Bat in the Box Fan and Other Stories
Bat in the Box Fan
Last night, around 11:15, I was reading a book in bed while Mark slept, and I heard what sounded like a huge moth hitting a bug lamp, only the sound was definitely in our room (where, for the record, there are no bug lamps). I sat up, turned on my lamp, looked around the room, and saw what looked to be a piece of black garbage bag at the bottom of our window box fan. It was only when the "garbage bag" waved a small paw, got hit by the fan blade and was thrown to the other side of the fan, did I realize it was alive!
I woke Mark up with, "hon, there's something alive in the fan!"
We both got up, and watched the fan, trying to figure out if the damn thing was alive, or dead, rabid, and anyway, what do we do? Oh, and how on Earth did it get into a closed room and inside a box fan?
Neither one of us was at our best at that point in the evening, and we both just wanted to be in a bat-free bed and sleeping, so Mark did what any guy might do in that situation. He unplugged the fan, opened the screen and tossed the fan out the window.
PETA is coming for us, I know...
We knew it was hurt, we didn't know if it was safe, and we have pets and an unborn child in the house. It was also 11:30 at night by this time.
We had a hard time falling asleep after that.
Mark is hoping that leaving the nest of mother and 3 baby bunnies alone instead of ousting them from our flower beds is enough of a karmic balance to make up for our bat incident...
Why www.ipodmechanic.com Sucks A Fat One
I loved my G4 iPod. It was only 20 gigs (small, when you look at the 80 gig iPod videos out now), had no color screen, had no video capability, but did have the Jupiter sandstorm on the screen from the pug attack.
When it stopped communicating with my iBook at the end of June, I tried the 5 Rs from apple.com, and then tried charging the battery separately and retrying the Rs, before admitting that my 3 year old Pod was perhaps doomed. I decided to research a repair company, since Apple requires the deed to your house in order to repair something off warranty. I found a place that got solid reviews on several Mac forums, and seemed to have a straightforward policy.
I sent my poor, sad, dead-hard-drive-y fryPod off to the repair folks with high hopes. I specifically cited the liklihood of hard drive issues, and asked them to ignore the damaged, but still mostly functional screen.
A week after I got confirmation that they had it (instead of the promised 48 hours after arrival at their facility), they gave me an estimate for a screen repair, but mentioned nothing about the drive. I emailed them, and expressed concern, and that I didn't want to pay for screen repairs at this time.
They basically told me I was stupid, and that there was nothing wrong with my iPod (that wouldn't communicate with my computer, nor would it play music or respond as a disk...).
I told them to cancel the order and I'd take it back, please. They responded with an offer to buy it from me for $10. I wanted to know why for so little if there was nothing wrong?
The screen doesn't work.
WHAT?!?
It was damaged, but functional, when I sent it off. So, now I have a mystery problem they don't believe exists, and they broke my screen. And they want $25 for shipping, handling, and diagnosis. OK, fine. Just send back my damn iPod. On principle. Grudgingly, they agree to do so.
That was 20 days ago, and I'm still awaiting an email with a tracking number. It's waiting for shipping, according the customer service rep who returned my email a week ago.
The moral of the story, I guess, is that the price is worth it with Apple, since the customer service is usually so pleasant.
Of course, in the meanwhile, Mark bought me a new 30 gig G5, supposedly from he and our unborn son. Cutie (and what a sneaky little fetus!). I still want fryPod back, though, so I can decide what to do with it now.
Miss E Says the Darnedest Things
This story goes back two weeks to find Miss E, O, & I in the car on the way home from picking her up from day camp. She was showing me a turtle she'd made in art class out of a paper bowl and paint. It was pretty cute!
She says the turtle's name is Princess Dandelion, and that she's allergic to tuna fish and peanut butter. She goes on to explain that the princess's father has banned all tuna and peanut products from the land, because everyone really loves them, and kept trying to feed them to the Princess, and having to say no all the time was making her sad.
Somehow this seems telling about the society in which these kids move around. I was a crazy-imaginative kid, and a character with allergies would never have occurred to me. And none of Miss E's family have allergies, so it's entirely a concept from outside the home, but one that's been ingrained in her since pre-school.
Of course, no recent conversation defining the time and socio-economic place we inhabit with the kids beats the one I had with Big Brother J (who is eight and a half and on the brink of third grade for those not in the know) just before the last installment of Harry Potter was published.
Don't worry, there are no spoilers here (and please don't post any in the comments, I hate that).
His friend told him Harry would definitely die. This friend is famous for saying he's read/seen/played with things before they're available to the public, and he's rather an outrageous liar. Still J was concerned that it might be true.
I reminded him that no one had read the book yet, and that he would get to read for himself in just a few days, and then we talked a bit about why it was a possibility. We talked about how good has generally overcome evil so far in Rowling's books, but that there is always a cost. I told him that I thought Harry would live, but that I was certain others would die.
Then I asked him what he thought.
He replied, "I think Harry Potter won't die, because if he does, no one will want to buy Harry Potter stuff anymore or see any more Harry Potter movies." There was no irony in his voice. No bitterness. This was just what he thought.
Truly a child of the marketing era, huh?
