My Great Computer Saga

Just before Spinning Bunny was born I acquired a lovely  14" iBook G4 laptop.  The one before this was a 12" G3 so the screen felt huge and the speed and memory were delightful.  Of course that was 4 years ago.  In all this time I had no need to add memory or had even a moment's problem with this delightful Apple product.  This sweetie went everywhere with me; to shows and vendings, visits to family, the cottage in the Adirondacks, just about anywhere I went so did it.  I do love laptop computers. And have I mentioned I am a Macophile?  I go way back to when they were called Apples.

A little over a week ago this laptop seemed to be charging more than usual.  The amber light was on a lot.  Then I noticed that the amber light was on all the time.  The battery was at 94% which was  a normal  time for when it would recharge itself so I ignored it.  24 hours later the battery was at 93%.  Uh oh.   

I went online to see if this was a problem mentioned in the Apple Support section.  I read a whole lot about recalibrating batteries, batteries that were dead and where to get replacements but nothing about the amber light never changing back to green.  There was an easy way to ask online which led me to having an Apple Support person scheduled to call me, at my convenience, the very next morning.   I expected the battery to be at 92 by then but it held at 93. Whew!  However I was now nervous about removing the cord.  Hmmmnnnn.... portability just turned into a desk top. Temporary, right?   The person I spoke with said it must be the power adapter so he had Apple send me a brand new one FedEx overnight .

The package arrived by Friday noon.  I quickly shut down the computer, then replaced the adapter, plugged it in and restarted the computer.  3 hours later the battery charge read 92% and the light was still amber.  sigh.

I called Apple again.  This time I spoke with a gentleman in India.  His English could have been better as he kept misinterpreting what I was saying.  However he did make me an appointment at the Genius Bar in the Carousel Center Mall in Syracuse.  I have been avoiding the Apple Store. Really, for a Macophile it is big trouble.  Kinda like a yarn/fiber shop only more expensive.

Cathy suggested the problem might be the actual cord rather than the adapter.  I searched everywhere for that plug that came with the original adapter but just could not find it. (ha ha I did find it a few days ago in a very logical spot, only not obvious.)  I invited Cathy to go to Syracuse with me as I could pick her up on the way there.  The ride up was fun and the mall was not crowded for a Saturday morning. 

  The directory sent us up to the second floor looking for the Apple symbol.  That was not to be seen.   The store has no storefront, just grey walls and lots of products on each side wall and on an island in the middle, plus the Genius Bar in the back.  iPods and iPhones on the right, iMacs on the left and laptops in the middle.  Apple Heaven.  More than enough helpful people everywhere wearing shirts saying "I could talk about this for hours."
 We signed in and then had 20 minutes to get into trouble.  

 

I asked a few questions which resulted in purchasing a 500GB take-along external hard drive that is smaller than a soft covered book. A nice young man showed me about refurbished iMacs and where to purchase more memory for my laptop so I could upgrade to Leopard.   Then I picked up the Leopard, iWorks, iLife package as it was too good a deal to pass up.  My wad was just about blown.

Meanwhile Cathy, who is not a mac person but loves her iPod, bought several mini shuffles to use while working and knitting and spinning and then got a couple more for her husband.

Our techie showed us that the problem was not the cord at all.  I had not calibrated the battery for a long long time which resulted in it not charging anymore.  I was told to go home, pull the cord and let the battery run down.  Charge it up again and repeat once more.  Then all would be well again.  That seemed easy enough so we found ourselves some lunch after price checking in Best Buy for the memory chip where the cost was way more than online, even with shipping.

Back home I did as instructed.  The battery ran down fast to 0%.   I plugged it back in and waited 10 minutes.  The charge read 0%. OK so I was impatient.  I waited another half hour. The charge read 0%.  Jim suggested letting it charge overnight.  OK.   sigh sigh sigh

Meanwhile I ordered the memory chip.

