A new sense of order, just in time for summer

As I sit down to write this Sunday evening, the last of May, I’m looking forward to time of more order and focus. The past few weeks (months, really), we’ve lived amid chaos. There has been a hectic travel schedule for work, the break-in, and the “living out of cardboard boxes” that comes with any move.

My work schedule remains intense, but I’ll not complain. (I know there are many, many people who long to have a job, especially one as rewarding and stimulating as mine is.) But on the home front, the majority of our things have found a place in our new home (thanks to Julie). And another significant point of stability: Tonight, I write on a laptop which replaces one that was stolen back in mid-April.

I’ve spent some time “training-in” this machine, loading it with files, photos and maps that were on various back-up disks. (I was able to recover most—but not all—of our work.) It is strange how my old laptop became the intellectual epicenter of this project… the place we blogged from, the place we stored dozens of maps, hundreds of GPS waypoints, and thousands of digital photos. This experience has been a testiment to the importance of backing-up your machine(s)… and store at least one back-up in a different location than your machinery. (In this case, we were fortunate to have both disk and hard-drive back-ups… as one of the back-up drives was also taken!)

Yet to be replaced… a couple of GPS devices that were also taken. (The challenge of this process is in finding units which are as identical to the stolen devices as possible, as called for in our insurance policy.) I’m hoping to get my hands on the GPS gear this week… and resume my on-water work. I have some big plans for summer, now that the turmoil of the move is behind us. More on that soon.

© 2009 Mike Anderson, St. Michael, MN. All rights reserved.