I was heading into work early because I had to finish a project that was due later in the day. As I pulled from my driveway, what I consider to be the worst-case scenario happened – my car stopped working. I did the typical man things by looking under the hood and hoping something would magically come to me and I’d know how to fix it. But I got nothing. I called a repairman and had him diagnose the problem. He told me it was something with the water pipe and he needed to tow it to the shop. All I really heard him say was, “You’re going to be late for work.”
I went into mild panic mode because I’m now not only going to arrive to work later than I wanted but I’m going to arrive late in general. I called a few friends to get a ride – nothing. I decided I had to take the bus; it wasn’t ideal because it takes so long, but it was my only option.
I hopped on the bus, more frustration and panic taking over, wondering how I’m going to finish all of my work on time. As options were running through my mind I saw the best possible sign I could have ever seen: Free WiFi available on bus. I love technology! The moment I saw the sign I whipped out my laptop, connected to the Internet, and headed to my ElephantDrive, which is where all of my work files have been backed up.
It wasn’t until this moment that I truly appreciated the cloud. I proceeded to work for the next hour and a half in my own zone, sifting through the cloud and not missing a beat, as though I was already at the office. I was so into “work mode” I almost missed my stop.
As I was packing my things, I realized how much I got done. My normal commute takes about 45 minutes with traffic, but I didn’t care this was double the time – it flew. I was able to catch up on my work and somehow the cloud relieved my stress. It’s good to know how accessible things are; I’m actually contemplating the option of the bus/cloud combo as a permanent alternative.
