The Loop
Anyone out there who works with technology on any regular basis surely has run into 'the loop'. You go to do a simple thing, like for instance, update your address book and suddenly you are caught up in a vortex of technological issues--and the loop.
It was a seemingly simple task. My phone was no longer charging properly--it seemed that the connector was now defunct. The phone was 6 months old--apparently a lifetime for phones. I waited another day or two only to see that my phone was really acting funky. I call tech support and they have this tricky piece of colored paper in the back of the phone that changes color based on moisture exposure. Somehow my phone must have been exposed to moisture [i'm not really sure how] so they would no longer support it. Adding insult to injury, the rep even went as far as to say "The phone is not made for under water use". [YES, i reAlIZE that]
Anyhow, so I order a new phone. It's cool, it has a built in radio [FM only] which comes in handy for morning runs so I can listen to Howard Stern and be available for early morning clients at the same time. I pop in my SIMM and think my address book will be updated. Nope. Not compatible.
Okay, fine. I'll just update it in iSync--have needed to do that for a while anyway. Nope, not compatible with Panther. OKAY FINE, I needed to upgrade to Tiger anyway, so I get a copy, pop it in the Superdrive and *whirrrrrclick* it ejects.
? Ejects? Strange. Pop in Fight Club--ejects. Season 2 of Three's Company--ejects. The very disk that I made on this drive months ago---EJECTS. Call Apple tech support--says drive is toast.
Interesting, b/c I just REPLACED this very drive in January. OKAY FINE--so I call the folks who fix it--Apple only warranties the drive for 3 months. I beg Apple to honor the damn thing, [this is my 9th mac and i've been working with apple since the 80's, can't you do something???] they do and they order me a new drive.
So, the problem should be solved, right? Not quite. I got to the Authorized Apple Support folks who keep the mac all day. They pop it in and the BRAND spanking NEW drive doesn't work!!! They order a new drive. And I wait. Still no Tiger, still no update to my address book. A week later, I break down and order an external drive. It writes 16x AND can make a GRAPHIC laser etched imprint ON TOP of the CD so that's pretty cool. I hook it up, upgrade a bit of software, only to find out it's not compatible with most things in iLife--which means I need to use a different software package to burn DVD's and can't even WATCH a MOVIE b/c iDVD won't recognize an external drive. I can, however, supposedly [and I really hope so] install Tiger.
So, this is my loop. Not that much fun. I'm trying to stay positive about it. I suppose I've learned a lot about my computer and that maybe what I REALLY NEED is just a new laptop. Any one of those funky 30" flatscreens. Maybe it will be Christmas in August afterall.
It was a seemingly simple task. My phone was no longer charging properly--it seemed that the connector was now defunct. The phone was 6 months old--apparently a lifetime for phones. I waited another day or two only to see that my phone was really acting funky. I call tech support and they have this tricky piece of colored paper in the back of the phone that changes color based on moisture exposure. Somehow my phone must have been exposed to moisture [i'm not really sure how] so they would no longer support it. Adding insult to injury, the rep even went as far as to say "The phone is not made for under water use". [YES, i reAlIZE that]
Anyhow, so I order a new phone. It's cool, it has a built in radio [FM only] which comes in handy for morning runs so I can listen to Howard Stern and be available for early morning clients at the same time. I pop in my SIMM and think my address book will be updated. Nope. Not compatible.
Okay, fine. I'll just update it in iSync--have needed to do that for a while anyway. Nope, not compatible with Panther. OKAY FINE, I needed to upgrade to Tiger anyway, so I get a copy, pop it in the Superdrive and *whirrrrrclick* it ejects.
? Ejects? Strange. Pop in Fight Club--ejects. Season 2 of Three's Company--ejects. The very disk that I made on this drive months ago---EJECTS. Call Apple tech support--says drive is toast.
Interesting, b/c I just REPLACED this very drive in January. OKAY FINE--so I call the folks who fix it--Apple only warranties the drive for 3 months. I beg Apple to honor the damn thing, [this is my 9th mac and i've been working with apple since the 80's, can't you do something???] they do and they order me a new drive.
So, the problem should be solved, right? Not quite. I got to the Authorized Apple Support folks who keep the mac all day. They pop it in and the BRAND spanking NEW drive doesn't work!!! They order a new drive. And I wait. Still no Tiger, still no update to my address book. A week later, I break down and order an external drive. It writes 16x AND can make a GRAPHIC laser etched imprint ON TOP of the CD so that's pretty cool. I hook it up, upgrade a bit of software, only to find out it's not compatible with most things in iLife--which means I need to use a different software package to burn DVD's and can't even WATCH a MOVIE b/c iDVD won't recognize an external drive. I can, however, supposedly [and I really hope so] install Tiger.
So, this is my loop. Not that much fun. I'm trying to stay positive about it. I suppose I've learned a lot about my computer and that maybe what I REALLY NEED is just a new laptop. Any one of those funky 30" flatscreens. Maybe it will be Christmas in August afterall.
1 Comments:
What you really need is a PC. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home