Reconnected

I dropped my MacBook off at the Apple store on Saturday. A blue line appeared on the screen. At first I didn't care about it but when a second one popped up, I did a quick search to find out if it was common. Sure enough, some MacBooks have these lines pop up on the display. It looked like something that could be fixed easily but the advice was to take it in, especially because it is under warranty.

I didn't take it in right away because it meant going to a mall. I have a dislike for malls. I am not much of a shopping person to begin with so why would I go there. Second, the people in malls somewhat disgust me. I see money being spent that most of these people probably do not have. The lust to have some one's name on clothes as a status symbol seems moronic. You paid $50 more to have Joe Schmoe's name on your chest? Really? Are you stupid?

Anyways, I get to the mall and walk on in. Though I haven't been in this mall (Mayfair) in a couple years- and never inside an Apple store either-I think I know where the Apple store is. Sure enough, it is just down from the Time Warner Cable place. And it is packed.

Wow! I bet most stores in the mall wish they had this action. Had to be at least 40 people in the Apple store. Sure some were kids putzing with iPods and iPads but there were a lot of adults and they were in discussions with employees. No wonder Apple is making big bucks.

I had an appointment so I didn't have to wait. I walked up to the "Genius Bar" and ordered a beer. Ok, so I sat on the stool and waited patiently. The guy working there finished up with a customer and took a quick look at my machine. He seemed puzzled at first by the lines. Apparently he didn't Google this problem. Then he mentioned they would need to open it up and change some parts. 3-5 business days. I then received a speech about backing up data and how there is the possibility I could lose everything on my hard drive. I didn't know if this was a sales pitch for a Time Capsule or if he was telling me that I would lose all the porn * music on my laptop.

So my weekend was spent being mostly unplugged from the internet. I did have my iPhone which gave me access to the news and info I needed but there was a time where I really wanted to play some poker but couldn't. Or do some searches on something I heard on TV.

So without the access to the world I did something I hadn't done in quite some time. I went for a walk along Lake Michigan. I popped in some ear buds and went to see what was happening by the water. Once there I walked along for about an hour in the heat, sweating my ass off and being hounded by flies while dodging the swarms of dragonflies. The dragonflies weren't bad but the flies were annoying landing on you 3 or 4 at a time and biting. I had to get away from it and went back to street level.

As I walked back to my house, I went right along Lake Shore Drive. Some beautiful houses down there. I like the ones that have the California beach house feel. They look a bit weird in Milwaukee but have a sense of cool that can't be found around there. Too bad the good ones weren't up for sale, though I hate to think of the taxes that would be paid.

*No there is no porn on my lap top. I deleted that before taking it in.