Yesterday Was a Terrible Day!

How can I be so really excited and on a natural high one day and then the very next day it takes a terrible turn? Well, that's how yesterday was. And it has nothing to do with my surgery. It's technology---and that seems to be what can throw me into a tail spin every time! You may recall this post. Here's the recent story.

I have to go back to last week right after my surgery. Butch started it! He could not get the printer to print. Now it's not his fault---nor am I suggesting that it is. We have trouble with the printer occasionally. There are all kinds of hoops that I have to jump through to get it up and running again. The problem was that I could not get upstairs to deal with it. By the time I tried to explain everything to Butch to try, not only was the printer not working, but he had my desktop computer royally screwed up. It was time to go to plan "B."

I had him bring down my "travel" printer. Everyone has a travel printer, right? Now, you might recall that I have a multiples problem. (And if you want more proof, just put "multiples problem" in the search box above and see what pops up.) Soooo, he brought the printer downstairs and set it up on the fireplace hearth while I walked him through it from the couch. This also meant downloading the drivers from the internet for his laptop. After a paper jam and other aggravations for him, he was finally back in business. For a moment there, I did think he might have a stroke. If you think I can't handle technology problems very well---he can't handle them at ALL.

Fast forward to this past Monday. I wasn't concerned about the printer upstairs---knowing I would get to it when I could. Instead, I started to have some email problems. I could "receive", but suddenly could not "send."There was no rhyme or reason for it. Butch wasn't having any problems. All day Monday, I wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. If I called Comcast, I would get someone that I would have trouble communicating with, would waste a lot of time and not be able to help me in the end. Comcast is notably inept. (Can you tell I've been there before?) They would then tell me it wasn't their problem---but a "Mac" problem. I would then call Apple, only to have them tell me it was a Comcast problem. Yeah, that's what would happen and the Apple people would be right!

I just ignored the problem---planning to deal with it on Tuesday. I'm much better at dealing with problems in the morning---that morning person thing and all. Well, Tuesday morning, first thing when I opened the lid to my laptop, I heard that familiar "swhooshing" sound that can make my heart go "pittypat" like no other. Happy again that I was back in business. Just some stupid glitch. Well, I would be wrong. Sure, the emails that were in my outbox all day on Monday sent, but nothing would send on Tuesday or Wednesday. I had to address the problem.

Wednesday was my "happy" day---after seeing the doc and getting the boot. I was on a natural high all day. I decided to use my new "best friend" to find a computer guru to just come to the house and fix my problems. My "old" guy, Troy---who helped me so much in the past---and is truly a genius---sent out a notice about a month ago that he would no longer be doing that. I had no choice but to turn to my new "best friend"---Thumbtack! I've already mentioned it when finding a photographer for the wedding. Think of it as a giant bulletin board of business cards for every possible service you could possibly need.

I found a guy that agreed to come out for $40.00 which included the service call and 2 hours of work. My old guy charged $125 an hour, so I was really happy with $40! You know what they say about if something seems too good to be true? Well, that is exactly what this was.

Now it's Thursday morning. The computer guy---who is supposed to know all about the Mac--- is scheduled to come around 11:30. I went up to my office to "fix" my desktop computer and printer. I fixed the computer problem pretty quickly---just needed a restart. After going through all of the normal stuff, I kept getting an error message on the printer. I went to the internet and saw all kinds of time intensive ways to fix it---none of which were foolproof. I did the easy things, but they didn't work. The printer is 5 years old, so I got the brainy idea that I would just get a new one. After all, I had this computer guru coming, he could set it up for me. I promptly went online, found another Canon "all-in-one" and sent Butch to Office Depot to pick it up. 45 bucks! This with the cost of the computer guy service call was still way under what it would have cost for my old guy to come out. You get what you pay for.

The computer guy got here around 12:30. You know how sometimes you can tell right away you are in trouble? Well, this was one of those times. When I brought him in to the family room and had him settled in Butch's chair, I handed him my laptop and said, "Let's start with my email problem." He looked at my laptop and ran his hand over it and said, "niiiiicccceeee." Like he'd never seen a Macbook Air before. My antennae went up!

