Winding down

It's been a busy week at work, but I can't talk about most of it, so that's why I haven't been posting much here. I've still got to finish the presentation for the talk I'm giving April 1 at a conference in Cedar Rapids, but I've got at least half of it already laid out in Keynote on my PowerBook. I'm going to try to relax some at my grandparents' house this weekend, where we're going for Easter, and maybe I'll do some more vacation planning while I'm there. We're thinking about making a trip to Glacier National Park via Amtrak this summer. With gas prices as high as they are right now, it's really not any more money to take the train than it is to drive, and they get a lot of visitors there who come that way, so there are shuttles that will take you around the park, or you can rent a car if need be. We never really got much of a chance to take a honeymoon, due to my wife's job when we were married, so this would be a nice opportunity for us to get away for a few days, and I think my wife would be glad to drag me somewhere without internet access for once.

Has anyone ever been to Glacier? Have anywhere you'd suggest staying? I'm leaning towards visiting West Glacier, as there seems to be more to do there, like rafting, boat tours on Lake Macdonald, and even helicopter tours of the park. I'd love to hear your suggestions, just post 'em below.

On Second Thought...

Turns out my PowerBook gets to go back to the repair depot, as they fixed the hard drive, but managed to break the keyboard in the process. It's usable, but the F1 and F2 keys are only registering about 50% of the input I give them, so I guess I get a new keyboard now. If this keeps up, maybe they'll give me one of the 1.5Ghz models soon...

Two Down

My PowerBook returned today from Apple. They replaced the hard drive and the "flex cable", whatever that is. The good news is that the noise is completely gone. The bad news is that I have to reinstall everything. I got the essentials put back together tonight, the rest will have to wait until tomorrow at work. I wouldn't mind doing this so much if Tiger (aka Mac OS X 10.4) wasn't coming so soon, which means I get to do it all over again...

One Down

Dell wins the prize for getting the first of my three impaired computers fixed, as the new power supply arrived today. Took me about 10 minutes to swap them, and I was back in business. That's one computer that has had its grind eliminated. The PowerBook made it to Memphis today, which is where Apple is repairing it. I haven't received a shipment notification yet, so I'm guessing I won't see it until Tuesday.

My iMac is awaiting the shipment label Apple is supposed to be sending me. They said they'd e-mail it to me as well, but it hasn't arrived, so I'm guessing they forgot. The saga continues...

The Fecal Touch

Ever have one of those weeks were everything you touch turns to crap? Last Friday I replaced the midplane on my iMac G5, in an attempt to end the buzzing noise that it's been driving me nuts with. No luck on that, and after Apple basically told me that they didn't have a fix, I complained to our Apple rep, who has gotten my case escalated with their customer support people. I told them I either want my machine fixed, replaced with a non-noisy one, or I want them to apply the purchase price as credit towards a PowerMac G5. The "Senior" Product Specialist who had my case thrust upon him is off today, so we'll see what he tells me tomorrow. Next, my PowerBook started suffering from a noisy hard drive or fan when it's not sitting level on a table. It's fine level, but as soon as you tilt it, it makes a bad noise. So, I called Apple on that, and they're sending me a box to send in my PowerBook for repair. They think it's the hard drive, which doesn't make me happy, as I don't want to have to reinstall all my apps if Tiger is only a few weeks away, but what can you do? So, I backed up my hard drive today, there's nothing "essential" that I only store there, but why make this harder than I have to.

Two hours after getting off the phone about my PowerBook, the power supply on my Optiplex GX270 decided to act up, it's making a horrible grinding noise now, as the bearing in the fan has given up the ghost. So, I generated an e-mail to Dell about that, hopefully one of their Subcontinental support people will have a new one over-nighted to me before this weekend.

I'd better go home soon, before I break something critical...