Backup Copy

***Update***

After going tot he lab, I found a few files in the trash. I saved them and then opened it on my computer. It worked! That meant that I had to redesign my cover because it was not there, but at least my spread was safe!

I was thinking last night that I needed to come up with a topic for another blog. I thought about it and had every intention of writing about the international community here at Arkansas State University. I guess now I have a topic for the future.

The picture above is a rough draft of my front cover design for my News Design class. I like it. There are some changes I need to make like changing some text, font colors and positions. (Click the image to see the whole image.)

The problem is, I have one copy on my flash drive that is a .indd file which is for Adobe CS4. I have it on my laptop and used it to make the files.

The project is the front design, and a two-page spread. I spent probably five hours or more on my spread and probably three to four hours on my cover design.

When I went to class on Wednesday I did not take my laptop because of the coming rain. I opened the wrong file on the MAC which has only CS3. I did not try to save the file. But when I went back to my computer my file crashes InDesign every time. I have deleted the recovery file and it still crashes. The Recovery file itself crashes it. Yet I can start a new document.

Both my spread and cover are in the same .indd file. To make things worse, for some reason the PDF version of my spread is not even working properly. It shows one picture but no text and none of the other images. I went to a lab today to look at my files on the server only to find I had one copy of the .indd file there and it causes the same problem. My next hope is at 1P.M during open lab in the classroom I have been working. I hope that I may have deleted some .indd files from the server and they might remain in the trash. I've got my fingers crossed. If I am lucky, maybe I won't have to spend the next day redoing a project that I am practically already done with.

The moral of this story: Listen to your instructors. Most of the time they advise you to have a copy of your own, the copy on the computer, and another copy backed up on your personal computer, another flash drive, or an external hard drive. You should have three copies. And now I am a believer. I understand why.

Weekend's Break

There are only a few more weeks left of class! That can be a good thing but it also carries bad news along with it. It also means only a few more weeks to write ridiculous papers, or start on final projects. Most of the time professors mention them at the beginning of the year but fail to provide instructions until the last week or two. That is exactly how my History of the Mass Media paper is.

I have had the topic for a long time now. But the problem is, the guidelines were given to us only a week before the paper is due. It has to be eight to ten pages long, I have known that for a while. Some important pieces of information I did not know include that it is going to be in APA style instead of MLA. I don't know APA style. That is slowing the process down a lot.

I also did not know we would have to have a minimum of five sources. That is 25 percent of the grade. I had two sources. I finally found a third source. The thing is, I could write ten pages with the two books I have easily. But now I have to take the information (that is included in two books) and find it in various other sources just to meet the requirements of the sources.  I could write about a topic completely unrelated to the class and that is only five of the points!

I took a break from it this weekend, though Friday night I did try to order a McNugget Combo at McDonalds with a side of research paper. He told me that if it was on Ronald McDonald he would do it. Unfortunately I chose to stick to the topic, which I may or may not follow the instructions-- I am probably going to fail the class anyway.

But the weather on the other hand was awesome. Friday night we played Ultimate for three hours. It was a huge success this time. There were so many people on the field that it got a little confusing. Had we not gotten colored tape, I don't think it would have been possible to play with so many people.

Saturday morning Yan and I went to the park before everyone else and did a little bit of geocaching. It was nice to get out and have some fun again. While we were walking we saw three snakes. One was in the swamp at the nature center and I think it was a cotton mouth. The other two were probably diamondback water snakes at Craighead Forest park. We had a picnic later on.

This morning I got out of bed around 7:10. We decided to go to the early service at Highland Drive Baptist Church this morning. We had been wanting to go to a traditional service for a while and what better day to do that than Easter. It also saved a few seats in the 10:45 service where they were probably having to use overflow rooms as it was.

After church five of us went to Lake Frierson and went kayaking. It was nice to get out again and be on the water. Luckily no one flipped over or anything. After an hour of kayaking we went to Crowley's Ridge State Park and just sat around for a while. I fell asleep a few times on the picnic bench.

Now I should be writing my research paper but I just don't have the will power. I am not quite a senior but that senioritis thing... Must be summer-break fever or something. I have not been able to properly focus since Spring Break. I might just start working on my Spanish research paper instead. At least I know how to do it.