Wednesday, July 26, 2006

heart in my mouth

I need a book reference for a lecture I am about to do in 2 hours. I used the book in my PhD, so I go looking for my PHD on my laptop. No sign of my PhD in the usual folder. How strange.

Puzzled, I hit “search.”

Stranger still. According to “search” my PhD is in my computers “Recycle bin.”

I open the “Recycle bin.” I find over 500 of my files, waiting to be deleted. I have no idea why.

Could I have ever been that jet-lagged in the last 10 days? Could someone have fiddled with my computer (it was left accessible in a classroom a number of times recently)? Can a virus do this?

(And yes, I did backup all my files recently).

Posted by steve at 10:23 AM

5 Comments

  1. Human agency of some variety would probably be more likely. Whether or not it was self-inflicted is another matter.

    Good to seek copies had been made. You can never have too many. (Allows you to leave them at different locations so they don’t get stolen with the computer or lost if the house burns down.)

    Years ago my boss had the “Oscar the Grouch” trash can on his Mac. When you dropped files in the trash can, Oscar came out and sang. Also when you emptied the trash can. One day he couldn’t find *any* files. Seems his 3 year old daughter was so taken with Oscar she’d spend a few minutes deleting all the files while her parents weren’t looking. *Ouch*

    I see similar activity noted in Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_the_Grouch )

    Comment by Stephen — July 27, 2006 @ 11:35 am

  2. Maybe there is a date on the properties of the files when the transfer to the recycle bin occured?

    The last panic was trying to find the CD of the Maclaren.

    In any case, I suggest rest. 🙂

    Comment by Keith — July 27, 2006 @ 1:46 pm

  3. Now I think about it, maybe it was the universe balancing its scales to compensate for your new status as an international, theological, emergent rockstar lecturer 🙂

    Comment by Stephen — July 27, 2006 @ 4:52 pm

  4. BTW, this gave a spark for me to back-up my own system… which I did.

    Comment by Keith — July 27, 2006 @ 5:02 pm

  5. oh pleasssssse, mr steve garner, give me a break! 🙂

    Comment by steve — July 29, 2006 @ 5:04 pm

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