The wizard behind the curtain of my little corner of the Internet
Photo Credit: YouTube
which I image looks very much like an industrial Rube Goldberg machine with switchboard and buttons that glow and dim
idk .. I'm likely wrong on this one, but he really took a hit today
Sitting in the coffee shop this afternoon, sunshine on my shoulders, a strong cup of tea in my hand; I chat online with a tech from my web host's support team
“So you see, a well-intentioned person gave the admin credentials of their site to another well-intentioned person, who installed a shiny new plug-in. As with many shiny things, all was not as it appeared. Tucked inside was a virus
Said virus traveled to and also infected The Veggies, and has been plaguing me for months. I've finally hired a professional to eradicate it once and for all. Just one quick question
That directory? Yes, that's the one. Do I still need it?”
And just like that, The Veggies was gone
I started at my screen
“Umm, so nice tech person? What has happened? Yes, ok, please put it back. Now would be good”
“Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry, but I pushed the wrong button”
It wasn't oddly spiritual at first. It was frustrating, I felt powerless and finally relegated myself to panic. Trying to hit every version of reboot, reboot, reboot I could think of. Finally, third level support asked that I allow them to take over
“Please, ma’am, we'll give you a call?”
Photo Credit: My New Old Self
“Please ma’am, will you stop hitting reboot” (That was the spiritual part)
It wasn't long before I discovered all of the backups I'd so meticulously been creating, had also been deleted. All in that one fail swoop. The few that remained were corrupt. You guessed it; via said virus
The rest of the day was a smattering of salt and vinegar chip snack breaks, and coming to terms with my panic and impatience. That, along with buckets of fretting when I realized that a few years of my words had simply vanished
(They’re back partially now; through October of last year; although a small part of me wonders if some of them weren't meant to disappear forever. Perhaps this is a veiled blessing?)
Still, it was a lot of waiting, and searching for offline backups. Them trying. Me fretting. Them trying. Me calling. Friends sent messages “Your site is down!”
“Please ma'am, will you stop hitting reboot?”
Photo Credit: Pinterest
I waited without answers, caught my breath, distracted myself, and extended deadlines. Under my breath, I quietly said, “It is what it is” and “God, will you please make me kinder?”
I don't know how to piece a database back together from multiple compromised backups. But I do know how to be patient, and kind. I do know that I'm able to handle happenings in my everydays with clenched fists or open hands. One ready to fight, another
begging to forgive
I do know that last week when UPS misplaced my new camera lens, and I drove around town to retrieve it; I wasted an hour in the car, and forty-five minutes feeling upset
That's a long time to feel upset over a missing cardboard box. Twelve hours is a long time to feel upset over an unintended mistake
“Please ma'am, will you stop hitting reboot?”
Sometimes I wonder why we're all working so hard; striving to be better than great; to be better than good. We think we're failing miserably, or are racked with anxiety, and so we retreat and fall down website style
We clench our fists and brace ourselves (reboot); and we power through and fret and waste forty-five minutes, twelve hours, a lifetime of feeling upset
It was early this morning when the site finally came hobbling back to life. There will be five months of posts to recreate, along with hundreds of thoughtful comments lost (of this, I am the most sad)
Would I like a free upgrade; would I like to move up to a different tier?
It seemed to me an upgrade from above would be an awful nice trade-off for a lifetime of reboots from below.
“Yes,” I said then, “and thank-you”
— — —
The Veggies will be back with new content next week.
In the meantime, I'm going to spend some time putting things (as much as I'm able) back to where they were
I hope you have a good one(!)
46 Comments
Oh man, what a bummer. I was on vacation once (without a laptop) and my site crashed while I was away. I found someone to go in and try to save my site, which she did, but I lost years worth of content. I was never able to get it back 🙁
I think that you’re handling the fact that the tech guy hit the wrong button pretty darn good. I don’t know how I would handle that situation. Hope everything is up and running soon.
Alrighty – well have a good break, which I know will still entail of lots of work. In any case, we await your comeback! P.S.: Those Cookie Monster images are priceless!
Wow. I would not have been as cool as you in this situation. You have taught me how to be patient when something goes wrong by your host and there is nothing you can do. I loved your use of Cookie Monster to express how you felt at certain moments. Besides being without cookies, he is one of the coolest “guys” around. I will have to rethink how my blog is backed up so I have it just in case this happens.
I have done stuff like this before and I about went crazy! Now I have a back up for my back up. I always worry when I see something about cookies LOL. I love all the pictures you picked in this post.
Oh gosh, I would never wish a virus on the worst of my enemies. I don’t even know where I’d start to fix it.
Glad that finally after all your hustles, your site is active now! I too had a similar situation last month when my site was down for 16 hours due to Bluehost wrong upgrade. I was frustrated! It feels awful when fellow bloggers and your followers send you the message that your website is down and you’re missing that traffic!
Oh no that is such a shame that so many comments were lost, I know how that feels. Still a chance for fresh content and maybe it was giving you the nudge to sort out the problems that had been plaguing your site for ages x
Technical problems drive me CRAZY! I just cannot deal with them! I do appreciate you channeling your feelings into this creative post! I have totally been there and it was so uncool!
This post is so unique and genuine. Moreover you are giving a special touch to this post by adding lots of humor! Keep writing..
