I would like to thank the individual who stole my briefcase/purse combo tonight, complete with my laptop AND external drive that I had JUST backed up my thesis on. I no longer have a purse, ID, laptop, money, graded assignments, or half my thesis. I had finished the very last edits on my thesis an hour prior to you stealing it, and now I will likely have to register for, pay for, and stay an extra term. —Looking forward to another term…
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2010.
Where was it when it went missing? If you say your car or the bar or the cafeteria, well lesson learned. If it’s valuable, keep it in your sight or locked in your residence.
That’s really too bad OB, but like Tim asks, where did you leave it?
It’s amazing what people will leave lying around, you wouldn’t leave a wallet with $2,000 in it, sitting on a table in an empty room, but people will leave a laptop with very valuable info alone for hours and expect it to still be there.
Cinco – nice to see the tags back 🙂
The briefcase was locked inside the trunk of an alarmed car for one hour, as I was just leaving work. The car was parked in a busy, well-lit, designated parking area. As I’m sure you can appreciate, there are at times limits to being able to keep every single valuable item you own on you at every moment.
Shit, that sucks. But where did it get stolen from? I’d be checking Kijiji for it. A lot of hot stuff ends up on there.
Vandy, you were set up then, you probably know the thief.
having a lone copy of a thesis probably wasn’t the best idea either….
autosave is nice… if you still have the laptop.
Perhaps you might have though of a backup scenario and mailed it to yourself to save a copy on a server offsite.
Doubtful… three cars in a row were broken into (the one right in front of me was a Lexus, likely alarmed as well). Nice eh?
well, that just blows 🙁
I saved my thesis in four places: computer, zip drive, external hard drive, and email. The problem is, the latter two hadn’t been updated in a month (you’d be surprised how quickly 4 weeks flies when you’re in crunch mode, about to defend)… and the first two (both completely up to date) were stolen.
Lesson: Install Dropbox on new computer… when I can afford one in half a year.
zip drive? really? I didn’t think those were still kicking around.
I know you’re frazzled… unfortunately you’re learning this backup lesson the hard way.
may I recommend you get a cheap 10 dollar flash drive to keep on your keyring at all times as well…. tres handy for keeping resumes and other important docs with you
OB that blows!
Perhaps try the hock shops in the city.
Also check out any of the used computer ,or computer repair places in the city….you might get lucky.
Vandy, sorry to hear. When I meant in the car, I meant in the passenger space, not the trunk. Hopefully you remembered most of what you need or where to find it. As others said, backup, backup, backup. Any luck maybe the police will recover it. It’s been known to happen.
I know people who carry their laptops with them religiously. Always. Everytime. Everywhere. After reading this bitch, I can see where this type of vilgilence is necessary.
You have to send stuff to yourself as email attachments. You’ll never lose your work then. When I was writing mine I wouldn’t just use flash drives. I would send it to three or four email addresses. Sure it was kind of anal. But I was assured that this would never happen.
Wow. And I thought I was having a bad day. That would absolutely devastate me. So sorry to hear about your issues, Vandy.
Bloody thieves!
That’s awful, OB. Sorry to hear 🙁
Thieves are the bottomfeeders of the universe – sorry to hear about your loss, OP. That sucks big time.
OP/Vandy, So sorry to hear that.
…and yes, keeping valuable physical things on you is difficult/impossible, but as zZz says, an inexpensive flash drive is the way to go. There is no reason you can’t keep every valuable _virtual_ thing (data) on you at all times. …and then there’s cloud storage, as you mentioned.
Glimmer of hope: any chance your computer had MAC address tracking software as part of the factory install? http://www.ehow.com/how_6001927_track-mac-…
why would you leave the only copy of your thesis on a memory stick?????are you that stupid,you don’t deserve a masters in anything!!!Always have a back up for anything of value,this might be a good life lesson for idiots like you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Halifaxmentor, give OP a break! Have you ever written a thesis before? (Judging by your punctuation, I’d say perhaps not.) Thesis-writing takes months and even YEARS to do, and one’s brain seems to throw out a lot of common sense in the days just before the paper’s due. It’s a hugely taxing ordeal.
OP, I’ve been in your situation before, and I hope your supervisor/profs give you an extension or… something. I’m not sure about tracking down the actual drive, but there are various tools on the internet you can use in the future to see if someone plagarized your original thesis. It might be difficult if the copy on the disk was the only one, but if you have an earlier draft, it might be usable. Good luck!
Thanks for the ‘advice’ halifaxmentor (I’d be careful about calling yourself a ‘mentor’).
I had my thesis backed up in four locations, actually. But as piratejenny mentioned, since I had only defended less than two days before, my common sense was very briefly replaced with a wave of bliss when I defended successfully (no edits needed!). Anyways, that’s why I accidentally left the two most up to date backups in the same place at the same time – I had just finished backing them up.
I have earlier versions, but they’re more than a month old, so I’ll have to work from those.
I’ve learned a few valuable lessons (including about the character of those who are quick to judge others’ circumstances – wow!) and in the end, this is just a blip in the road. I still have my legs.
Thanks for the ‘advice’ halifaxmentor (I’d be careful about calling yourself a ‘mentor’).