Last night, around 11:15, I was reading a book in bed while Mark slept, and I heard what sounded like a huge moth hitting a bug lamp, only the sound was definitely in our room (where, for the record, there are no bug lamps). I sat up, turned on my lamp, looked around the room, and saw what looked to be a piece of black garbage bag at the bottom of our window box fan. It was only when the "garbage bag" waved a small paw, got hit by the fan blade and was thrown to the other side of the fan, did I realize it was alive!
I woke Mark up with, "hon, there's something alive in the fan!"
We both got up, and watched the fan, trying to figure out if the damn thing was alive, or dead, rabid, and anyway, what do we do? Oh, and how on Earth did it get into a closed room and inside a box fan?
Neither one of us was at our best at that point in the evening, and we both just wanted to be in a bat-free bed and sleeping, so Mark did what any guy might do in that situation. He unplugged the fan, opened the screen and tossed the fan out the window.
PETA is coming for us, I know...
We knew it was hurt, we didn't know if it was safe, and we have pets and an unborn child in the house. It was also 11:30 at night by this time.
We had a hard time falling asleep after that.
Mark is hoping that leaving the nest of mother and 3 baby bunnies alone instead of ousting them from our flower beds is enough of a karmic balance to make up for our bat incident...
Why www.ipodmechanic.com Sucks A Fat One
I loved my G4 iPod. It was only 20 gigs (small, when you look at the 80 gig iPod videos out now), had no color screen, had no video capability, but did have the Jupiter sandstorm on the screen from the pug attack.
When it stopped communicating with my iBook at the end of June, I tried the 5 Rs from apple.com, and then tried charging the battery separately and retrying the Rs, before admitting that my 3 year old Pod was perhaps doomed. I decided to research a repair company, since Apple requires the deed to your house in order to repair something off warranty. I found a place that got solid reviews on several Mac forums, and seemed to have a straightforward policy.
I sent my poor, sad, dead-hard-drive-y fryPod off to the repair folks with high hopes. I specifically cited the liklihood of hard drive issues, and asked them to ignore the damaged, but still mostly functional screen.
A week after I got confirmation that they had it (instead of the promised 48 hours after arrival at their facility), they gave me an estimate for a screen repair, but mentioned nothing about the drive. I emailed them, and expressed concern, and that I didn't want to pay for screen repairs at this time.
They basically told me I was stupid, and that there was nothing wrong with my iPod (that wouldn't communicate with my computer, nor would it play music or respond as a disk...).
I told them to cancel the order and I'd take it back, please. They responded with an offer to buy it from me for $10. I wanted to know why for so little if there was nothing wrong?
The screen doesn't work.
WHAT?!?
It was damaged, but functional, when I sent it off. So, now I have a mystery problem they don't believe exists, and they broke my screen. And they want $25 for shipping, handling, and diagnosis. OK, fine. Just send back my damn iPod. On principle. Grudgingly, they agree to do so.
That was 20 days ago, and I'm still awaiting an email with a tracking number. It's waiting for shipping, according the customer service rep who returned my email a week ago.
The moral of the story, I guess, is that the price is worth it with Apple, since the customer service is usually so pleasant.
Of course, in the meanwhile, Mark bought me a new 30 gig G5, supposedly from he and our unborn son. Cutie (and what a sneaky little fetus!). I still want fryPod back, though, so I can decide what to do with it now.
Miss E Says the Darnedest Things
This story goes back two weeks to find Miss E, O, & I in the car on the way home from picking her up from day camp. She was showing me a turtle she'd made in art class out of a paper bowl and paint. It was pretty cute!
She says the turtle's name is Princess Dandelion, and that she's allergic to tuna fish and peanut butter. She goes on to explain that the princess's father has banned all tuna and peanut products from the land, because everyone really loves them, and kept trying to feed them to the Princess, and having to say no all the time was making her sad.
Somehow this seems telling about the society in which these kids move around. I was a crazy-imaginative kid, and a character with allergies would never have occurred to me. And none of Miss E's family have allergies, so it's entirely a concept from outside the home, but one that's been ingrained in her since pre-school.
Of course, no recent conversation defining the time and socio-economic place we inhabit with the kids beats the one I had with Big Brother J (who is eight and a half and on the brink of third grade for those not in the know) just before the last installment of Harry Potter was published.
Don't worry, there are no spoilers here (and please don't post any in the comments, I hate that).
His friend told him Harry would definitely die. This friend is famous for saying he's read/seen/played with things before they're available to the public, and he's rather an outrageous liar. Still J was concerned that it might be true.
I reminded him that no one had read the book yet, and that he would get to read for himself in just a few days, and then we talked a bit about why it was a possibility. We talked about how good has generally overcome evil so far in Rowling's books, but that there is always a cost. I told him that I thought Harry would live, but that I was certain others would die.
Then I asked him what he thought.
He replied, "I think Harry Potter won't die, because if he does, no one will want to buy Harry Potter stuff anymore or see any more Harry Potter movies." There was no irony in his voice. No bitterness. This was just what he thought.
Truly a child of the marketing era, huh?
Labels: iTroubles, Ramblings, The Carpet Bag
posted by Cameron | 8:36 AM
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