Down the Tubes
On Monday night (early Tuesday morning), I was up until 2:15 writing an 11-page paper that was due on Tuesday. When I finally deemed it finished enough to allow myself to go to bed, I printed a copy out, saved the file, and stumbled into bed for 4 hours and 55 minutes of sleep. It was God's providence that had me hit that Print button before going to bed.
On Tuesday morning, as I was getting ready, I read over the paper and found a number of small adjustments to make, which I did. I threw the old copy in the trash and, for some unknown reason, decided to hit the save button before I printed the final draft. I received an error message saying that it could not save the file to my flash drive. Fine. I'd just save it to My Documents and then try to save it to my flash drive. I did a Save As and got another error message saying that the program had an error and would have to save all files and shut down.
Well, that would be fine...just as long as it actually saved the file. I held my breath as I went to My Documents to look for my paper and to my relief...there was the file. I double clicked on it and there, where just moments before had been an almost perfectly lovely 11-page paper, were 46 pages of small squares.
I checked my flash drive then and discovered that the error with my flash drive had removed my copy of the file from it. With a sinking heart, I reached back down into my trashcan and pulled out my only basically complete copy of the paper I spent hours and hours writing. All that remained of my paper was a paper copy with a few minor errors, a 46 page file of squares, and a copy of the file I had e-mailed to myself when it was a mere 2.5 pages long.
By this time, it was 8:00, and I had drive to BG and be in class by 9:35. No time to retype. I made my way to school and went looking for my professor's office to see what she would have me to do. She was very kind and sympathetic and said that rather than making me retype the entire paper, I could just pencil in any changes I wanted and she would accept it that way. God bless nice professors!!!
I thank God that I hit Print before I went to bed that night. Had I not done that, I'm afraid I might have spent the day in bed weeping at the many lost hours of excruciating writing. As I told my professor, for me to write a paper must be akin to birthing a child, for it is a painful process.
A word to the wise: save several copies of any document you value. I had saved my document--in two different places, in fact--and both copies ended up being destroyed. What are the chances??
On Tuesday morning, as I was getting ready, I read over the paper and found a number of small adjustments to make, which I did. I threw the old copy in the trash and, for some unknown reason, decided to hit the save button before I printed the final draft. I received an error message saying that it could not save the file to my flash drive. Fine. I'd just save it to My Documents and then try to save it to my flash drive. I did a Save As and got another error message saying that the program had an error and would have to save all files and shut down.
Well, that would be fine...just as long as it actually saved the file. I held my breath as I went to My Documents to look for my paper and to my relief...there was the file. I double clicked on it and there, where just moments before had been an almost perfectly lovely 11-page paper, were 46 pages of small squares.
I checked my flash drive then and discovered that the error with my flash drive had removed my copy of the file from it. With a sinking heart, I reached back down into my trashcan and pulled out my only basically complete copy of the paper I spent hours and hours writing. All that remained of my paper was a paper copy with a few minor errors, a 46 page file of squares, and a copy of the file I had e-mailed to myself when it was a mere 2.5 pages long.
By this time, it was 8:00, and I had drive to BG and be in class by 9:35. No time to retype. I made my way to school and went looking for my professor's office to see what she would have me to do. She was very kind and sympathetic and said that rather than making me retype the entire paper, I could just pencil in any changes I wanted and she would accept it that way. God bless nice professors!!!
I thank God that I hit Print before I went to bed that night. Had I not done that, I'm afraid I might have spent the day in bed weeping at the many lost hours of excruciating writing. As I told my professor, for me to write a paper must be akin to birthing a child, for it is a painful process.
A word to the wise: save several copies of any document you value. I had saved my document--in two different places, in fact--and both copies ended up being destroyed. What are the chances??
posted by Sharon @ 10:14 PM
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