Not All Heroes Wear Capes

So goes the slogan of the folks at this place:

I spent a lovely Monday morning with them when my baby started having problems. This is my baby.

I’ve had it since Mother’s Day 2007, and we’ve gotten on very well. I still haven’t named it, hadn’t even thought about it until Kacey got a new Mac and mentioned naming it. I wonder if its lack of name is why it decided to misbehave.

It wouldn’t stay shut. Now, this didn’t affect the functionality of the laptop at all. It still booted up, still gave me all the great Mac-lurve I could want. But it just wouldn’t stay closed. A tad irritating when I’m hauling it around and really, for the price, the darn thing should stay shut!

So I get on the horn to the wonderful customer service people at the Apple Store near me and explain my problem (mostly to make sure my Apple Protection Plan covers whatever the problem may be–it does, yay). They tell me to bring it on in. I make my appointment at the Genius Bar, haul my kids out of their very relaxing Monday (nothing, we had NOTHING planned for Monday) and head to the mall and meet my Genius (who I figure will tell me he just need to make a quick tweak to the latch and I’ll be out of there).

He tells me they need to take apart my baby to put it in a new shell.

They’ll be removing the hard drive, touching the cords, plugging things in, moving things around, and oh, have I backed up lately? Never mind the fact that I don’t know how I will survive without my lifeline to the outside world, but have I backed up lately?

That would be a no.

I’m clearly distraught and tell them I can’t possibly leave the computer there until I’ve backed up the hard drive. My Genius says, “Okay,” but I must turn the laptop in for repair before Thursday, because apparently the newest iPhone is releasing Thursday and it’s possible they won’t be able to get to the multi-hour repair until the next week, but if I get it back that night, it will only take two days. Two days! How am I supposed to survive two days without a computer? How? TELL ME HOW.

So I haul my kids out of the Apple Store and down the freeway to Costco. The kids weren’t excited until I told them they could have Costco-dogs for lunch (it comes with a soda, what teenager could pass up sugar, fat, processed meat and white-flour rolls?) After lunch, I purchase one of these.

Yes, I went into Coscto and walked out with ONE THING.

As unassuming as that thing looks, an external hard-drive had been our list for a while, but because money doesn’t fall from the sky, we’d put it off in favor of, you know, food (I do have the human food consumption machine a locust in human form a teenager). The need for the guys at Apple to fondle the hard drive simply forced the situation.

I took it home. Opened the package. There was my message of hope.

I spent the entire afternoon backing up my hard drive. I had to do it twice since I didn’t do it right the first time. Then I shoved some dinner into the kids, put my sun-screened, sweaty, sandy children into the car (Husband’s going to read that  and think I’ve lost my mind…. what do I mean I put those dirty boys into the car? I never let them get into the car when they’re obviously going to mess up the seats and floor–and are clearly not fit for going out in public. Was I nuts? Yes, yes, I was. Crazy from Imminent Computer Withdrawal. GET OVER IT) and went back down to the Apple Store, where my Genius, who was just leaving for the evening, took the time to check in my computer and reassure me, again, that I would get it back Tuesday.

So 13, 9 and I returned home where we soothed ourselves with failed Lemon Jello cake (amazingly, a fallen cake still tastes good) and I tried not to fret about the fact that I didn’t have my computer. Needless to say, nothing got done.

Tuesday morning came and went…. no call. I was hoping it would be ready early enough that I could pick it up before the boys got done with golf, but no luck. Then we barely beat the piano tuner to the house (okay, we beat the scheduled appointment time, but he was early), and I fretted some more. Once the tuner left, I knew we had to carve out an hour for allergy shots, and still no call.

But, lo and behold, on the way to the allergist, who should call but my Genius. The computer was ready. I could pick it up at any time (and this is why I love Mac… great product, even better customer service).

Quick detour, we decide to head to the mall first and then shots after. Tuesday evening was spent seeing to the bajillion e-mails that didn’t get answered Monday or Tuesday, catching up on writing and work, and I was supposed to have my first golf lesson Tuesday night, but had the time wrong in my calendar, and missed it.

But I didn’t care. I had my computer back. All was right with my world again.

So there’s your cautionary tale for the day, kids. Always back up. Because you never know when someone will want to fondle your hard drive.