I'm Back

Variety of issues confounded my postings here recently.

First and foremost, the Macbook I used had issues and had to go get repaired.  Since it was still under warranty this was a good thing, but it had to be sent to the depot which was not so good. This made work a lot more cumbersome and I needed to use a desktop at home and iPad at the office which was not nearly as functional so everything took longer than it should have and it wasted a lot of time.  I also found out that lots of passwords to needed systems didn't in fact copy over to other Apple devices.

Worse the laptop had two distinct issues - the screen had a small crater in the lower right, right at the hinge of the case, and the keyboard was not working well and had visible wear.  

So it was written up as two work orders. Sadly, that let them screw up and do one repair, the screen, and return the laptop to the store yet completely miss the other rather obvious one so it had to be sent back yet again.  

This meant a whole week without the laptop which was highly frustrating.

On top of that I got hit with either Norovirus or a gastric attack last Tuesday night that lasted through Thursday.  Not a recommended way to drop 6 pounds and when you can't even keep water down, it's not a good thing.

Also did some oral check-ride preparation with instructors this week that went well so it's moving along.

So today, the Laptop is now finally back so posting will get back to normal.

Feeling Old By Comparison

The right speaker on my Macbook Pro has started to crackle and be all static-ky. This is likely due to the speaker being deformed by heat over time, and is a pretty well known Macbook problem.

Otherwise, it's trucking right along nicely, and the recent update to Mojave improved the speed on quite a few things and fixed the startup from sleeping reliability issue I was having under Sierra.

Since its been a trusty and good machine and has been holding up well and humming right along, so a repair rather than replacement makes sense, right?

So I contacted Apple support to see what a replacement would cost.

Well, it turns out my 2013 Macbook Pro is now considered to be vintage by Apple.

Vintage.

Yep, 2013 is considered Vintage, I'm a flippin' antique by comparison then, eh?

Vintage means Apple no longer supports it but they referred me to some third-party repair companies to figure out what the replacement will cost.

Did Apple Subcontract To Lucas?

Had a little bit of excitement at the office yesterday.

I was focused and working away on my MacBook, and our secretary came in to my office, and while we were talking she asked if I smelled smoke.

I then also smelled it just a bit.

Turns out the smoke and burning smell was coming from the Mac's power adapter.

Looks like it short-circuited and started to burn right through the wire's insulation.

This was magic smoke indeed, as once it had begun to escape it stopped charging the Macbook.

As soon as I saw what was happening I  unplugged it from the wall, thus ending the escape of the magic smoke.

On the upside, the Apple Store was very quick to replace it with a new one that has so far kept all of its magic smoke inside, so hooray for Apple-care.  No harm done to the Mac itself and everything is fine.

The Apple Store staff person noted it was the first one she has seen that has done that, but it certainly looks like the charging wire is awfully thin for the power its carrying, and that white block power adapted does get hot even when it is working properly, so there may be a bit of a design flaw with these chargers.

Joining The iDarkside

The firm I work at has just switched over from a mix of Droid phones and Blackberries to just one option - the iPhone 4S.

The switch is mandatory. So, it's time to learn a new phone, figure out how to get the same or similar apps installed and transfer the data to it.

Goodbye to the Droid X, and now onwards to the Dark Side.