Two weeks ago, the unthinkable happened – my computer was stricken by a virus!  That this could happen at all is a blog post in and of itself.  I was heartily lectured and ridiculed by all.  Don’t you have antivirus software?  (yes.)  Were you surfing internet porn sites?  (no.)  I TOLD you Macs were better than PCs!  (ugh.)

Fortunately, the office next door has the most helpful IT manager I’ve ever met, and he took pity on me.  It wasn’t the first time, and it likely won’t be the last.

All I can say is this:  always be friendly to those who know more about computers than you do!  I am forever in debt to this kind gentleman, but nevertheless, repairs left me for two days without my most critical business tool.  Up until this point, I don’t know if I had realized how utterly dependent I am upon this glorious machine.  What happened to the days when all an architect needed was a pencil?  And what will we do when our international (or interstellar) enemies use an electromagnetic pulse to disable all of our electronics?   I shudder to think.

The week was ending and I was woefully behind on my current project by the time “my precious” was back in full working order.  Luckily the deadline wasn’t until Monday, and this meant I could play catch up over the weekend.  Unluckily, this meant I could play catch up over the weekend…

My client was willing to work with me in the face of this utter calamity, and made herself available during the downtime to answer my string of last-minute questions.  (What color did you want the trims to be?  What do you think of this solution for lighting the skylight?)  The product was finished to her satisfaction, and that week we visited the building department together with positive results.  And let me tell you, after that, I made two more backups of my computer’s hard drive.

Now I need to send a thank-you gift to my IT savior.  Any ideas?