Random Thoughts

Technology Luck

So just for the record, I have the worst technology luck ever as far as I can tell. Why am I in the technology field then, you might ask? Because I flunked econ I guess.

Let me just recap my history of bad technology luck:

– I was born prematurely and the incubator actually got fried from a power surge while I was inside it. (okay, not really, but I assume something must have happened).

– I bought a palm pilot right when they first started out back in 2000, which I promptly dropped on the concrete and broke

– I bought another palm pilot which went well, but after about three or four months, the OS started acting really funky on it (a problem which I have never heard anyone else having), so I returned it and got another one. About three months later, same thing. Got another one, three months later same thing. Got another one (now I should say, I didn’t pay for all these, I had a PSP from Best Buy, the only time one of those has ever paid off), this time a different model (color, woo-hoo!). 6 months later, software problem again. Exchanged it once again, this time for a different brand/model everything. Broke the screen on it the second day I had it, but lucked out, and Best Buy took pity on me and let me exchange it. I had it for another 4 months, only to have it break while in its case in my pocket, two days after I had been fired from my job.

– Built my first computer in the summer of 99. Motherboard showed up in the mail, dead.

– I ripped all of my music into mp3 format (totalled about 40 GB), then my computer crashed. I reformatted it and whatnot (after grieving losing all my personal data from the previous 3 years of my life), only to discover that the seperate hard drive I had all setup for the mp3s had also crashed.

– After putting all the music back on my computer, my roommate wanted to test his external hard drive he just bought, accidentally formatting my external hard drive, once again erasing all my music.

– Bought an ipod, crashed a few times (once again, no sweat, as I got a PSP). Was riding a bike one day, when the wheel mysteriously snapped, flinging me from the bike, where I landed directly on my ipod which was in my pocket.

– Here’s the most recent one. I decided shortly after getting an ipod that it would be fun to listen through my entire library (11,000+ songs) and rate every song (between 1 and 5 stars on iTunes). So I did it! I rated every single song. Those were all stored on my home computer, which was acting really buggy, so I decided to wipe the whole thing, and start all over. After testing to make sure that the ratings would be fine (specifically testing that the rating was part of the file), I wiped the hard drive, re-installed everything, added all the music back to iTunes, only to discover that the ratings did not in fact transfer.

However, all the ratings were still on my ipod, and as long as I didn’t overwrite the ipod, the ratings were still preserved (at least for the 10,000 songs on the ipod). Found a really cool program that would supposedly pull ratings from an ipod to a computer. It didn’t (but actually still turned out to be a handy program, it’s called CopyPod). So I concluded that I would have to just manually do the ratings again (just adding them by comparing the songs on my desktop and the songs on my iPod. Not a lot of fun, but better than listening to everything again). Just after I was resolved to this, I woke up to see that my computer was giving me a message of “Unable to recognize ipod, make sure it’s formatted correctly.” Turned on the ipod, yep, it had crashed as well. The project of rating all of the songs in my library which took me over a year was but a distant memory.

Oh and by the way, the same day that that happened, the transmission failed in my new car that I’d had for less than two months, basically rendering it completely useless.

Anyone top that?

8 thoughts on “Technology Luck”

  1. I agree with Suzanne. Not only do I not WANT to top that (nor do I want to top Rizzo’s wild, tragic tale) but I think that all of these signs point to some kind of Luddite lifestyle. Perhaps you should take up knitting. Rule number one for not letting the technology of KNITTING beat you: don’t stab yourself with the needles. That’s it.

  2. is this why you mostly play acoustic?

    i’ve got one . . . the channel selection button on my amp won’t work anymore unless i have the footswitch plugged in to it. that travesty is worth at least 3 iPod crashes, eh? Or how about my magic guitar cables and pedals that love to squeal and crackle and cut out during practice or gigs? Maybe next time an iPod or palm pilot goes bad, you should toss it across the stage while mumbling undecipherable nonsense under your breath. . . although I suppose that technique didn’t fix my old yellow pedal.

  3. I’m not convinced here that you can peg this type of phenomenon on just the Technology aspect of your life, for 2 reasons. #1. This sort of thing happens to you in every aspect of your life, constantly, to the endless amusement of your friends and family. #2. You are immersed in technology to a far greater degree than the average person and should have more problems with it.
    Let’s assume you and I are similarly immersed in technology. I had a USB hard drive enclosure I was using to move data and when I turned it on I heard some clicking but then no problem. Loaded up a harddrive full of info, and then tried to turn the thing on again on another machine, but this time with the case open to see what is going on. The clicks are very bright and large arcs of electricity. Big like science class, big like very uncomfortable sitting on the floor of your living room arc-welding.
    Now this wouldn’t happen to the average technology user right? But it would happen to me or you more likely. Also, you are asking for it.
    Ride bike = might fall down = may crush iPod.
    Morgan riding bike = % of bicycle mechanical failure increase = will definitely crush iPod.
    When you were saddling up on the old bike didn’t you have that tiny voice in your mind that said “I hope I don’t fall and crush my iPod/head/face?”
    Also riding a bike listening to an iPod is dangerous because now you can’t hear your surroundings as well. For all you know your bike failing and crushing your iPod was some divine intervention saying “Hey Morgan, bad idea” because when you were getting up to the intersection ahead singing “Hakuna Ma TaTa” you might not hear the Hakuna Ma Garbage Truck barreling down the road in disagreement of your right of way.
    My hypothesis is that if you were a susbistence farmer these things would still happen, and I would still be amused, unless you starved to death. Then I’d be sad, so please just stay the same. I hate funerals and I like to laugh. It’ll be easier on me. This blog techonology seems to be working out for you alright, or for me at least.

  4. Morgan, I seriously feel sick to my stomach. I am so sorry that the universe did this to you. Damn you, universe!

  5. Just kidding… but anyway, I wanted to alsdkhfjweilur829347yr8hg873y4o8tuj934hrfukhf72345646thtgu58490tgkjholr0tgibiu gjgjgupweru7 7 6 u r br 4 fhftetfyqgwrkhqower374980fjjrf rjgirgohjsdlgjdfgpoopoi4847479023bfn rnrjhfbbewhh3e ege434343rhrfrjrfjh…………………………ffsdjsfjsdfksdf.df.dfsf.dfjdfhhhf..%#$%%&^*()?:”_)+)(*^$$#!@#$%^FGWDFG@#$%^DFgfghfg#$%^&7TGHfghjfg$%^&gh%kj8*

    What’s wrong with this blog?

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