Best Email Signature Program

I have totally fallen for WiseStamp in the past year. I love using it to sign my emails. It feeds my social media obsession and allows more customization than GMail.Imagine my horror when my WiseStamp wouldn't show up in GMail's new compose new mail interface!!! (it is great by the way, i really like what they have done... except...)Thankfully, WiseStamp addressed it here on their blog - http://help.wisestamp.com/troubleshooting/wisestamp-isnt-working-with-the-new-gmail-compose-and-gmail-replyWell... it isn't perfect (telling you to switch back to the old email interface) but it will do for now until they can build the product to work with the new interface.If you are unfamiliar with the product, I recommend you check it out. My signature looks like this:It really adds something to emails and you can change it any time! Check it out!

Fair Trade Coffee Goodness!

I received a box of some free k-cups to try the other day. I was SUPER excited since I A. LOVE using the Keurig machine at work and B. was running out of my regular coffee cups. :)So these were from Green Mountain. It was a selection of their fair trade coffee and OMG they were so good!!! Really great flavors. I had the Vermont Country Blend, Colombian Fair Trade Select, Sumatran Reserve, and Wild Mountain Blueberry. I can't say the blueberry was my favorite but frankly, they were all pretty good! And, I really liked that they were Fair Trade... which means that the farmers are getting a fair price for their beans and they can reinvest that money into their coffee farms.In celebration of Fair Trade Month this October, Green Mountain Coffee has teamed up with acclaimed musicians Grace Potter and Michael Franti to take the pair to Fair Trade farming communities in Colombia and Sumatra. Visit the Green Mountain Coffee Facebook page at Facebook.com/GreenMountainCoffee for a behind-the-scenes look at each trip, and be there for the journey as Grace and Michael learn about the impact Fair Trade has on farming communities (and why it results in a better cup of coffee for you). By watching the videos and taking part in Fair Trade Month, you'll have the chance to unlock Fair Trade Certified Green Mountain Coffeesamples and coupons, and be able to enter for a chance to win your very own trip to a Fair Trade source country. Of course, it's not a celebration without a party, and there's no party without some great music. Visit the Green Mountain Coffee Facebook page to view live concert streams in the coming weeks as Grace Potter rocks New York City with her stunning voice and Michael Franti revs up the crowd with his infectiously energetic performance.So check out Green Mountain Coffee on their webpage - www.greenmountaincoffee.com and like their Facebook page - Facebook.com/GreenMountainCoffee for a chance to get coupons and deals! I receieved these samples and coupons because I am a BzzAgent. To learn more about this program, go to www.bzzagent.com

New Facebook Marketing Tactic

I recently spoke at a Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) training session about social media with a dear friend and SM phenom, Shana Sisk. While we were talking through some tactics, I mentioned that Facebook has a new marketing tactic that I have found very useful. They are calling it "Promoted Posts." I did not realize until then that this hadn't been rolled out system-wide yet. I am very thankful that Facebook choose me and my business page - Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado - to test this new option. It really came in handy with the recent disasters that have struck Colorado (fires and the movie theatre shooting).When we were faced with these tragedies, the Jewish community mobilized and wanted to give back to our neighbors. The Federation opened funds for donations and we distributed the money to agencies on the ground. I found the promoted post option was incredibly useful to get the word out.How does it work? I wrote a post on the business page and it gave me the option to "promote" it. I decided to check it out so I spent $5 each on two posts. By promoting the post, you show up in more newsfeeds, not just people who have 'liked' your business or are a 'fan' of your page.  This broadens your reach and you end up with a higher rate of views. For example, on our two posts that we 'promoted,' we saw this:

  • Wildfire post
    • Organic: 1,131 views
    • Viral: 496 views
    • Paid: 989 views
    • Total: 2,006
  • Movie theatre shooting post
    • Organic: 801 views
    • Viral: 142 views
    • Paid: 2,068 views
    • Total: 2,884

Without the promotion, we usually average 1,000 views... clearly, the promotion helped the movie theatre shooting post do very well and it gave a nice boost to the wildfire post. Each of those cost me $5. It is set up just like traditional PPC or PPI advertising but it is in the stream of Facebook consciousness in your newsfeed. I highly recommend trying it out when it is rolled out to you.One of my favorite sites for social media information, HubSpot, posted this great blog about the new promoted posts. I found it very helpful and hope you do as well. Click here to read: Facebook Tests Promoted Posts in News Feeds of Non-Fans.Has this been rolled out to you yet? Have you tried it? Let me know! 