Now, let me make this very long part of the story very short (as if this story isn't long enough already!). He sat there for TWO hours trying everything he could to fix it. I sat there and finished my book and thumbed through FOUR magazines! I was pretty nervous about everything he was doing and could tell that he was trying to figure out the problem by checking the internet. We were getting no where and I could tell that I knew more about the Mac than he did---I'm a 20+ year user, but believe me, I don't know much about the technical stuff. That's what happens when you rely on someone else!

I decided that I needed to break up this party. I sat there and figured out what I wanted to say so as not to offend him---but also knowing that I did not want to pay him more than 40 bucks. Finally, I said, "look, nothing seems to be working. I'll just call Comcast and start there." He went on about what he'd tried and didn't understand why it didn't work. He tried to blame it on the Yosemite OS I was running and have been since it came out 6 months ago---without a problem all this time. He also admitted that he only knew a "little bit" about the Mac. Of course, prior to hiring him, I asked questions about his knowledge with the Mac. He assured me he could handle it. NOT!!

I said, "let me go ahead an pay you." He, very nicely said, "No, I wasn't able to help you, I wouldn't feel right about taking the money." I thanked him for being so nice and trying to help. I sent him on his way. I felt duped, so didn't feel bad about not paying him. I went back to my computer. ALL of the emails that were in my inbox were GONE!! Now for those of you that know me, this would not ordinarily be a big deal. I do not keep things in my inbox. The only reason I did this time was because they were things that needed responding to and I was holding them for when I could respond. Now they were gone!

I calmed down and thought, "okay, I'll just get them from the trash." The trash was empty too! The sent mail was empty too! Basically, ALL of my emails were gone. Thank goodness, my folders and stored emails appeared to be okay.

I called Comcast and got a really nice guy that I could actually understand. We spent about a half hour on the phone, changing numbers in this port and that. Finally, he laid the line on me that I knew was coming, "I'm sorry mam, this must be an Apple problem. Here's the number of tech support." I had the thought---which I always preach to Butch---"whenever something isn't going right, restart your computer." Of course I had already done that to try to fix the problem on my own. But it had not been done with all of this changing of things.

Lo and behold, restarting seemed to fix my problem---or so I thought. It's another long story that I am not going in to right now---but suffice it to say that due to the "cloud," now my iPhone is messed up!

I was happy to have my email working again. Now I decided to deal with hooking up the new printer. I've hooked up printers before and can easily download print drivers---nothing I can't handle. It's the getting all 4 of our computers to connect wirelessly that I was unsure of. Again---Troy!

I went up to my office, downloaded the set-up application from the internet, waited the 10 minutes or so---only to get the message that the software is not compatible with my computer. Before buying the printer, I actually had that thought. That's why I bought an older printer for such a good price. But apparently, it wasn't old enough. The technology of the printer is newer than that of my 6 year old desktop. I usually replace my computers every 5 years. I decided that I was NOT going to replace my desktop since I mostly use my laptop. I use the desktop to pay bills, print pictures, plan my classes, write my class handouts and do my scrapbook journaling. ALL of my photos are on that computer (backed up, of course) and ALL of our music is on that computer (several summers ago, I put about 800 cd's on it). And, because I also have a problem with fonts, I have about a thousand of them all neatly organized in folders by type. You can never have too many fonts either.

I reconciled myself that I would now always have to print from my laptop---shuffling photos to that for printing. A pain, but not the end of the world.

I went through the set up process 3 times---taking me about an hour. The message says that everything was downloaded successfully, but it doesn't work. I couldn't think of anything else to do. Butch gave it a try for another hour with no success.

So here's how it stands:
1. My laptop mail still isn't "right" but I can send and receive email.
2. My time machine is still not backing up (another problem I had planned for the tech guy to handle---I never even got to that).
3. We have a new printer that is not working.
4. My iPhone is "not right."
5. I'm back to square one. I need a Mac guru to come out to my house and take care of everything!!

Oh, Troy, I miss you so....