Sob.

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Suddenly, and without the sort or warning that would be useful in this sort of matter, this authors beloved ibook G4 has passed from the earth.

A devoted laptop for more than 15 months, the laptop executed it’s final algorithm sometime late Monday, after it’s warranty expired. (Naturally.) It is suspected that the cause of death was a “cracked logic board” although it was difficult to hear what they were saying over the hysterical keening of an author two weeks from a manuscript deadline who has just discovered that an utterly lifeless brick contains her work.

Thankfully, a backup from a week ago was located and the author decided to take her head out of he oven. We are certain that the ibook will be sadly missed once the fury of abandonment, hysteria and disappointment wears off and a new laptop is up and running.

271 thoughts on “Sob.”

  1. Holy COW – that sucks duck eggs. I’m glad they were able to recover a back up! Sending – dang – I’m in Oklahoma – and Bud isn’t beer –
    ((HUGS))
    April

  2. Oh dear…..but just think…a brand new one! You are right, once it is up and running, your old one will be but a memory. Thanks for all of your posts. They really brighten my day. Good luck in these last days of writing.

  3. Stephanie, despite the demise of the laptop, its hard drive ought to be salvagable. Our old laptop hard drive sits in a $20 case and is plugged into our desktop machine — and runs just fine. Drop me a line if you want my partner to walk you through the steps of extracting it.

  4. My deepest sympathies for your loss. Just know that we are all with you in this time of dark disk drive sorrow. I, too, have just recently recovered from the grief of my HP’s passing. It went suddenly and without any back-up. Time and new technology heals all.

  5. Ohhhh, poor Harlot! And poor G4 . . . we will have a tiny little moment of silence over here for your loss. But hey, you had a backup! Yay for that!

  6. So sorry. My (year-old) computer died last week. It must be that time of year.
    My deepest sympathies and grateful relief that you did not lose bookbookbook 4, your blood, sweat, and tears.

  7. Jeez. They don’t make stuff to last these days do they? I wonder if this is typical. I’ve never had a laptop, but my last computer lasted for 10 years, and probably still works. Well, I hope you get things set up again soon.

  8. I didn’t get Applecare for the current laptop, but I’ll definitely get it when I upgrade. Let’s face it, even the most sensibly designed machine will get gremlins, or be dropped, or have a bit of faulty hardware. I just about panicked when my laptop had a logic board failure, but apparently Apple covers those anyway for a time because it has been a problem in the past. Mine was 2 and a 1/2 years old when my logic board went kaput, and they replaced it for free in about a week. Why not ask and see if they can do the same for you? (Also, they can make backups for you, even from the “dead” computer. I got that done too.)

  9. I have been there, it’s terrible. Possibly the most terrible thing that can happen when you’re up to your eyeballs in a project.
    …But those new MacBooks are pretty!

  11. They just don’t make em’ like they used to! (a.k.a – Mr. Washie!) But, it is a wonderful reminder of what a fine art we all hold dear. One thing that wears like iron and lasts for numerous lifetimes…. a nice wool gansey! Gotta love our craft!

  16. As Sprite said, if the hard drive wasn’t damaged and is pried out (I hear it’s harder on Macs than on PCs; I didn’t try, I was busy keening), you can get an external case (as a random example, http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=92) … once in the enclosure and powered up, your NEW computer will see it just as another hard drive, and you can access all of your files. Once you’ve rescued the files, you can then use the old hard drive in its shiny new case as a way to back up your data.
    Another thing I wanted to mention was that I *highly* recommend getting a USB keychain drive. They are tiny, come in all sorts of sizes from a few megs to a few gigs, and unlike most miracles of technology, they are affordable! Something only a little larger than a stitch counter can hold copies of all of your important files, and the little buggers are cross-platform for when you’re traveling. They’re like a floppy disk, but with huge storage capacity. (Data transfers are speedy, so you won’t spend your life waiting for things to chug back and forth.)
    I’m sure there are geeks to be had near to hand, but if you want to talk to one who knits, too, please drop me an email. 🙂

  18. Stephanie, as Bronwyn said… assuming it’s the logic board and not the hard drive itself, any competent computer tech should be able to rescue every smidgeon of data from your old computer. Now take your head out of the oven (oh, call Lee Ann and tell her to turn her over off), and call Apple. Best of luck!

  19. We had a similar experience about a year ago, but fortunately lost nothing so valuable as a manuscript. Let’s hear it for backups.
    It’s too bad there’s no such thing as a Kenmore Heavy Duty laptop.

  21. Oh, honey, I am truly, truly sorry. My husband’s G4 PowerBook just went kablooey and we spent a fraught two weeks waiting to see if all his compositions could be recovered from the hard drive. It’s never pleasant watching a grown man sob like a baby. (He’s waiting for a shiny new MacBook with AppleCare as we speak).
    All hail the backup! And the forethought of the author who backed the book up only a week ago. Better than working off that first enthusiastic backup of a year ago.

  23. Thank God for backups!! Thank Goddess for backups! Thank all the Powers That Be for backups! I will now back-up EVERYTHING I have ever written, just in case. Keening in sympathy.

  25. Aaarrrggghhh! I just hate it when machines break for no apparent reason way before their “time” should be over! Compare this to your washing machine?!! Who loves you better? Don’t you wish Sears Kenmore or Maytag made a laptop? Okay, and I take back all my negative thoughts over the past day about “what’s taking the Harlot so long to tell us about her trip?” Now I know…you are in mourning and I should have more patience.

  26. I’ll second Alia on the keychain memory. I’ve keep a backup of all my patterns on mine. And, really big bonus for the distracted, they survive accidentally going through the washer. Don’t know if they would survive the dryer, they always fall out in the washer.

  27. Oh God. There was actually a funny lurch in my chest when I read that. Think it was my heart missing a few beats. Praise HIM, as we say in the South, for backup. And have yourself a stiff drink for good measure.

  28. ACK! I should take this as a sign to back up my files (not that I have a book on my iMac, but I do have about 3000 photos of my kids and my knitting). My Mac is 15 months old too, 3 months beyond warranty, and beginning to give me major problems. My new mantra: Always buy the extended warranty.
    Good luck!

  29. Oh, I’m so sorry! And for a Mac to let you down, when the Mac has always promised it’s different than all the others, that it won’t leave you stranded and abandoned and alone.
    I hope you’re at least back home, so you’re not feeling alone off on the road, but rather surrounded by family.
    And also, you’ve just succeeded in freaking me out and reminding me that I’d better back up my Mac, with its current round of writing revisions.

  30. I second Sprite and Alia. If the drive is fine, there are things you can do with it to both recover your present data, and use it for future back ups.
    Find your local geek and have them help you. 🙂

  32. READ ME: Hey, that happened to mine, too. Logic boards in iBooks are replaceable by Apple, even after the warranty is expired. Call them and read them your serial number (it’s under the battery) and I bet you’ll find that’s a recall, meaning that the repair will be free. Your battery is on recall, too, by the way. All it will cost is about $50 American to back up your hard drive before they operate!

