very simple

With the arrival of my new iMac this summer, I was finally able to truly test out Tiger (you’ll recall that my attempts to install Tiger were what "exposed" the meltdown-errific problems with my old iMac). One of the things that I was seriously excited about was the integrated rss-feed reader in Safari. Well, a few months in, and I have to say…

I’m switching back to NewsFire. I tried a bunch of different newsreaders before Safari came out (and paid for a few), and I liked the elegant simplicity of NewsFire the best – the least cluttered screen, the resorted feeds based on what was most recent, it was just…nice. But I thought a feedreader /inside/ Safari would be even better.

Instead, I find that I’m constantly having to mouse all over the place in order to open new feeds, and I hate the "View all RSS Articles", which, if you read as many feeds as I do, means that you’re scrolling through a single page with 5-600 new snippets every day. So I open different feeds in tabs. and then have to scroll through. and wait for shit to load. and god forbid Safari crashes (and it does), everything that was "open", even in tabs I hadn’t viewed yet, gets marked as read.

Or even better, the feeds stop updating, so I have to restart Safari, at which point it defaults to everything being unread. Which is just great. And the inability to import opml files? come on. I just know I’m going to have to spend two days exporting the damn feeds back into Newsfire, since I’ve added and deleted so much crap.

So Safari as a newsreader still has some kinks. I still like it as a browser for the most part – although I have to switch to Firefox of IE in order to shop at the Gap or Old Navy or log into the citrix server for my office. which is, to say the least, annoying.

that took forever edition…

• More news on the High Line renovations, including pictures! (wed jun 15 2005 11:41 am)
• Getting home today should be fun…Snapple attempts massive stupid stunt in Union Square (tue jun 21 2005 5:23 pm)
• Oh my god. There’s going to be another film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. And it’s not going to be a modern reinterpretation or anything. It’s going to be period. Look. It’s one of my favorite stories of all time, but why on earth would they try to improve upon the quintessential period version starring Colin Firth? Why? (wed jun 22 2005 11:29 am)
• A windowless concrete cube reaching 20 stories into the air is not exactly what I think of when I hear the word "freedom" (thu jun 30 2005 11:08 am)
• Perfect timing. Since I’m not getting a landline in my new apartment, I was actually looking for something exactly like this. (thu jul 21 2005 6:01 pm)

So, I was all excited today, because I got my new iMac, delivered to my office, sooner than expected.

Pretty cool, right? The only problem was that I clearly needed to take a cab, as the package weighed almost 30 pounds and I wasn’t about to drag it onto the subway. So I catch a cab outside of my office, and when we get down to around 23rd street, it becomes quite apparent that traffic is not moving. So I get out of the cab prepared to drag the computer the final 3 blocks, and when I get closer to my building, there’s this…

There was apparently a suspicious package, right on my corner. Once I got inside my building, the police actually wouldn’t let us back out, thereby pissing off a bunch of people who are apparently incapable of cooking dinner. I, of course, was just curious about what would happen. Because when there’s a suspicious package 50 feet away, and they’ve got the guys in the full body-armor bomb squad suits wandering around, it makes perfect sense to hang out in your building lobby right behind the giant plate glass windows. In the end, it turned out to be nothing. Well, not nothing, there was some sort of box taped to a lightpole, but it wasn’t a dangerous box.

My personal theory? it somehow got left in all of the detritus from Saturday’s street fair on my street, and was probably an improvised trash bin from one of the vendors that didn’t get cleaned up at the time. Because on Saturday night after the fair, there was trash everywhere, including piled up on the median in the middle of the street.

So…after a week and a half of working OK, I went to check my e-mail this morning and discovered that my hard drive (yes, the new hard drive they put in the computer two weeks ago), was failing (as in, not booting, not being findable, and making weird "chirping" noises). So I got dressed, packed up the computer in a trash bag, and went to stand in the rain in front of TekServe until they opened at 9am. Where I proceeded to kind of lose my shit. The intake guy was kind of a jerk to begin with – when I pointed out that maybe, just maybe, they installed the drive incorrectly (because, really, it’s kind of impossible that this many parts can fail quite this much), he gave me this completely condescending tone and look and said that it was impossible that they installed it wrong. Impossible. So I refused to speak to anyone but the manager at that point. Where I relayed my entire travail.

And told them that I wanted a new computer at this point. That I wasn’t putting up with this anymore. Manager told me that they weren’t authorized to do something like that, but I was welcome to call Apple directly and talk to them.

So I left the computer and went to work (after, yes, getting on the subway in the wrong direction, because I was just that discombobulated). Got two phone calls from the store, one from manager guy to just give me an update, and one from the new tech, who actually left me a voicemail that said "we’ll try to get a new cs number from Apple, otherwise I’ll let you know how much this is going to cost". So I promptly called back and left him a voicemail that strenuously pointed out that under no circumstances was I paying for anything relating to a week-old defective hard drive that they installed.

