My Luck Ran Out

I'm old and learned graphic design the old-fashioned way with mechanicals, amberlith, overlays and X-Acto knives. I spec'd type with a calculator and fractions and used a proportional wheel to size photos. I melted huge chunks of wax to adhere my typesetting to my layout board. Sounds barbaric, doesn't it? I still use my old drafting table to chop fabric. When Apple came out with the Macintosh computer in the early 90s, the newspaper I worked for got one for each of the artists. We were mostly self-taught on the graphic and design programs, but we could quickly see how these fancy computers would make our jobs so much easier. And boy did they.

Since it wasn't feasible to take my work computer home, I spent my hard earned money on a Mac for me. Freelance work was popular at the time and I couldn't use the computer at work to make extra money, so I bought my own. I hoped it would provide extra practice on these new-to-me graphics programs. Eventually, I opened my own design business in order to be available in case a kid needed to stay home sick. Or I was needed on a field trip. Having flexible hours (and a great boss) is essential when raising children.

Fast forward almost 20 years and I can't tell you how many Macs I've owned over two decades. Enough to invest in Apple stock, I'll tell you that much. These computers are reliable to a fault. Until last week. The Mac I was currently using died an awful, quick death. As I type (cheapo PC laptop if you're wondering), my hard drive is in California awaiting, hopefully successful, data recovery. My back-up files? Non existent. Cocky, much? Why yes, I was.

Last week is such a blur. My credit card is still smoking. Since I hadn't upgraded in a while, a new computer was in order. Oh yeah, throw in new software too since most of my software needed upgrading to work with the newer operating system. Those computer and software people are smart, I tell you. Add in an external hard drive to back up every five seconds so I can avoid this kind of stuff in the future. I may be poorer, but I'm smarter. And did I mention I have design work in progress and new jobs to conquer? Recovering from a dead Mac will set you back a few days.

But ain't she purty? Welcome to the biz, new iMac. Now help me make some money so I can pay for you.

One last thing. Go back up your important files.