Barista?

I had my first major dissertation breakdown (i.e. "I'm just gonna quit and get a job at Starbucks") yesterday. It's been a week since my laptop died. In that time:

1) Geek Squad hasn't called yet to tell me if the laptop can be saved
2) the file recovery software I bought won't recover my Endnote files
3) I can't access any of my files because I have somehow locked myself out of my hard drive (my husband Frankensteined it to his desktop)
4) I hate, hate, hate using my husband's desktop, which he built himself and runs every program known to mankind (i.e. it's slow as a Tandy 2000). His desktop also hates me, as it capriciously eats my data, shuts off for no reason, and mangles my files beyond recognition. It's like feeding data into a shredder and hoping that you can put together some of the pieces.
5) My husband is addicted to his computer, and so I have to beg for time at night to work. This annoys me to no end...and I am sure it annoys him as well.

To top everything off, Sunday as I was doing some work on the data analysis, a windstorm hit Cincinnati and knocked out power in half the city--including our apartment. Yup, more data lost to the ravages of the Computer Age, since my husband doesn't have a battery backup on his desktop.

Last evening I broached the subject of purchasing a cheap laptop to get me through my dissertation (newegg.com has some Linux based systems for $350) and we got into a huge discussion about how it's just not financially feasible right now. I understand, but it is still immensely frustrating.

By 8 p.m. last night, I was angry, tired, frustrated, fried, and generally ready to begin filling out applications to become a barista (and I don't even drink coffee). Luckily, Tom (a fellow ABD and friend of long standing) was at home. He talked me off the metaphorical ledge and reassured me that all would be well. He is also a dab hand at computers, and told me to ship him my hard drive so that he can try and recover my files.

I leave tomorrow for New York. In addition to meeting with my committee chair, I have to wrangle some forms for the Office of Graduate Studies, pay a visit to Financial Aid, and figure out how I am going to pay my tuition bill since my Financial Aid won't be coming until December.
Ah, the joys of being unemployed.