On computers and life...

Hi, I am getting up my courage to write on my blog.
As you know the day I got back from India my computer crashed and no one could fix it or get my data back, so I bought a new computer and started from scratch. In the mean time I took my computer to Chinatown a little over a week ago to a place where 12 years ago some fantastic guys fixed my computer. The building on Broadway and Walker was all locked up and no sign of any tenants. It was raining and I was wondering around asking people if they know of any good computer service here in Chinatown, but all I was getting were tourists....

I went to a coffee/deli shop across the street and got something to eat while I was waiting for my husband to call me back with some info he was looking up on the Internet in his uptown office. I have noticed a nice gentleman sitting behind me who looked like a local guy not a tourist. I asked him if he knows anybody reliable around here to fix my computer. He said, "No, I am sorry, I don't know anybody here". He had a slight accent ....but not like mine. I thought maybe Greek. I smiled and sat down to eat my food. Two or three minutes later, the man handed me his phone and said "speak". It turns out it was a man named Paul, who is a great computer fixer but he is in NJ and will not be in NYC till late evening. I thank him and said "no, I have to be upstate NY this evening to teach a yoga class." I hang up and handed the phone back to the man behind me. His name was Peter. He was just as much disappointed as me. "Wait a minute" he screamed out, "I forgot, Paul has a restaurant on 46th Street and you can leave your computer there and he will pick it up tonight and I am sure he will be able to help you". I hesitated, computer man from NJ owns a restaurant on W46th St, yeah.....I may end up loosing my computer to some stranger, I thought. But then, what I've got to lose?? My computer seems worthless at this point anyway. Okay, I agreed to go to Viva Brasilia on W 46th St and to leave my computer with Tony, the bartender.

It was still raining and I had to hide my computer under my coat. As soon as I got off the subway at Rockefeller Cnt. and onto the street, my phone rang. It was Peter. He was telling me that he call the restaurant and Tony is expecting me and agreed to hold my computer behind the bar till Paul gets there. Peter assured me, as if he sensed that I was worried, that Tony is very responsible and reliable person. Few minutes later I dropped off my computer and I was heading back to Roosevelt Island to get my car and drive upstate. By the time I got to the Island, it stopped raining and I was walking to the garage along the river's edge. Oh my God, Peter and Paul.....God sent me Peter and Paul to help me out. That evening I got a call from Paul. He got my computer and will work on it tomorrow...... Few days later I had my computer back with a new hard disk and all the recovered data on it!!! I was happy. That reminds me, I have to call Peter tonight and thank him. I did once before, but that was before I got my computer back. He is such a nice man....Brazilian.

At the time I did not know what a chore it will be to get that data back onto my new computer and to combine it with all the new programs and new set ups I now have. I spent the last three days moving the date with a memory stick, which I thought was pretty big. I had to do it in parts. I think it took 8-9 times, moving the stick back and forth and finally by last night it was all moved. Wow!!

Today I am fiddling around with the contacts and the address book and I can't open them, after I moved them and now I cannot organize them.....I end up with two sets of Inbox in my Outlook and another day spent at the computer. I am learning a lot but at the same time I feel, I could be doing so many other things, like preparing workshops, or doing a mailing or work in my gardens.....well I hope my computer saga will be all finished by this weekend. So that's it for today....now, you know why I was not very communicative lately or why Sat Nam Yoga Spa website was not updated.
Good night. Sat Nam, Marilyn