Lemming

I broke down and bought Harry Potter 7. I was pretty convined I'd just wait until I could get it in paperback. Or perhaps I would borrow it from one of the three million people I know who bought it in hardback.

Last night, I was out and, anticipating my trip home on the T, desperate for something to read. I hate having nothing to do on the T. I always have to have a book with me. When I'm done reading everything in my apartment, I'm beside myself.

Anyway, I went into Borders, and they were about to close. Too much pessure to pick something out. There were tables full of Harry Potter on display, so I bougt it.

I'm not very far into it, so please don't spoil it for me if you've read it.

I'm just wondering, though, if these characters are all magical, why they can't solve some seemingly mundane problems with a little flick of the wand.

For example, the most recent book reveals that Dumbledore, as a young man, lost both parents and had to act as a foster parent to his younger siblings. He was unable, as a consequence, to take a trip around the world with one of his friends. There simply wasn't enough money. Now, this is a man who can "appirate" (wish himself in another destination and simply appear there.) So, why would he need to worry about air fare? Why would he simply not materialize in his desired location? I would if I could.

Then, there is the enormous Hagrid who, in the most recent book, spends at least 4 pages struggling to get through a small door. Ah.....why not just exapand the doorway with a flick of the wand?

There are lots of such conundrums that the characters should, in theory, be able to get themselves out of.

I know, I'm thinking too much about Harry Potter.

I've gotta let it go.

What UP?

I just returned from a three-hour in-store training on the Apple iPhone. The thing is cool, no doubt, and there are tons of things I have yet to learn about it, but still, a Sunday evening spent in this meeting was far from my ideal vision of how to tie up a weekend. Granted, I did not have to work at all this weekend, but it sucked having to get to the store at 7:00 PM on a Sunday night. Not getting out of there until 10 PM was even worse.

But I will say that the people I work with at the Apple Store are awesome. They are, as I've said before, all about 12 years old, so when work's over we have nothing in common. But while we're working together on the sales floor, we have a few laughs.

I really have to get my ass in there and fiddle around with those iPhones and figure out how to use them. Customers have so many questions about them. If they are simple questions about how to use features, I can pull the information out of seemingly common-sensical use of the phone. For example, if somebody wants to know how to use Google maps or visual voice mail or something, I can take them to the iPhone bay and encourage them to pick up a demo iPhone while I talk them through the demonstration. Usually I'm peering over their shoulder while they use the phone, navigating them through the application, and hoping that whatever I'm telling them to do will work.

Thank God the thing is pretty user-friendly. But the managers told us today that they fully support people clocking in early or staying late to fiddle around with products and learn how to use them. I think I'll clock in a few hours for that in the upcoming week.





Anyway, I was having some pretty annoying and persistant foot pain, so I went to see my doctor. He sent me to the foot guy who diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis. He gave me a splint thing to wear to bed and demanded that I got out and buy a pair of Dansko clogs, calling them the "gold standard" of footwear.

I love Dansko clogs, so I viewed this as a "medically necessary" shopping spree. Danskos ain't cheap.



These are the shoes I got. They didn't have the traditional clogs in my size, and besides, they looked a little un-summery for the time of year. These ones, pictured above, will be great for the rest of summer and into Fall. Hell, even in winter, they will be fine with socks.

Hey, I'm exhausted. Gotta run.

"Beer Comes the Bride."

Fwiz sent me her photos of the wedding. I know I've promised to post some of my professional photos, but since I am not yet in possession of those, I figured I'd tide you over with this lovely shot.

Obviously the institution of marriage has not contributed to a heightened sense of maturity.

Mac is Back!

Thank god. My Mac is Back! The geniuses at the Apple Store fixed my baby.

Of course, that said, I am now doing hours worth of tedius work of backing up my files onto CDs before I do another thing.

Hey, where the hell is Laurita's blog?

Technical Difficulties....Please Stand By

We are back from the honeymoon. A lovely time was had by all. I say all because throughout the honeymoon, we had the opportunity to see various friends at various stopovers. I am particularly excited about having had the opportunity to catch up with the fabulous David and Todd while in Middlebury, VT. David and Todd were fellow "Ecole Francaise" students during "la belle epoque Middleburienne" and it was such a pleasure to hang out with those guys in our natural environs.

I am still waiting on the official photos from our photographer, so hold on to your hats and those will soon be coming at you.

As for the title of this post....

We had an unfortunate Mac incident yesterday. During a standard, run-of-the mill internet surfing session, the computer just sort of went blank and then offered us a message in about 1,000 languages, indicating that we should restart the machine.

This we did.

About 900 times.

To no avail.

I spent over 3 hours on the phone with the guys at Apple yesterday (thank Christ I have my Apple Care plan) and we ran every single diagnostic from A to Z that you can imagine. If you're like me, you can't even begin to imagine what a computer diagnostic is, but let me tell you, there are a plethora of them. Most of them involved holding about 67 keys down simultaneously while starting up the computer. This made me think that with technology being so prominent in today's society, and the uncanny ability of the human being to adapt to the world around us, we will likely evolve into multiple-handed beings soon enough. I had to have Stephen help me out to perform most of these digital-gymnastic tasks. This is a total of 4 hands and 20 fingers, and we were still contorted like champion Twister players.

Anyway, one of the last things I tried to do was to reinstall the entire operating system. It froze midway through the process, and that is where we decided I would be best served to actually take my computer to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store and have them take a gander at it.

The bad news is that the Genius working on my computer said it was "strange" and that my computer was being "super stubborn." He is going to have to take it for a week or so to see what he can do.

The good news is that at initial appearance, the hard drive seems to have some defect, but it is responding to tests, so they are pretty sure they can back up the data, even if they have to install a new hard drive.

The other terms they were throwing around were "core panic" and "failed logic board." I have no idea what any of that crap means, but it can't be good, right? I mean, "panic" and "failed" aren't words that I generally associate with a successful computing experience.

We shall see and I shall keep you posted.

I am not sure whether I've lost all my photos. I'm such a jackass. A lesson to be learned in all of this is, for god's sakes, BACK UP YOUR FILES!

I put too much blind faith into my machine, and my backups are sporadic at best. At least I still have my pictures on my .Mac site. I'm sure I can re-import them from there into iPhoto if necessary.

Damn!

Hitched Without a Hitch

I have no actual wedding photos for now. It will be a while before those are in my hot little hands.

But, I think most folks will agree that the wedding was lovely and fun and went off without even the slightest difficulty.

Following the reception, Stephen and I were quick to don a pair of shorts and head to the inn tavern for one last beer. There we encountered Jim and Bob, some of our guests who also stayed overnight at the Inn. We were hoping for a bite to eat as we had eaten very little at our reception. Alas, the kitchen was closed. We made do, quite contentedly, with some overpriced chips and nuts from the lobby.

A great end to a great day.

Thanks to everybody for attending and for your beautiful, thoughtful, generous gifts.

I am off to the honeymoon. Peace out, yo!