Woo Hoo.  I finally got my package today.  I got my copy of Office 2008 for the Mac.  I know lots of “true blue” Mac users will frown because I’m using something that doesn’t start with an “i” but honestly, Office is something I just couldn’t give up in my transition to the Mac.  Of course, I don’t use Office’s Entourage for email so that’s got to earn me some points.  I haven’t played a lot with the new version of Office but just looking at it, it’s different and cool at the same time. You can check here for more about the 2008 version of office, if you’re interested. Off to go play. Hope you all have a great weekend.

The skies parted… the sun shown down… and…. My Mac and the printer server are talking… and I can print… I CAN PRINT!!!!!

I can’t believe it’s 2:23 AM and I’m still awake and writing another post. Well the printer issue still isn’t fixed but I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll get that solved. I just reread my post and it’s pretty obvious it was pretty negative. Not so good so I thought I’d share some happy news to sort of counter balance the computer issues.

I did end up taking the job with BCD Travel and I start the 19th of February so not much of a vacation left for me anymore but that’s a good thing. I’m ready to get back to work and work like crazy. That said, I did talk to the manager for the other company (PLS) that was interested in me and I’m going to do contract work for them as well. It will mean a part time and a full time job but I figure it will help us get ahead and start the nest egg for the new house. I don’t think it will impact things that much either because Eric is working like crazy at the Winery.

So that’s my good news!

You know, if I could, I would so swear right now. I went AGAIN to the Apple store the other day and they swapped out my entire computer with a new one so I’ve been putting everything back on my computer for the umpteenth time. I’ve been working on it a little bit at a time so I wouldn’t feel the pain so much but today, TODAY, I’ve spent I don’t know how many hours trying to get the Mac to talk to my print server. I did the same things I’ve done the other three times but this time, it’s not working. SO I can’t print from my Mac unless I hook it right up to the printer. How super frustrating.You know the whole Mac mantra, “Everything is just plug and play” is the biggest crock of bull.

I’ve also contacted Apple Care to find out what they plan to do for me since I’ve had all these issues. Their response, “well give you $100 credit for Apple Store”. Yeah, like I want anything more from them with all these hassles. Argh!!! If I could get a full refund or something, I’d do it in a millisecond. It’s a bummer because I really like this computer most of the time but there are somethings that are so frustrating.

OK, it’s late, I’m tired and I’m just venting because I want to throw this computer out the window and I’m wishing I would have never bought the darn thing. Should have stuck with a PC. I really REALLY want to like Macs but I’m having a hard time.

I don’t think I posted this so I will now. Guess what? Nope, don’t know about the jobs I’ve applied for. OK, here it is. My Mac hard drive crashed, AGAIN!!! This is the third drive in my computer.

I took the computer to the Apple store on Saturday to find out how to correct a problem I’d been having lately. For no reason at all I’d be in a program and it would just decide to quit or if I wanted to quit it wouldn’t. I tried fixing it and got the “bad volumes” message. So I took it in and the Genius bar and they messed with it only to tell me that there were bad places on the HD and it would need to be replaced. AGAIN! I couldn’t believe it. I kept my cool (yeah that was hard) and asked for the manager. I talked to him for about 20 minutes and told him the issues I’ve been having and what Apple was going to do about it besides replace the HD and tell me “this doesn’t happen. Well, he told me that the HD isn’t really an Apple product, like that made Apple not accountable or something. i told him that was a bunch of BS because Apple chose those HD’s and as such, when the HD is put in an Apple machine it becomes part of an “Apple product”. His solution was to give me a card which gave me 10% off my next purchases. Woo Hoo, like that’s a big deal. They asked if I wanted to leave my computer and I chose not too since it works for the most part. I get to take it back in tomorrow. Yeah!

What’s really scary is to look at the costs moving to this Mac has cost me. I sat down after I got back from Apple and added up all the miles driving back and forth 8 times to get the damn thing fixed, the cost in hours of not having the machine and needing to do web design work for my customers (32 hours lost), the time lost driving too and from the store and dealing with the issue (11 hrs) and then the time to reinstall my software twice. I added it all up and it came to $2,017.39!!! Can you believe it and all Apple is compensating me with is a card for 10% off my next purchase. I would have to spend over $20,000 to get back what I’ve lost. The other comment I have is “why would I buy more products from a company that clearly does not concern themselves with stellar customer service”. I’ve emailed the manager a few times and he’s said he’s escalated the issue to Apple Care but what the heck does that mean? I mean do they really think this is OK? What happens if this happens… again?

I’m so tempted right now to get this computer fixed and then sell the damn thing and go back to a PC. I even told the Apple manager that and he claimed, “you have similar issues and wouldn’t get as good of customers services”. Um… I wouldn’t have these issues. I have NEVER IN MY LIFE HAD A COMPUTER HD replaced 3 times in less than three months.

So, if any of you out there have some contact at Apple or a great idea what I should do next, I welcome the advice. I have to take the computer in tomorrow to get fixed which means another 2 days, or more with out it to work. Argh!!!

I’ve been messing with iMovie (never used it before). Last night I made this.

click here for quicktime version