Marketing Directors Targeted in Scam|Spam

 I did start this as a place to talk business and here is a perfect thing to discuss... If you have the word marketing in your title, beware!I received this email today at my business email address:

From: Matthew T. Keener [mailto:matthew@cmo-summit.org] Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 7:33 AM To: Talia Davis Subject: Talia, let me know if you can participateHi Talia, hope you are well. On behalf of our Board, I wanted to personally invite you into The CMO Summits because of your key role and experience.The CMO Summits is an invitation-only group comprised of the very best CMOs and Marketing executives and visionaries. We meet monthly by teleconference to exchange what is working, what is not, strategies and ideas. It is a confidential forum with dedicated groups of other successful CMOs and Marketing leaders whose only agenda is to help each other outperform. Our meeting schedule is at cmo-summit.orgI am certain you will find the experience both enjoyable and useful in your efforts. Please take a look and let me know of your decision or relay if you think another is more appropriate. Thanks Talia.Truly, Matthew T. Keener CMO Summits The Organization of CMOs and Marketing Executives cmo-summit.orgThis message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient. If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us back if you no longer wish to receive further email. If any follow-up is needed I show your contact information as: Talia Davis, ******@*******.org Allied Jewish Federation ***-***-**** and you may also reach us at 1200 Abernathy Rd, Atlanta Georgia 30328 or through the contact page of our site.

Wow... sounds cool, right? Well, when you click on the link you are taken to a URL parking lot.

Well, being the inquisitive person I am... I started google-ing. Turns out, there may have actually been a real CMO Summit in 2010. It's website is here - www.cmosummit.org and they list Accenture, Jigsaw, Denny's, Farmer's Insurance, Jeep, Motorola, Nokia, Orbits, Subway, Wells Fargo, AAA, ADP... I am listing these all here in the hopes that these brands monitor their brand and see this blog and that they know that this other website is using their name.

So CMO Summit sounded kinda cool. I wrote the Matthew back and told him that his links were bunk and to provide more information if he wants me to be interested... Then I dug some more...

Here is the WhoIs listing for CMO-Summit.org:

Continuing to google, I find this website - altlink.org/cmosummit/main.htm - hum, altlink is not a very reassuring start to a web address. They seem to use quotes from famous people (Bill Gates for example) but there is no evidence that they are members... oh yeah, I didn't mention... they want you to join for $1250 a year to access their conference calls and networking. Well, since it took me nearly an hour to unearth this website (by searching the addresses provided) I don't know how extensive their networking is. It appears to be a part www.bizsummits.org which has a list of 3,500 orgs that they say work with them. Again, extensive and 'impressive' but the website is generic and really provides little information.

However, I have found these blogs saying the whole process is a scam:

 

PLEASE NOTE: I am presenting information here. Information that I feel is pertinent to my fellow marketers. Some of these may be legit businesses but there are practices that I feel are spammy or scammy and make them suspect to me. These are my own opinions.

 

UPDATE:

I was recently threatened by the CEO of Biz Summits. To read this, click here.

Creating A Return On An Investment...

