Merry fucking Christmas.

I spent two hours on the phone with Dell today only to find out that, apparently, my hard drive is corrupted beyond repair. Fan-fucking-tastic. They're sending a new hard drive, but of course good luck saving any of my files. I don't care about most of them that much, but my database of movies I've seen and their ratings is a tough loss, along with a few other things. I'm going to look into a data recovery service, but right now it's "prepare for the worst and hope for the best," as they say.

Of course I got some nice stuff for Christmas. The centerpiece of the present package, so to speak, from my parents was a 60 gig video iPod, which is pretty awesome - but of course I can't even put anything on it right now with the computer issue. Outstanding. I also got some clothes, including an amusing Toothpaste for Dinner shirt from my sister and a sweatshirt from Alma's parents, a few CDs from my dad, a Target gift card from my aunt and uncle (who I visited on Christmas Eve and stayed over to Christmas morning), and a handheld electronic Sudoku player from Alma.

As they say, though, it's the thought that counts, and even though Alma's last-minute replacement gift was a good one, it's worth noting that she had bought me an iPod Nano. I opened my parents' gifts at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve night, finding their iPod - then when Alma called me, I couldn't wait to tell her about it... and was met with an "Um..." on the other end of the phone. As my aunt noted, plenty of people wanted an iPod for Christmas and didn't get one... and I got two. Of course, I don't get to keep both of them, but again - it's the thought that counts, and Alma's thought was fantastic. I guess my desire for an iPod was just a little too loudly and consistently stated.

Back to whining. (a) Has anyone ever had files recovered from a hard disk that went down? (b) If you're from this area and you have, can you recommend anyone?