Contacts gone...ugh

[baddecision]

E-mail every important document to yourself using a Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail service. Works for equipment switches, breakdowns and layoffs.

Better yet, create a Google Docs spreadsheet that you can continually update.

Not necessarily "better yet." A doc such as that can be lost or ruined with a couple of errant keystrokes. Mailing to yourself leaves backups in place as old pieces of mail. Don't learn the hard way like I did, and like others apparently have.