Computer Crashes and Peace of Mind

Well, I had more computer crashes this week.  First it was my main PC - a two-year-old iMac.  I switched to Mac a couple years ago, and it's been a fairly good experience for the most part.  Yes, there are a lot of apps that I had on my old Dell PC that I can't have on Mac, but I bought into the all-Apple universe when I adopted the iPhone and iPad, and I'm trying not to look back.  After two years my Mac has started to balk a little.  I finally filled up the hard drive and started getting errors.  Chalk it up to my learning curve on what's automatic and what needs periodic maintenance.  So now I know that I have to empty the trash and do disc maintenance more often.  An operating system update has also caused me some problems with wifi access which has caused some consternation, and it took some good searching to find a solution online.

But the real problem was trying to upgrade my iPhone and iPad over the last two weeks.  For the most part I like the new operating system - iOS 7.  It's a little wonky, I admit, but I'm willing to make some changes to go along with what's next.  What really bothered me was that I actually lost a lot of documents I had stored on Apple's iCloud storage service when the Pages app crashed (a word-processing app like MS Word.)  Yes, I should have backed up these documents, but there isn't a readily-apparent way to do a backup, and I mistakenly thought that since they were on my device they wouldn't be deleted by what was in the cloud - not so - they actually only exist in the cloud.  So I spent all day yesterday off-and-on with Apple support online trying to get my documents back.  Turns out I'll have to trust the Apple engineers to find them on a backup server and hopefully restore them.  The good news is that I can recreate anything I need.  The bad news is that I don't remember all of what was there, so I can't be sure what I have lost until I need it.

And this raises what I really wanted to write about - the loss and weird headspace that crashes and the computer world cause in your life.  Let's face it, to use computers you have to get into a different space in your brain that is a world in itself.  And it's very abstract and very unreal in so many ways.  I usually enjoy this space, but it separates me from the real world and particularly from the constraints of time - you can waste many hours on diagnosing and fixing a simple problem.  And it makes it hard to focus on other things in real, physical space that need attention.  It's true that other projects can get you into the same kind of funk, but the mental mapping and abstract involvement that computers and software require is a world unto itself.  Add to this the loss when data disappears into nothingness right before your eyes, and it recalls the kind of loss that people feel when someone dies and there's no body - like 9/11.  All you know is that you lost something important to you, but you can not reach out and touch or see the person or thing you lost.  It's a weird abstraction that is, frankly, unhealthy in my opinion.  I have lamented many times in my life how much more human it would be to not have to depend on computers in our lives, but that ship has sailed, I'm afraid.  And anyone who knows how tech-oriented I am would never believe I could say that.  But the mental mapping and headspace that each piece of technology and software require in your brain is daunting and disturbing to me.  I think it's something that we will deal with at some point in some interesting ways in our world.  But for now I will continue soldiering on - enjoying the good times when it all "just works," and trying to forget about the times when it causes such angst in my life.

By now I've probably lost most of the folks who were reading this, but this week holds a wonderful event for me that I must tell you about.

This weekend will be the Sharlot Hall Music Festival in Prescott, Arizona, and I'm playing two shows and giving a workshop to boot!

Friday night I'll be playing Guy Clark songs as part of a festival kickoff concert that is a tribute to Legendary Songwriters at the Elks Opera House at 7:00.  I'll get to share the stage with several other performers during the evening, and then we'll all come together for a big finale.  It should be a blast!  A pdf of this concert with more info is at http://www.sharlot.org/images/stories/Folk_music/FMF%202013/legendary%20song%20writers%20poster.pdf.

Saturday I'll be giving a workshop with songwriter Bob Frank on Cowboy and Western songs in the Sharlot Hall building from 1:00 to 2:00.  Bob is a very accomplished songwriter and performer, and this will be a great opportunity to share some knowledge with folks about Cowboy and Western songs.  I'll probably concentrate on my knowledge of old cowboy song.  This should be fun!  A pdf with the workshop schedule for the weekend is at http://www.sharlot.org/images/stories/Folk_music/FMF%202013/Workshop%20Schedule.pdf.

Saturday I'll also be performing solo in the Theater from 3:30 to 4:00.  It's a short show, but I look forward to it.  I've got a tight set with my best songs ready.  I'll also be acting as the emcee for this afternoon of performers.

I'm in great company with all the other folks performing at this festival, so it's a real honor to be asked to play and to be featured in their promotional material.  You can see more of that and read more about the festival at http://www.sharlot.org/folk-music-festival/folk-music-festival-2013.  There's also a full schedule of performers there.  I know I won't see many of you folks there, but I'm excited to share it with you!

So it's a big week for me coming off my computer woes, and I'm raring to go!  I'll be back in Pueblo and starting back at Magpies in a couple weeks, so stay tuned!

Tom

Details this week:

Who:  Tom Munch with a whole passel of great singers and players
What:  playing and singing for the Legendary Songwriters kickoff concert
Where:  Elks Opera House, 117 E. Gurley St, Prescott, AZ.  928-777-1370
When:  Friday, October 4, 7 pm

Who:  Tom Munch and Bob Frank
What:  giving a workshop on cowboy and western songs
Where:  Sharlot Hall building, 415 W. Gurley St, Prescott, A. 928-445-3122
When:  Saturday, October 5, 1-2 pm

Who:  Tom Munch
What:  playing and singing
Where:  Theater at Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St, Prescott, A. 928-445-3122
When:  Saturday, October 5, 3:30-4 pm