11 November 2010

It is what it is

I sat down a few moments ago at my laptop in the rectory in Effingham - where I intended to spend the morning resting quietly from one retreat before going on another - to complete a final review and report on my first year as a Pastor for our Vicar for Clergy.

A few years ago a new program was implemented to join a first-year Pastor with a Mentor-Pastor for guidance and support. It consists of (at least) monthly meetings with the Mentor-Pastor and three or four reports to the Vicar for Clergy (I cannot recall at the present moment).

Before I left Auburn for the Kairos retreat and a return to Effingham for a De Colores retreat this afternoon, I was certain I put my last report on my laptop or, rather, that I typed it on the laptop and saved it on it. Apparently I typed it on my desktop, which inconveniently sits now in Auburn, and did not put it on my laptop.

I need to have the previous report in front of me to complete the final report, which I need to have completed for a meeting with my Mentor-Pastor and the Vicar for Clergy that is scheduled for Monday morning, but I will not have an opportunity to complete it after early this afternoon.

It looks like my quiet morning of rest will soon turn into a morning on the road.

At least the sun shines on this feast of St. Martin.

This situation has me considering again the option of using an online back-up service - such as Carbonite - for instances like this. I am on the road a lot and having access to all of my files might be rather handy at any place.

Even when I am not on the road, some of my files are the computer in my office, some on my laptop and some on my desktop. It might simplify things considerably. And it might not.

Do any of you kind readers use such a service? What are the pros and cons?

2 comments:

  1. Carbonite is a good backup solution, but I'm not sure how it handles reconciling files across multiple computers.

    I use a program called Dropbox. You just set up an account and install the program on all the computers you use. Dropbox creates a folder on each computer; any file you put in the folder will be synced to every other computer you have your account installed on. It also updates files across computers if you edit them.

    Best of all, it's free for up to 2GB.

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  2. Google Docs - I use it a good deal. Not necessarily a backup service but if you keep everything there, it's available wherever you have a network connection. Since you have a Google Account already, it's free and you simply go to docs.google.com and sign in.

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