Did you see what just happened there? I LAUGHED in the face of a hard drive crash. This is the second-most hilarious hard drive blooper ever — the first time being a hard drive failure in my personal Mac Pro at home while the hard drive was still under warranty. But that’s not important.
You must be wondering, “How can this guy be laughing at a hard drive crash? It can be an all-out tragedy and usually results in the loss of all personal data!” Well… yeah it can be. But not to Apple customers, or at least not Apple customers who take full advantage of 10.5 Leopard-and-newer’s capabilities. You see, there’s a feature called “Time Machine,” and since that’s been out, a hard drive crash is a minor ordeal that puts me out of service for about 2 hours rather than 2 weeks.
Here’s what happened:
Thursday, Aug. 12 (NOT Friday the 13th, which would have been more appropriate) I come into the office and notice my 24″ iMac was powered off. Right away, a red flag. I usually leave my workstation on in case I need to remote in from home.
I knew something was up. I powered on the iMac — white screen. Then the Apple logo… then the Apple logo… for about 5 minutes. This indicated that my hard drive was probably dead — passed away in his sleep sometime overnight. I hope he went out peacefully. Moment of silence.
At this point, reality starts to settle in. I thought about all the important stuff that I had on there. Emails, contacts, audio, video, artwork, some of our website stuff, important documents, receipts, customized applications and settings that I didn’t want to have to do over… you get the point. This is my work machine, so think of what could happen on your personal machine. Photos that can’t be replaced, music that you paid for, etc..
Luckily (brilliantly), I had an external USB drive and Apple’s Time Machine running in the background. I won’t bore you with the details of Time Machine. You can click on the link and read about it in Wikipedia if you don’t already know what it is. Time Machine had backed up my hard drive less than an hour before its demise, and after a blazing iResQ hard drive replacement, it was all quickly restored within a few hours.
I snapped a photo of Time Machine in its restore process...
And the moral of the story is… ALWAYS have a hard drive backup. Yeah, you can always risk it, and you’ll probably get by for a while, but the day will come when you lose everything. Unless you have budgeted about $3,000 to spend on data recovery (see DriveSavers or ESS Data Recovery) from a failed hard drive, that data will be gone forever. Then you can plan on spending another couple of weeks getting everything organized and back like it was.
Or you can buy a $80 external USB drive and let Time Machine do its thing.
Well, the iPhone 4 has been out for a couple months now and we have yet to see an official release date for the White iPhone 4. And as September 1 is but one day away, we’d love to hear the release date for the White iPhone 4 at Apple’s “special event” tomorrow. It’s been a long time coming. There are TONS of people out there dying to get their hands on one.
In addition to this, we can expect new models of iPods to be announced as well. Let’s hope that Apple finally releases a version of the iPod Touch with a camera. Or better yet, an HD video camera and a Retina Display. Throw in 120GB models and I’ll be extremely happy. Oh, wait, the new “photos” of the supposed Nano Gen 6 look awesome! All this talk about iPods. Truth be told, the iPod, I’m afraid, may not be around too much longer. This is purely opinion, but with as many cell phone users switching over to iPhones and other smart phones, I’ve seen iPods less and less. Personally, ever since I’ve got my iPhone I have very rarely used my iPod. I would imagine that most people would prefer to not carry around an iPod if they can just as easily listen to music, watch movies, or browse the internet on their iPhone.
Also, Eric’s offer is still out there for a REALLY great discount on MacBook Bezels. Remember this, “Until September 30th, use the coupon code “BEZEL” when you place any MacBook repair order and we’ll replace your cracked or damaged bezel for only $15. That’s like half price! Here’s what you do- place your order, add the SKU N-P010890, then enter the coupon code. This only applies to the original black or white 13″ MacBook, not the white UniBody MacBook or any other machines.”
Well, tons of news out there and not enough time to talk about it. Until next time, folks.
We’re fast approaching my favorite time of the year in Kansas City. The Chiefs, still with plenty of faults, are showing some promising glimpses. I’d say I bleed Red, but the significance would be lost seeing as everyone else literally bleeds red by biological default. Still, there’s a near-tangible rumble under the Kansas City streets just waiting for this season, though questionable, to unleash its potential. And, agree or not, the AFC West is in such a state of disarray that it’s anyone’s conference. Even the Raiders. Even the Chiefs.
Now, Brian just covered another one of my favorite things about living in Kansas City; the barbecue. You can quiet down, Texas and Tennessee. I’ve heard it, and I don’t care. You will never convince me that yours is anywhere near as delicious as ours. Oh, but ours has coleslaw on it. Don’t care. But our is blah blah blah, etc. Don’t care. I do care about one thing, however- Man Vs. Food, as brilliant and disturbing a concept as it is, left out three of the greatest barbecue landmarks has to offer. So I’m going to give them the attention they deserve.