When I got home tonight, I decided it was time to call Apple. And after pleading my case (twice, because I actually got disconnected while getting transferred during the first call forcing me to call back and wait on hold for another 20 minutes), I got through to the customer relations department. Where they agreed to send me one of these. I actually opted to pay an extra $200 to upgrade to the dvd-burner, and this replacement requires me to send back my G4 before it’ll ship (which means going tomorrow morning and getting it back from the store). But I’m in a much better mood now. Given my upcoming move, it’s getting shipped to my office, where I’ll probably just drag it to the new place when possible…

How about that. All it takes to get a free shiny new computer is three months of aggravation, frustration, lost files, and $1000 in warranty-covered replacement parts.

Oh, and the previous three entries in the blog weren’t backed up, so I had to manually recopy them to my laptop – if you linked to any of them, you’ll need to update the links.

I was actually debating whether to post this, because I didn’t want to jinx myself again. Got the iMac back last night, and spent many many hours restoring software and files (again!). There are still a few programs that I need to reinstall, but I figure I’ll do that when I need them.

I’m giving it a few days before I relax completely, but at this point, I essentially have a new computer. A new computer with three-year old specifications, but new nonetheless. My fingers are crossed.

I recognize that I’m a particularly heavy and aggressive computer user, and that as a consequence, I’m likely to experience more than my fair share of technology-related problems (hey, if you only turn on your computer once a month, it’s that much less likely that it’s going to crash, right?). But lately, it’s like I’m cursed.

I didn’t write about this on Saturday, when I was in a much rantier mood, but the cable company managed to screw up my service appointment. The one that the technician made the week before. As I mentioned earlier, he had managed to fix my immediate problem by replacing my modem and reconfiguring the wiring, but there was a "signal bleed" problem in the trunk line to my apartment. So he called it in so that it could get replaced because he couldn’t take down the molding by himself, and let me know that a "team" would be showing up on Saturday to fix it.

So Saturday rolls around, and guess what? One guy shows up. And as he’s walking to the door, he’s already telling me that the job got misclassified as a regular service call. And it wouldn’t be getting fixed today. Now note, I, personally, don’t have any service problems at this point. The sole reason that I sat around all day on Saturday was so that they could access the end of the trunk line that enters my apartment. I was essentially doing them a really big favor. So, of course, I feel I deserve some sort of compensation from the cable company for my time, inconvenience, aggravation, etc.

I get on the phone with customer service guy, who proceeds to explain to me that they *never* give billing credit to customers unless the service person fails to show up. And since the service person showed up (albeit a completely useless person), I have no claim. Oh, and it’s somehow my fault that they misclassified the call because I was apparently not specific enough. Mind you, I never spoke to them. I just stood next to the technician as he made the appointment. And he was very specific (I mean, if it was handle-able by an individual technician, he would have just done it himself).

So I get the supervisor. Who, after I posit my argument that technically I was entitled to a month free under their policy because they failed to send a technician who was actually qualified to fix my problem, that I wouldn’t be receiving the correct service within the four hour window, eventually agreed and I’m getting a $145 credit (and yes, that is what my monthly digital cable/dvr/road runner package costs).

Oh, and when I finally get the call to reschedule, again, they claim they don’t need access to my apartment. which is funny, because the line actually runs through a hole in the wall from the hallway above my front door, and then gets connected to my "internal" line – I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

On the iMac front – I spoke to the tech today, and they’ve now also replaced the entire hard drive, as well as the cable that connects the hard drive to the logic board (they couldn’t figure out which was causing the latest problem). I’m guessing that they just had a loose connection after installing the new logic board, but I’m not going to argue with a new hard drive. At this point, the tech pointed out to me, the only parts they haven’t replaced are the screen and the power source. It was actually all fixed last week, but they hadn’t called me because they decided to just run the computer continuously for a few days to avoid the whole problem of my bringing the computer home only to have it fail the next day. I’ll hopefully be able to pick it up tomorrow. I still think giving me a new G5 iMac would have been cheaper, but since I didn’t pay for any of this, I don’t really have grounds to argue.

The cable guy just left, after replacing my modem and running a bunch of tests. He also reconfigured my splitters so that the line was split differently (rather than having all three lines – 2 TVs and 1 cable modem – split off of the one trunk line, it’s now got one split off the trunk line that goes to the modem and a second line, which is then split between the two TVs). Plus the new modem is much smaller and actually has a power button. It’s apparently also got better internal software, which I guess happens after 5 years.

But the main problem is the line coming from the hallway into my apartment. Which means another visit from an entire crew that will have to remove hallway moldings and whatnot next saturday. I’m pretty sure I can just leave keys with my doorman for that one though – they only need access to the end of the line that enters my apartment. I’m apparently losing massive amounts of signal strength between the junction box and where the line enters my apartment. Which means one of two things – the line is degrading (and it’s pretty old – it was here when I moved in) or that someone has split my line and is stealing cable. Which would be totally possible because the molding hiding the cable is open at various points (where it runs underneath the recessed hallway lighting). So I guess we’ll find out next week.

For now I’m just happy to be able to order groceries again.

Update: The new modem is, like, 1000 times faster than the old one. It’s awesome. I just ftp’d a bunch of files to my website and it took a fraction of the time it used to take.

