Wow, I've been experiencing my first few weeks as a freshman and it has been chalk full of challenges. Among them learning to cope with sometimes inconsiderate suite mates, figuring out the college, classes and the like, getting sick and trying to get well and then comes along the much unanticipated blue screen of death.  You see, I came to college equipped with a new tablet PC and it basically died on me just before my big engineering project was due.  I brought my brilliantly blue screen to my engineering professor and thankfully he was pretty understanding about the situation. However, in retrospect I should have been backing up my work on a flash drive which I failed to pack and bring along with me.  The idea of a backing up the computer just wasn't part of my thought process as I rushed to throw things together to take to college with me.  There was so much to do in those final weeks before I departed so I can see why I hadn't really thought about backing up the computer.  So, the ill fated engineering project is now due on Monday and there is no way I can send my computer back to the manufacturer and get it repaired that quickly.  So I must redo all the work this weekend in spite of all the other assignments I need to complete.  So, I've learned a difficult lesson and that's no matter what I am up to, I need to be sure to have a backup plan and take the time to execute it.  I hope by posting this I can help others circumvent the problem I've experienced.