  33. Even if the motherboard is kaput, why can’t you rip out the hard drive, put it in another machine, and take all the files you want off of it? With an Intel based machine you can buy a casing for about $20 and plug it in as an external drive, which is what I did after my boot sector became corrupt. It might work for your machine as well.

  34. Just think, you can get a MacBook/IntelMac now or find a temporary something on eBay or UsedOttawa. There’s probably a UsedToronto too. But it’s tough when your computer goes. Means lots of extra work & worry. Good luck!

  35. Bless your heart. It makes you feel like a close friend betrayed you doesn’t it? I had the same misfortune a little over a year ago and went through the same thing. It’s not pretty but you will come through to the other side. I hope you get a really cool kick-butt one with special stuff on it to help make you feel better. And I’m really, really happy you had a back-up of your book. I’ve learned to use cd’s for treasured items, like pictures of my kids, after losing mine. Manuscripts would be right up there with kids. I hope you feel better soon.

  36. Dear Harlot, My dear Mac-ee friend! I have been enjoying the sweet picture of your iBook, excellent beer and sock, wondering what experiences you’ve had over the weekend, and awaiting the next post. What a dreadful reason for the delay. I upgraded my hard drive in my limping-along Ti-book just this spring and purchased a lovely little case for the old one for approximately $20 that lets me firewire it to this computer. With care, you can remove your old hard drive to make an easier transition to your new Mac. But to avoid keening choose a mac addict to help you. It is to be expected that the warranty would expire hours before the demise of anything.

  37. Oh No – My two worlds colide!
    I knit because it is the least technical thing I can do when I get home from my job in I.T. support. I log into this page and – yikes – everyone’s talking about hard drives and motherboard failures!
    I’m going back to knitting my socks and I will light a candle for your lost data. 🙁

  38. Oh.my.god. I’ve been there, it sucks! But other commenters are right – what’s there usually can be accessed – just don’t ask me how because I’m clueless about that kind of thing.
    It was so much fun meeting/seeing you in Los Altos! You are even sharper and funnier in person. Between the travel and the trauma you must be completely exhausted though; maybe you should curl up with a bottle of wine and get some rest?

  39. Holy moly! I feel for you, I really do. I´ve had this happen to me two weeks before a thesis deadline, and there is almost no way to describe the panic I felt when a piece of technology, incomprehensible to me at the best of times, decided to crap out on me. Do you know what I did to get my bearings? I knit. It helped.
    I then had enough peace of mind to call a repair-type-guy who actually did something practical and enabled me to meet my deadline without crying once! You´ll be fine:)

  40. Oh Dear. I knew something had to be wrong when you still hadn’t posted about Eau Claire by last night, but not THIS wrong. I’m so happy for you that at least you have recent backup. And that you will be getting a new toy. Too bad the timing is utterly abyssmal. Do they give book-deadline extensions for dead computers?

  42. I’m just adding my two-cents-worth to the massed voices urging you to get the hard disk to any competent technician who should be able to get your data off it if at all possible. And absolutely get a USB memory stick/FlashDrive for really easy, very frequent back-ups – I have one on my keychain; one teenager, two toddlers and I haven’t managed to kill it yet. It’s fallen in the road, a diet Coke and the toilet. Then I disinfected it. It still works!
    Thank the Yarn Gods that you had a back-up! The thought of a delay in getting the next book out while you re-wrote it is enough to make me run for the corkscrew.
    I have a Masters Degree in Computer Science and run a computer repair company and my professional advice is to drink heavily and hug cashmere till the crying stops.

  43. Poor Steph, and here I was waiting to see what you thought of us in Salt Lake City. (I got to touch the sock.) Poor, Poor, Stephanie. Hope your up and running soon.

  44. *#*$Q%* Don’t you hate that. Definitely get yourself a USB flash drive. And thank God that you had the foresight to backup in the last week. You need a cold compress and a glass of wine to decompress.

  46. Oh Bugger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Things always break around here just after the warranty has run out as well.
    Just as well you had a back up.
    Will we be able to get the next book in Australia?
    I can’t even get the previous ones from the library.
    Cathy

  47. Awh Hon! I’m glad that you were able to salvage your manuscript. Go curl up with some Mohair and feel better.

  48. I had a similar catastrophic crash, I was in your fair city of Toronto on business and in my first week of library school online when my Dell bit the dust. But it turned out to be the best thing for me, since I got a new Macbook and I’m in LOVE. Highly recommended!

  49. As a devoted mac user, I feel your pain. And yes, the hard drive should be still good if you can get someone to extract it and copy the info to your new Mac. You ARE getting a new Mac, right? Don’t let the oven fumes get to your brain and cause you to buy a PC.

  50. This is just terrible!!! I had similar situation with my Powerbook and all my school files and family pictures. I wept rivers! The new ibooks are super slick though. I hope you have something new and shiny whirring away soon!!!! I’m glad you took your head out of the oven.
    ps: I’m not usually as dorky as I was in Eau Claire but it was super to finally hear you speak and meet.

  52. I thought something was up. My PC hard drive went south this summer (main shop computer with all data) I cried and picked myself back up. Called Dell, fell down again because they told me it was still under warranty! No! Yes! No! Really!
    Dells Knight in Shining Armory rode in and switched drives! AND . . . said “I can try to retrieve your data and if I can’t there will be no charge”
    “Sweet, go for it!”
    Me and my data were reunited and now live happily ever after. I am not stupid, I back up my crucial financial data everyday on two different USB drives (odd & even days) and remove one copy off site every night. I was ignoring the “My Documents” which contains all those “Wheels” that I don’t feel like reinventing. Did you lose any photos from Eau Claire’s talk? We can send you what we have if you want

  53. Oh dear! I hope you’re up and running soon. My old iBook went through a hard drive and two (two!) logic boards in about six months, thankfully the logic boards were covered by some sort of recall. This iBook has had to have some work done too but it only took a couple days and was (relatively) inexpensive.
    We had a blast on Sunday! THank you so much for coming to our part of the world and for not chasing my kids off the stage! 🙂

  54. 15 MONTHS?!?! That’s all?? *massive amounts of sympathy* (My laptop sucked, too. I made the company take it back.)
    Glad you were able to retrieve your manuscript. Hell hath no fury like an author who’s lost a large chunk of work… >.>

  55. I have a PC (no, this is not why I leave my oven on. Honest.) but I do know that people are right about extracting the data from the hard drive. Can be done in all but the absolute worst hard drive failures, and that’s better than losing an entire week of work.
    I know this because my laptop failed the week of one of my deadlines and I not only lost all of the work, but also lost the mails of my courtship with my husband. We were able to retrieve the work, but sadly, not the e-mails. Which means that my husband has absolutely no way of proving me wrong when I repeat in public the things he used to write to me. Heh.

  57. I’m sorry to hear about your laptop. The timing is awful.
    It will be okay. Have a glass of Merlot (not too near the new computer).
    And I too am sorry I was such a spaz in Eau Claire. What I meant to say was ‘Hey, I made you these maple leaf stitch markers because I noticed you were having trouble with your husband’s guernsey seam,’ and not ‘Have some stitch markers in case you don’t have enough already.’

