So I am a day behind for NaBloPoMo.  My body is not adjusting well to the “fall ahead” time change. While everyone is happy about the extra hour of sleep, I woke at 5 AM on Sunday morning. Yes, 5 AM after getting in at 11 on Saturday night and not falling asleep until close to midnight.

On Monday, I checked the “Geek Squad” at Best Buy to research the cost of the possible hard disk recovery of my laptop. Can you say sticker shock? A basic recovery attempt begins around $250, mid-level recovery is around $500, and extensive recovery could run $1600+. I was ready to burst into tears. My laptop is less than three years old. I paid barely $500 for the laptop in the first place. I could not see paying someone $500 to recovery the handful of files I hope to recover.  Did I back up my files? No, of course not. Lesson learned!

This is where I begin to gush about how much I love the Twitter community.

I happened to tweet that I had sticker shock at the Geek Squad’s recovery prices.  In less than a few minutes, I get a reply directed to me from @enophiledude (Ted #1) recommending that @tedwardsdesign (Ted #2) take a look at it. Ted #2 tweets back at me to see what the problem is.  A few tweets and direct messages (DMs) later, we make plans to meet.  Shortly after making these plans, I get another reply from @pghjen volunteering her husband to take a look at it.

I won’t say that I wasn’t nervous handing over my dead laptop to a complete stranger.  But I’ve met Ted #1 and he wouldn’t recommend someone he didn’t know or trust.  So I handed off my baby to Ted #2 with a list of items I hope to recover.  He has even volunteered to research prices for a new hard drive for me.

So dear Twitter, at first I did not understand you. Over the past year and a half, I have become to trust the people who reside behind their avators, whether I have met them in person or not.  Thanks to the recommendation of someone, I am hopeful to recover some of files from my dead hard drive, without having to contact a loan shark or sell a kidney to do so.  It’s a win-win-win situation. If I’m lucky, my files will be retrievable.  Ted #1 will be thanked for the recommendation with beers from Bocktown. Ted #2 will be paid for his time and attempted retrieval, and he’s more than welcome to join Ted #1 and I for beverages.

Thank you Twitter!