Pre-Ramble:  I almost want to hide under my bed for a couple of days until this all blows over, or at least until a third event happens to take the curse off.  I’m talking about crashes. 

First there was the “give-us-a-reality-show-couple” who crashed the state dinner at the White House last Tuesday night.  And then there was the curious case of Tiger Woods crashing his SUV into a tree at 2:30 in the morning … (… and his wife Elin broke into the vehicle with a golf club? … Really??)

I know what you’re thinking here. If history serves, the third crash should be coming any minute now, and it’s more than likely to be my computer. As you may recall, I have had the unfortunate distinction of having my computer crash twice in a two year period. (Surely, you could hear the kvetching and screaming from there … )

First, it was a faulty “reader arm” (!) … The second time, … I forget what the reason was (more like, I am blocking the trauma from conscious memory) … But I clearly remember that it wasn’t pretty, and I still have the dead hard drive right here on my desk to remind me to count my blessings (and back up my data) every day. 

The Take-Away: Just a gentle holiday reminder to back up your data, … and while you’re at it, buckle up your seat belt, eat all your vegetables, and don’t forget to floss. 

Post-Note: I’m not really superstitious, but if you don’t hear from me for the next 6 months, you’ll know what happened.  … ( … You don’t suppose that keeping the fried hard drive court-side brings bad Karma to my chi, do you?)