The Boy Who’s Computer Almost Took a Half-Gainer Into Oblivion

Are you ready for a story, boys and girls? Here’s a fun one...

The Incident

Once upon a time there was a boy name Tommy. Tommy was doing research on CRM software for a voice over class he’s teaching tomorrow night. Tommy installed Microsoft Dynamics but it required a server as a database so Tommy uninstalled the program.

As a result, it made many of Tommy’s computer’s key registry files vanish into thin air! Tommy tried to reboot his computer, but it didn’t work. (see the picture of Tommy having a massive kanipshin at his computer deck? Gee, he looks mad…)

Seeking Computer Help

The next day, Tommy took his computer to Lucky 2000 Computer in Parsippany. They looked at his computer and said,

“Oh, that's no good.”

Tommy had to leave it there so he could go to a recording session and spend the whole day wondering if his computer could be saved. (See the picture of Tommy sweating in the recording booth? Boy, he sure looks worried!)

The Resolution

Fortunately, the Lucky 2000 Computer people saved Tommy’s data, but they had to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows. They did, however, upgrade the memory and RAM, all for only $150! Tommy is happy!

Reinstalling Software

So Tommy took his computer home and spent the next five days reinstalling craploads of software.

The good news is that Tommy used XMarks to restore all 261 of his online bookmarks.

The other good news is that Tommy signed up with Carbonite to back up his files regularly.

The bad news is that Tommy’s recording system wouldn’t work. Oh, no! What will Tommy do...?

A Magical Solution

Suddenly, a purple-haired princess named Trish appeared and said,

“Let’s go buy you a new microphone. Your old mic sucks.”

So they went to the magical land of Guitar Center and Tommy bought an AKG Perception 420. See the picture?

Isn’t it pretty? Notice the glass of red wine that Tommy needed SOOOO badly after a week of hell?

The magical elves at Guitar Center were VERY helpful. Also, the moustachioed wizard Angelo Panetta of Panetta Studios suggested that Tommy check online for updated drivers for Adobe Soundbooth and gee, golly did THAT help!

A Happy Ending

And so, Tommy’s computer is all better! And Tommy’s recordings need minimal normalization and noise filtering. And they lived Happily Ever After.

THE END!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Wasn’t that a great story, boys and girls?

What did we learn today? We learned that Tommy did back up his files on an external hard drive so even if Lucky 2000 Computer couldn’t recover his documents he still would have them.

Tommy was planning on upgrading his computer and his recording system pretty soon anyway, but the evil Uninstall Fairies said, “How about now?”

The Moral of the Story is: back your **** up, early and often!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I’m an assistant storyteller. It’s like being a waiter or a gas-station attendant, but I’m waiting on six million people a week – if I’m lucky. Harrison Ford

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As the VO Strategist, Tom's provided voiceover business & marketing coaching since 2011. He's also a voice actor with over 25 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voice over you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, Tom produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.