Sadness is... [Part 2]

Sadness is having over 800 file corruptions on your hard drive.

Sadness is spending four and a half hours at the Mac Store.

Sadness is bringing a friend along because you think it won't take that long.

Sadness is seeing your computer taken apart when you thought it was only a minor problem.

Sadness is knowing you couldn't have fixed it on your own, even though you figured out the problem for once.



Dammit, I am so pissed about my computer. PISSED. And I'm just going to post the whole, long and verbose and boring story here, because I need a rant.

On Tuesday I downloaded some updates, no big deal. Then I had to leave really quickly, and I just shut my computer, intending to install the updates later on. And then my computer died because I forgot to charge it and I had a party to go to. So yesterday evening I sit down to work on some things on my computer for MIT, and I hook up the power cord and turn it on. Nothing happens. Eventually, I get it to work to the point that it just has a flashing file folder with a question mark on it. At this point, I begin to mildly freak out, but then I remember some things I had to read for MIT stuff, and realize that the computer isn't reading the operating system from the hard drive. Feeling smart, I try restarting it, then looked in the book and figured out how to reset the PRAM. By about 2 AM I'd had it and just went to bed. I got up in the morning and decided to try working on fixing my laptop again. Figuring it couldn't find the OS, I just put the CD in and restarted it. Close, but no cigar. It just sat and freaked out for two hours before I finally just turned it off.

My friend Ashlee came with me up to the Mac store in Bridgeport Village, where I got the computer and where I've had it serviced ever since. I got up to the Genius Bar really quickly, which was awesome. The guy who helped me basically said my hard drive was shot, and when I asked him what exactly had caused it, he responded, "Um... I don't really know." We got there at about 4:30, and were there for a good half hour before we decided to wander around Bridgeport Village. After looking at clothing we can't afford, we decided to go check on my laptop. We went back to the Genius Bar, only to discover my poor baby disemboweled on the counter. Well, I guess that's exaggerating. The battery was out, and they were doing stuff with the ports exposed by the battery's removal. Where the hard drive is. I was then informed that I was given a new hard drive, because the old one was severely corrupted and they really didn't know what had happened to it. Ashlee and I stood waiting around for a while, and then we just decided to camp out in the corner of the store. Eventually, they brought us cushy folding chairs, and the store employees were chatting with us... Because I'm unbelievably stupid, I never backed up files on my computer, so they were working to get all of the data off my old hard drive for me (3000 songs would not be fun to put back on my computer, and 5000 pictures would be gone forever! Not to mention all my other files). Apparently, that was going to take a while, so Ashlee and I went and ate dinner at P.F. Chang's. Then it was back to sitting in the Mac store in our sweet chairs. Ashlee and I just talked with the employees, asked questions about travel outlet adaptors ("Will I be able to plug my hair straightener into it?" - always an important question. Because Scotland's 13 days away!!!), and Ashlee showed me how big a 60" TV is by laying down on the floor. And then we just went and looked at upcoming concerts and Facebook on the iPod Touches.

We were pretty much kicked out of the store at 9 PM when they closed. They now have my computer, and just left the old hard drive to try to connect to whatever it is they're using to get the old stuff off, because apparently it takes awhile to slog through 800+ CORRPUTIONS! I really don't know how I managed to screw it up that bad. I'm going back tomorrow, and I really just hope they could get most of my old data. And then I'm buying a portable harddrive to back everything up weekly.

Sadness is having an epic computer repair story.

Sadness is...

Sadness is being recognized at the Genius Bar at the Mac Store.

Granted, it's just good customer service to recognize repeat customers. As a total sales nerd, I get that. But it's a little obvious that I'm in there so much that they recognize me. I was in there for an hour on Mother's Day trying to get my iMovie program fixed, and it looks like I'll be going there again.

Now, I love my Mac. Love it, love it, love it. There's no way I could ever go back to totally relying on a Windows-based computer. But right now I'm a little pissed because my computer died before I could approve/install new updates, and it's now got a flashing file folder with a question mark on it whenever it try to turn it on with a power source.

Grrr. I better not be there for an hour before they tell me it's something simple and I'm pretty much really stupid when it comes to computers.

Being tired is probably just adding to the frustration. :(