Welcome to Journal de la Glenathon. Prepare your bladder for IMMINENT RELEASE

Apple's on my good side again...

2009-02-24T02:11:40Z

After three weeks, I was pretty ticked off they still had my old machine. Especially since the success of the Time Machine backup was still up in the air.

I walked in, signed a piece of paper and walked out with a new iMac still in the retail packaging.

OLD iMac
2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo
3GB 667 DDR2 RAM (upgraded at my expense from 1GB)
350 GB HD

New iMac
2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo
4 GB 800 DDR2 RAM
500 GB HD
iLife '09

The Time Machine backup went amazingly well. Upon first boot of the new machine, it went through the opening 'in space' Welcome movie and asked me to choose a language. Then, I was asked if I had a Time Machine backup. I guided the wizard to the backup and about 1 hour later, I had everything..EVERYTHING back just like I had it. Amazing. I was really worried over nothing. I didn't even have to back anything up on my own in the first place.

I'm installing iLife '09 as we speak. The install is actually taking almost as long as the Time Machine backup.

Nicely done, Apple. I don't know of another computer company that would do this.

I have a fresh year of warranty again to boot!

Wow...I haven't posted in a while...

2009-02-15T04:50:18Z

...been busy I guess. Back to bitchin', heh.

I'm pretty much typing this more as a log of the experience than anything. It may or may not be interesting to you. Pretty boring post after a 7 month hiatus I s'pose.

I'm pretty furious at Apple right now. I had to bring in my beloved iMac to the Apple techs because my machine wasn't recognizing my optical drive. Put a disc in there...the end. Can't recognize it, can't eject it...nothing. Tried every fix I can find with a 'net scour and nothing worked. I realized I had to bring in the machine or just live without an optical. I rarely burn cd's or watch movies on the machine, so it wasn't much of a loss. If I really needed to, I would have gotten an external.

On a hunch, I looked up my purchase date through a submission of my serial number here:

https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do

and found that as luck would have it, my purchase date was coming up as a year anniversary in two days! If I'm even considering getting it looked at, now's the time. Hardware is covered for 1 year from purchase at no cost to me.

So I backed up to Time Machine and copied all of my essentials over to the externals...at least everything I can think of in a moment of crisis. I didn't really have an 'abandon ship' moment before with a machine, so I guess I've been pretty lucky up until now.

I brought it in on February 2 and got it back in about 2 or 3 days. They got the disc out...I had a laugh about it with the guy behind the counter and I went on my way. He said it needed a new optical drive and the length of time to fix it was due to them having to wait for the part to be overnighted.

For my first experience with the repair crew there, I think it went well. I was impressed by the speed and the simplicity of the process and how quickly things were resolved.

Upon firing it up for the first time, I noticed immediately that it wasn't booting up properly. It took (very literally) 4 times longer to boot than it did before I brought it in. After waiting for the boot process to end, I threw a disc in there to test it out. It wouldn't mount. Again.

I check System Profiler and see the same issue is happening. It can't recognize the optical. So again...I have to bring in my machine and have them look at it.

I bring it in the next day (5th or 6th) and 'Alex' tells me if it's not the optical, it's one of two other things...

The flex cable or the logic board.

Since the optical was replaced, it must have been the flex cable or the logic board. He's going to have to take it in again for another repair. I don't hear from them for what must have been 4 or 5 days so I have to call them for a status.

They tell me that they repaired everything and it worked just fine, but it didn't pass their 'stress test'. They were able to get the disc out, but the same issue was occurring and they have to order a new logic board. He said that they can call it in and get another one overnighted, but because I've been waiting so long, they're going to call the other store in Durham to see if they have the part. If that doesn't work, he'll talk to his coworkers to find out what other alternatives there are. (?)
I'm told my machine will be first on the bench because I've been there so long. They told me that the last time I called as well.

I agreed to have them hold the machine and work on it. A few minutes later, I received a phone call from them, but I missed it because I was away from the phone. As it turns out, he was calling back to ask me the most troubling question one could expect in this situation.

