Bad News *Updated*

Today my computer will not recognize the hard drive. This does not bode well. Word to the wise: back up your computer regularly. It does not feel good to realize that I may have lost years of work in a day. Pictures, school work, writing, webpages, secret projects... possibly all gone for good. I will keep you posted. The bright side of things is that this is only about a computer and not my life or anything crazy like that. Darn, I hate it when I see things in perspective. Makes my stupid problems seem so meaningless. Well then, I say to you, "Eat, drink, and be merry. That way you will experience happiness along with all the work God has given you." -Ecclesiastes something or other. My favorite book on meaninglessness. I like to read it every now and then to see life differently. Ever notice how contemplative you get when you're desperate? Maybe it's just me.

In other news, last night I went to a potluck with a bunch of catholic people. During the evening conversation, while sipping a beer, one of the men matter of factly stated that he is a priest. I think a part of my mindset only imagines priests as those dudes who wear black suits with a straight collar and no sense of humor or life apart from church. A fairly loaded preconception, I suppose. At any rate, now I know it's not true. One thing I found odd about the evening was that nobody prayed before their meal. Apparently blessing the food is just an evangelical thing? I don't know. Anyways, the reason I was there was so that I could find out about the prison ministries that take place in Cairo. One of my gracious supporters has asked me to visit a penpal of hers who resides in a prison here. I'm not sure what his crime was, but he has since become a Christian, and thus, I would very much like to go visit him and hear his story. Hopefully I will be able to do this on a semi-regular basis and be able to take students along with me for the experience as well. Anyways, I need to get back to my laptop so I can try to fix it. We're supposed to be showing a video on it tonight at youth, but I somehow doubt that's going to happen. We shall see.

*Update* My laptop is now in stable condition and data has been recovered from it. Once I get time to reformat it, ol' Lappy should be back to its happy old self.