  58. my computer and I joined hands and said a memorial prayer for the departed and wish you all the best with the “new” version. cecilia et al

  60. Thank the gods you had a back up! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost and almost lost precious work because of glitches in technology!
    Life throws us curve balls to ensure we’re still paying attention. For example, I had a tree come down during a swift, but violent storm last week. It came down on my car. And my insurance doesn’t cover flying trees. BUT, after the lumber was removed and stacked(bless the man who did it), my car has only suffered a couple of minor dents in the roof and some scratches. And my house repair consisted of putting my clothes lines back up.
    What looked like disaster has turned out to be yet another mettle- and patience-testing episode. I’m still standing, and so are you!
    Keep on, keeping on!
    xoxo
    Jen

  61. I am so terrible sorry for your loss. Just thinking about how terrifying that must be is making my chest hurt.
    I hope some kind person with know-how can extract everything from the drive so you don’t lose that last week of work.

  62. Steph!
    Go to your nearest Apple Store and they can pull your hard drive out and download all the files!! Hubby said it could be done today. Recovery is a good thing.
    (This is from the Hubby who knows these things. He said a ‘cracked logic board’ shouldn’t impede recovery. Ya, he’s a computer geek.)
    Good luck!!
    Lynn with the ulterior motive of wanting to READ your next book!!

  63. According to a friend of mine that follows these things, astrologically speaking, September is either gonna rock your boats or sink ’em. (Strap on the lifevests, buckle up, and bring on the hootch!)
    Here’s hoping your new laptop is newer and shiner and happier than the old one!

  64. Oh my! I hope you’ll be able to extract the HD, like someone else suggested should be possible. Good luck. Now, go find somewhere where you can sit and knit in quietude for a few minutes, and perhaps enjoy a microbrew (or two)

  65. I’m glad to hear you didn’t get on the wrong plane and end up on the wrong side of the country – however, my heart goes out to you re: the lifeless brick. Thank goodness for nice, low-tech knitting which maintains our sanity when the electronics mess us up. We’ll apprciate the next book all the more knowing how close we came to not getting it.

  66. So glad you backed up the manuscript. I hope you didn’t lose too much of the manuscript.
    I agree that your hard drive info is likely recoverable. Unless you’ve tossed it all into Lake Ontario in a fit of despair (which would be totally understandable).
    The skies are raining here in Stouffville in total empathy…..
    Good luck!!

  67. Good girl for creating a backup! It’ll keep you sane until this week’s work is recovered. I’m so sorry to hear of the iBook’s passing, and I hope it shall quickly be reincarnated back to you.

  68. Oh my Gosh Stephanie!! Until I got to the words “a backup was located” I was nearly sick with dread! Perhaps the book writing faries could gift you with a new flash drive as well? I am learning about these little gems. Boy they’re nice!!

  71. What horrible lousy timing for you. If it wasn’t a Mac I would think it did it on purpose, waiting until you were at your weakest. A PC would have, I think.
    If it helps–and it probably doesn’t–the new MacBooks are happy little creatures. After I lost a 121 page homework assignment (single spaced) to a PC’s sudden death, just two hours before the thing was due, I cheerfully handed over the cash for Applecare on my new MacBook. I’ve slept better since.
    You have my deepest sympathy.

  72. Holy Tomatoes Batman … that sucks. At least you had a backup. But you know … and maybe someone already mentioned this … you can most likely still rescue your data off of the hardrive. Well, not literally you, but a tech geek would know how to do it.
    Just a thought …
    ~firefly

  73. *note to self*
    Back up files.
    Thanks for the reminder about our evil computer overlords and their mission to drive the fleshbags insane, Steph! All hail the Computer Overlords.

  74. Sincere condolences.. As you gather your strength to keep going, I have faith you will find a way to turn this into a clever anecdote for the NEXT book. It doesn’t make it better, but perspective can make it bearable… I should really take my own advice! Happy laptop shopping.

  76. I had a iBook G3 that had FOUR logic boards replaced courtesy of Apple. When the last one went this spring we didn’t even hesitate to buy a MacBook. They are great, the latest software update seems to have solved the mooing noise. I was able to get the G3 up & running in target disk mode and didn’t lose anything.

  77. As the others have said, you can save your data drive! The timing sucks and the aggrevation of being laptop-less does too! Hmmm laptop-less… no, I am NOT going there. Condolences on your loss. Best of luck on the upcoming deadline!

  78. Thank goodness for backups.I should do one right now. Ptew pthew pthew! (superstitious grandma spitting ritual meaning, it could have happened to anyone; may it never happen again.) My husband’s mac laptop has a variety of ailments but I may never be able to pry it out of his fingers for repair. Sometimes (very rarely) I long for pen and paper again, or a nice old fashioned typewriter…

  80. We all knew something was wrong when you had no posts since last week!
    Great advice above, and deepest sympathy from here.
    Have a cup of coffee, some chocolate and a beer (not necessarily in that order), do some therapeutic knitting and go forward!

  81. OK – I’m going to back my computer up right now – at least the pictures….Sorry for your loss, but thanks for the reminder!

  82. That’s it. I’m backing up all my data today…even though this laptop is practically brand new. You never know. I LOVE those little USB flash drives. An amazing invention. My sympathies on the loss of your beloved laptop. I know how attached we can get to these things.

  83. 15 MONTHS?!?! That is CRAP. Especially from Apple. And I thought the warranty was 3 years, not 1! You should call them and unleash. That is total crap from Mac and completely unacceptable. (uuhhh, especially since I just bought an iBook about 8 months ago, yikes.)

  85. Stephanie: If you were only closer, I’d loan you mine. But like some other people have said, you can probably get your most recent files back even if the laptop is toast. It doesn’t mean your hard drive is dead. Take it to your nearby Apple guru. They should be able to extract the drive, get your files off the disk and burn it to a CD or DVD for you to load onto your next laptop. Down here it averages about $100 for this service. Good luck! TMK

  86. Isn’t that always the way! Nothing ever breaks down A) before the warranty expires or B) when it doesn’t really matter. Good for you for keeping backups. AS an IT Tech in a school it is my mantra to all pupils and members of staff. Keep a backup, keep a backup of a backup, Keep a backup of a backup of a backup…….

  89. Chocolate! Chocolate! Get some and let the seritonine do it’s thing. (Great medicine for lost love and computers) I knew something dreadful was a foot when I could get only Oregon and Muses. Best of the best with recovery and I hope a USB Memory stick/flash drive is in hand. They can go everywhere!

  90. Internet activity around the world will become strangely silent shortly, as millions of knitters decide to spend the next few hours backing up all their files.

  91. Stephanie, I lost my 4 year old ibook in July. Cause of death, hard drive failure. I only WISH it were the logic board, is it took 2gigs of pictures with it, of which only 75% were on backup. Thankfully those permanently lost did not include major events like birthdays, births or graduations.
    With a cracked logic board, you should be able to replace it and have your hardrive resurrected unscathed. Good luck, and hang in there!