How awful for you and what a pain. I would be so mad and upset to loose everything. Takes time and lessons are learned hope everything is back to normal.
Too bad on the backups but I’m sure you’ll find a way to regroup. I guess, we all just move on forward.
Oh wow this is horrible. I think we all at some point had a similar experience. I for one am very paranoid about computers and storing everything. Click one wrong button and all is gone.
Sorry that you’re dealing with this. Blog problems can always be so hard to deal with. I get so frustrated.
This post is so unique and genuine. Moreover you are giving a special touch to this post by adding lots of humor! Keep writing..
Oh man, what a bummer. I was on vacation once (without a laptop) and my site crashed while I was away. I found someone to go in and try to save my site, which she did, but I lost years worth of content. I was never able to get it back 🙁
How awful for you and what a pain. I would be so made and upset. To loose everything. Takes time and lessons are learned hope everything is back to normal.
I think that you’re handling the fact that the tech guy hit the wrong button pretty darn good. I don’t know how I would handle that situation. Hope everything is up and running soon.
Alrighty – well have a good break, which I know will still entail of lots of work. In any case, we await your comeback! P.S.: Those Cookie Monster images are priceless!
Wow. I would not have been as cool as you in this situation. You have taught me how to be patient when something goes wrong by your host and there is nothing you can do. I loved your use of Cookie Monster to express how you felt at certain moments. Besides being without cookies, he is one of the coolest “guys” around. I will have to rethink how my blog is backed up so I have it just in case this happens.
Too bad on the backups but I’m sure you’ll find a way to regroup. I guess, we all just move on forward.
Oh wow this is horrible. I think we all at some point had a similar experience. I for one am very paranoid about computers and storing everything. Click one wrong button and all is gone.
I have done stuff like this before and I about went crazy! Now I have a back up for my back up. I always worry when I see something about cookies LOL. I love all the pictures you picked in this post.
Oh gosh, I would never wish a virus on the worst of my enemies. I don’t even know where I’d start to fix it.
Glad that finally after all your hustles, your site is active now! I too had a similar situation last month when my site was down for 16 hours due to Bluehost wrong upgrade. I was frustrated! It feels awful when fellow bloggers and your followers send you the message that your website is down and you’re missing that traffic!
Sorry that you’re dealing with this. Blog problems can always be so hard to deal with. I get so frustrated.
Oh no that is such a shame that so many comments were lost, I know how that feels. Still a chance for fresh content and maybe it was giving you the nudge to sort out the problems that had been plaguing your site for ages x
Technical problems drive me CRAZY! I just cannot with them! I do appreciate you channeling your feelings into this creative post! I have totally been there and it was so uncool!
I love how you made a twist on this post. A not so good thing happened but headed with some humors make it not to feel so bad a at all. The loss of the comments feels like a treasure went nowhere to be found.
What a nightmare! I lost a years worth of work and it still eats at me. Most of the time I do keep a copy in another location, but the loss of the comments hurts.
I feel terrible, I simply thought it was just a case of a server error. I didn’t know that you lost a lot. I’m sorry that you have to experience all of this. I really enjoy your blog and it’s so nice that you’re putting everything back together. You can do it!
I love how you made a twist on this post. A not so good thing happened but headed with some humors make it not to feel so bad a at all. The loss of the comments feels like a treasure went nowhere to be found.
Oh this is such a timely reminder to always have a back up. If this happened to me, I should have reacted differently. I would have been screaming my head off! I would have been jumping up and down to vent my anger and frustration. Anyway, I hope everything works well for you.
What an experience. It is a nightmare to realize that you may have lost your data, years of hard work gone wasted. Thankfully your site is back. Hope all goes well going forward.
I love the Cookie Monster analogy you used. I truly believe that when things happen good or bad they are suppose to happen. Sometimes we need bad things to get to the good things. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I can’t imagine losing everything even the backups. Ahhhh!! I would have been an uncontrollable mess!
Oh my gosh I can’t imagine this happening! I am glad you kept your sense of humor through something so frustrating!
Ahhhh my kid will love to watch Cookie Monster with this. Thanks for laughs and learnings.
This is similar to an experience I had recently and it still hasn’t been resolved. I was flustered for sure. I do hope to see Veggies by Candlelight move on without any additional crises.
I think having an upgrade will save you a lot of headaches. I really hate it when my posts are gone for some bug technically. Hope this will be fixed soon.
Oh goodness, I feel for you. I think I’d have a mini heart attack if this happened to me as I’m useless with tech stuff and wouldn’t be able to get anything back! I hope it’s all resolved now and I’ll look forward to reading your new content.
I feel for you! My daughter spilled water into my laptop… it’s my only work laptop, and it’s broken now.. I can’t access my file 🙁
I seriously can not believe that this happened to you and your gorgeous blog, all beucase of someones stupidity and not being vigilant. I am loving how it is all coming togerther as frustrating as it must be for you.
I think that you’re handling the fact that the tech guy hit the wrong button pretty darn good. I don’t know how I would handle that situation. Hope everything is up and running soon.
Oh man, what a bummer. I was on vacation once (without a laptop) and my site crashed while I was away. I found someone to go in and try to save my site, which she did, but I lost years worth of content. I was never able to get it back 🙁
How awful for you and what a pain. I would be so made and upset. To loose everything. Takes time and lessons are learned hope everything is back to normal.