The Three Year Old and The Floppy

For once, I was well prepared. I had backed up all my files from our computer, because it was clear that it was only a matter of time before it froze forever ... and it did. Never Fear! I thought. I have my files all backed up in case I should ever need them! Then Christmas comes along, and I realize my address list was on that computer. Feeling quite pleased with myself that we had such foresight and was therefore saved from the gruelling task of building our address list again, I grabbed my backup floppy disks and headed to the library. The file was on the first disk I put in and I immediately began updating the file. The plan was to email it to myself, and then save it on our laptop at home so now we would have the new and improved version on the computer we currently use. Everything was going so well, and I thought how glad I was that I had it all in excel format so it would save me hours of time preparing my cards. As I was fixing my list, a pregnant woman with her 3 year old daughter came into the computer lab in the library. The little girl was making all kinds of noise, which I was okay with because I am a mom and I know that it is difficult to sometimes keep your children quiet in quiet places. The woman sat down at the computer next to mine, and it seemed she was just quickly checking something. I had just finished updating the file, and I hit SAVE. The computer was making it's usual grinding noise of saving, and I had the thought of how much better CD-Rs and Flash Drives are for saving work, when my entire computer shut down. I sucked in so much air in my moment of shock, I almost coughed. I quickly looked around to other computers to see if everyone else had lost power ... and then I saw THE FACE. That little three year old girl looked at me with the guiltiest look I have ever seen in a child. The mother had not noticed a thing, and if she had, she certainly wasn't acting like it. She had turned off my computer...and to make matters worse, when I pressed the same button to turn my computer back on, she started giggling. I thought about saying something and then thought better of it. Instead I resorted to giving this little girl the nastiest crusty I could muster ... as if to say "I dare you to hit that button again". While I was waiting for the computer to boot, the mother and her daughter left. I inserted my disk so I could email my list, and the box came up...

Floppy disk in drive A: is not formatted. Would you like to format it now?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It was an experience straight out of the book "To Say Nothing of the Dog". It was as if this little girl and her mom were sent through the space-time continuum to do whatever was necessary to stop me from having a completely stress free Christmas. The timing was too perfect ... everything was just TOO coincidental to be coincidental. It probably wasn't the original plan because it was assumed that I would not be prepared with a backup disk. But when it turned out that I was prepared, an incongruity must have occurred in the system, and drastic measures had to be taken to stop me.

After trying numerous things to no avail, I depressingly ejected my disk, packed up my things and headed home. I felt like crying, which is pathetic, but to be so close to having everything be so easy and simple ... to having NOTHING was disheartening. I thought on the way home about how my experience resembled the book I just finished, and I started to laugh, out loud, in the car. It was either that or cry.

Thankfully, it wasn't as bad getting my addresses as I thought it would thanks to my sister-in-law Stephanie, my sister Tricia, and the BYU Alumni directory. Now, back to my stress free Christmas.