Computerless but now restored!

Early last week (Monday) I left my computer for a few minutes. As usual it went through the usual screen savers and eventually went to sleep.

I mean really sleep.. the power board in the computer died.  No smoke, no crazy sound.. my power board died in its sleep deep within the hard of this thin computer.

When I arrived back at the desktop to imput in a great story and edit some great photos... nothing happened.. no sound, it was dead.

I plugged it into other outlets in the house that I knew were active and alive.. still no progress. No response. I knew from past experience that it was probably a power board. There was no crazy in appropriate behavior occuring in my computing experience.. so from past experience I concluded it probably wasn't the logic board.

The next morning I took off at the crack of dawn.. about 6:45 to get a new powerboard at the closest Apple store around.. Vintage Fair Mall in Modesto. Its about 45 miles from my home in Merced. It is on the dreaded 99 freeway corridor but still just shy of an hour away all the time careful driving is required to dodge the trucks that ply this artery for their livelihood.  If you want to know if the economy is getting better drive our freeways. As the economy gets better, more big trucks are require to move the raw materials and finished goods. I arrived in Modest well before 8 am and noticed that the Apple store was in moth balls. Some cheezy Frank Sinatra music was playing above the outdoor fountain that aperiodically spouts streams of water into the air.  Outside the Apple store was a sign that claimed to be having in inservice and planned to be open at 10:00.

Just as wel, I thought, l as I was hungry and needed a coffee shop breakfast. I traveled around the perimeter of the shopping center and crossed over the freeway to the Plendale and the Denny's restaurant that was located there. As I took my time eating a pancake or two I suddenly got the idea that it might make sense to reserve a spot at the genius bar before I got here. Using the Iphone, I used my Sarfari browser to get to the support spot for a genius bar reservation. It showed the only appointments available were after lunch.  I signed up the 12:15.  I thought that maybe since this was a repair I would not need a genius bar appointment anyway.  I arrived back at the store at 9:30 and a customer rep in a bue shirt asked me what I needed or if they could be of help. I explained my situation and was told that I indeed needed a reservation and  I was moved up to 10:15. I asked if I could move my computer into the store until that time...no.. bring it in at 10:15. I became a Mall walker as I walked from one side to the other of the mall and timed it so that when I walked back out to the car I would be close to the 10:15 of my target.

I arrived with by 21inch IMac under arms and after a quick plug at the genius bar they concluded just as I,, that a new powerboard was needed. The guy sitting next to me was also named Patrick and he had a similar issue. The genius bar guy asked if we could share him. I said sure and he said sure. As it turned out, his issue with the fullsized Mac Pro was more involved than mine.  He had replaced his video card before and he had a screen but nothing on the screen. His fix it estimate as about 530 dollars. Mine was 106.

In the mean time, another Apple employee had taken over mine and was doing the paperwork for mine to be fixed. He said that it would probably take a couple of days to get the part and it would take a day or two to get it into the line up to get the actual work done.  It was to cost 106.

I got an email on Thursday at 4:40 that my mac was ready to pick up. I made some plans to go get it. This time Sue was on board to do her Thrift shop survey on the same trip.

We took off on Friday around 11:00 and I showed my ID (required) and walked out the door after 116 in payment for a new life added to my computer.  We did the Goodwill survey in Modesto which included a trip to the dollar store. I had a great lamb kabob meal across the street and we headed home in the 97 dregree heat.. much better than it had been lately.

As you can see the computer is up and cranking and I am able to do this kind of blog entry. This would be much harder to do with the phone and or the Ipad.

The Ipad tech thanked me for my patience on the way out the door.

Life is good

: ) PAT