A Funny Thing About Computer Crashes

PHOTO: sevacall.com 

About a month ago, my computer crashed. That is part of why its been so long since my last post. I've been re-grouping.

Computer crashes are a fairly common occurrence, yet one that I have never experienced. I've been in the middle of preparing for a huge workshop, which I rescheduled -(thank you all for being so understanding!) and figured I would just use my hand written notes, my backed up files and Jay's computer for a few days while we got mine back up again. No big deal right? 

And then a funny thing happened.

I found that I could not access the remote vault that my files were supposed to be backed up on, (and still cannot access them due to "indefinite maintenance") and I, foolishly, do not have another back up. 

I started feeling just a little sick to my stomach as I mentally reviewed just how much work I have done, how much information was stored, and how many book drafts, pictures/videos I've accumulated over the last 5 years.

We attempted to fix the issue ourselves, and even with 6 total hours of tech help via phone from Microsoft, we finally had to take it to be fixed and the hard drive pulled. (That was a week ago-they are still working on it.) 

So I received my memory sticks back from the computer guys yesterday-and it does not look good: 6 viruses, (which both Norton and Hitman Pro failed to detect), was the cause of the issue. 

The tech guys (who are fantastic by the way) were only able to retrieve, from what I can see, about 10% of what I had on my computer. The remote (Comcast) vault is still under maintenance "indefinitely" so I can't look and see what has been backed up on there.(I have not been able to access it since this happened-so I will never use a remote backup service again.) I'm most upset over the photos and videos of my daughter and family that were lost, (as well as the book drafts), but its my own fault for not being more attentive to how this information was saved.

And as my sweet and wise friend Maria from Spain pointed out: 

"Burn your last (memory) bridges and start new ideas afresh . Who on earth has a chance to 

reinvent anyway at this stage? And is not your fault. Things happen. For a good reason."

And as another long time friend added: "...and now all those new ideas will reinvigorate your world..."

So, I've sulked enough. I  have to keep moving forward. The August 10 workshop in Mt Laurel will continue as scheduled and an updated workshop schedule will be forthcoming. I will base it on the e-book I sen you all, since I no longer have my own workbook draft, that was lost in the crash.

I am pretty much starting over again from scratch. I'm stalled, but I'm not down yet. Please bear with me as I re-group from re-grouping. 

Since I have lost all of the articles I was working on for this blog-and my books-I've written some new ones and posted a few of them on the newest addition to BodyLogique Health & Learning: "The Free Range Classroom" (Where Every Moment is a Learning Moment)

So, moving forward, BodyLogique is re-committing to Health & Learning-only in a slightly different manner.

From today on, this blog, "S.M.Art Kid/Healthy Kids", will be completely devoted to physical and sensory literacy, including health education, and activities and resources that support the physical aspects of learning. I see which articles interest you guys-and they are time and time again the ones that discuss physical or sensory activities-so I will focus more on that type of information in this blog.

"The Free Range Classroom" (Where Every Moment is a Learning Moment) will focus more on the way we learn-multiple intelligence, neuroplasticity, social & creative literacy, etc.

The "FoodLogique" blog will be devoted entirely to Food Education & Nutritional Literacy.

And the "BodyLogique Books" blog will deal with language, reading & character literacy and will be the new home of "S.M.Art Stories" Interactive Storytelling Program.

Each blog will have some initial posts uploaded and then regularly, one post a week. In addition, if there is a relevant workshop, conference or training, I will post that information as well.

Why separate blogs? Because learning - education - is a multifaceted process. There are so many avenues to take-and the whole point of it all is to not just impose or absorb facts so we can regurgitate them back onto a test paper or inject into a conversation, but to actually understand and form our own ideas- and then to use our new knowledge, our understanding and our ideas to help make the world a better place, in one way or another, either personally, locally or globally. 

There are so many facets to the work I do, as well as to the work you do. Rather than continue to clump it all together, I think each facet needs to be highlighted in its own accord, so that we can better understand how each part relates, fits, supports and works together. I have some new ideas as to how to accomplish this, and will keep you in the loop as they develop. There is so much more to come. 



But now, I need some breakfast. A more detailed explanation will be forthcoming. 

In the meantime, have a wonderful Friday - and enjoy a "Short and Simple: One of a Kind" post for your weekend.

~Barbara