"I'm just calling to find out if you had a backup of your data, so please be sure to give me a call back."

.......

I didn't really have my phone on me for a better part of the day, so my call back wasn't for a few hours later.

When I called, I asked to be transferred to Alex as that's what his message said to do. She says "I think he's busy in the back right now, but can I help you?" I explained that I got a message and was told to call him and she put me on hold for about 45 seconds. When she finally came back she told me that he already left, but he'll give you a call first thing in the morning.

How do you know he'll call me first thing in the morning if he's already gone?

So this is where I'm at right now. They've had my machine for over 12 days and I'm expecting a call from 'Alex' 'first thing in the morning'.

Both of the discs that were stuck in the machine were from Netflix, so I'm missing out on a rental because they still have one of them. Also, I forgot to back up my mail directory and my 'Sites' directory...the directory with all of my webwork. I need to go in there 'first thing in the morning' and back that up and hope I didn't forget anything.

This has gone downhill so quickly. Tomorrow should be interesting. :P

As an added bonus, I'm reading that it's pretty difficult to back up from Time machine to another machine because the backup is apparently based on the MAC address of the LOGIC BOARD. As per this article (and some of the comments there):

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080128003716101

...while it's a hassle, it seems it's possible. I shouldn't have to do this tho'. I mean...a logic board should not fail after a year.

WHA???

2008-07-16T00:48:18Z

This isn’t suspicious?!?! This doesn’t maybe, I don’t know….sound a little freakin’ alarm off with the coroner at all???

Updated via Twitter on 2008-07-13

2008-07-14T04:02:21Z

just installed Evernote for the Mac / PC / iPhone. Now I need to figure out how to benefit from it. Anyone use Evernote out there? #
@SpaceNinja151 Heh…I’m having chicken and cheese for breakfast. I’m pretty happy as well. Cheers. #
@SpaceNinja151 Well…I bbq’ed chicken last night. Cut that up and stuck it on an english muffin with some cheese. Superhappy b’fast. #
@invadersteven #
@invadersteven it works great for me on the mac with Skitch. Hoping just as well on the PC using Snagit. Not likely tho. #

Updated via Twitter on 2008-07-12

2008-07-13T04:31:20Z

Sweet. We just got tickets to go see Dubconscious next Friday http://tinyurl.com/6oxqxq #
Pandora on the iPhone is sweet. Not bad over EDGE provided the signal is strong. #
I think I’m pretty much done with yardwork for a while. Time to look into landscapers. #

I would subscribe to any get rich quick schemes from this guy…

2008-07-12T18:02:01Z

I just started on Facebook and saw this guy in the corner trying to sell me on a Get Rich Quick scheme.

I almost bought into it. Anyone that large has money. Food ain’t cheap nowadays.

Updated via Twitter on 2008-07-11

2008-07-12T04:31:27Z

@SpaceNinja151 LOL…nice. Sorry for the delay. Ironin’ out some kinks with Twitter #
MobileMe! EPIC FAIL. hehehe. #
twitlive.tv I can watch Leo Laporte all day. He’s doing a 24 hour show with invterviews of Woz, 1st guy in NZ that bought the iphone etc. #
twitlive.tv. Leo still going strong with 24 hour coverage. 150+ in line at Raleigh Apple store location. Not me tho’! #
I hate the term ‘automagically’. Damn….I hate that freakin’ term. #
@invadersteven Apple really f’ed up. Don’t know if uhave net access, but 2.0 upgrades don’t work. Can’t handle the load for activations etc #
On @springdews recommendation, using ‘TwitterBar’ in Firefox to post to Twitter #
First post using Twitterific on iPhone 2.0! Yay! #
@spaceninja151 heck yeah! #
@springdew It’s ok for my needs. I’m not a power user (yet). I’m gonna try yours on the home machine. Are you happy with tweetbar? #
@springdew I prefer minimal real estate taken up so twitterbar was the one I chose for the work machine #

…and away we go…..

