15 Minutes Turns Into 7 Hours!

When I walked up to the Genius bar, carrying my iMac and a bag with three external hard drives and the cords that go with them, I'm sure Nick NEVER thought we'd get to know one another as well as we did.

I found out that he's an only child, rarely talks to his mother in Michigan, hasn't seen his father since he was a toddler, and spent a year "male dancing" if you know what I mean. He eats candy bars and soda for meals and is thin as can be. Plus, he's Jonathan's age.

I may very well have missed my calling. For as long as I can remember, people have always told me a lot. While working my patients told me the "darndest" things which constantly amazed my co-workers. Well, the Apple store was no different. Of course, when you sit there for hours on end, conversation ensues.

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about this little guy

while I was gone so long because Bruce was working from home as I may have mentioned. By the way, Baxter, unbeknownst to me, turned 8 years old on May 3rd. We neglected to throw a party.

What did Nick do all those hours? One thing he did was discover my usb ports were just fine. Erase my hard drive, yes. Install completely new software, yes again. Back up all my data, check. This last part nearly killed me, and once he started it back up again, my fears, at least for the moment were realized. Mostly for the last, say two years or so, I've been using Picasa for my photo storage and editing. Gone!

But wait, he found it. Or did he?

This was the note he left on my computer while it reigned supreme on the Genius bar counter, or make that bar I guess. Actually, what happened is that around 5:00 I said I'd pretty much had enough, how about if I return at 7:30 before you get off at 8? I drove the six miles home just to get out of that mall! Working at his desk, Bruce called out for me to look at the bird feeder, which by now you know is providing us with lots of entertainment.

Neither of us know what kind of bird this, but I'll tell you this much, the male cardinal was none too happy that his territory was being invaded.

After making dinner for Bruce (I'd finally eaten lunch at Nordstrom around 3:30), I headed back to the mall. Nick was waiting on someone but eventually he got to me and showed me he'd found the Picasa pictures. Hurray! This time I did not lug everything back to the car, instead driving to the alley way behind the store. The iMac is heavier than you'd think.

So far, so good. Naturally I plugged it in the moment I got home, hoping for the best. During the reload, as if it were a new computer, he upgraded me to iPhoto 2011, which I was anxious to see. All this fiddling around has left me with stuff on three different hard drives, some data split between two or three. Basically, it feels like a mess, however, for sure the Time Machine is now working properly. Before leaving I asked Nick what should I tell folks was wrong. Software was his answer.

I was prepared to tell you all about it earlier today, however, the server for this blog was down--apparently for many hours. In fact, at this very moment, my last post has been wiped out. Plus, the bird picture above looks way better than what you are seeing. No clue what is happening.

Finally, after errands, cleaning and laundry, I sat down to type. Guess what? No Picasa=Unhappy Gail.
I phoned the store asking for Nick. Dan said he wasn't in but he'd be happy to connect me to regional service. I didn't shout, I didn't curse. Calmly I told him that after spending 2 1/2 hours on the phone Wednesday afternoon, and the aforementioned time yesterday, I was NOT going to talk to just anyone. I am still waiting for the return call 1 1/2 hours later.

You know something else? On Wednesday, after swimming and reading, I showered, washed my hair and put on a nice dress for my honey's return later. Normally I let my hair air dry for about an hour, then style it with the blow dryer. It needs that you know. WELL, staying on the phone forever, my hair dried into a crazy mess. And that's what it looked like all of yesterday during my mall imprisonment.

Thus, I am leaving you to go blow dry my hair before I look like a slob for the next two days. I'm hoping that once I turn it on, Nick will call and try to solve my problems.