  92. Similar thing happened to me this last summer, but it was my hard drive going south. I’m with many others, take yourself and your laptop to the nearest Apple Service Center. It sounds very recoverable and you’ll probably be able to “test drive” the new stuff that Apple has come out with.
    I was unable to resist…sold the repaired system and bought me a MacBook and am very happy with it!

  94. Oh No! I’ve had that happen with a seven page paper, and I thought it was the end of the world, I shudder to imagine what bleak state of despair I would be in if it were an entire book. Thank the stars you had it backed up!

  95. Oh no! That sucks. I’m glad that you have a backup. (Gee, when was the last time I ran a backup?!) I never used to give in to the extended warranty, but I’ve purchased AppleCare with the last 3 laptops and have used it with every one. Sad.

  96. Ack! The horror. Such a sound was heard 18 months ago when my beloved husband (very lucky to be alive) dropped my G4 PowerBook on a cement floor, thus cracking the case. It didn’t kill the machine, but rendered it useless as a laptop as it no longer will hold a battery. My condolences.

  100. As a devoted Mac user (and iBook G4 laptop owner)–I hear your pain. And I did already backup this morning before reading this. One note: I am not a techie but do own a USB drive. They are great but not neccessarily crossplatform as someone wrote. I am forced to a PC at work and was taking big files back and forth on my jumpdrive. After a period of time, the device would not work. The tech center folks told me it was because of using it cross-platform. Do they lie? They have before about Mac related things. Good luck with getting it back.

  101. (OK. I’ve stopped sympathetically hyperventalating. It always happens when I imagine being without my laptop).
    I will seventy-two the suggestion about the hard drive enclosure. It is Very Doable on a Mac. (I’ve done it myself). Very glad you had a backup!

  103. If the logic board and not the hard drive is the problem, you can put the hard drive in a new case and get all the data off. (In case you did lots of work in the last week that you don’t feel like redoing.)

  104. More sympathy here! I hate it when that happened, as someone said, thank God for backups!! When you get your shiny new macbook, get the Applecare package. The service is awesome – I had the motherboard and screen replaced on my Powerbook G4 and they did it in a couple of days. I won’t say it is free, since I paid for the Applecare but it sure paid for itself.
    On another note, can’t wait to meet you in NY this weekend!
    Claire

  105. When we were kids and did something wrong… my mother would say “don’t worry about me… I’ll just stick my head in the oven!”
    We never worried about her in those situations, even if she did stick her head in the oven… since ours was electric!
    Good luck with the new laptop!

  106. As a PC user, I can’t give you any recommendation on the swapping of the hard drive on any Mac system, but the hardware should be pretty generic – a hard drive is a hard drive. The logic (or motherboard to us PC users) shouldn’t zap your drive, so everything is most likely still just fine with your data. It’s just waiting for you to rescue it.
    Do most knitters own Apple products? It seems to be a theme here – I can’t name one friend of mine who owns a Mac, but then again, I don’t know any other knitters. And I work for Dell, so that might have something to do with it, too. Just an observation.

  107. In our house, we call that “doorstop disease.” Happens to the best of ’em, unfortunately, but if you’re able to get anything out of the doorstop, that’s better than the situation many of us find ourselves in. My old laptop decided (after nearly 5 years) to just not turn on past the initial blue screen. I cried.

  108. We know your pain, clearly, and rejoice with you that there is a backup. But what about the fact that 2 hours after posting you have over a hundred comments? And that there no doubt would have been more, except for the mass rush to back up our own precious docs? If the moral support of devoted knitters counts for anything, you should be able to sail through this crisis unscathed.

  110. The damn things never give any warning — laptop, desktop, or any other -top. That, in itself, should be warning enough. (But it isn’t.)

  111. Horrors! I echo what folks said about Applecare. For a laptop, it’s absolutely crucial.
    Also, poke around the the Apple web site (or go to an Apple authorized repair center). For some laptops, I’m not sure which ones, there is a known logic board problem, and you might be able to get the logic board replaced, despite being out of warranty. (Pause) Here’s the URL: http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/.
    I know it would be nicer to have a brand spanking new MacBook. But, still, I’m sure someone in your house could use a spare iBook!

  113. Stephanie,
    As a knitter, you have my deepest admiration. As a writer, you have my deepest sympathies (and admiration!) Perhaps a small condolence to you would be the coolest knitting poem I’ve ever read, posted today on Poetry Daily: http://www.poems.com/today.htm?sa=X. It’s a strong testament to the power of words and yarn. Feel better!

  114. Oh, no! I am trying to keep my own iBook G4 from reading your post, since it might activate Lemming Mode (you know how these things like company when they go wherever it is that they go: they’re so social). But you can knit yourself through this. You CAN and you WILL. It might take a lot of mohair but you can do it.

  115. Yikes! So sorry! I was wondering what happened to you! I would definetly contact Apple, as they have been known to service/replace things even out of warranty (from personal experience).

  116. Oh gosh. Speechless. Except for reading the post to my husband (computer guy) who said all the smart people already said. Hard-drive is safe, get Applecare, bla bla bla. And he added, too bad it did not happen on Friday, he would have performed the transplant in a new laptop asap. You know, going to the Apple store is for him what for us is going to the yarn store.

  117. Don’t give up on your data yet! The logic board being cracked doesn’t mean the hard drive has gone bad. I poured a glass of Merlot into my Dell last month (we were paying bills and working on budget – I guess I thought maybe IT needed a drink, too), and was able to get all my data right up to the moment I did the deed by swapping that hard drive into one of our other Dells.
    I know: I just said “blah blah geek something yadda nerd”. If Apple won’t do it for you, either find a geeky friend with an iBook or take it to a local computer shop.
    I’m so sorry. Why do these things ALWAYS happen when there’s a deadline looming?!?!

  119. Why is it that technology always betrays us at the worst possible time? What is that about?
    I’ll take you out for a beer Saturday night after the signing to console you for your loss if you’d like…

  120. Oh no! How terrible! My iBook is on its last leg but that’s understandable since it’s a first generation iceBook. I ordered the top of the line the day they came out… in May of ’01. He’s been a faithful servant and trusted friend ever since. I rally need to get a new one before this one kicks it though.
    My opinion is *always* buy the AppleCare 3 year extended warranty for the laptops. Too much can go wrong haulin’ it around. I had a couple things fixed by them fairly early on and they were very accomodating and easy to work with. I was impressed.
    On the bright side, it’s most likely that your information is perfectly fine. You just need to get the hard drive out and hook it up to another machine to retrieve it. 🙂
    Of course I know that’s not much consolation when the rest of the laptop is very much dead. 🙁

  123. What I would like to know is, why DOESN’T Kenmore make a heavy duty laptop? What a marketing opportunity! Also, does anyone else get a cramp thinking about a “cracked logic board?”

  124. My deepest sympathies for your loss, and best of luck finding a new notebook with which to finish your newest masterpiece.
    Poor, poor iBook… it didn’t stand a chance.

