By Irene Morales Ward
While I don't profess to be a "Bill Gates" or "Jeff Turner" :-) , I do think I have a good handle on the basic technology many of us in this profession use on a daily basis. The PDA, e-Key, Smartphone (not so Smart), Blackberry, Bluetooth, Laptop, Desktop, Digital Camera, fax machine, laser printer, to name a few, are not an intimidation for me. They are my friends....when they work!
However, on the occassions where one might go a bit crazy and decide to act up like an ill-behaved child, I'm left scrambling to find a solution. Why does it always seem to be when I'm getting ready to go to an appointment or like in this case, when I'm packing for my vacation?
I found myself 3 days away from a relaxing summer vacation. Two settlements successfully behind me, one the next day and one right after vacation. Who could complain? I had checks coming in! But on this particular morning, while finalizing all my plans and organizing all my files, I was distracted by a sound...water...but where? Was someone upstairs taking a shower? Nahhhh, it's just the plumbing. Someone just must have flushed the toilet.....Dang, that's loud. Never noticed that before....Back to my email and...WHAT IN THE.....
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WATER IS SPEWING INTO MY OFFICE THROUGH MY RECESSED LIGHTS!!!! WHAT THE &*#$????????????
I didn't realize I could fly but apparently (and my children are witnesses to this) my feet never really touched the ground as I bounded up the stairs! The toilet was overflowing! As a mother of 5, I try to refrain from using foul language but this was a definite exception. The image of their faces burns into my memory as the expletives came pouring out - although I honestly have no recollection of what words were pouring out of my mouth! Successfully turning the water off upstairs, I immediately ran back downstairs to find my oldest holding a trash can filling quickly with water over my couch.
Boy this could have been horrible if it had spilled over my.........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! NOT MY LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was all over after that....laptop, digital camera, PDA, fax, printer, phone, cell phone - you name it, it got soaked!! I didn't even have time to think but the laptop ended up covered with a towel in a futile attempt to stop the water from seeping into it. It was hopeless.
After all was said and done, my hard-drive was dead, my PDA was dead and I had essentially lost most of my work. No, this idiot did NOT use a back-up on a regular basis and my attempts to do so 3 years ago seem a bit inadequate in retrospect.
So, the moral to this story...well, I don't have one other than to recommend you position your home office as far away from the family toilet as possible!
The vacation was GREAT and I only checked my email 2 times....on my daughter's computer! Life goes on....laugh and deal with it!
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