Bird's Nest: Back it up

I was struck by inspiration and stayed up all night to tap, tap, tap away on the keys, stringing together words like brush strokes on canvas before I lost a single breath of brilliance. I bet you'd like to read it, especially considering it was written with you in mind. It had been almost two weeks since my first blog post, so I was about to wow you with post number two.

Just moments after typing the final word, the screen went blank.

I stared at it. I blinked once, wiped my eyes, blinked again.

It didn't blink back. It just stared at me like a wide white eyeball.

I tried the panic power button and shut my computer down before trying to restart. Once again I was caught in a staring contest against a white unresponsive screen that illuminated my shocked expression.

The white screen won. Without any warning, my hard drive decided it wanted to take a lifetime nap. Unfortunately it decided to take along my presentations for this week's national team camp in Colorado Springs, any Olympic documents I created last February, and hundreds of dollars worth of music.

Go figure.

If you'd like to read my mini masterpiece, you can send me a check for at least $1,000 to recover the information on my hard drive.

Now here I am, leaving on a jet plane for Colorado. They winded up the back of the tiny plane like a toy before takeoff, and my eyelids almost immediately got heavy as we climbed into the sky. There's something melodic and peaceful about floating in the sky above a world that looks like Lego Land. I watch as the little cars play a game of red light, green light and follow the line of the sky as it connects the dots between homes, towns, villages and cities.

Soon the U.S. bobsled and skeleton team will reunite in Colorado Springs for a week of training and celebration. Before the athletes arrive though, I have a lot of work to do. And maybe, just maybe, inspiration will strike again and I'll create another masterpiece for you. Only this time I'll back it up.

Until then...