  125. oh Stephanie – that is AWFUL!!! I truly hope you will get someone to rescue the LATEST version of the book for you, and that all will be well.
    I really enjoyed your talk in Los Altos – you are so funny!! Next time you come, I’ll bring you dinner or something because I can’t beleive how many people were there (I should because I’ve seen the pictures, but STILL!) and you must have been signing all night! If you ever need a place to stay in San Jose, or a veg-out, knit, and BBQ session, you’re always welcome at our house 🙂
    best of luck with the computer!
    – Meg

  127. How very sad. Having recently lost my iBook to a logic board failure myself, I know what it’s like to lose such a hard working laptop that you depend on. But don’t worry, I’m sure the hard drive is still fine and completely recoverable. It’s actually pretty easy (well as easy as brain surgery on a computer is) to remove the hard drive and hook it up to another computer to recover the data. If you had a backup I’m sure you’ll be fine, but you could still recover the data in case there were other files on your iBook that you wanted to save. So don’t abandon hope. And don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, I’m a pro at taking apart iBooks 🙂
    And the upside is, now you have a reason to get a shiny new MacBook! Which are unbeliveably fast, I was completely blown away by mine as compared to the trusty old iBook.

  128. AHHH!!!! Sorry, Mac user screeching in sympathy.
    All hail the back up – I’ll mail you a USB key drive for you to
    save that baby every night if it will help. The best $35
    insurance program around. 😎
    I believe you are out of luck on the repair program as
    memory serves that it was the G3s that had the
    logic board problem. This sucks as apples are usually
    very reliable. Heck, my ibook is 5 years old and has only
    had a battery problem. Fixed. Under warranty. Cross fingers,
    throw salt over left shoulder.
    But you can probably kick the hard drive up in slave mode
    and transfer all over to the new one. And pop the extra
    $100 or so for applecare this time.

  129. And as an aside, I sold my deceased iBook on eBay and got $250 for it, despite the fact that it was non-functioning. As long as that screen still works, there’s someone willing to buy it.

  131. Will there be a funeral service or a ritual shooting? I know if my laptop dies with a copy of my last mauscript clutched in it’s cold dead coded circuits, once I got the manuscript out using voodoo, my husband’s expertise, and a case of beer for the guy he’d have to bribe who knows more than he does, I’d take the remains out, borrow a gun from one of the friends who thinks I’m a gun-control weenie, and shoot that !@#$#er twice dead… but that’s just post-manuscript completion hysteria speaking, now that you’ve totally tapped into one of my biggest fears…

  132. Don’t cry for the laptop–it had a good (albeit much too short) life. In its brief existence it got to see and do more than the average notebook, and it died in the midst of doing something it loved.

  135. Quel horreur! I’m so sorry to hear about your beloved laptop. Please accept my deepest sympathies and best wishes for finding a replacement toute de suite!

  136. HOLY SMOLY!!!! Lost book !!!! I’m so illiterate when it comes to machines that I cant help at all.Sure hope it all works out for you .Stay calm

  139. I feel your pain. My logic board gave up the goast two days after my wedding. Containing all my wedding pictures. I love mac but they do have bad timing with thermal nuclear failure.

  141. If you want to repair the laptop, I can highly recommend MacService. They offer 24-hour turnaround.
    My husband took my laptop there, after a botched memory upgrade, and they had it running like new (but with more memory) the very next day.
    http://www.macservice.com/index.cfm
    Oh, and I hear the CEO is cute.

  142. I feel your pain.
    But apart from that – how many hits does your site collect in a day? You’ve got 142 comments
    (and that COMMENTS not hits) in about 3 hours if the timestamps are right.
    Yikes.

  143. well, crap. That just sucks.
    Same thing happened to a friend of mine–G4 iBook–and he lost three months’ worth of novel. backupbackupbackup
    But…crap. I’m so sorry the laptop gremlins got to you. It’s like they smell Book and come running.

  144. I am so sorry, Steph. But as others have said all is not lost. Somewhere in the vicinity of the tour is a computer store or Geek Squad (love those people) who could help extract the old drive and set you up with the port. Hey, bet they’d love to be in the blog! Definitely look at the USB keychains too! As I write this, I just had to switch a dying computer for a live one, so I too can keep working to buy yet more yarn . . .

  146. Maybe you can use this line/thought that our knitting group put together one fun night:
    “She was a few yarn overs short of a shawl!”
    We got a lot of laughs over that.
    Glad you found your back up. Now that I have read one of your books, I am looking forward to another. (Will have to catch up on the others.)

  147. Perhaps in the future, the makers of such wonderful pieces of technology as Sir Washie, will go into the computer biz. We can all hope.

  148. I wish I were the computer geek that some of my friends are, so I could give you practical advice. Unfortunately, I’m a whole different breed of geek, and the only advice I have for you is to eat some chocolate, maybe have a little nip of something, and knit something pretty. Calms the nerves, ya know.

  149. If you haven’t already, tie Ken to something heavy in your home till he makes this all better. If nothing else, it’ll make you feel better to have him unable to escape your knitting theories and revelations for a while.

  151. My deepest sympathies for you and your sanity. a similar occurrence happened to me while I was writing my thesis. I lost the entire introductory section!! Luckily, the rest of the thesis-in-progress was backed up on another computer.
    I promise it will still come together and be ever so slightly easier the second time. After all, you have already come up with the ideas, now you just have to re-remember them.
    Now would be a great time for a glass of the cherry wine I gave you in Seattle. Good luck, Stephanie!

  152. I’m soooo glad to hear/read that you have backups. If you want, I will go drive over to Cupertino’s Apple Headquarters and give them a talking to. Mohair underpants comes to mind as a suitable punishment.
    On the upside, I am writing this on a MacBook (you Mac enabler) and they’ve finally worked out the over-heating issues, it seems.
    Sorry for the extra cost. So sad. So So sad. (But this is a decent piece of somewhat affordable machinery and the keyboard is nicely clicky).
    If Ken or Joe would be so sweet to order a “notebook hard drive enclosure” that is USB or Firewire, they might be able to connect the old hard drive to a different system.
    Best of Luck. Go hug some yarn, yeah?

  153. Oh you poor thing! I hope that the backup from a week ago was reasonably current and you didn’t lose a whole lot!
    Once this dear friend and necessary tool has been replaced and the initial mourning of the loss has passed, may I suggest a wake with liberal doses of alchol – strictly for closure, so that you may move forward in your new computer relationship, of course.

  154. Isn’t it just like a computer to crap out on you when you need it the most, and for it to take your work (or in some cases you whole web store inventory, client list and bank info) down with it? I am glad there was a back up. I will go back to fretting over how I am going to make 3 sweaters in less then 2 months…..

  155. If it’s your logic board, your data is probably safe & sound on the hard drive; you just need help accessing it. As suggested, get a hard drive enclosure, then find someone who can help you sift through the data to find your files (I have no idea where they’re stored in the Apple universe).
    Once everything has been recovered from the old drive, you can then use it as extra storage (sorry, it won’t hold yarn, just data).

  157. And you didn’t throw it, hard, through the window. Wow. You have the patience of a mother of teenagers. If all else were to fail, hard copies can be scanned in and the manuscript could be e-sent that way.

