Before I never worried and my needs never outlived the hardware, often I was able to sell the equipment when I upgraded to the latest gadget. But this Power Book was different. I had it in for repair several times, mainly problems with the DVD player which was repaired and twice the logic board was replaced and once the whole top of the laptop because the screen died.

As I do not use the CD/DVD player that often, I only recently noticed again a major problem. I was no longer able to either read or correctly access data on a CD/DVD, either it would not even show up or crash my machine when trying to install software from it. Wednesday a week ago I made the trip to the Apple Store and they sent it in for repair, only a few days later, yesterday, I received it back via FedEx.

Happy was I when I receive the package, but no longer so when I stuck the first DVD into the (replaced) drive: screeching sound, rumbling and an eternity and a little bit more until a file would open. Not usable at all. Tried an other CD and then another DVD - all with the same result.

Of course I needed to return the unit, so I logged into the Genius bar and made an appointment but definitely felt disappointed that I would have to again drive down to the Apple Store and lose a major part of Wednesday morning, my day off for this.

Just before going to bed my husband suggested to call Apple instead and have them send FedEx to pickup the package.

So here I was this morning and thinking that he is right. At 9:30 AM I then decided to call Apple, settled in with the headphones hocked up to my iPhone, expecting a long wait but was hoping to get ahead of too many people, knowing that Los Angeles is 2 hours behind us. I was so wrong: no long wait and a person who perfectly spoke English, no oversea person, but a friendly guy - let’s call him Paul - answered after less than a minute on hold.

Our conversation went something like this:

• ME : I just received my PowerBook back from repair but it’s not repaired.
• HE : So this is the same issue?
• ME : Yes, well not really…
• HE : So this is a new issue?
• ME : No, well yes. (this starts off really well).
• HE : Huh?!
• ME : First it didn’t read CD/DVD’s at all, now it sees it but it makes horrible noises and takes for ever when trying to access a file on it.
• HE : Which disk did you try, the original install disk?
• ME : No, I tried the “Tech Tool Pro” which comes with the Extended Warranty and 2 others and they ALL had the same problem, TRUST me, the original install disk will make it too (trying to avoid the run of the mill, especially as I did not have the computer NOR the disk at work).
• HE : So let me get this straight. You just had it in repair and they replaced the logic board AND the DVD drive and you are still having problems?
• ME : Yes.
• HE : Okay, so do I get this right, you first had problems in 2005 when the logic board was replaced the first time, and then the DVD unit was replaced and then… (listing all the repairs).
• ME : Yes.
• HE : Okay, I think at this point we need to replace the laptop itself.
• ME : Okay (expecting to get it replaced with some refurbished item, same model).
• HE : Which kinda software do you use it with?
• ME : Oh, EVERYTHING.
• HE : Well, what exactly?
• ME : The whole ADOBE suite, then 3D programs, video and web programs, movies, music… (exasperation in my tone because of course I am drawing a blank while thinking WHAT THE HECK is this question for?)… just the whole slew of it.. .
• HE : (never missed a second to be professional and friendly) : I just need to know that the computer we are exchanging with will be able to run the stuff.
• ME : Oh, I understand.
• HE : How much RAM?
• ME : 2 gig
• HE : Okay, the computer I am thinking of would be a 17-inch 2.5 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo processor and have 2 GB of RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, also have a DVD Super Drive… would that work as a replacement?
• ME : Uhm, yeah! (while thinking to myself, “would that WORK? … is he KIDDING me? This is like exponential better than my current machine, I am sure he will realize this in a second… or it’s just plain an April’s Fool joke).
• HE : Very good, then let me get this process started for the replacement.
• ME : (still thinking it’s some kind of refurbish or a joke) So, WHAT kinda computer is this then?
• HE : … (repeats the specification data) and then adds, “this is a Mac Book Pro, we can do this because you are still under warranty”.
• HE : (goes on setting the replacement process up and explaining how it works and who will contact me during the process and guide me through it all) … and when we have tracking of your return package with FedEx, the order for your replacement goes out - as it is a computer with no additions but right out of the box they will ship it overnight and you possibly will have it by the end of the week”.
• ME : (studdering) … this is good, I need to finish my taxes (finally realizing that this might not be a joke and that I am about to receive a new laptop - much better than my current one, but still not sure which model).
• HE : chuckles.
• HE : Your case number is …, if you have any questions you can reach me at … (direct phone number) or email me at (direct email address).
• … usual ending of a conversation.

Ever since I am unable to swipe that idiotic grin off my face.

It got worse once I hit Apples website and realized that I am receiving the latest model, top of the crop (not additionally decked out, but top notch). This means I am receiving a $3,000 computer (this price includes taxes) as a replacement of my April 2005 model which at this point I could possibly still sell for a couple of hundred dollars… maximum. When my warranty expires? In 7 days.

No, this is not an April’s Fool Joke.

It’s a great “bounce back” after my back injury incident. And once again I feel this chuckle and grin to myself as this is my “usual” - things like this DO happen to me - I am a Sunday child after all.

