Tech support

My biggest mac-problem in this country is getting technical help. The only official outlet I know of is BDS. For one, need-help-now problems don't only occur during weekdays, office hours, and I find their technical knowledge limited. Unless you're one yourself, I'm sure others have felt the need for a pocket mac-whizz.
Two weeks ago, an external hard disk crashed. I had no one to turn to. I trusted the task of extracting my data to a friend who works with PCs. He managed the arduous task of extracting, but not reading the data. I later got on to someone with the necessary software to repair bust hard disk info (very expensive process) and am keeping fingers crossed the orginal extraction through PC will not have damaged my info.
I seriously need a list of good mac technicians (not PC-techs who dabble in everything and pass themselves off as mac-also techs) available.