Word to the wise. 
This past week I nearly lost eight years of my life — my WordPress mySQL database crashed and burned. Worse, I found out that my hosting company only keeps backups of the previous day’s data — so their backups of my stuff was corrupted as well.
Thankfully I had backed up my data in late August. That combined with the fact life has prevented me from posting much in the last few months, meant that I was able to reclaim any missing posts by looking at my previous .RSS feeds.
Moral of the story, install the WordPress Backup Plug-In and have it send you e-mail backups of your data on a regular basis. Don’t make the same mistake I did.
Matt,
My name is Brian Heybyrne, we were in cub scouts together! Not to mention relatively close friends there for a while, do you remember me? I remember you, specifically you trying to parachute out of a tree with a garbage bag! I also remember the broken arm from said parachute attempt. I saw a similar escapade on Mythbusters on TV and thought of you….and thanks to google, well you get the idea. I’ve been lurking around your blog for a while, sorry to hear of your FIL, what a great site! PhD student, can’t really say I’m all that surprised. Anyway I thought I’d drop a line, feel free to send an email, I’d like to hear from ya! Take care.
BRIAN! Of course I remember you! I’d love to get in touch. I tried your e-mail and it bounced. Drop me an e-mail at mbernius@gmail.com.