2008-07-11T22:22:09Z

Goodbye Jailbroken phone. You’ve been good to me.

Fortunately, the 2.0 software has already been jailbroken in only a matter of hours after its release.

Updated via Twitter on 2008-07-10

2008-07-11T04:15:47Z

is organizing the content on his site. I think I have had enough with this theme. It’s time to move on. #
Some days I dread the car pool. I don’t normally mind who I’m riding with, but some mornings I just want to be solo. I blame Bush for this #

MobileMe! EPIC FAIL. hehehe.

2008-07-11T02:43:30Z

MobileMe! EPIC FAIL. hehehe.

Catch a glimpse of MobileMe

2008-07-09T00:25:44Z

Not sure if this is gonna work, but I want to see how slick n’ smoov the MobileMe interface is going to be when it’s released in a coupla days.

Knowing that current .Mac users are going to be converted and upgraded free of charge, I thought maybe become a member right quick.

https://www.mac.com/WebObjects/Signup.woa/wa/trial

I never used .Mac…so I signed up for the above 60 day free trial. When the day comes to convert, hopefully they’ll bring over the trial members as well.

EDIT:
Hmmm….seems as tho’ you can do this right through the system prefs.

This is the coolest line of code in web history

2008-07-08T02:11:18Z

OK, maybe not. But I’m having a field day with it right now.

javascript:document.body.contentEditable=’true’; document.designMode=’on’; void 0

1) Visit any website
2) Replace the code in your browser’s address bar with the above code.
3) Edit the text of the website RIGHT IN YOUR BROWSER.
4) Save and fool your friends.

when did they change green lif…

2008-07-07T17:57:18Z

when did they change green lifesavers from lime to watermelon? I mean… WTF? Its good…but man. Threw me off a bit there

on the way home from the reuni…

2008-07-06T20:27:35Z

on the way home from the reunion. Stopping in Winston Salem. Punk convention / car show at the bus terminal. Going to WF college for lunch

leaving reunion now. Apparentl…

2008-07-06T18:23:25Z

leaving reunion now. Apparently I look like racer kyle petty. Was introduced as him to newcomers and many many pictures taken of me.

Marion, Va is a creepy little …

2008-07-05T22:58:25Z

Marion, Va is a creepy little town except for on thing. All this for $2.75 - http://twitpic.com/391t

ate at Shoneys with the g’folk…

2008-07-05T20:58:22Z

ate at Shoneys with the g’folks. Bunch of Puritans or something there also. Very strange. Heading to Historic Marion Va for our hotel.

gravesite of the guy dr pepper…

2008-07-05T16:25:54Z

gravesite of the guy dr pepper was named for. How exciting. - http://twitpic.com/38f5

Big ol pencil… Not so big - …

2008-07-05T15:24:51Z

Big ol pencil… Not so big - http://twitpic.com/38bq

roadside attraction #1. Big ok…

2008-07-05T14:50:29Z

roadside attraction #1. Big ok pencil. Not so umpressive. Not surprised either. Next stop - dr peppers gravesite after bfast. - http://twit

Leaving the b n b in Fancy Gap…

2008-07-05T14:06:59Z

Leaving the b n b in Fancy Gap Va. Saw lots if bats and a badger. Breakfast with Harley couple cruising the Blue Ridge.

Leaving Hillsville Va for Gala…

2008-07-05T00:37:08Z

Leaving Hillsville Va for Galax Va to catch the fireworks show. We are waaaaaay out in the boonies.

dropped off luggage and eating…

2008-07-05T00:06:28Z

dropped off luggage and eating dinner in Hillsville Va. Pretty much a one street town. - http://twitpic.com/372p

Blue ridge pkwy. Losing signal…

2008-07-04T23:30:56Z

Blue ridge pkwy. Losing signal. B and b is scary. Jason Vorhees scary.

Buckle up Virginia!

2008-07-04T22:30:32Z

Buckle up Virginia!