This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004 sounds (already), old, scratched, a little battered, like my camera cellphone (which I bought in 2004).
This blog is one of the transitions for the new year. I've started it This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004 sounds (already), old, scratched, a little battered, like my camera cellphone (which I bought in 2004).
This blog is one This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004 sounds (already), old, scratched, a little battered, like my camera This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004
1:27 PM Friday, June 9, 2006
[An irreversibly essential extension of the human body]
That's right. for the next week or so, I have no laptop. I only bought it last July. Like a two-year-old with a teddy bear I carry it everywhere. Yes, the screen is small, but that makes it lighter and easier to carry. Yes, the screen is kinda dim, so I stay away from the harmful rays of the sun. And now my laptop is in the hands of the folks at the Apple Depot. Earlier this week it started doing weird things, and I ended up taking it to the Genius Bar three times after progressively more drastic reinstallations of the system software. Fortunately I bought a large hard drive during my first trip to the Genius Bar, and was able to back up all the important data.
At the same time my laptop went down, I developed a recurrence of a foot disorder, which my shoe guy called "metatarsal overload." It hurts to walk, so I don't walk much. The funny thing was that the worst thing about the pain in my foot was that it slowed down my progress getting to and from the Genius Bar. It appears that a laptop will get me through times of a poorly functioning foot better than a foot can get me through times of a poorly functioning laptop. What does this all mean? Just as shoes make my feet work better, a laptop (for me, maybe not everyone) makes my brain work better, and that makes me work better. As far as I am concerned, the laptop computer, like fire, the stone axe, good footwear, the wheel, agriculture, pen and paper, and the printing press, has become an irreversibly essential extension of the human body.
Some of you may ask what a Genius Bar is. It's an Apple computer store thing invented by geniuses to be run by geniuses, or at least well-trained technicians. The deal is, you make a same-day appointment to see a Genius at the Bar, the Genius tells you how to fix your computer, if you can, and you come back only if you need to. What's in it for Apple is obvious: a lot of simple repairs can be done by the computer owner/user, reserving the hard stuff for the repair depot. What's in it for the user: he gets to meet with a real human being immediately or soon after the problem appears, and maybe the Genius or the user can fix the problem. If not, the Genius can expedite the repair. Of course, I am writing all of the above because I have every expectation that Apple will return my computer to me in good operating order, in two weeks or less. If they don't I have a great place to complain about it. After all, I am a blogger.
Links: laptop AppleStore
Image links: laptop Apple Store
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