On the Up Side

Out of nowhere and with no warning my beloved computer decided to stop working a few days ago.  Nothing.  All I got was a "black screen" and mouse cursor.  Safe Mode.  Re-boot after re-boot.  Nothing.  After several hours of troubleshooting, Steve suggested that I do a fresh install of Windows and "start over".  Aaarrrggghhh NO.  Surely not.  Do you know what that means?  Double and triple checking my back-up external hard drives are up to date.  Double and triple checking I've remembered to back up everything including all my Photoshop presets, tools.  Documents.  iTunes playlists.  And on and on.

And so in the early hours of Sunday morning I started the process.  Back-ups all checked.  C: formatted.  Windows Vista reinstalled.  And then a whole day of re-installing software.  Finding all the serial numbers.  Setting up folders.  And the list goes on.  I lost about 4 days.

I was so frustrated that this happened now while trying to upload products to our online store, creating new products and still working on our website.  Aaarrgghhh.  Not a good time.  However, I had to be positive.  I find just lately that I very easily spiral downwards to a depressed state of mind when things appear to be "going wrong" for me.  I try to always search for the up side in every situation.  And I found it.  A fresh start.  A clean slate.  A faster computer.  A new folder set up.  Suddenly I went from frustration and annoyance to being excited and almost giddy with delight at having a "new computer!".

So I'm now very happily back to my creative state of play!