Ruin-minations on life

The best thing about spilling water on your big fancy computer is that you come to a few important realizations about life.

1. Meaning lies in people, not technology: even though our gadgets make it easier to interact with others, it's the people, not the conduit, that's important. As the popular African proverb goes: a person is only a person because of other people (ie not because of what, or how much they own). It's good to be reminded of the fragility of materialism.

2. Don't get too comfortable: Had all of this not happened, I probably would have extended my stay in Zambia to design publications and do training for PANOS, as staying in Lusaka and doing layout stuff would have been easy. Without the technical ability to sustain that inertia, it'll be back to the drawing board in the spring, which is admittedly much more exciting.

3. I actually learned something: As opposed to past technological disasters of the computing kind, I don't really stand to lose any irreplaceable data if my hard drive is fried. Thanks to some disciplined file back-upping before I left, things aren't so dismal.

4. Be vigilant: The chances of something bad randomly happening to you are exceedingly low (though often most feared). Instead, it's things like this, when you foolishly let your guard down and get burned for your complacency. Lesson learned. Thanks, life.