Friday, November 28, 2014

the day after Thanksgiving

I left you, Ocean readers as we made our way home last night, finally letting the Japanese restaurant owners close their eatery, so they could embark on their post Thanksgiving bargain hunt.

If I felt a tiny bit smug, as we headed out into the country, away from stores, malls and bargains, I surely have had to eat my hat this morning. Maybe gloves and scarf too. Here's a rundown of this day so far:

After a very rushed breakfast...


farmette-2.jpg
(in his jacket, ready to go)


...we pack up our computers and make our way to this region's largest mall.

To explain: I am one of the unfortunate MacBook owners whose computer did not take kindly to the Operating System upgrade a couple of weeks ago. It now drops WiFi at about the speed of moths flying to a bright lamp. Work, work, work DROP. Reconnect, wait. Work, work, work, DROP. etc.

Ed has tried the recommended patches for me. I have done the upgrade to the upgrade. Nothing helps.

Since I'm going away on a quick little trip the day after tomorrow, a work, work, work, DROP connectivity isn't ideal. So off we go, braving the horrible crowds of the mall, grabbing the one Apple Store Genius Bar appointment available this weekend. It's a last ditch effort to get my baby to speak intelligently to me again. If the problem isn't fixed, I'll have to take my BIG laptop. At a time when I like a SMALL travel bag. (Another reason to let go of my smugness: you can't always travel light. )


We navigate the mall, Ed and I, clinging to each in a strategic attempt to ward off the shoppers, their bags, their snacks, their reindeer antlers (a popular way to shop now). Still, I must admit that most people around us seem to be quite happy. The Santa is out, the trimmings are bright, the sales are big -- what's there not to like?


farmette-6.jpg


Well, lots. Predictably, the Apple Genius guys want to keep my laptop to unload and reload the new Operating System. So now we're faced with this bleak prospect: we must linger at the mall for at least an hour. And the only place to linger is either on Santa's lap or in the food courts -- in full view of all the ways in which you can eat miserably after already eating too much yesterday.

Never mind. We sit down somewhere between Taco Bell and McDonald's and plug in our computers and again, the noise around us is cheerful. Joyous, in fact. Honestly, it felt a little like Whoville: you know  -- when the people join hands and celebrate Christmas (shopping in this case) despite all the Grinches and detractors who insist on putting down this great annual tradition (of going to the mall on Black Friday).

It's been said before: the mall is the American equivalent to a row of cafes in Paris or the Lazienki Park in Warsaw -- it is a communal space where you can take great pleasure in being part of (a shopping) humanity.

An hour later, we pick up my laptop.

But in the meantime, in taking my laptop in and out and in and out, I manage to ding it on the corner, which bothers me tremendously because now it just looks, well, dinged and it's only 18 months old! Ed, knowing my dislike of things that don't look right, offers to fix it. If we can find the little tool that can take out the teeny tiny Apple screws on the bottom.

Easy? Ha!

We go back to the Apple store. Tsk, tsk -- can't unbend it. But we can replace the base for you!  ( -- at a price that is the equivalent of a brand new laptop at Best Buy).

We go to Sears. Lots of tools and fancy screwdrivers. None of them fit an Apple screw.

We take a break and pick up some food.

Next stop -- Harbor Freight, home to a million cheap tools. We buy one. We try it. Nope. We return it.

By now Ed realizes that Apple has its own special tools and we, the lesser beings have no way of getting at the insides of that little baby!  God forbid you should discover something while poking around in there!

Okay. So I have a ding. So what.  (That's me trying to convince myself it doesn't matter.)


And now we come to the animal portion of the day.

First, we visit my daughter's cats. We don't spend much time with them because frankly, I am just wanting so very much to lock myself in the farmhouse and breathe deeply to get all that mall air out of my lungs. But here are two of their kitties for you to admire:


farmette-9.jpg



Next, we return to the farmette and attend to the cheepers. Ed had let their food dish run too low and they were as hungry as we've ever seen them. Oops.

Finally, finally, I enter the farmhouse. And I pick up the little broom to sweep up the mud room which right now is looking very muddy. And I notice the discarded mouse trap to the side. The one we replaced, because it wasn't working anymore.

