Where Did My Jump-Drive With All My Code Go?

[enigma]

I can't find my jump-drive. The one with all of the code I've written for the last semester on it.

Cleaned my room. Scoured my lab and my car. Checked all the pockets of all my pants.

Crap crap crap.

 

[Evo]

I can't find my jump-drive. The one with all of the code I've written for the last semester on it.

Cleaned my room. Scoured my lab and my car. Checked all the pockets of all my pants.

Crap crap crap.

Relax, do something else for awhile, then try to recall the last time you had it and where you were, (if you can). Then start from there. Look in weird places you wouldn't expect to find it. I find things in inexplicable places.

That's how I finally found my glasses the other day. I knew I left them on the bathroom sink, but they had vanished. So I started scouring every inch and found them on the floor next to the book case in the hallway near the bathroom. The cat must have jumped on the sink and sent them flying.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I can't find my jump-drive. The one with all of the code I've written for the last semester on it.

Dirty laundry, jackets, bags, taken by mistake by someone you know, a friend's car, a friend's house, a drawer, fell behind something...

 

[Lisa!]

Ask people around you if they know where is it.You can't believe it sometimes they throw out sth which is important to you because they think it's a crap!

 

[Danger]

What usually works for me sounds pretty stupid, but...
Think of something else that you want and start hunting for it. Usually I end up finding the original item along the way (but never the 2nd one). And as Evo mentioned, definitely check out the cat if you have one. You wouldn't believe some of the things that Lucy has stolen and hidden. Conversely, she is quite good at finding things that were lost legitimately.

 

[Astronuc]

I can't find my jump-drive. The one with all of the code I've written for the last semester on it.

Cleaned my room. Scoured my lab and my car. Checked all the pockets of all my pants.

What else were you doing the last time you wrote code (or just after), or stored something on your jump-drive?

 

[Moonbear]

I don't think Danger's plan works if you intentionally look for something else to find the original thing. I think that approach requires the original item be of no use, already replaced or redone, and the deadline long passed, then you'll find it sitting right out in the open where you know you looked a million times.

In the likely places for it, get a big box and take each and every item there and physically move it to the box. When the surface is empty, then put the stuff back (you'll have a really clean apartment when you're done too). I find I'll sometimes look all over my desk, think I've looked under every book and scrap of paper, etc., but there was just one piece of paper that never got moved and what I'm looking for is under that one.

If it's not there, check the less likely places. Near the coffee pot, inside the refrigerator, under the pile of dirty laundry, on top of the washing machine, get a flashlight to look behind things (I've done the "scour the car" thing before and still missed something that slipped between the center console and the passenger seat...can't quite reach down to feel with your hands and can't quite see clearly in that dark space). If your seat cushions are removable, remove them. Sofa cushions too.

Try to remember the last time you KNOW you had it. What were you doing that day, where did you go, what did you wear, what was the weather like (did you throw on a jacket you rarely wear because it was raining, or have a bag with you to carry your stuff in that you don't usually use in nicer weather).

Did you do any cleaning since you last remember having it? Maybe someone was coming over and you quickly tossed everything from the desk and floor into the closet or into a dresser drawer? Check the bottom of the closet and inside shoes...if it was in a jacket or pants pocket, it might have fallen out in the closet and landed in a pair of shoes...look in the pair of dress shoes you almost never wear since you'd have noticed by now if it was in the sneakers you wear often. Oh, and how about your gym bag? And call your gym's lost and found in case you had it and it fell out into one of their lockers. Same at the lab, check with your department secretary if anyone dropped it off as a found item, etc.

Good luck.

Edit: Oh, one other suggestion as a last resort -- find a nice woman, get married, then tell your new wife you lost it, and she'll roll her eyes at you as she points to it in plain view and tells you, "You'd lose your head too if it wasn't attached to your neck."

 

[Danger]

I don't think Danger's plan works if you intentionally look for something else to find the original thing. I think that approach requires the original item be of no use, already replaced or redone, and the deadline long passed, then you'll find it sitting right out in the open where you know you looked a million times.

I neglected to mention the obvious fact that you have to convince yourself that you no longer want the original item.

 

[Evo]

If it's not there, check the less likely places. Near the coffee pot, inside the refrigerator

I couldn't find my teakettle once...I put it inside the refrigerator for some unknown reason.

 

[brewnog]

This won't be much help, but keep all your valuables next to your mobile. That way, when you lose any of them, you can just call yourself from a friend's phone and listen for the ring tone!

 

[enigma]

I had it on Friday. Was writing code in the lab. Went to the movies Friday night, but I'm pretty sure I checked my pocket afterwards for it and it was there. It may have fallen under the bed or desk... we'll see when I get home. *fingers crossed*

Someone remind me to stop being an idiot and carrying disks in my pocket...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You might try calling the movie theatre, just in case.

 

[Adrian Baker]

I had it on Friday. Was writing code in the lab. Went to the movies Friday night, but I'm pretty sure I checked my pocket afterwards for it and it was there. It may have fallen under the bed or desk... we'll see when I get home. *fingers crossed*

Someone remind me to stop being an idiot and carrying disks in my pocket...

I lost a wallet like this... It fell out my pocket getting in the car. I found it a week or two later under the car seat! (Of course, I'd canceled all my cards by then )

 

[Moonbear]

I had it on Friday. Was writing code in the lab. Went to the movies Friday night, but I'm pretty sure I checked my pocket afterwards for it and it was there. It may have fallen under the bed or desk... we'll see when I get home. *fingers crossed*

Someone remind me to stop being an idiot and carrying disks in my pocket...

Stop being an idiot and carrying disks in your pocket.

I agree with Ivan, call the theater just in case, and keep your fingers crossed that if you lost it there, an honest person found it. In the future, put your name and phone number on a label on it, so if you lose it and someone finds it, they can call you and let you know (I usually put my office number on things when traveling so if it gets into the wrong hands, they don't have my home number).

Did you take your car to the theater or get a ride with someone else? Maybe it's in their car? Did you check around your parking space at your apartment, or call the manager's/landlord's office to see if anyone found it in the parking lot and turned it into the office?

But anything small enough to fit in a pocket can get easily hidden behind or under something too. When's the last time you vacuumed under the bed anyway? Those dust bunnies aren't going away on their own, and they're really known for hoarding stuff.