  159. Condolences. I lost my own dear computing friend a few months ago (one day before tax deadline with all self-employed tax information inside…) and it is truly upsetting.
    It’s hard to believe now, but there will be others.

  162. Wow, yay you for backing up your files, sounds like your computer will either “phoenix” (arising from the ashes) or you’ll get a new computer (ooh, new bright and shiny object!). And I’m amazed, nay, impressed that so many of us are computer geeks or are married to ’em! 🙂

  164. Stephanie, my condolences! I cannot even imagine how awful this is for you… I hope that Leslie is right about the phoneix. Surely your publisher will understand.

  165. We have a system in my family of saying “poor baby” to whoever is having a crisis. The bigger the crisis the more “poor baby’s” get said. May I say about 30 to you now, it’d be more..but thankfully the book was backed up. Hopefully the new computer won’t turn on you like that (you may want to consider an extended warrenty of some sort for the next one)

  166. What good is an object that costs big $$ and only lasts 15 months? Crying out loud – I hope they’re replacing it free of charge, despite the expired warranty. Especially since it contained all that work! (Maybe they can take out the work-containing parts & plug them into something functioning to retrieve that? I hope so!)

  168. Way, way back at the top, Alia recommended a USB keychain drive. They are wonderful things. We keep our photos on one. However, they are (as she mentioned) very SMALL. I would advise tying yours to your purse, so that it doesn’t run away and hide with all of your tape measures! 😎

  169. Glad to hear you had a backup! Just a month ago our son’s one-year old Sony laptop crapped out about a week after the warranty….fortunately we had purchased an extra 3-year warranty from BestBuy and he now has virtually a new laptop, but he lost all his data….glad to meet you in EC. Hopefully he has learned the importance of a backup! If you need any pictures of Eau Claire for your blog let me know!

  170. You are at least the third person I’ve heard of this week with computer malfunctions. There must be something in the air.

  171. Oh no!!! Losing an entire computer is the absolute worst. My toshiba laptop isn’t that much younger than yours, and it’s already nearly broken too. Perhaps the next laptop will need to spend some time near Sir Washie to get a feel for how things should run in the house? In the meantime, I’m sending you good thoughts of wool, chocolate and beer!

  172. Oh no! This makes me so nervous about my own computer. It’s a 4 year old desktop that is running ever slower. Well, as my Latin teacher would say, “Age, age.” Translation: Be strong. I think I need, er, you need a pretty new macbook. 🙂

  173. Think of it this way – the MacBooks are WAY better than the old iBooks.
    (anf I’m not just saying that because i work at Apple)

  176. I think there’s more to this “planned obsolesence” idea than the engineers are letting on. It’s a conspiracy, I tell ya!
    I’m glad you had a backup. All hail the backup! We’ll be observing a moment of silence for your notebook’s passing and sacrificing a skein of merino to the good health of its replacement.

  177. I bet you cracked your logic board as you repeatedly banged your head on the keyboard as you tried to write your book. Ah, the magical Creative Process.
    Be more careful next time. Aim for your desk instead of the computer.

  180. Thank goodness for backups! Where my dad works, a guy e-mails everyone a new “backup poem” every week as a humorous reminder…
    Consoloation prize–the new mac books are HOT!And they even come in black. Have fun shopping!!!!!!!

  181. I’m sorry, but when you said you were taking your head out of the oven, my first thought was “gas or electric?”

  182. I think it’s criminal that it died so soon. I am so sorry you had to go through that. Thank goodness your back-up copy is relatively new. I hope you hadn’t added too much since you last saved.
    My sympathies.
    Charli

  183. Nope – don’t you spend any time at all missing that computer – cracked logic board indeed – get one of those titanium PCs that can be dropped – and I am a lifelong Mac user!

  184. When my beloved PowerBook went into a coma, the biggest mistake I made was taking it to a shop that had only one Mac technician (and it turned out that he needed a few training sessions – told me it was my logic board…it wasn’t). Hie thee to an Apple Store and their Genius Bar (you are welcome to come to my “local”, Ala Moana Center, just minutes from downtown Honolulu). A friendly, competent, knit-appreciative* technician ran diagnostics, figured out that it was my hard drive, showed me how to recover and store everything I needed onto my iPod (!) and told me how much a replacement hard drive would cost, how long it would take, and that I could probably get a rebuilt hard drive elsewhere for less money. All for free.
    *I was knitting a sock while waiting in line and did not get any funny looks

  185. There’s a scene in Steel Magnolias where everybody’s upset at the funeral – I cry through it every time. And then Sally Field says, “I just want to hit something.” And someone volunteers, “Hit Wheeza”. And I laugh hysterically through the tears. That’s kind of the emotional roller coaster I went through reading your post today. Oh no! Say it’s not true! But wait, there’s a book on the needles? A BIP almost done? and it’s rougly been saved! My bookcase quakes in anticipation. “Hit Wheeza” indeed!

  187. Steph, you know I adore you, but you are a professional writer and that means BACKING UP YOUR WORK NIGHTLY. (yes, laptops should be convenient but still.)
    It’s a reasonable expense to invest the $150 or so for an external hard drive (if you haven’t already). Back up often. Optimally, save the main document on the hard drive, open it and work on the book from there, then when you save it’s backed up. Alternately, store it somewhere on your server space.
    Even more fun, get yourself an 80gb iPod as your backup disk, just make sure you hook it up every night and back it up. Added bonus of personal entertainment (ps, you can store your knitting patterns as Notes and also use the iPod as your pattern).
    Sorry about your Mac. That is just not a Mac’s personality, and I’m sorry you had a bad one. 🙁

  188. Sorry to hear about your laptop. I’m however glad that you had a back up disk and all your hard work didn’t die along with it!

  189. Gee, I didn’t mean to sound harsh! You know, the easiest thing for you might be to get a flash drive – they are teeny and you can leave it plugged in all the time. About $50.
    Sorry again if I sounded mean!

  190. My three computers (newest to oldest) – Biteme, Oreo (’cause he’s the middle one), and Baby, the latter two semi-defunct, extend their deepest condolences to their relative of another line, the lamented G4. (Mine are all PC’s. I know, same genus but different species.) I, the wetware type, send condolences to the author. All hail said author for the smarts on backing up, though! If you can’t retrieve from the old HD, may you only have lost minor modifications since the backup. Much luck!
    (And keep your head out of that oven. How can you knit with your head in an oven? Besides, keening while in there, what with the echo effect and amplification and all, must be awfully hard on the ears.)

  192. If it makes you feel any better – you were great in Los Altos. What a treat! Worth every mile of that 4 hour drive!! and the yarn I purchased – Yummy!! I have emailed you some pics of your trip to Los Altos – enjoy. You did not disappoint – everyone had a great time! Sorry about the computer – that blows.

