LONG TIME NO BLOG

And no pics because they are alllll gone.
The computer, my NEW computer, bought at Best Buy in November of last year, had a major hissy fit the other day and went from "having issues" to "Your Computer Cannot Open". Aaaaiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I took it back to BB. They said their turnaround time for fixes was FOURTEEN DAYS!! (No I did not have the store warranty, only the factory warranty) They said further that if it was the hardware (and it didn't sound like that to them) the fix would be free but the time might be longer because they'd have to send it back to Toshiba.
However if it was software, there would a $200 charge. And if I wanted I could take it to the next town where their turnaround time was only 6 days.

I tried to calculate whether I could make it 6 days without the computer and without killing someone-- anyone.

Nope. Not a chance.

But I felt I had no choice. Technology--like electricity, indoor plumbing and dogs, are great until you don't have them.

SO I decided to go to Tinley (the next town) and bite the bullet. Then when I got to the car I thought no, I am going home. There HAS to be a better deal than this.

And there was. Across the street from BB lives a little Office Max and recently they put in a fix-the-computer thing. So I went over there and presented them with my no-start computer. The kid who was there was wearing a name pin that had "Darwin" written on it. How can you not like someone named Darwin?
Darwin listened to the whole story, including my annoyance with BB. He thought it sounded like something in the hardware, and suggested calling Toshiba. This meant he didn't know what to do and was willing (like my Vet) to find someone who knew more about it than he did, and was not going to pretend he had more expertise than he did. I liked that, too.
He spent about an hour on the phone with Toshiba, who suggested something he might try just to get a screen up. This was going to take several hours to run. It was about 3 in the afternoon.

So I left.

I called a couple of times and it was still running. I thought well this is not good.
Then just before closing at 9 they called and said it had started. WOOOHOOOO.
I went in in the morning to pay and learned they needed to do some stuff to the software-- by now Darwin was off and the manager was working on the computer. It cost $140. Everyone was helpful, eager to co-operate, and by noon I had my computer back. Minus all the data which, believe it or not I had mostly saved on a flashdrive. I have not put the photos back.

I told OMax they have a new, lifelong customer. My NEXT computer will not be purchased at BB no matter how much less it costs.

Love technology except when I don't.