Catastrophe!! And Recovery...

It was bound to happen.

When I bought my laptop in 2010, I told myself that I didn't need to spend top dollar on it. I told myself that I didn't even need to spend middle dollar on it. It wasn't like I needed it; it was more of a desire after Hubby got one.

So when we paid his off, I began to shop. Low res this. Minimum that. I really took it down to nuts and bolts.

And then I began to add programs. Highly intensive graphics programs. On a practically nonexistant graphics card. That's when the crashes started. But I put up with it figuring that it was more disruptive than anything else.

And then I got more into photography. I started processing images and saving them as high-resolution files. Pretty soon my hard drive had almost no space left. I deleted a couple of programs that I didn't use and figured that would help.

Crash. After crash. After crash.

And long story short? A little over a week ago my laptop shut down and wouldn't come back.

It was toast.

I tried every trick I could until I finally had to make the ultimate last ditch effort: I did a factory restore...a trick that wipes out everything that has been added since the laptop came out of the factory. Every program I'd added? Gone. Including Photoshop. Every file I'd added? Gone. Including all my pictures.

Don't worry. I had finally purchased an external hard drive and saved nearly everything. Phew! A couple of pictures got lost. A couple of files disappeared without a trace. But overall, everything stuck around. Double phew!!

But now I am on a process of rebuilding. I no longer have Photoshop, so at a friend's suggestion, I downloaded a free program called GIMP. It's like Photoshop without all the prettiness. And I am finding that, among those who make their lives by photography, GIMP is kind of the bastard at the family reunion, if you'll excuse the expression. I've also found that those same people are stunned at the results I've gotten from using this program.

I'll admit that it makes me feel good to know that it doesn't matter what program I use; I can still work a little magic. I like to think that means something...

In any case, here are a couple of my recent creations...I think I may stick with GIMP for a little while...and treat my laptop a little better this time around...

Down on Red Roof Farm

Up Where We Belong

The Time They Forgot