Don’t Just Back Up Your Data. Back Up Your Life!

People often worry about losing their photographs and data. Naturally some people choose to back up their data so it is safe from being lost. A photograph after all is a way to back up your memories in case you forget; but a photo itself isnâ??t the only way to back up a memory.

Sometimes you hear something that has an impact on you, or you come up with a new idea. Although these thoughts may be important to you, they often get forgotten. The scariest thing I ever realized was that there are unknown unknowns. You donâ??t know the things that you donâ??t know! So for me it was a very scary to think there are things that I forgot, but I can never know I forgot them in the first place!

I think that thought itself is what has fueled me to be a pack rat; causing me to save the smallest pieces of paper with writing on them, to useless binders of previous classes. Eventually this became a problem for me.

Logically there was no reason to keep all that crap behind, but some of it was really important. It was also very risky leaving around all these weird scrapes of paper; most of them had no explanations, and if anyone picked them up they might get the wrong impressions!

For example:

â??I donated the jar of mayo to charity, and your mom wrote me a letter saying thanks.â?

I could explain something like this to anyone, but what if someone saw a similar note and didnâ??t tell me. They might think Iâ??m nuts.

I had to come up with a solution for saving all my experiences, memories, etc. It sounds like all my problems would be solved if I started keeping a journal; but journals were not the option. In my opinion if a dude keeps a journal and no one reads it, then itâ??s a diary; only girls keep those. [Joke]

Diary of Sophia Peabody Hawthorne (1809â??1871)

The true problem was that a journal or diary takes too much time for me to update. My handwriting is terrible, and I would never have the time to paste stuff inside. Also, what if my house burns down? So does the journal.

Enter The Cloud

I love technology and utilizing it in every way imaginable. I thought to myself why donâ??t I transfer some of my scrapes of paper to digital versions, encrypt everything, and back it up on the cloud? It sounded like a great idea and thatâ??s what I ended up doing. I eventually realized the encrypting everything would be a little too paranoid for my information. In the end I resorted to using Microsoftâ??s OneNote to create digital notebooks, and backed everything up using Google Docs.

How You Can Do The Same

Microsoft OneNote actually has an option to save directly to your cloud account. If you buy OneNote you can automatically just hit save, and everything is backed up forever. The best part about OneNote is that it is actually designed to be used a notebook.

If you can’t afford OneNote there are other alternatives out there such as Evernote. It can backup automatically to the cloud, and you can also pay for various premium features.

If you only want free software you can use Tomboy, Nevernote, or CintaNotes in combination with Dropbox or Google Docs. Write up all your notes and save to the cloud. Doesn’t get any easier. If you require encryption you could look into TrueCrypt.

My Digital Notebook

I have a page dedicated to things that people have said to me, that I want to always remember. My recommendation for AP World History came back on a notecard from my teacher as such:

-Maturity â?¦ learn to do everything at a high level.

That meant something to me because people are always telling me to be more mature. In this particular case nothing was mentioned about being more or less mature, just â??maturity.â? Also my teacher said to learn to do everything at a high level. This refers to the fact that I love to outdo myself on projects that I find fun, but am also known to turn in garbage on things that I donâ??t find worth my time. He basically said to find a balance, for being mature and doing my work, keeping everything consistent.

On the same page I also have my Latin 1 teacherâ??s advice on life. He was about 70 years old and it was his last year at my school, it was also the last day when I asked him if he had any advice. It went something like this.

You know where the line is but you often cross it. Don’t cross the line.

You have a brain, use it more often.

You have a heart, I’ve caught glimpses of it, you just have to show it more often.

Again I found this to be spot on, and it really made me think about the way I act and why.

Another piece that I have in there is how the webmaster (Kevin) of Appreview4u describes my role here.

 (Writer & App Reviewer): The best and most enthusiastic writer I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He is mad about tech and has a versatile, dynamic and succinct writing style. Octavian is multi-talented in graphics, website design and in many other areas. If I need a second opinion or advice, heâ??s the guy I turn to. 

In another page I have my favorite paragraph of all books. It comes from Holden Caulfield, from The Catcher in the Rye on page 204. I literally tore this page out of a school book because I felt it was so spot on about life.

That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any.  You might think there is, but once you get there, when you’re not looking, somebody’ll sneak up and write “F*#k you” right under your nose. Try it sometime. I think, even if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it’ll say “Holden Caulfield” on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it’ll say “F*#k you.” I’m positive in fact.

A couple of days before or after reading this page, a message of â??F*#k you, by George,â? appeared on my mailbox. I also think this paragraph applies to unsolicited spam that degrades peopleâ??s lives for no reason. The whole thing kind of ties in with the movie The Box.

In this movie the human race is tested; a non-human offers random couples a million dollars if they press a button that will kill another random human; they also have the option to not press the button. The whole idea of selfishness ties in with this. Although you can hurt others without hurting yourself, it doesnâ??t mean you arenâ??t hurting the very society you live in through these destructive actions.

My notebook: I also have a page with my favorite words. So far I have:

• Weltschmerz
• Mamihlapinatapai
• L’esprit de l’escalier
• Misanthropy

I like these words because they are all words I can relate to, but often canâ??t describe the situations they occur in. These words make it easier to describe 🙂

I also have a list of over 60 favorite songs. My list has songs all over the place, anywhere from classical music to heavy metal. Honestly I like anything as long as it is good.

• First Run – Jon Schmidt  
• System Of A Down – Chop Suey!
• Requiem For A Dream
• Enya – Orinoco Flow
• Disturbed-Down with the Sickness
• Aeoliah ”Dolphin Serenade”
• Clint Mansell – Pi r^2
• Drowning Pool – Bodies
• Asher Roth – I Love College
• Max Payne 3 Soundtrack HEALTH – TEARS
• The Dark Knight OST 8 Like A Dog Chasing Cars
• Big Tymers – Still Fly
• Ludacris – Splash Waterfalls – Chicken & Beer
• Rage Against The Machine: Killing In The Name

Having all of this on the cloud gives me peace of mind. I only wonder what I will think when I see these snippets and notebooks in 20, 30, or 40 years from now. That’s what makes it interesting, but also the fact that I don’t forget the stuff I find important now.

Article written by Octavian Ristea.