Rotten fruit

Is Mercury in retrograde or something? Because today? Not the day I planned to have.

I got out of bed at a reasonably decent hour - just after 9.  By 10, I'd crossed four things off the handy Task list in my Palm, and dealt with a few additional matters that WEREN'T on the list. By 11, I'd crossed off a couple more. Plus, I'd done my morning routine - you know, read all the news on the Internets, made the rounds of the blogs I frequent, showered and dressed, etc.

It was shaping up to be one of those very productive days. At noon, I punched the Start button on my Mac, ready to hunker down and continue with the project I've been working on.

The project which, just last night, I promised I would have hard copy proofs to deliver to the client on Friday, so they could be proofed over the weekend, corrected early next week and delivered to the printer next week.

The finish line is in sight on this project, which is good, because I also have a magazine to lay out by Monday, so it can go into prepress and to the printer at the end of next week.

Five minutes later, I notice that, while my Mac started starting up, it didn't finish starting up. Ok, it happens. Rarely, but it happens.

So, I unplug, plug back in, and hit the Start button again. The Mac sings its little song, startup proceeds, and then...stops.

Ok, no need to panic. Unplug, plug back in, hit Start.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

With guidance, I get it started in Safe Mode, and try to at least rescue my data. Priority being the 40 page booklet. All the supporting files? Eh, I can live without them, I've already got them on my PC.

Safe Mode won't let me use the thumb drive.

I'm not panicking, but I am in solve-the-problem mode. Obviously, my Mac, whilst not dead, is likely going to die. Maybe today, maybe on the weekend, maybe next month. I'm not surprised - I bought it used almost four years ago, and it's probably a ten-year-old machine. So, it doesn't owe me anything.

But, see, it dying today? I can handle that. Continuing to work on it and having it die, say, Sunday? No way.

The time has come, said the Walrus, to replace the Mac.

Off to the used Mac guy I go, and he sells me a Powerbook G4 for only a little more than I hoped to spend. Considering that I started the day hoping to spend nothing, that is. Yes, it's a lot of money, and no, I can't really afford it, but...what are ya gonna do? I figure I can't afford to gamble on how much life is left in the old machine, especially not when I'm in mid-project. There are days, nay WEEKS, when I can go without the Mac. The next two weeks are not some of those weeks.

So I bring home my pretty new-to-me Powerbook, and Friend spends all day configuring it for me and installing software and trouble-shooting, and, you know. Setting up stuff. Because me? I'm not a Mac person. A PC, I could do that myself, with my eyes closed. A Mac? No way.

And it's all pretty, and shiny, and it has OS 10 and nifty other stuff, and wonder of wonders, I can have wireless Internet, and it's like a whole new world. Beautiful. And after four hours of setting up stuff, it's ready to go.

So after dinner, I'm ready to go. I hunker down and open my booklet. Uh oh, the fonts need to be tinkered with. So I go to Friend's, where he's going to fix my fonts.

And Friend is in the process of fixing my fonts when he nudges the screen, and shiny ne Powerbook shuts down. He starts it again, touches the lid, and it shuts down. He starts it again, lifts the machine up ever so gently...

And it shuts down.

Crap.

Obviously, a fluke. We were shifting this thing around all day and this never happened. Total, complete, unpredictable, fluke.

I've seen it happen to brand new cars - they're pretty and shiny, and in absolute perfect working order, and two days after you drive it off the lot it blows a gasket and needs $4000 worth of repair work.

Except, A - I need a Mac, and 2 - I need one NOW. And, you know, I paid for this thing already, so it would be nice to have one that works.

So, I have a date at the Used Mac store in the morning to exchange this for ANOTHER new-to-me Mac, which probably will have a teeny-tiny screen (this was a 15", all the others he had were 14") and we'll have to go through all the setting up and everything again. And you know, I' feel weary just thinking about it.

I was very proud of myself for getting through the day without, you know, having a nervous breakdown, but I think my calm, positive approach may be wearing thin. Rotten Apples seem thick on the ground, hereabouts, and well, that's enough to put anyone in an edgy mood.

On the upside, because I can accomplish nothing right at this moment, I finally found time to blog. There really is a silver lining in every cloud.

Comments

[kim]

But the used mac guy will give you a new one and we will sit in Starbucks next week and type on our books and we will be like the "in" people.
Except we will be writing novels that need to be done in..oh..8 days!

Get your work done so we can play!

PS...out of coffee so if you want some tomorrow, you'll have to bring your own.

[Kim]

I would totally cry. Yay you for not having a nervous break-down.

[Jennifer]

Stuff like this? Is why I really, really hate Macs and think they are the spawn of the devil. All of those Mac commercials make me so mad because they LIE. iPhoto? Looks an awful lot like a "My Pictures" folder. How original. Pffffft. Our Mac computers used to crash regularly on production days at the paper. I swear, they know when to pick the worst time. And unlike a PC, you can't ever fix them completely yourself and despite the claims the commercial makes, they are NOT ready to go out of the box. Aaaaaaargh! Seriously, I hate Macs. I got myself Quark for PCs and I'm good to go. Screw you, Macintosh!

[Linda Sherwood]

Everything Jennifer said -- Ditto. Especially the part about Mac's tendency to crash on production days. I like my PC.

My daughter's iPod needs a new lightbulb and I can't even change that. Pbbt.

[Angela Giles Klocke]

Well, considering I'm all spazzed out because I can't access my sites or e-mail, I can't say as though I wouldn't have had a meltdown. Of course, there's still time for me to have one for you.