I was using an old TRS-80 Model III to merge two word processing files using the Super Scriptset program. I had to carefully swap diskettes while working with the files (it was a single floppy system). After working for about an hour, I mistakenly gave a command with the wrong disk in the drive. The person sitting next to me heard a pitiful "Oh, no..." but it was too late. All of my work was lost and had to be recreated.

I learned a bitter but valuable lesson that day - computers are shiftless, stupid, and can not be trusted. That wouldn't be the last time I was bitten by a computer but it doesn't happen too often.

Being a keyboard centric kind of guy, I hit Alt-F-S at least once every paragraph. I have auto-save enabled. Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean that computers aren't out to get me. I pass this lesson on to all of my students as well. Computers are one step smarter than your average rock and can NOT be trusted.

Some days, I wish we'd just stuck with slide rules (still have mine from high school and know how to use it). No batteries, no operating systems, and no BSODs on a slide rule but they're a little hard to work in the dark.