Lord of the Castle

I called Apple back to get authorization to return the computer since I am still within the 14 day window. A different guy asked me why I wanted to do that. I proceeded to tell him the story which grows longer with every single hour.

“That doesn’t sound right. I’m going to connect you to a REALLY SMART person. I am sure they will help you. It will just be a few seconds.”

5-10 minutes later (thank God for rollover minutes), someone picked up my call.

I retold the whole story AGAIN. When I finally collapsed with fatigue, gasping for breath at the end of the story, he asked “Were you transferred to me?”

“Yes. I was told that you were the REALLY SMART guy who could solve my problem. Are you not that guy?”

“I just support for the iPhone.”

OF COURSE!!!!

“Look, I’m going to find someone SUPER SMART to help you.”

And then, like a breath of fresh air, he said, “It will take a few minutes.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a SUPER SMART guy got on the phone asked me to tell him the whole story. Even though it was starting to feel like Chinese water torture, I complied.

To make a long story short (say what???), he checked the serial number of my particular laptop and determined that it’s architecture would work with Tiger.

He then had me repeat all of the steps that I had done earlier in the afternoon and we got the same pitiful results. He then determined that the reason my computer wasn’t recognizing the Install disc was that it was an old version of Tiger.

He shipped out a new version that will work with my computer, called the Apple store, explained everything to them, made an appointment for me so they could load the software while my copy was coming in the mail.

Things are looking up!

I called Apple and explained everything and then heard this…

“That computer won’t run Tiger. I don’t know what the “Genius” was thinking. It will only run Leopard.”

At this moment, I felt like the guy who asked for directions to the Houston Convention Center only to be told by the old man sitting on the front porch, “You c-a-i-n’t get thair from here.”

“Well, Appleworks isn’t working with Leopard and I have several thousand files with custom formatting. What do you suggest that I do?”

“You’ll just have to convert the files with some other software.”

“There is no way that I can do that right now. I need to return the computer. It’s useless to me!”

“I really don’t think that is the answer. You are going to have to cross this bridge at some point.”

I told her that I would call back because I wasn’t able to decide if I wanted to cross that bridge right now.

Well, I went home to carry out the “really simple” instructions and somehow it turned into a major ordeal.

I put the disc in like I was told.

I restarted the computer like I was told.

I held down the “Option” key like I was told.

But I did not see what the “Genius” said that I would see. The only thing that showed up was the “Leopard” partition.

Maybe I didn’t pay close attention to what he said…

I got out the manual.

“Insert the Install disc, restart the computer and hold down the “C” key while it reboots.”

I did EXACTLY that…

and my computer started as if nothing was different except that the login password cell was already filled with 134 “C’s” when it popped up!

Back to the manual…

hold down the “D” key while it reboots if the Install disk is a DVD.”

This time the password cell was full of “D’s”!

I called the Apple store.

“What I am supposed to hold down while restarting?”

“The option key.”

“I’ve done that and only the Leopard partition comes up.”

The “Genius” on the other end of the line then repeats what the other “Genius” had told me earlier in the day.

“I did that and and ONLY THE LEOPARD PARTITION COMES UP.”

“Call Apple.”

Huh????

I drove to the Apple store for the THIRD time!

I waited “Standby” again!

I was helped by a different “Genius” this time. Evidently, he was more of a genius than the last guy!

Those thousands of files with the custom formats are all written with Appleworks.

The new genius confidently informed me,”Appleworks is no longer supported. It probably won’t work well with Leopard (the new operating system).”

“What can I do?”

“We can partition the hard drive and you can load your old operating system on it and then transfer all of your files.”

“That sounds great.”

He partitioned the drive (and named the partition with the new OS was named Leopard.) and sent me home with the following instructions:

“Just insert the disc with the old operating system on it. Restart you computer and hold down the “Option” key while it boots up. You will see the install disc, the Leopard partition and the Tiger partition. Choose the Install disc and load Tiger.”

That sounds pretty simple. Really. I can do that.

I left the Apple store encouraged that I am close to solving this problem.

This morning, I discovered that my computer is not working properly! I have a several thousand word processing files on my computer. They all have custom formatting and I use many of them regularly when I study the Bible.

If I have “File A” open and I open “File B” at the same time, the computer duplicates “File A” onto “File B” and saves it without my permission! The contents of “FIle B” are gone! NOT GOOD!

Since my cell phone has been dead for two days, I decided to stop by the Apple store on my way home from the airport to see if they had succeeded on transferring my information to my new MacBook Pro. They had!!!

For the first time in my life, I have a computer that is the current model! In fact, this is my first post with it!