The next morning I eagerly opened the laptop to find the charge at,  you guessed it, 0%.  hmmnnnn.  So we decided it must be the battery.  I ordered a new one online to be delivered Tuesday.  I could keep it plugged in until then with no problems.  Meanwhile the entire machine was backed up to that tiny looking but enormous portable hard drive.  This is not my first backup, it is the second but only portable one.  I already had one up in the shop that did this every evening.  But since I should not unplug the computer to take it up there it might as well have not been.

About 11 am the battery package arrived.  It was very cold but I thought it would warm up faster in the computer than just in the room.  I installed it and waited.  And waited, and waited.  3 hours later the battery charge read 0%.   sigh.  This was getting old.

Yup, another call to Apple.  They had quite a file going for my laptop by now. The woman I spoke with listened carefully, then asked me to hold while she spoke to someone.   When she returned she said she had spoken with 3 someones and the consensus was that the Power Chip was malfunctioning.  The computer needed to go back to Apple.  They would overnight a special box.  

"Wait", I said, "how long will you have the machine?"

"Oh, anywhere from a week to 10 days."

"Ummm, but I run an internet business.   Can you send me a loaner in that box?

"No, sorry.  We don't have loaner computers."

"But I can't be without a computer for that long."

"That is all we can do at this point.  Do you want us to send you the box?"

" Sigh.  Yes."

During that visit to the Apple store I had decided to buy an iMac in 6 months.  I thought that if I leap frogged my technology I could purchase a machine every 2-3 years and keep up just fine. This last bit of news kinda put a kink in that plan.  I needed a computer now, yesterday if possible.  First I checked on Craigs List and found a couple of iBooks similar to mine that could be shipped in a few days.  Jim reminded me that getting another iBook G4 would be against my leap frog tech plan.  So I looked for something newer.  I found them but they had been snapped up already.  Plan Q called for getting that iMac now.  big breath.

I checked the online computer stores but none had as good a deal on a new refurbished iMac as Apple did.  So I called to talk to someone about it.   Brandy spoke with me at length and then transferred me to my very own business support rep.  Kary also gave me a lot of his time.  Once those conversations were done I felt more confident about going ahead.  Cathy also provided encouragement.

After all that discussion, we neglected to have it shipped faster so this brand new iMac arrived yesterday at 2pm in this nondescript box.  

Apple computer thinks of everything.   Once the new machine was set up, which took no time, I then plugged in the firewire linking both computers, restarted the laptop and waited for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, to migrate over to the new one. 

That orange firewire symbol moves around the whole time the info is tranferring.

This morning I reluctantly pulled the plug on the laptop, wrapped it up in its supplied blankie, put it into its well padded traveling case and sent it for its R&R to California.

Now the new 20" iMac resides in the shop.

Notice the same page as above squeezed onto the iBook in the pic near the beginning.  I keep exclaiming over the size of the screen and the ease with which I can work in DreamWeaver.  I got Jim to come in and look. He has this indulgent expression on his face though.   I know he is not into computers very much but he is so supportive.

I feel as thought I have been running some kind of race, maybe a digital one, and am now ready for a nap.

Violets are Blue

  I figure if I am going to spend a lot of time knitting, and we know it really is a lot of time even though we don't admit it, that the odds the recipient will like and wear the item goes up with having it in their favorite color, style and texture.  So I do green for one of my grandson's and turquoise for a grand daughter, browns/greys for my sister and natural colors for Jim.  Right now on the needles is a sweater in silver, denim blue and greyed red for my mother.

 Following with this premise, the same is done for me .  These are the items knit for me by me from the last few months.

Notice a theme here?  Yup, purple. (Those are my first ever gloves, from Handknitting with Meg Swansen)  I also have a purple vest languishing from too tight Icord.  At last year's guild Garage Sale I picked up a knitted purple vest made by another member who wanted to trade for the item I brought.  Win/win.

