What happens when you kill your computer? Nothing.


Hot Chocolate via Pinterest

So I had my first official accident with a computer of mine. I split an entire cup of hot cocoa on my laptop. Back in the day, I would have been devastated.

Granted I wasn’t happy (love my Mac air) but it wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, I just grabbed another laptop and I was up and running (and working) like not much had happened.

Back in the day, I would have lost a ton of work and been down for several days trying to rebuild everything I had lost. But today, with working in the cloud and keeping a backup at home, it was a blip in an otherwise bumpy week.

How do I do this?

First, I don’t use email with only outlook. I have my email connected to gmail which is all web-based. Yes, I pay five bucks a year for storage but I haven’t had to delete an important email since 2006. I know that’s a lot of email but the search is awesome and I don’t have to worry about deleting out old files (which you have to with outlook when you reach your limit). That reminds me, I need to purge again.

Second, I use dropbox and notredame.box.com to store important documents. This way I can get to them anytime. Anything I have to share I use with Google Drive and Docs.

Third, my programs like Coda and Photoshop are based in the App Store and through the University’s shared program. I just downloaded them again and I’m up and running.

Fourth, we use several web-based project management systems. Again, once I’m logged in. It’s all there.

Fifth, for my photos – I use flickr. For my music, I use Pandora and Spotify. My downloaded music is all backed up at home on my time machine so again, nothing is lost.

It’s a very different world since the days when a killed computer could ruin your life.  BTW, it’ll be probably a few weeks before I get my computer back – but I’ll be ok.  Would you?


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