  193. Something to try, if Macs support it….
    You can get an external Maxtor hard drive–with one button it syncs up the contents to a separate place. So if there’s an issue, you have a reasonably recent copy?
    I completely sympathize with your situation…. 🙁

  194. Condolences and bravo for backups.
    It must be in the air. Last Thursday the content management system here at work lost all traces of a document that I had just updated. This, in spite of the fact that I saved it repeatedly and had no indication that anything was wrong. Sunday I couldn’t log in from home. Monday, I got into the office and my desktop was toast. Not toast really because there’s nothing quite as nice as a good piece of toast with butter & homemade jam. It was a pile-o-crap. But, thankfully, someone else’s pile-o-crap.
    Now a funny knitting story:
    It was sometime around the computer crash that I discovered the reason my two socks just didn’t look related was not because sock #1 had to be frogged three times (did I mention the mohair content of the yarn?) due to a pattern that was, ah, creative.
    No, it was because pattern #1 started with K1P1 ribbing. Pattern #2 that I used to fix the problems with sock #1 and start sock #2 had K2P2 ribbing. It just never occurred to me to open the book with pattern #1 to look at the beginning of the pattern. So now, there will be socks #3 and 4.
    I guess I’m starting Christmas knitting.
    And Mercury isn’t even retrograde.

  195. I am so sorry. The new computer will be better. It certainly isn’t as resiliant as Mr. Washee.

  196. I applaud the geek necklace (flash drive) idea!
    Also, saving a copy online daily is another lifesaver. Sending yourself an e-mail w/ the latest version is an easy way to do so.

  198. As many people have said, if the HD isn’t toast, you can recover your data… and the Macs make it easy by being able to be put in Firewire mode. And 15 months isn’t long for a laptop, we generally figure their useful lifetime is 2.5-3 years. Apple would most likely replace the logic board for not-very-much. They’re pretty good about service. If you were closer, I’d send one of my techs to help you. They’re getting good at soldering cracked boards.
    –Speaking in my professional mode as Director of West Engineering Computing Network.

  199. I’m so sorry for the loss- ans so utterly relieved that you had a back-up!! I told you earlier that I bought two of your books to bring to Norway (the Meditations.. and the Yarn Harlot)- for myself- and a copy of the “meditations” for my sister.. I am amusing myself with meditations morning and night (did you spy on me in order to get anecdotes for you books- I feel like you know me inside-out!)and I share a little quote of “you know you knit too much when..” with my fellow knitters at our weekly knitting cafe.
    My sister took her copy to the staff room at the school where she works,and let some of the ladies that sometimes get together for knitting seanses after school leaf through it. Big hit!
    It would be a disaster if we lost another good book from you because of that old computer!

  200. Oh, man! That’s terrible. Buck up though; no more heads in ovens! *g* If the HD is ok, you’ll have your files back in no time!

  201. Je*sus, that stinks! I’m SO glad you have a backup, even if it’s 2 weeks old. I once lost my master’s thesis…..I can’t even speak about it….

  202. OHHH no the horror, I bet your wanted to cry! My computer dies last year and I lost a ton of stuff, not a manuscript, but I cried! Now I back up all the time, made hubby buy back up hard drive thingy! I’m so glad you had a back up!

  203. Oh no (hugs mac closely). The hard drive thing that Alia works really well – my hubby rescued two apple hd’s and turned them into portable hard disks so all is not lost.

  204. 15 months?! Sure was no Mr. Washie now, was it? 🙁 Hope you are up and running sooner than soon and *very* glad to hear there was a backup.

  207. Condolences! Have you noticed that even with all the talk about computers and hard drives we still manage to slip in a little knitter obsession. A flash drive is “about the size of a stitch counter”. Only in knitter’s land!

  208. Steph, I can restrain myself no longer. “It’s” is the contraction for “it is”; “its” is the possessive form of “it.”

  209. From this iBook G4, our deepest condolences. This little white magic machine has been awesome while I’m stuck in bed recovering from surgery – I must keep up with da Harlot!

  210. hey there:)
    i have an idea!!!!
    get in touch with IBOOK people & tell them you have a blog following besides a book/author following & how nice it would be for the both of you for them to GIFT you a brand spanking NEW ibook
    hey its an idea:)
    peace&blessings
    mary~

  211. Ouch. At least you had a backup.
    And it’s a good thing knitting doesn’t have motherboards. It’s bad enough to get 10+ inches into a sweater and realize you have the cables all (_%)#^&U($# up (not that I’ve ever done that of course), can you imagine if we had to worry about it just up and not being there anymore?
    I’m going to have nightmares tonight.

  216. all I can say.. is… that sucks big time. Of course you knew you should have backed up.. that is old news.. good luck in the future.. hugs.. and my the gods of knitting be on your side since the computer gods aren’t…

  218. Wow, this kind of karma before your friend’s surgery would have been wonderful. Right now, not so much. 2 weeks to deadline? cool, that kind of timing is a sure sign of literary success.

  219. Thank goodness you had a back up! The head in the oven bit? Had a friend that tried that. Took him 15 minutes of neck cracking pain, before he realized he had an electric range, not gas.
    Is there going to be a funeral procession for the broken laptop? Perhaps a felted saddle on the back of a cat, with the saddle stirrups turned backward? Followed by a clank of neglected pagers and cell phones?
    _So_ glad you had a back up!

  222. Sorry to hear about your laptop!
    I don’t know if you’ll ever read this because you have like 80 comments but I thought I’d share a link to my sisters journal. She posted some pictures from her visit to Third Place Books in Seattle to see you! I am in Idaho and couldn’t be there so she was kind enough to wait in line to get your autograph for me. She bought a little card for you to sign because I already have all your books 🙂
    http://overcast.livejournal.com/564059.html?style=mine#cutid1
    I don’t know if this link will work…I hope so.
    If it doesn’t you can look at my friends page at Overcasts last post.
    Enjoy your NEW laptop!

  223. Wow! Thank the knitting godess for back-ups!
    Seriously, the exact same thing happened to my Canadian friend, Lynne. Prior to that fateful day, she refered to her desktop computer by NAME (I think it was Priscilla), or “my princess”, or “my life.” I do believe she would have married it if such mixed couples were legal! Then it crashed! Motherboard wasted! Things were never the same. Her new (faster, better and safer) computer was “that thing” and “It”. She was known to mutter…”never trust them again!” :=) In sympathy,

  224. My wonderful friend who recommended my iBook G4 in the first place says this:
    “Now – just cause the laptop won’t start does not mean that the hard drive is a lost cause. MANY times I have pulled them out of laptops and attached them to another good laptop via firewire and salvaged everything.”
    The last word, I love that last word!
    -Robin

  226. awwww boo! I would flip out if my computer died. With no means of accessing the internet, how am I supposed to procrastinate for hours on end? I mean really.
    maybe it’s because you didn’t come to kansas.
    yeah…that’s it.

  227. As I type this on my good little iBook G4 (bought around the same time as yours I believe), I pray and hope that it doesn’t follow in the same footsteps. But yay for a new laptop 😀 I’d be lost with this thing. My PC died a couple of months.

  228. OH DEAR ME!
    my laptop crashed in june and i got a hand me down from my mother as i couldnt afford a new one. lost three months of emails and data… but cant imagine thinking you had lost your latest book!
    so glad you were able to get back some of the work.