ROI - in business ROI stands for return on investment... And that is exactly what Lynn Schusterman got from the recent ROI Community Summit in Jerusalem, a return on her investment of the future of the Jewish people.From June 10-14, I attended this summit in Jerusalem with 150 other young Jewish innovators. Out of 600 applications, we were selected as connectors and creators, entrepreneurs and catalysts. From the United States, Israel, England, South Africa, Latvia, Brussels, Turkey, and even Uganda, we represented 30 countries. As a community, we descended on Jerusalem to sharpen our skills and pitch new projects or refine old ideas. I instantly connected with the local director of AIPAC in Dallas, an experiential journalist from London, an event promoter from NYC, a guy working to get the Israeli flag and a Torah on the moon, a woman running a speakeasy and kosher, organic, and locally grown restaurant from her Brooklyn home, a leader in the National Young Leadership Cabinet (NYLC) in Atlanta, and a Chabad rabbi. I also got to spend time with Boulder's very own Jonathan Lev, the executive director of the Boulder JCC. All I can say is, "yeah, that happened." Words seem so inadequate to express this experience.We spent five days connecting and creating. Part of the program was the opportunity to present a concept that you want to develop and then crowd-source it to get support, help developing it, and potentially funding. This year 50 ideas were posted to the site IdeaScale and for the first time, the world could vote for them. The top three ideas and their creators had the opportunity to pitch the idea to four celebrity judges. Danna Azrieli - chair of the Azrieli Foundation in Israel. Noa Tishby - actress, producer, model, and non-profit spokeswoman. Yossi Abramowitz - one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world in 2011 & 2012 according to the Jerusalem Post. President and co-founder of the Arava Power Company. Yossi Vardi - an Israeli high-tech entrepreneur.I highly encourage you to go to roisummit2012.ideascale.com and look at what came out of this conference. And yes, I did pitch an idea. One that my co-worker at the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez and I have been developing. It is called Tikkun Platoon. This is flash mob philanthropy, where collective identity meets collective responsibility to affect social change.  I hope that with the help of the ROI community, this dream will become a reality soon!The amazing thing about ROI is that it is not just a conference, it's a community. I am now a part of something big, with some 800 ROI'ers across the world, we have access to each other and our talents and microgrant funding for projects. The goal is that through a 1000 ROI'ers, we will reach 1 million people. And it is happening. You may be familiar with G-dcast.com, the weekly parsha videos online or Moshe House? These are both concepts born from ROI. Judging by the brilliance that was posted on IdeaScale, there will be many more.At the end of the day, though, my favorite moment happened on the last day. Lynn Schusterman, who made it possible for me to be at ROI, and I sat together after a morning session and we did our yarn crafts together and chatted. She, knitting a scarf for her grandchildren. I, crocheting a scarf for my friend. We discussed technology and yarn and knitting and the beauty of Colorado. And that is what ROI is about, finding people with similar interests and connecting... Even if there is an age difference.See my ROI profile at http://www.roicommunity.org/users/talia-davis-haykin

My Friend Mayim

That sounds like she is imaginary but it's not. I am very excited because an article I wrote about Mayim Bialik just went up on Chabad.org. So exciting because I have been A. working on this piece for a while, B. wanting to have an article go live on Chabad for a long time, C. Mayim is amazing and I am so excited to share her awesomeness.  Here's an except. Go read it!

In a sense I had known Mayim Bialik most of my life. I grew up with her as my television best friend when she starred on the TV show, Blossom. I remember being shocked that here was a girl who looked like me, with a ‘Jewy’ name like me, a Jewish kid on television! I thought Blossom was the coolest thing since sliced bread...

Read more here: Mayim Bialik: Actress, neurobiologist, mom, proud Jewish woman

New Facebook Timeline

So Facebook is finally rolling out the new Timeline feature for personal pages. It's very exciting and I am sure will piss off a few people. The people over at Facebook have a nice tutorial here - Introducing Timeline - on how it all works.So I moved my profile over today and one of the neat features is the cover photo. In addition to your profile picture, which stays as your avatar around the site, you have a large photo at the top. It's a neat feature that I have been playing with but I think it will still need some tweaking from the Facebook folks. You can't resize your photo in Facebook, just drag it to move it. So if it is a large picture you will end up cutting some of the picture off... which led me to edit some pictures to fit nicely. Another challenge is that it seems that no matter how high quality your picture is, it still comes out a bit grainy and pixelated.Okay, back to the size issue. So the size for the cover photo is 840 x 310 pixels. It's short and long but you can do it. I made a few examples of how to utilize this new feature. Currently, I have one up for the holidays... in fact, it is the image I used for my holiday cards. I made another to promote my blog. I made two more from cool pictures that I took in Israel. Some people have been getting very crafty with theirs and maybe I will try that out as well.Here is a great blog for Photoshop users on how to layout your cover photo and integrate your profile picture - TechXT .Also Mashable offers a great tutorial and ideas on this new option as well - Mashable.Below are a few of my new cover photos for Facebook. If you want to get Timeline before the major roll out on December 22, find a friend with it and it gives you the option to switch over. Do be aware, Timeline does change some of the privacy settings. Check the activity log and other places for your settings and ENJOY!

HackerPocalypse 2011 - The Lesson

If you would like to start this journey with me by reading part one, HackerPocalypse 2011 - The Story, please feel free.So yesterday, I told you the emotional parts, the sadness and sorrow of the losing 10+ years of email and memories. Today I am going to talk technical. If this has happened to you, here are the things you need to know.First of all, though I am a very savvy web person, I think I was the victim of a spam email. It looked like it was coming from Google. It was identical to their emails. It was about security. They didn't ask for my username and password, just told me about some security features. I checked the reply to address and it looked right. I clicked on the link in the email and it took me to (what looked exactly like) a Google page. It asked me to login to my email and then said I had updated my security settings.Looked totally legit but I think that is the only possible way they got my login information.I jumped out of bed when I was made aware about the situation (more on that here) and took action immediately. When I couldn't login to my account, I contacted Google and reported it. This caused the hackers to not be able to log back in. It is important to read ALL the steps first and try to follow them in order because you may give the hackers a chance to hack again if you don't. Many of these steps may only be Gmail centric since I am not familiar with other programs.