So, i left work early today to take the iMac into tekserve (again). Normal wait, I was somewhat amused by the guy who kept interrupting the service people wondering why he had to wait so long (I guess he didn’t understand the whole "take a number" system. or the fact that the more he bugged the people, the longer it was going to take for his number to be called). Around 6:30, one of the guys starting pre-screening those of us who were left. He gets to me, and I go through the whole spiel, and the girl sitting next to me just looks at me and says "oh my god. now even I feel bad making you wait". So my number finally gets called, and the helper guy gets to see my blank screen. which isn’t even blank – instead of a grey apple, it has a grey symbol that looks like a no smoking sign without the cigarette. And that’s all it’ll do.

So he goes into the back to talk to the tech guys about the work they had previously done. About 10 minutes later he comes back and just gives me this look, and says "one of the guys looked like he was about to cry when he found out this machine was back". Apparently, in their attempts to fix it the first time, they had actually installed three separate optical drives before it started working again (at which point, I mention that maybe that was a sign that it actually wasn’t the optical drive), and with this new problem, it was now officially the worst system failure that they had ever seen.

I guess I should be impressed that I’m not mediocre, at least.

I again (half jokingly) suggested that I deserved a new computer at this point. Service guy didn’t laugh – he just gave me a sympathetic look that seemed to say that he pretty much agreed with me. I mean, given that it’s already gotten $800 worth of new parts, and is looking at a possible hard drive replacement (and who knows what else), in the end it may actually be cheaper to just hand me a new G5 iMac. Cheaper for Apple, I mean, since I’m not paying a dime for any of this.

I do have the powerbook, so it’s not like I’m computer-less, but it’s not the same. Heck, the powerbook is actually faster, because it’s 2 years newer than the iMac. But the tiny 12-inch screen is doing nothing for my nearsightedness, and I find myself propping it up on boxes on my desk to get it anywhere near an ergonomic viewing level. I really only bought it for travel and whatnot, but it was never intended to be my main computer.

And this’ll be yet another entry that none of you actually get to read for a day and a half, since the time warner guy isn’t coming until between 2 and 6 tomorrow. There’s a waste of a perfectly beautiful day (after our recent heat wave, it’s actually going to be 77 and no rain all weekend).

In other news, I’m already a fifth of the way through the current book that I’m reading. So that’s something.

My iMac? Is dead again. I’d like to point out that I got it back from the shop, after over $800 in repairs, only four days ago. I’m back on the powerbook just to post this (and hoping that my internet connection doesn’t go out again, because it’s been ridiculously spotty this week – the cable guy is actually coming between 2 and 6 on Saturday to check it out).

The story – got the mac back on Saturday, spent the day restoring files, re-downloading necessary software, etc. On Sunday, my internet connection started going out regularly (it’ll work for about an hour and then go out again for another 5-6), so I don’t spend as much time as usual on the machine (kind of hard to keep up the morning routine of reading newsfeeds when there’s nothing to feed). This morning, the internet seemed to be up, so I got on the computer. Everything seemed to be fine, until I started getting ready for work – came out of the shower, to discover my (new!) disk drive malfunctioning. The tray kept popping in and out, like someone was repeatedly hitting the eject button on the keyboard. The only way to get it to stop was to power down. So I did, and then I went to work.

Got home today and turned the computer back on. And it won’t boot up. At all. I just get a little folder with a "?" in the middle. I even try to option-start (which is a way of starting up your computer from a diagnostic screen), and there’s no hard drive/operating system indicated. Basically, my computer can no longer even find the hard drive. Which, by the way, is the one component they didn’t replace (even though when I first brought it in a month ago they said they might have to do that).

So I figure it’s one of three options. (a) they fucked up when installing the new optical drive and logic board; (b) they installed defective part(s); or (c) in the three weeks that they held on to my computer (which was two weeks longer than originally promised), they somehow failed to diagnose what was actually wrong with my computer, and installed hundreds of dollars of unnecessary replacement parts instead of a new hard drive.

After a month and a half of this, including defective disks and hours of phone calls to Apple, not to mention spending hours of weekend time waiting for my number to be called at TekServe, all I can think is that they’re playing some sort of huge practical joke on me. That I’m going to walk in there on Saturday and it’s going to turn out that I’m, like, their millionth customer and they’re going to give me a new 20" G5 iMac for all of my trouble.

Because I’m about three seconds away from walking in there on Saturday morning with my 10 pound imac shaped paperweight and a sledgehammer.

My iMac is finally back home – picked it up this morning, and spent most of the day restoring software and files. And experimenting with Tiger, since the TekServe guys erased my hard drive and installed the new OS. Turns out they had to replace both my CD/DVD drive and my logic board. $840 worth of repairs, all covered by my now expired Apple Care protection plan. Talk about timing – my first phone call to Apple regarding the problems I was experiencing was on the last day of my service plan (May 1). It was certainly worth the $150 or so that I spent on it when I originally bought the computer. Heck, the cost of the service plans for my iMac, my brother’s ibook, and my powerbook still cost less than the repair bill.

Definitely worth it. When they brought out my computer, I actually hugged it. The repair guy’s response? "I know how you feel…"