Imation? Imazing!

This weekend I needed to pull some information off of my thumb drive (aka, my lifeline). I save everything to my thumb drive. ...I am even learning to keep a backup of my thumb drive, although I haven't backed it up since about six months ago when I thought I had lost it and spent three hours frantically ripping apart my house until I found it buried under a stack of papers on my desk. That's usually when I back things up--right after a big scare. (And I know I'm not the only one who waits until a near-loss experience to back up their stuff.)

During the six months since my last backup I have produced hundreds of files filled with bits and bytes of this and that: pictures, resumes, ebooks, articles I may never have a chance to read, passwords, plans, ideas, favorite links, and page after page of writing that may or may not ever see a publishing house.

I had the best intentions of backing up those newly minted documents just as soon as I got around to it. In fact, I considered doing it this weekend about 2 seconds after I realized that I could not remember where I had last plugged in that elusive thumb drive. After searching every USB port in my house, I determined that I must have left it plugged into my computer at work.

This morning as soon as I got to work I inspected my work laptop and docking station. No thumb drive. I scavenged through my drawers, under my desk, behind piles of books, in cabinets. No thumb drive.

A mental list of all the files stored on the thumb drive began forming in my head. Aaagh! Too many files. After a few minutes of contemplating all the many ways I could have dropped it between work and the parking lot or the parking lot and home, I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and resigned myself to moving on.

That's when I felt it. Something in my pocket brushed against my fingers. I grasped on. It felt like a small piece of plastic, or metal, or... my thumb drive! I yanked it out of my pocket and sure enough, there it was in all of its silver glory.

My elation was brief, for I realized something almost as immediately as I pulled it from my jacket pocket--the very same pocket attached to the jacket that I had only hours earlier pulled from the dryer!

My jacket had spent the weekend soaking in the washer and tumbling through the dryer. Could it have survived? Certainly not. All of those delicate circuits and gizmos that make up the inner workings of the drive would surely have shorted out. With an attitude of defeat I slipped the thumb drive into the USB port on the side of my docking station prepared to confirm the worst.

Silent. Then, a flickering blue light on the thumb drive. My breathe caught as I looked at the screen. Up popped a menu. I scanned the menu. The tension in my shoulders released and my breathing resumed as all of my lost files stared back at me from the monitor, waiting anxiously for me to continue feeding them with bytes of this and bits of that.

I leaned in to read the brand etched on my thumb drive--Imation.

No, I am not getting paid to endorse Imation but kudos to them for a drive well done!