  1. Contact Gmail or your email provider. Get passwords reset and changed. Make it clear that you do not have access and believe you were hacked. The hackers set up my fail safes (security question, default phone number to text password to, and secondary email account) to their information.
  2. Once you gain access, in Gmail there is a little button on the very bottom right of the page. It says this:
    Last account activity: 10 minutes agoDetails
    1. The "Details" is the button. Press that and a record of where you are logging in comes up. Chances are, they are using something to cloak their location. Don't try to catch them here. Just press: This account does not seem to be open in any other location. However, there may be sessions that have not been signed out. Log out from all other sessions. This will force the hackers out if they are still in your account.
  3. The next step is to go to the mail settings. Press the button for Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Most likely they created a new reply to address. It should look a lot like your real address but be on ymail, hotmail, etc. I think they choose ymail since if you are reading fast, it looks like gmail.
    1. IMMEDIATELY disable the forwarding. They set it to forward all incoming mail and delete them from your inbox. Save changes at the bottom.
  4. Now that you have kicked them out of your email, let's do some damage control. Look in the trash folder for all your email that was dumped. I am pretty sure they have written a program to dump all into the trash.
  5. Find the emails they sent to your contacts. They "bcc'd" everyone but you can still see the names. DO NOT USE YOUR CONTACT BOOK YET. Copy and paste those names into an email and let everyone know you are not in Madrid or London, you have not been held up at gun point, and it's your call if you want to tell them to send you money or not... ;)
  6. Once you have sent those, it's time to recover email. In the trash, press the check box at the top of the navigation, you know, so it selects all. Once all 100 emails in the trash are selected, a little piece becomes highlighted under the navigation. It says, All 100 conversations on this page are selected. Select all xxx conversations in Trash. The second part of this is a link. If you click it, you will select all emails in the trash. I highly suggest just doing that to save your emails. I could not save mine, please save yours!
  7. Click the Move To button and move them all to your inbox. If you have utilized filters/folders, you can easily archive those back. You will have to trash some and save others. This will be, most likely, tedious but better than losing everything like me!
  8. You can do all that later, it will take time. For now, you are good. We have more to do.
  9. Be sure you change ALL of your passwords. Do not make them all the same. Sorry, it's for your own good. Change characters, change numbers, change cases... make them different! In my case, they had logged onto my Facebook so I knew they had more information.
    1. Make it a little complicated to be safe. Like your password could be HacKersSucK'2011 or hackersSUCK_2011 or hackerSuck/2011 or hacker$$uck'1969 ... lots of options to use random characters. Get creative but jot it down in a safe, non-web, place.
  10. Now, here is where they really get nasty. Remember in number 5 when I said not to use your contact book yet? Yeah, well there was a good reason. I didn't notice this until 7 or 8 hours into the clean up of my mess. Those jerks messed up my contact list! They used a program to add the tiny word "in" after every email address... all 500 of them! Had I not used the "copy from the BCC" method, I would have sent a bunch of emails and gotten them all bounced back. This is why my instructions to you are important and purposeful.
    1. Gmail has a nice feature where you can restore you contacts to a previous point. I restored mine to the night before the hacking and voila! All fixed. Easy enough but not top priority when you get hacked.
    2. P.S. What I mean by the word "in" appended to your emails, all my contacts looked like this: SuzyQin@blankmail.com when her real email would have been SuzyQ@blankmail.com. Devilish suckers, huh?

