I recently moved from one small Saskatchewan town to another. I've come to appreciate the quiet and the small schools, the friendly neighbours and the pace just a little slower than the city.
I really don't mind moving. It is always a chance for me to purge the stuff I don't need and maybe buy a few lovely items to make the new place feel even more special.
I have hand-me-down furniture and many things bought second hand, but this time I had a little money saved to buy a few new pieces. I'm still contemplating the dining room suite and have already bought a sofa bed. The couch is comfy and beautiful but smells like chemicals and I look forward to the end of its off-gassing. I didn't know furniture could have gas, but this one really stinks!
All of our furniture made the move safely and the trip into the house went smoothly. My electronic equipment didn't fare so well. I was careful to move the computer separately in the car with all of the components carefully stowed in plastic tubs in the back seat. Soon after moving I set my laptop on the table and it slid to the floor causing it to malfunction. I could take responsibility for more carelessness and exhaustion of the event.
A more painful realization was that the external hard drives don't work. I stored years of photographs and writing on the drives believing they were portable and solid. When I started using them I quit saving to my computer's hard drive so I wouldn't fill up the memory as fast. After I noticed the problems I looked online and found it isn't uncommon to have the drives fail. I hope the data is recoverable but know it will come with a price tag.
I still have boxes of slides, negatives and photographs I have moved over and over again through the years. They don't disappear on me and seem to be permanent unless they are threatened by flood or fire.
This week I also lost my email account for a few hours when we called to cancel a phone line. We caught it in time to retrieve the addresses and emails, but were first told they had been lost. It was an awful feeling.
I manage so much of my life with my email account, trusting it will remain stable and accessible. After having these problems many people have reminded me of the importance of backing up data. It seems extreme to have to save everything to the Internet and to other storage devices housed in several locations. I know nothing lasts forever but 'out of sight out of mind' may not be my best storage solution and I'll have to make more time to keep my important data safe.