We were wrong. It's been working alright. It has not one, but two mice inside, both dead, since they had been in it for at least two days. (I'd not been checking, as we did not load it with food. It's as if the mice crept in just to smell the glory of the peanut butter of yore.)

Yuk.

We wondered what possible food these guys are finding at the farmhouse. We're experienced with the ways of the animals that hunt for grub and shelter, come November. We hide every bit of edible anything.

Except the potatoes. This afternoon, as I go down to the basement to do a load of laundry, I find a disturbed feast -- my bag of potatoes (which I thought was safe because, gosh darn it, who likes raw potatoes?) is in shreds.


This, then is our Friday after Thanksgiving. You'll think it was a bit on the discouraging side. The laptop is still dropping WiFi, but now it also has a ding at the side. The mice continue to outsmart us. The mall was crowded, the breakfast was rushed.

And yet... I mean, just look at these guys!


farmette-24.jpg



...and the view outside the barn:


farmette-19.jpg


...and when we come inside the farmhouse (mouse free! for now.), Isie boy (our cat) comes running down with that "where have you been?" look.

...and I make myself a cup of tea and break off the end of the baguette and Ed describes for me a cartoon he thinks would be a great hit -- where a mouse is holding the door, while his mate shops for treats inside the trap.
Do you think it's New Yorker stuff?
Nah. Sorry. It's funny, but it doesn't have that New Yorker ponderous edge.
You think not?
Yeah, like about the meaning of life or at least about the meaning of mice and men, and men trying to trap mice...

Isie boy, bored with our idle talk, returns to his sleeping post on our bed upstairs.  Ed returns to his project in the sheep shed, I return to my writing.
 

9 comments:

  1. oh my, what a day....so sorry about the computer. have you tried the WIFI elsewhere? we chose to hibernate at home today. and stay warm! ox

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It works at Apple. It's the interaction of certain routers with my computer that's at issue. So that travel with it becomes unreliable. Sigh...

      Beautiful day today! I'm glad you're seeing some of the good faces of winter!

      Delete
  2. I had something similar happen with my desktop when I upgraded to Mountain Lion. I went so far as to lug the whole computer into the only shop around here that services Macs only to find it worked just fine on their WiFi. I spent hours on the phone with my internet service provider, got them to reset my modem/ISP/some other jargon I can't remember and if I recall correctly, that finally did the trick. So, perhaps if you haven't tried resetting your home WiFi, MAYBE that will help. As for dealing with a mall on Black Friday, you are MUCH braver than me. I did a lot of shopping online!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed has reset everything multiple times. The one last ditch measure is to buy a new router and it may work! The problem is that it's my travel computer and so it has to reliably communicate with many routers! Probably we'll have to wait for another patch issued by Apple. That may take a few months. Apparently it's very hard for Apple to develop interactive technologies with other systems because they choose to use their own technologies. But the world doesn't work that way anymore -- their computers must interface with other systems out there. It's much harder for them to figure out how to fix this interface problem now, but I have faith in Apple!

      Delete
  3. Well, you and Ed faced the day with the best possible attitude! The ahhhh picture at the end of your post was worth it. So peaceful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the farmette always offers that -- peace!

      Delete
  4. My wireless card (not a Mac) has not played well with our home router. Finally it appeared the card died, but my friends at Raven Computers (used equipment) gave me a USB wi-fi thingy, and the connection is much improved. Just a suggestion, I know the frustration when the signal keeps dropping. Happy travels!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Both hubby and I had major problems with our computers not too long ago. He could not even log onto his. After a very l-o-n-g time on the telephone with our server (TW) is was discovered that TW and Toshiba had 'upgraded' at the same time. Havoc. That got resolved. My problem was that I got bumped by someone else nearby. I lost my connection but my computer was acting very strange for awhile before the final blow. Now all is well but I really thought my computer had died. Too many notes. I hope you get the issue resolved with your Apple. It's almost difficult for me to see you and Ed at the mall!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think the dismay at the ding in the laptop is that it wasn't earned in honourable battle. I fell asleep laptopping in bed and it dropped on the floor, injuring the keyboard. We more or less pushed it back into place, but the upper right corner flies up a little. It still works many months later. I'm more afraid of a repair going wrong than its odd appearance, so it wears its wing as a badge of honor.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.