  So when I wanted to spin some yarn for Meg Swansen's Shawl Collared Vest from the same book I assumed it would be purples.  But no purple fibers appealed. Odd, very odd. I have lots of purple leftovers in my stash,  probably have enough for an entire sweater and another Sipalu bag.  Right now though purple is not what I want to knit or spin.  hmmmnnnn

Meanwhile a shipment from Ashland Bay arrived with some of their merino/silk.  I can't quite remember ordering Sea Mist, but I must have.  When it came out of its bag the colors really appealed to me.  More oddness.   Sea Mist is mostly a pale camel pewter with aqua streaks.  I hardly ever wear brown of any kind.  However the yearning stayed so I allowed myself to start spinning it.  What a pleasure.    

But spun up the aqua streaks just about disappear. Clearly it needed some sparking up so its being plied with aqua.  Tweedy effects have always pleased me.

I went whole hog and got the DVD explaining how to start this vest including finishing techniques that might take several pages in a pattern to explain. Meg shows quite clearly what to do and how to do it. She even shows how to cable without a cable needle.  I had thought that was a new idea.  Even though the video was from at least 20 years ago it remains pertinent. After watching the first 5 chapters about 3 times I felt confident enough to plug in my EZ Percentage numbers, start the sweater and only needed to frog once. The ribbing section has many things going on which simplify once the stockinette takes over.  Now it hums right along.

I'm thinking it might be ready for next winter.

During

Back, way back in another lifetime I was a freelance illustrator. I concentrated on mostly natural science illustration for various publications and for Cornell faculty. At some point when I decided to take myself seriously I acquired a used desk/drafting table. It was one of those that has a nice movable wooden desk top and drawers on one side plus a tiltable liftable drafting table top on the other. I even had a drafting machine mounted to it. (Yup, pre CAD, pre computer). The top measured 40 by 60 and the desk about 36 by 50 so it was a substantial piece of equipment. That wonderful table accompanied me to every residence (I moved about every 2 years in those days), making sure it would fit before I decided to rent. Then when I bought this house and moved out here we trekked it in and pretty much built a room around it.

I have not been seriously painting or illustrating for some years now. First teaching and then knitting, spinning and designing knitwear seem to have nicely usurped those energies. So when we thought about modernizing the dye studio, making more room meant releasing my hold on the table. I wanted it to go to a good home that would continue to love it. I didn't want it junked. I hemmed and hawed but decided to be mature.  Once that decision was made it still took me a couple of weeks to actually list the table on Ithaca Freecycle. I listed it at 11:30am. 2.5 hours hours later there were at least 10 email replies. Each reply was then sent my general location and phone number. Roy and Celia were the first to say they would come. They asked for 4pm the very same day. Whew, that was so quick I hardly had time to adjust! However while emptying it out and cleaning it up I was able to make a fairly mature goodbye to a piece of rather nice history.

I mentioned that this was one substantial table. It weighed maybe 300 pounds. arghhh. As Jim reminded me, when we brought it in here he was 25 years younger and was the oldest of the 4 guys moving it. This move it was only Jim and Roy. We schlepped as much stuff out of the way and kept removing items from the table to make it not only lighter but inches smaller.

Ah yes, here we go into the Yarn Harlot moment.

Jim warned me that the door to the studio and maybe one moulding would need to come off.
Off came the door and one moulding. No maybe's about it. Then another moulding needed to come down.

OK not too bad, right? Maneuvering this item through the hall took several tries with the desk part going sideways, then on its side and lots of jockeying. Ooops, well it was too wide no matter what to fit through the door into the kitchen air lock. So off came another door.

OK now they put it onto a dolley and were almost out. Bunk. Bunk. They moved that sucker this way and that way, but finally a third door had to be removed.

It was already getting dark. It is winter. It is relatively cold. The house was missing 3 doors for most of an hour while the table and top were bumped up the steps, up a ramp into a truck bed and secured for the trip to its new home.

However its replacement shall not take near as long to be removed should we need to.

Before and After

My dye studio was closed for over a week so that it could be modernized and made more useful. Major thanks to Jim and Wai Lin for all their hard work.  I owe Jim big time as his least favorite job is plumbing and this renovation entailed a lot of crawling around under potentially wet things.