I hope this hard earned education of mine is helpful to people out there. Please, leave me a comment and tell me if this information helped you out of a hacking situation. I just think these people are the lowest of the low. Fine, email our friends, they aren't stupid enough to think we went on a surprise vacation to Madrid but to systematically destroy our electronic storage? Unconscionable. So inhumane and truly shows people with a lack of morals and care for anyone but themselves.If you haven't yet, and would like to read the story of my experience (and not just my tips and lessons) please read my blog here: HackerPocalypse 2011 - The Story

HackerPocalypse 2011 - The Story

Here is the first part of a two-part story. This is the story of HackerPocalypse 2011.I am a savvy online person. I can spot scams a mile away. I debunk chain letters and forwards. This scam was so insidious that I was caught in its web. If I was caught, you could be too. This first part is the story of what happened, the next blog will be about how to prevent it and what to do when it happens to you. As my cousin said, "There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that have been hacked and those that will be."It was 5:30 in the morning on a Thursday. I was coming off a rough week. We had three events that week. The lead up was harsh. 60-70 hour work weeks. Coming home only to sleep, change and go back to work. I was busting tush. We got to unwind after the last event on Wednesday with a few adult beverages and afterwards I headed home. I was beat. So extremely exhausted. I finally went to bed around 10:30. I fell into bed totally wiped out.At 5:30 in the morning I started getting texts. One eye open, I noticed the name and decided I would go back to sleep. Why the heck would he be texting me at 5:30 in the morning? Whatever, check it later. I had tossed and turned all night... my brain never fully shutting off. I just wanted my last 2 hours of sleep... I wasn't to get them.Next was a text from my brother on the east coast. Weird. He rarely texts and never this early. What is going on? With one eye open I see the words "email" and "robbed." I close my eyes. "Was Ronin robbed? Did I get an email? Is my little brother okay?" I am starting to realize I won't be able to go back asleep when the next two texts come in. Both from a local friend. I put together that the first two texts were friends on the east coast but this was close to home. Why was Eric texting me at 5:45 in the morning? Seriously, dude... I'm sleeping.I open both eyes to read this one... "Your personal email has been hacked - change your password ASAP!"I sit bolt upright. WHAT?I try to access my email on my phone. Last email received: 2:17 a.m.It is now 6:07 a.m. and I can't access them. In just about 4 hours, they locked me out of my email.I am half awake, dizzy with the vertigo I try to avoid by not sitting bolt upright from a prone position, made worse by my confusion and exhaustion. I try accessing everything from my, what now looks like an extraordinarily tiny, iPhone screen.Dude. Seriously? I stumble to my living room put my computer on the floor and stretch out. Lights are still off in an attempt to fix the problem and still catch some zzzzzzz's...  5 or 10 minutes later these exact words cross my mind, "Not Likely."This is going to be harder than I expected. I can't access any of my gmail accounts. Eric sends me the text of the message to my work account. This is the first time I see what all 500 of my contacts (friends, family, work acquaintances, strangers who emailed me once, businesses) saw...

HiMy regrets for this sudden request, I have been involved in a robberyduring my trip to Madrid, Spain. I got mugged and all my belongingscash, mobile phone and credit cards were all stolen at gun point.  Ineed your help as am trying to raise some money.I've made contact with my bank but they are not providing a fastsolution. I need you to lend me some money to sort my self out of thispredicament, will pay back once I get this over with.Please let me know if you can assist me in anyway so i can forward youdetails to effect a transfer. You can reach me via email or thehotel's desk phone +3493106____.ThanksTalia--Talia H DavisMarketing Manager*Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado"In the midst of difficulty, lies opportunity." --Albert Einstein"All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed." --Sean O'Casey

That is it in its entirety (with some of the phone number removed so no one contacts them). Did you find this blog because you searched this information? Good. Keep reading and read my second blog about what to do when this happens to you. I found out some tricky information.Well, I imagine it was shocking to the 300 people I saw the day before at a huge event that I had, evidently hopped on a plane, gone to Madrid, gotten mugged at gun point, and emailed them. Shocking how fast the world moves.Now that I have given up sleeping, I have settled in for the long haul. I am in my recliner taking the right steps (again a plug for part two, how to fix this once it happens). I find out that they may be jerks but they are smart and fast. They covered their bases. As I am requesting access to my account (because at this point, I had absolutely none and no obvious way to regain access other than Google intervention) I am Googling the scam. I find records that (duh) this has happened many times before. I let those who have been there, guide me. I learn tips and tricks but I also learn something horrifying... in many of these testimonials the hackers deleted all of their email.WHAT?! Dude, hack my email account my don't destroy my electronic life! Now I am nervous. Will that happen to me or not? Will my emails from my brother who has passed away be safe? The business records I keep in my email? The institutional history I have for various organizations... the horrid memories I, for some sadistic reason, saved in my email.... will they all be gone?I raised this concern to one friend. He laughed it off... this was serious to me. By then it was time for most normal people to get up and the phone was ringing and my Facebook was blowing up. Another dear friend, Mel, who is also a writer, got on with me. When I told her I knew and what I feared awaited me when I had access again, she understood. You see we are both collectors of words. That was a 10 year collection and I feared it was gone.I began changing every password to something different and obscure, praying I could remember all of them. They had access to my bank info, Facebook, etc. In fact, Mel said they had been on my Facebook chat at one point. Everything got changed. Down to my password for this blog. I wasn't going to let these people have anything more than they have taken already.I was granted access to my account again around 8 am. I was scared to see what I would find.Inbox: EmptyFamily folder: EmptyMoney folder: EmptySent folder: EmptyIt was the same in every folder. I had a lot of them.... and a lot of emails. One person online had said their emails were in the trash folder. I checked it. Over 11,000 emails in the trash. WHEW! They hadn't made them disappear forever.First step, passwords all changed.Second step, settings checked.... what's this? They had changed my email to forward every single incoming email to an account they set up - taliah.davis@ymail.com (clearly they didn't know me). I cleaned that up right away. Hackers, you are SHUT DOWN!Third step, I emailed everyone to tell them this:

Well friends and family and acquaintances who I happened to email at any point in my life...You might have received an email from me very early this morning telling you I was in Madrid and needed money. I amA. not in MadridB. not been robbed at gun pointandC. while we are all always in need of money... don't need you to do anything.My email was hacked. Every email that I ever had dumped into the trash for me to try to recover. Please ignore that email and NEVER, NEVER put your password into any website or anything. I can't figure out when or where or how this happened to me but it is becoming all too common.Call this an opportunity for us to catch up. Very sorry for any inconvenience.Best,Talia

It turned out to be a great vehicle for catching up with old friends. Once that as out, I started the process of trying to recover my email.I went to the trash and was saving hundreds of current emails at a time. Then I thought, well the older ones are the more precious so do that first. I got some saved from November to March of this year (the time I was finishing up in Israel and then moving back to Colorado) when, while chatting with Mel online and on the phone with my mothers...BLINKThe trash permanently deleted.I hyperventilated This can't be happening.Gone. All gone.My mother is screaming a million miles away... "Talia! Talia! Talk to me! What happened??"I'm crying hysterically. I tell her that my emails deleted themselves. They must have left a program to do something or were still in the account and saw what I was doing.I used the Gmail feature to force anyone logged in out of the account and cried. My moms tried to console me. I needed to hang up. Several friends were chatting with me and asking what was going on through Facebook or GChat or text message. Most people said, "That sucks."Mel got it.We mourned together for those lost words, sent into cyberspace by the evil hackers.I called my father. He was meeting with another rabbi in Denver that day, unbeknownst to me. He calmed me down. He reminded me that I had the memories of the things I lost but also that it was literally, that day, the start of a new month, Elul. Elul is the last month before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It's a time for refreshing and renewing and letting go of the past.These hackers, whom I am tempted to call many nasty names, gave me freedom from the electronic chains that held me to some of my past.Once I did all I could do online, I closed my laptop and crawled back into bed. It was almost 10am. Four and a half hours after this ordeal began with a text message. I took a 20 minute nap and got up feeling refreshed. I dressed and met my father for a rare treat, a lunch together.We talked and he counciled me. Go to your specialists, right? My father is a specialist in sitting in council.My mothers, on the other hand, they called every computer person they ever met or heard of trying to fix this for me.Mel mourned the words with me.Eric told me to get a dirty chai (even though I felt nauseous) and face the day.My brother played it cool and quiet, in his perfect way. Offering support when I needed it but hanging back so as not to overwhelm me.And my dear friend Amanda, who saw me later in the day, hugged me, laughed with me, and reminded me that life goes on.The silver lining of the experience was the number of people who said they would have totally believed it if I ran off and had gone to Israel but Madrid? No way. Another friend said he knew it wasn't true because I would have kicked the mugger's butt first. HA! What great friends!It's been over a week since this happened. I've found that I am missing things that I will never recover but mostly, I am not missing much. I feel lighter. I feel refreshed. I still feel angry but I have moved forward.I know people might be reading this thinking, what a self-indulgent woman. What a waste of a blog or how melodramatic... For me, this was the death of something very important. What I lost in those 4 hours can never be recovered. The words of a brother who died, of friends who have died, memories, scraps of thought to write about forever gone into the dark hole of my brain... gone, never to be seen again.But I hope people can learn from this experience. So HackerPocalypse 2011 - The Lesson (aka part 2) will focus on that. Stay tuned.