  230. OMG! So glad you had a back-up to recover- allbeit a week old- at least it was there! Now hit the Screech!

  231. My condolences for your loss. Though we can only beg the gods to answer our cries of “Why?” when these tragedies occur, know that we all sympathize with you. May your recovery be swift and painless.

  235. Sorry for two replies in one day but I’ve just thought…and this is new to me, a semi-Luddite, you and others may already know about it…but there is a backup-thing you just plug into your computer and dump all your documents, photos, etc. on…some people at my employer have these things …it’s hardly bigger than a keytag, and you can hang it on a lariat around your neck (many co-workers do) and instead of carrying around bunch of diskettes or CDs or a bunch of Powerpoint presentations, or a briefcase… you just have this … THING … with all your data on it, about the size of a nurse’s neck pen, just dangling from your neck. It is beyond cool. Get one.
    Dez

  236. Holy crap! I’d freak right out if my dissertation research went awry, even though I back up like you did. I can’t believe you got only 15 months out of that thing. I’ve had my PowerBook G4 for 5 years now. It doesn’t look so hot, but it still runs great. I agree with the other people–call up Apple and see what they can do for you.

  237. OMG! I know EXACTLY how you feel. Actually worse. I write, and one day I discovered that the salt air, which permeated the ship I lived on for 4.5 months, had corrupted my portable computer, AND my backup discs were crap. There went YEARS of research and diaries. Fortunately, I had printouts of most info – which I gradually input into the home computer after my husband assured me our 2-year-old could not accidentally delete files. He was VERY wrong. A few months, later my hyperventilating ceased, and I perservered to re-write. After several months, I had approached a happy place. Until one day, everything was GONE – my husband was sincerely, achingly, profusely sorry, but he was just trying to compact data. I must have been really bad when I was younger – so, now I await that gentle nod from the Universe when balance is achieved, and I can proceed. Sorry about your loss. 🙂

  239. Hi there, I”m sorry to hear about the iBook problem. I sent you some email with some info. I hope you can retrieve your email.

  240. Oh my god!
    I’m so sorry to hear about your computer and glad to hear you had a backup–I know you’ve been pulling teeth to get this book done. I am also a writer spending my summer working under deadline on a laptop. I just finished backing up my manuscript an hour ago, but I think I’ll make another one now.
    Hang in there! You’re an inspiration for me to finish my book (and my current sock project…)

  241. Argh! That is worse than when my hard drive crashed and I lost ALL of the pictures of living for a year in Hawai’i, and the only copy of the major research paper I spent two months pulling my hair and writing. This is why backups are good: I had planned to use that paper as the basis of my MA dissertation, but instead I had to start over from scratch!

  242. So sorry for the loss. I find chocolate and coffee generally fixes everything. Except maybe death, but I’m sure there’s a loophole somewhere.

  246. Oh. Oh, no. No, no, no. Why, fates? WHY?
    Thank whatever spirits were watching over the day you backed your manuscript up.
    Have a nice bottle of wine, take some deep breaths. Maybe chew the tip off a bamboo dpn (hey, it works for my cat when she’s stressed.)

  247. I am glad you were able to get a recent backup but how horrible that your laptop crashed and burned on you at such an important time! Good luck finishing the book!

  248. If you travel a lot or are otherwise a bit rough with a computer, an extended warranty on any laptop is a must, Mac or PC. But look at it this way– it’s an upgrade opportunity. The new black macbooks are sweet…
    If it’s worth it for a weeks’ worth of data… you can always pull the hard drive from the ibook and attach it to another machine, and read the data off of it onto that machine. An enclosure for it (so that you can connect it via USB as an external hard drive) would run you at most $50 USD. If you can’t buy one at one of the Toronto apple stores, one of the geniuses there can probably tell you exactly what you need and were to buy it. There are instructions on apple’s website for how to remove the hard drive, or you can get one of the geniuses at the apple store to do it (I have no idea what they’d charge, though.)
    Good luck, and good knitting. Keep us posted with what you find out.

  249. How awful for you, Steph. Just what you need right now when you are racing to meet the deadline. Hope your back up works for you. Looking forward to the new bookbookbook!

  251. I’m impressed by the fact that you didn’t immediately shoot yourself, only AFTER shooting the computer! Nice job on handling that stress ;o]

  252. Stephanie! What in the world are you doing reading all of these comments? Get that new laptop, restore that backup and make that deadline !!! Go. Go. Go.
    Sorry the technology fates got you bad but I’m sure you’ll rise above it. …. looking forward to hearing about your last few book tour stops when you catch up.

  253. So very sorry for your loss…but as the universe does things that we have no clue to…there is something going on for you…and your horrible mishap has helped HUNDREDS OF US!!! I just did a complete back up and put it in my file…to my horror I have not backed up since 2003!!!! And I preach it to my co-workers…seems I don’t follow my own advice at home! Most likey because I am knitting in front of my computer and distracted…thank heavens! Tell your publisher that we will wait for your book…Please don’t stress more then is needed to complete it. (we know you need that certain level of stress to complete it) I highly suggest to smooth the rough edges of this loss, a dang good bottle of Champagne and excellent Chocolate (yes, I promise they DO go well together!).

  254. Dear Stephanie,
    I back up DAILY when I write, especially on deadline, altho, of course, you were traveling. And, um, I’m afraid Renee is exactly right about apostrophes. But YOU are super and I enjoy your blog enormously.

  255. I read the Publishers Weekly article about knitting books, complete with your picture, quotes and the title of the nearly-destroyed new book. I’m putting it on order for our library right now so we will get it out of the first 100,000 that your publisher is printing!

  258. You could always take out the old harddrive and mount it to be read by your new Mac. If it is just a cracked logic board that should be no issue mounting the drive and then copying out the information.
    So sorry it happened, though I really do hope you bought Apple Care for the new one. Unfortunately Apple Care has saved me far to many times.

  259. OH MY GOD ……… You have my utmost empathy. I bet you were happy to find the backup…and then kicked yourself for not making one every single day!
    I have SOOOOOooooooooo been there.
    Sending hugs to the bits & bytes,
    …Sari

  263. Sweetie, The genesius at Apple should be able to take the old hard drive out and pop it into another machine (or even into an external HD case) in order to allow you to do a complete back up. All is not lost. So ask, the very worst answer is no and it’s no worse than now. Good luck with the new one. Sue B

  264. Did you happen to buy your Mac w/ an Amex card? They double your warranty up to an additional year. I have no affiliation w/ them, but I’ve taken advantage of that offer several times.

  265. Ooooh! Sorry. Glad you had a backup. As for me, I love my finger drive. Heard Apple has a new mega machine comming out. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise.
    Ang

  267. Stephanie,
    After a *very* quick browse of the 276 replies so far, I must be the only one who cannot see your pictures! The one labelled “WooHoo added after” is the *only* one that came through. I clicked on “show picture” and that didn’t work either. I’m so bummed! (I saw you in Eau Claire and was anxiously awaiting photos and updates)
    I’m hoping that whatever you did to add that photo afterwards can be repeated. I would hate to miss all the photos with your blog!

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