We can start with the sink which was the impetus for the whole idea.  For years now I have been dyeing in pots in the studio but then needed to take the pot full of water, dye and fiber/yarn out of that room, through the front hall, up a step and over to the kitchen sink.  

The kitchen sink began to have a patina of rose instead of shining white porcelain. The kitchen floor had drips that needing wiping up and I got rather tired carrying the pots back and forth at the very least full of water.
Now there is a dedicated dyeing sink IN the dye studio. Clever idea, huh? Only took us 3 years to figure that one out.

While we were in there I decided we might as well make the whole thing more efficient. A major portion of the floor space was taken up with an old drafting table. A wonderful drafting table that served me well for over 25 years but was now just being a table. That whole story we will save for another day as it is a Yarn Harlot moment in and of itself. For today, know that it is no longer in that room.

Now the dyes that used to look like this

Look like this.

The drying rack that used to look like this.

Now looks like this.

and see all that nice storage space on the rolling shelves?  Cool huh?

And the weighing station has also undergone some change.

Before

After

All in all I am one very happy camper.  The room feels larger, is better organized and is definitely easier to get around in and use.  Best of all is no more walking back and forth to the kitchen.  I am so excited I want to give tours.

Knitting problem? What knitting problem?

This cartoon is just too good to pass up after the latest blog.

copyright Hilary Price

Understanding

The other evening Jim came home and asked if I had any idea what dinner might be?  I told him I had a hankering for a hamburger and fries. "OK," he said, "where shall we go?"

Jim makes about 75% of our dinners.  You many not know that in a previous life, before teaching, before free lance illustrating, I was a cook.  I cooked at Moosewood  for 2 years and then at Cornell fraternities and sororities for a few years until the illustrating got going.  Once I began teaching, cooking slowly took a back seat.  Jim took over the dinner prep and I cooked more in the summer.  I love to cook, and to eat, all kinds of foods and enjoy tasting and trying out dishes from around the world. I prefer shrimp, casserole and vegetarian recipes.  Jim is a more meat and potatoes kind of cook, although his winter stews are hearty and delicious.

Since retredding from teaching into fiber artist/knitwear designer I seem to have realigned my interest in cooking into an eating fascination, which is easily seen in my figure.  I also work long strange hours resulting, if left alone, to odd eating times.  So my contribution to dinner frequently has become bringing home ready mades from Wegman's or to treat us to a bite to eat out.

While we were deciding where to have a hamburger, I realized I had no sock knitting to take along.  The last pair had been completed and no new ones started as I was so preoccupied with the Shawl Collared Vest.   

"Um, Jim, I can't go out."

"Huh?  Why not?

"Well, I don't have social knitting to take with me and don't have a skein balled up ready to go."

"What were you going to make next?"

"Socks for Matt (my son).", I said hesitatingly and showed him the skein with the newest colorway, Twilight.

"OK.  I will go up to the shop and get the equipment ready."

I then ran around collecting needles, a baggie and myself.  Gave Basel and Sparkles good bye Greenies and headed up to the shop. By the time I got there Jim had the Beka Swift set up and the ball winder ready to go.  In just a few minutes there was a nice cake of yarn and we were in Jim's car headed into town.

At the restaurant I got to cast on and start the cuff ribbing, satisfying that urge many of us have to knit whenever we are idle.

Jim gets the "Most Understanding DH Award of the week."

pic borrowed from blackdog cards.

White Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

• Start off by getting all your ingredients together.
  
  

We will skip the crust for now.

• Get the cream cheese mixture all assembled and smoothly beaten.
  

• Then add the pink filling to the baked crust.
  

• Now add the rest of the creamcheese filling and smooth it in nicely.
  

• Next add the cherry topping, carefully spreading it over the entire cake.
  

• Don't forget to scrape out the bowls and lick the spatula. nummmmm
  

• Place in oven to bake and test for firmness when the bell dings.
  

• Remove from oven and let cool.
  

• Here's your cake batt ready for you.
  

Enjoy!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you.