Something to Blog About

This post might turn out longer than I want, but it is worth the read. (I hope.) This is actually making a longer story short.

Today (technically yesterday because it is midnight) started out like any other day. Cold, snowy, and about 5 minutes behind schedule. I planned to work a full day today. Since finals are upon the great students of BYU the office has been quite slow and I've been working on my thesis a little more. Yesterday I spent from 7:45am to 4:30pm calculating statistics and working with my advisor to make sure everything was correct. By noon today, I had calculated a few more stats and had a GREAT draft of my results section. (If any of you have written a thesis, this is an awesome milestone. Only one more chapter left.)

I continued to work and work and work. I've been worried about my USB lately because it has been looking a little ragged (torn up or something). So, I went to email myself some of my newly calculated stats from yesterday and today to "Keep them Safe" (subject of email). As I went to attach the documents I bumped my USB under my desk, and all of a sudden it did not show up on the computer. I unplugged and plugged, unplugged and plugged. NOTHING, NADA, NO USB READING! Are you serious? Just last night I was writing about how grateful I am because everything has gone so right for my thesis this past month. Did I really just loose all the statistical analysis that I'd been working on for the past few days?

Note: I didn't lose everything. I had multiple copies of my thesis and a copy of my raw data in an email. I did lose the analysis and documents that I'd been working on today. So not all hope was lost, but a big shot to the heart still hurts. 

From 3:30p on I kept feeling like I was like all the other kids on campus--stressed with finals. Even though it was a different kind of stress. I kept wishing that I was on Bones and that Angela could just fix my USB and get all the data off really fast. Why on TV can the retrieve information off CDs, USBs, etc after they've been blown to pieces? So, I looked up online how to get info off a USB that isn't reading in the computer. I also called Best Buy and described what it looked like and the girl said, "just bring it in." A glimmer of hope filled my heart. My last appointment was awful because I couldn't concentrate on anything but what I had lost.

Natalie saved me by driving me to the car at Kendall's work after we got off work. I got the car (continuing to freak out) and drove to Best Buy to see. On the way I kept trying to decide, how much are these documents worth? When I got to the store, I held up the USB and said this isn't reading in the computer, can you fix it? The guy said they don't have the stuff in the store to fix it, and to get the data off it would be about $600-$800 and I would have to send it in to some home office or something. Ummmmm... I'm pretty sure those documents are not worth that much.

I was back to Kendall's office 15 minutes after I left. I then realized that my head might explode. So, I went home and got the dinner gift card. Dinner was nice and I stopped thinking about my sad USB while I ate my fried lasagna. The only positive thing I could come up with was, I guess I have something to blog about.

I came home and my wonderful visiting teachers came by to chat. Of course I had an extreme amount to talk about because of my day today. After they left we headed over to grandpa's house. We spent a few hours talking to he and my Uncle Todd. They were sympathetic. By 10:30pm Kendall and I headed home.

When we arrived home I just kept on wanting to work on my thesis so I can feel like I was making progress on something. Kendall asked if he could look at my USB because he wanted to fix the thing. I told him to not try because my other Uncle David said he might be able to get the data off. I didn't want Kendall to break anything further if it might have a chance. He bent something, and then looked through the case (clear blue) with a light. We could see the part of the USB that was not completing the circuit. It was a prong sorta thing that was disconnected.

Kendall took the hard drive thing out of the case and asked for a straight pin. We put the USB in the port and we got a small flicker of light. (Before there was nothing, so this was exciting). We decided to put it in a different port and Kendall was going to hold down the connection thing so the computer could read the drive. It was a very precise process. He held it down a couple of times and we got light, but no icon on the computer. After a few tries... ICON!!! Are you serious? I might be able to have my data back?

He tried again and again, and each time he held that little thing down a little longer. I then felt like I was on a TV show. A race against the clock to see if you can get the data off the USB before time runs out or before the bad guy comes in the room or before the computer blows up. Just pick one of those options. He pushed it down and all I could do was open the folder before it would disappear. The next time it was open long enough for me to open the right folder. The last time it was open long enough for me to copy the folder to my desktop. Ahhh.... Sweet success. The final time I was able to copy all of the contents of my USB to the computer!

Looks like Kendall can do about everything. I took one picture that I will try to post in the morning. I guess I need to get Kendall a $600-$800 Christmas present. (He wishes.) Merry Christmas to me! I have never felt so much adrenaline over school stuff and never so much relief. Now I am finally getting tired.

In conclusion, BEST. HUSBAND. EVER.

Also, this post could have been much longer. I hope you felt my pain for about a half a second. It was horrific. NOW, all is well. Sweet dreams.