Always insist on Backup

This weekend I had decided to install Ubuntu Linux in my home laptop. I have a 12.3 inch dell 700m laptop , which I bought in 2006 , its old and its becoming rusty. I have had Windows for a while and heard some good reviews on Ubuntu and wanted to try installing this piece.
So installing the software went like a piece of cake. I had to install XP First and then I have that as a backup , in case if something goes wrong with the drivers. Since the machine didn't have an internet connection, I had downloaded all the drivers in a different laptop ( we have more processing power in our house than an average reactor in India , around 5 or 6 laptops, an itouch , ipod(s) etc).

At that time my roommate arrived and I knew that he had an USB Drive which was attached to his key. I either misplace mine or give it to someone who will never return. So this is where the story gets interesting, I got the USB drive did not use it and then totally forgot about it.
This morning when he asked his key , thats when I started to look for it. One of most frustrating things is when you search for something and it never sees the light of it.
I searched for around 4 hrs !! But even that had a good intention , I threw away a lot of stuff , was able to do laundry and ate my world famous Khadi with my equally famous Black channa ( I have the recipe for this in my earlier post).

But at the time of this writing (around 11:18 PM ) , we have not found it yet. The funny thing is my roomie does not have a Backup KEY !!! . So the lesson of this experience is "ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP". So I had to go to walmart and get a duplicate house key for him. AAA is coming on Monday to make a key for him.

This happens to me all the time ,but in USB drive , I do have a strong feeling that there are aliens who are coming to my house and taking them with them. I have been missing my 4 Gig USB Drive also for a while, I had seen lying around near my TV and then two days later gone ( you might ask if you had seen it lying around why can't u pick that up , if I had you would not have had the privilege of reading this blog , everything happens for a reason).

So if Aliens had taken by USB, what would they do. What do I have in my USB drive , I have pictures , Music and documents. Thats it!!. Why would Aliens be interested in this (unless if these aliens are illegal aliens :)) .

I always like the approach of searching for something and then finding it , eventhough I have been advised that is not the correct approach.

Also , its so difficult to do run a trace in my memory , it was less 12 hrs and my memory does not have each and every step , because my mind was somewhere and my concentration was in a different Planet. I remember taking the USB out ,but don't remember where i put it next. I am not sure if there is a way to Jog up memory.

I remember a Story by Sujatha, its about a guy who goes to a PSychiatrist and tells him , some hot chick gave me her number , which I remembered at that time now I dont. Can you please traverse in my memory to find out that number. The Pshyciatrist agrees and when he hypnotizes him , he is able to get all the dirty details of the patient !!. He is also gets to know the number of the hot chick.

So basically it points out that we do have a backup memory in our mind , but we don't have a direct way of reproducing it ( its not like a program in your DVD ). How the world would be , if they had a product like this ?? anyone's mystery , but memory is always a funny thing.

The Lesson of the Day , backups , backups and more backups.

Finally today we found the keys. One of the funniest comment which I hear is , it will always be in the last place you look , what kind of a dumb comment, if you find it there , why you want to look more place ???.

That moment was a EUREKA moment , the recliner I was sitting , I was checking in one direction , once I checked in the other direction I found it.
The good thing about this search was I cleaned up our house. Moved the fridge , the Gas stove (atleast if I am not able to find the keys , wanted to check if someone has misplaced a million $$).

There was a Tamil movie, the story goes like this the hero and the heroine meet in the train. The hero loses his key and the heroine asks him , where is the key and he says I will find it by whistling and he whistles and the key replies back.
I bought that product, that was one of the most annoying products ever done. It doesn't understand that we are talking and it beeps all the time. Its better to search for the keys once , rather than getting annoyed every 4 mins.