost. And I definitely would love to know the difference between disaster recovery for a personal computer from recovery of an entire network of computers. It’s pretty safe to assume that dealing with personal computers is far less expensive then having to deal with a network recovery. Even if the expert dealing with it only has to recover data from one computer to retrieve the data for the rest of them, it would not make much sense for it to be a similar cost to fixing a personal computer. I think my best bet is to make sure I never have to worry about it for my personal computer at all; it’s best for me to take preventative steps right now to ensure I never have to worry about having my computer serviced.

My father is the computer man.  Or at least, he likes to think so.  He gets up on his pulpit and preaches about everything.  The importance of data backup, when to upgrade your computer, when to buy a new one, how much memory you should add, which operating system and web browsers are best.  It doesn’t matter.  He thinks he knows everything.  And he won’t even bother to argue with anyone.  He just shakes his head, mutters something about the importance of data backup or whatever else he was talking about and walks away.  Can you imagine what it’s like to have grown up with him?  You’re probably wondering what his day job is since he seems to think he’s a computer technician by night.   He’s an accountant.  How and why that means he’s qualified to work on any computer and somehow just know how to make it better is beyond me.  I just wish he wouldn’t insist on building me a new computer instead of letting go and buy one.  I’d rather the latest model than whatever he puts together from the parts he has lying around on the floor.  I know he means well, but he has to be able to step back sometimes and realize what he’s saying. 

I’m sick and tired of this! It’s so aggravating. We are having trouble with our computer again. I can’t believe it, now the keyboard won’t work. It does sometimes and then suddenly it won’t work and the computer starts emitting these horrendous, screechy sounds. I’m going to have to send it back, AGAIN! That means packing it back up and hauling it over to UPS Store – again. Argh! I even tried a different keyboard but that’s not what the problem is. The one thing I am concerned with is what if they can’t fix it? Maybe I can figure out a way to download the info off of the computer. That way I won’t lose all of my important files, including all those gorgeous pictures of my kids that I have not yet had a chance to print. There are the pictures from my cousins wedding, and from our super summer vacation and just our random at home family shots. Okay, when we get this computer back I am going to get one of those things that plug into your USB port so I can backup all of my files onto it so I won’t be stuck in this sort of pinch again.

Well, Thanksgiving is over and the leftover turkey is gone.  I’m glad for that.  I had enough of turkey potpie, turkey salad and the likes of that.  Now it is time to start thinking of Christmas.    My grandchildren were all here this weekend and I told them to make a wish list for the holiday.  After they left, I had time to rest and read their lists.  All five of my grandchildren had put a computer game on their list.  All different ones at that, but a computer game was on everyone’s list.   I guess each family has a gaming computer and the kids all love to play games on it.  When I called my son and daughter they explained that all of the games on the kids list were educational games.  They monitor their computer use and are careful with what kind of games the children have access to.  The kids learn as they play.  I guess that made me feel a little better about buying computer games for the kids.  I may buy each family a computer game, but I know I will still buy each child a book to read and an educational family board game.  Maybe something like Scrabble so they can learn vocabulary and spelling and spend time with their family together.  I guess I’m old-fashioned, but that is a Grandmother’s prerogative.

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The Internet is one of the most valuable tools that I have access to.  Keeping in touch with friends and family has become a little easier with e-mail and instant message chatting and I can stay more up-to-date with my loved ones’ lives by seeing new photos or reading blogs that they have posted.  With websites such as MySpace or FaceBook, you can also get a glimpse of how people you know see themselves from their own perspective.  I can even search for people I have lost contact with and maybe even find a few of those long lost acquaintances but if anyone is ever searching for me, they can simply Google my name and locate me at the touch of a few clicks. 

As long as the Internet is handy, then I can win almost any argument by proving myself with facts supplied to me from a plethora of websites that backup my knowledge.  It’s also enough to drive me a little nuts when I blank on the name of an actor in a movie that I’m watching.  It will be on the very tip of my tongue so instead of racking my brain, I’ll just toddle over to the computer and look up the film on the Internet.  Or if I really want to finally get the lyrics right to a song that I’ve been misinterpreting and mumbling along to for years, then all I have to do is plug in a few keywords and the information is readily available.

Without the Internet, I wouldn’t be able to find music that is always new to me or check on the latest news updates going on anywhere in the world.  If I’m curious to know more about a subject or would like to see beautiful pictures of places that I can only imagine traveling to, then it’s like I have the world’s biggest library right at my fingertips.  It’s a little less organized than a real library and you might have to keep a watchful eye out for pedophiles and stalkers but you just have to be careful which links you click on, especially since you can unwittingly download some nasty viruses to your machine when you’re simply surfing through Internet porn.

You can hawk all your crap on eBay or Craig’s List and find almost anything your heart desires, even treasures similar to the toys you had as a kid that have long since disappeared.  Or you can check out what’s happening around town for the weekend and find a new restaurant for a bite to eat or even have dinner or groceries delivered to your home with the convenience of the Internet.  You can also meet your future spouse online but I’d have to be hard up to use Match.com as a relationship resource.  There’s just something unnatural to me about telling your grandchildren that you met your wife on the Internet. 

Lastly, the Internet also makes looking for a new job easier.  In the old days, you would have to spend money on printing along with the additional expense of postage to mail out hard copies of resumes and cover letters.  Now with so many job postings online, you can quickly locate positions you are interested in and respond to potential employers almost immediately via e-mail.