First, Fiorella’s Jack Stack. Rising out of the ashes of a little family drama which resulted in the splitting of the Smokestack and Jack Stack franchises, this is Kansas City’s high end, proper fancy barbecue. The ribs are nothing short of perfection, the Poor Russ (shredded burnt ends) is one of the great sandwiches in the history of sandwiches, and the beans are indisputably the greatest beans in the world. And I’ve never met anyone, Texas natives included, who has tried them and said otherwise. Just look at the nearly 1:1 ratio of brisket to beans:
Amazing.
Next, a true national landmark, Arthur Bryants. Now you’ll get some disagreement among KC residents about the enduring quality of this, the most famous of our barbecue joints, due largely to the expansion of the once modest urban joint after the founder passed. But it’s still worth the trip. I mean, where else do you get a giant handful of brisket slathered with sauce by a paintbrush? And the fries only make it better.
And finally, in my opinion, the greatest barbecue ever created, and primarily for one reason. The smoked and sliced meat or burnt ends are at least as good as any great barbecue joint, but perhaps not clearly better. No, the thing that sets Gates and Sons apart from all other barbecue is the single best tasting barbecue sauce I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. And I’ve tried a lot of sauces. If I ever had to leave Kansas City, I think I’d miss you most of all, Ollie Gates.
If you ever make it to Gates, try a mixed plate or a combo and a half. And drown it in one of their famous sauces.
Well, now I’m hungry. I’m going to get myself a sandwich. Enjoy your week, everybody. Football action starts Thursday.
I hope you got to check out the Aug. 11 episode of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel — because they were here in Kansas City!
Now I’ll be the first to tell you that I, personally, am no BBQ expert. I’m not a food expert of any kind. I like what I like, but I’m not going to sit around and argue with anyone about what’s better. Having said that, I love some KC BBQ. I’ve been known to drop into some of the KC restaurants and have a burnt end sandwich. Fun fact — in college, I lived down the dorm hall from the creator of the Bacon Explosion. I haven’t tried the Bacon Explosion myself, but I have a friend who made it indoors and his entire house smelled like bacon for 2 weeks. His wife, who was opposed to the Bacon Explosion in the first place, was not pleased.
Back to Man vs. Food…
Adam, the host of the show, stopped by 3 restaurants in the area:
- Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ (revered by many as the best here in KC)
- Stroud’s (homestyle pan fried chicken)
- Papa Bob’s BBQ (home of the Destroyer, the uhh… sandwich? pictured below)
Just Wrong.
If you’ve never seen “Man vs. Food,” here’s the idea: Adam goes around to a few restaurants, eats their food and talks about how great it is, then talks to the owners or chefs about how the food is made. At the end of the show, there’s usually some kind of food challenge. This is typically some sort of race against the clock in which Adam gorges himself with an enormous amount of food.
While we’re on the subject of these eating contests… who remembers the movie “The Great Outdoors” where John Candy eats a 96 oz steak? The Old 96er! I am going out on a limb here, but I’m thinking that scene had something to do with all the eating contests in restaurants around the country.
The original "Man vs. Food"
Alright, enough fun for today. Time to get back to work. I’m working on an idea for a new show though… Staff vs. iPods? I can’t use “Man” because we have women here too. Techs vs. iPods? Ok, I’ll keep working on that.
Whew. I feel like it’s been a long time. That’s probably because it has. You haven’t heard much from me in the last two weeks because I’ve been a’travelin. And though I’m a little worn out from the quick turnaround, I relished the opportunity to spend a little time in two of my favorite cities in the U.S.
First, I spent a week Denver where my cousin got married. The mountains, the thin and dry air, the Casa Bonita. Actually, I ducked out of the obligation to go to Casa Bonita with all the nieces and nephews because I had to “put my daughter down for a nap.” Good thing too, because it didn’t settle well with everyone else. But you have to go once in your life, I promise. A bad $12 meal and moderate to severe abdominal pain for the remainder of the day is a small price to pay for cliff divers and balloons.
The door to the cultural experience of a lifetime.
I also strapped the kid into the Baby Bjorn and hiked up the 5,302 steps up the backside of Red Rocks Amphitheatre (at least it seemed like that many with an eight-month old strapped to my chest) to one of my all-time favorite views of anything ever. And we got to watch Primus’ soundcheck before their show that night. Check out the stage:
Soundchecking American Life
Next, it was on to the Twin Cities to reunite with some friends and family that hadn’t met the baby yet. Now I know I’ve never spent a whole winter there, but if you live in Minneapolis I say you count yourself lucky. I love that town. The lakes, the humid air, the Casa Bonita. Wait, no. The State Fair with everything fried you could ever want fried. Anyway, there’s something about the northern midwest in the late summer and fall that’s just really satisfying, and I kind of want to move there. At least for about six weeks in August and September.
Speaking of August and September, how about a random fall coupon? Until September 30th, use the coupon code “BEZEL” when you place any MacBook repair order and we’ll replace your cracked or damaged bezel for only $15. That’s like half price! Here’s what you do- place your order, add the SKU N-P010890, then enter the coupon code. This only applies to the original black or white 13″ MacBook, not the white UniBody MacBook or any other machines. Until next time, everybodys.