I had my thesis backed up in four locations, actually. But as piratejenny mentioned, since I had only defended less than two days before, my common sense was very briefly replaced with a wave of bliss when I defended successfully (no edits needed!). Anyways, that’s why I accidentally left the two most up to date backups in the same place at the same time – I had just finished backing them up.
I have earlier versions, but they’re more than a month old, so I’ll have to work from those.
I’ve learned a few valuable lessons (including about the character of those who are quick to judge others’ circumstances – wow!) and in the end, this is just a blip in the road. I still have my legs.
I think the central concern here is the subject of the thesis. For example, in my own case my (Ph.D.) thesis was on philosophy, more particularly on epistemology, that branch of philosophy concerned with the justification of knowledge claims. If it had been stolen, the thief, on reading it, would have realized his error (an ethical, not an epistemological category), would have been stunned by its erudition as well as by its close argumentation issuing out into introconvertible conclusions, and retuurned it immediately. Of course, you could have used a quill pen. Thank you for your understanding and your concern.
Cheerio!
Yes, the theory of knowledge, just not actual knowledge.
I feel bad for you. I know how hard someone works on their thesis. It’s a shame that people feel that they can steal anything they want! Like that lady’s car in Dartmouth who was using artificle legs. People in today’s society steal for many different reasons but none of it is justified. I hope you get the thesis back or your prof understands. I’m really sorry this happened to you.
Vandy, that SUCKS A LOT. I feel really bad for you.
The suggestion about the flash drives is brilliance. I keep mine with me wherever I go…I don’t really have much of the way of importance on my laptop these days (or a reason to take it anywhere), now that I’m done school, so my external hard drive that I back up once a week is good enough…but I used to back up everything on my flash drive and keep it with me at all times on my key ring when I was in school.
They’re super cheap too. I bought a 4gig for 10 bucks when i got my macbook a few years back so they’re probably still as cheap.
Dropbox. It’s free. Anything vital I do (including thesis and dissertation work) is saved in my dropbox folder and thus instantly saved offsite. It also comes in handy as I work on three separate machines, so all are always up to date with the latest drafts.
Also: That sucks, I feel for you.
Annie why don’t you give Vandy the benefit of your greatness, and post a piece on ethics that will shame the thief into returning all the stollen goods. – sarcasm
Good luck Vandy. non-sarcasm
Hugo Phurst (or Smegface as he’s known on “Going Hunting”) makes two demands on me, both of which reveal the paucity of his comprehension. First, he wants me to distinguish the “theory of knowledge” from “actual knowledge.” His blinkered understanding has resulted in his failure to grasp that there cannot be one without the other. You do understand that, don’t you Smegface? He then asks me to do “a piece on ethics” which he has helpfully indicated was a “sarcastic” request. The buffoon doesn’t realize that my field, as I indicated in my previous post, is EPISTEMOLOGY, not ethics. Sometimes, one does despair.
Cheerio!
did i hit a nerve,vandy?
Hello Vandy!
My reason for writing is the puzzle about some mutt called “Halifax Mentor” (or something like that). He asks, “Did I hit a nerve, Vandi?” My question is, is it your nerve or mine that he is referring to? If it’s mine I shall, as always, give him a good spanking. If it’s yours Vandi, I’m afraid I’m going to have to pull down your panties and give you a good spanking too. It’s not as though you are to blame. It’s just that I enjoy pulling down panties and giving their owners a good spanking.
Cheerio!
A pathetic spank fetishist from Lachine
Thought his pedantry quite witty and mean.
His repeat lewd suggestions
Landed him in the House of Correction
Where he regularly takes it in the Latrine.
Anon, Taken from “N.A.M.B.L.A.’s Big Book of Racy Limericks”, 3rd ed., A. Ginsburg, B. Russell eds.
marlon brando look-a-like commander? mornin, the house smells like cookies^^
>: ) Herro Pain Girro! Mmmmmmmmm Cookies. The language of love. I forgot to tell you, Saturday I was at the cockney greengrocer’s and the cashier who rang me in was the dead spitting image of Edward Norton. Kule huh?
that is kule, perhaps he’s studying for a new role^^
http://nickstolpman.info/HTML/Projects/Act…
I hope that all of you enjoyed Ivanthearsehole’s limmerick a few posts ago. I know I did. My only question is who (or what) is “N.A.M.BL.A’s Big Book of Racy Limmericks. I enjoyed Russell – who doesn’t? – and, of course, Ginsberg’s “Howl,” particularly his line about “Drinking the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica.” Is that a turn-off or is that a turn-off. But, I guess, Ginsberg was not a huge turn-on either.
Anyway, I think I’ll go upstairs now and listen to a bit of Bach.
Cheerio!
The Ph.D. of an autodidact named Annie
gave him license to behave like a “fanny”.
Regional slang must impinge.
Does it mean asshole or minge?
Either/Or the likeness is uncanny.
A St. Pat’s sophomore loner name of Dennis
Thought a graffito would lend an aura of menace.
The Upperclassmen averred
’twas a most ribald word,
Though mispelled, as they gazed upon “PENNIS!”
I most certainly enjoyed your limericks Ivan 🙂
Wow, Bach, I would have tought you were more of a Chopin girl.
audiophile alert – do not listen to this through crappy speakers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5j1Mv7IvPA…
nice ivan! 🙂
Nice guys.