UPDATE : everything went so smooth and fast that I received my new computer already on Thursday. This beauty is so fast, it even leaves my current desktop computer in the dust. PLUS I can now natively run Windows too.

Anyway, I usually do my coding in a text editor and for CSS styling I love to use CSSEdit. no such nice tools on the PC so originally I went conform with the rest of the place and used Dreamweaver but since a few months I like to use Microsoft Expression - I am a big opponent of MS and have NO applications of them on my own drive, so this shows that it IS pretty good - and it works well and better than Dreamweaver (as it tries to be less backward compatible) in displaying code for the most; oh, and I am on Vista which brings its own share of fun.

Well, yesterday under a deadline Microsoft Expression decided to crash and since then nothing could clean the problem up.

Deadline. oh yeah. we know how that goes. Also, on top of it I needed to style something which gets generated on the fly on the server and thus could not fine tune it easily locally (though Firefox’es “Firebug” is a great tool).

Well, here comes my great setup. I am able at work to hook up my powerbook via ethernet to their network (usually to allow me to connect to the internet, for Safari testing). Today, under Leopard I just hooked up the ethernet and instantly saw their PC network, next I was connected to our internal business server, no sweat.

But now to the really sweat part of it all : working with THEIR file on their server on MY powerbook in CSSEdit for styling (overriding the live webpage display in CSS with the local file). Tweak, save and upload to the remote server and done. Rinse and repeat to happiness.

Super fluent, no crashes - one would not even know that I am working on a PC file directly on my Mac.

Sometimes I REALLY love computers. Today was such a day :-)

Today I got part of my life back… which had been gone since last Thursday. .

My G5.

My desktop computer - fondly called “G5″ - had decided last week to stop being just “on” and doing its job; the machine didn’t even visibly crash, but when I came into the office in the morning all was dark and remained dark, nothing could coax it back into life.

B. was so nice to haul it to the Apple store while I was working - coincidentally he had a machine’s video card go bad.

How empty and strange the office can be without these machines - and MANY degrees cooler. The main things these empty spots in the room showed though is the amount of cat hair we collect within just a few days - I am amazed that the computers don’t die more frequently.

A couple of years ago I already had a Canon printer die on me because one cat loved too much sleeping right on it and a ton of hair had collected within the machine until it no longer was able to function. This time, on the G5 the power supply died. Even though the support guy didn’t mention any accumulation of internal hair which could have caused this, I will not dismiss completely the thought of this being the possible cause.

Thus, one more time will I try to win the never ending battle of getting ALL cables OFF the floor and onto hooks (mounted below the desk surfaces) to battle some of the hair and dust and to allow vacuum cleaning in the area more frequently.

As we are constantly adding additional machines and external drives and this and that, cables are not a static thing but constantly evolving and moving and revolving and knotting up and thus I am very much aware that this last thought is probably in the same strata as a non-sticky New Years resolution, but I at least ought to try again!

I do not understand why PC users no not just plain boycott their computer manufacturers and for years put up with this stuff. And why no user yet has gone berserk and shot some coder group for this what is being sold as high-end and the latest and vive-la-Vista!

To install this version of Office it took a full hour, and that was only the beginning. During install, for the longest time one would think the machine crashed because the progress bar did move NULL (for about 20 minutes, this is!). Then the program told me that e.g. Outlook needs to be shutdown “or else the system will need to reboot after installation”. Guess what, had to reboot anyways, even with Outlook not running during install.

Then, it lost all understanding on Finder level, i.e. Vista does not know that an Excel spreadsheet is just that and does not see a program to open. Well, great!

Now, each time I open Excel, it configures from scratch, obviously something is wrong!!! Alright, lets update this thing, maybe then? Ha! Update takes another 1/2 hour and another slow reboot and still, .doc files and other Microsoft files are not recognized to be launched by that and the installed Office does not even show as an option to use to associate the file with!

Great! It’s under the Start and Quick Program links but each time on opening it now it will configure and configure and configure… and then popup some warning dialog about some kind of file without any explanation!

Obviously it was a BIG mistake to install this software under Vista. Or to install it ANYWHERE. It’s bringing the computer to it’s knees and has halted production for hours now, trying to get just a resemblance of logic and working’ness.

This is major BAD mojo.

And once again, am I happy and glad that I’m not a PC user in my own business or at home and that I do not have Microsoft applications installed - and yes, having such a horrid time to install software IS a major flop and not the first time I see such issues with Microsoft applications. After installation it said ’successful’… I hate to know what ‘problematic’ then would be.

Bottom line : update the system over night - one of how many? - and hope for the best by tomorrow morning.

One of the few things I thought might be really cool for her is the fact that it seemed easy to add snippets from the web and/or applications like Exel… but nooo. Here on the Mac, with the FireFox extension installed this feature does not work at all, it tells me to select something before posting to blog even though I have something selected. The only thing what works is to select ‘edit in Contribute’ but that copies the whole page.

I don’t even have to waste more time with this, I do not believe that the new CS 3 version will be any better interface and usage wise - at least not what would be helpfull for Joan.

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