Bye-bye bytes

This morning when I opened my college-issued laptop computer to work on my summer writing project, the file was gone. But then, so were a lot of other files. Clicking on "My Documents" resulted in an empty file. Running a search for file names turned up no matches. Rebooting had no effect. Every document that had been on my computer was gone: all my syllabi, course materials, assessment data, department reports; all my scholarship, articles, essays, research notes, talks, proposals--all gone. Vanished into the ether.

I felt as if both arms had been amputated and someone had kicked me in the gut just for good measure.

So I took the laptop to campus and waited (not very patiently) while trying (not very successfully) not to panic while two different IT guys told me they didn't have a clue what the problem could be. Finally, the third IT guy took over and within minutes, the problem was fixed. All my documents have been restored, both my arms are back in full functional mode, and that kicked-in-the-gut feeling has dissipated.

Now I need to think of an appropriate gesture of thanks for my IT guys. Do IT guys like zucchini bread?