Crash!!

Monday evening an accident occurred here at chez Lisa. It was horrid really. As I was about to come upstairs (from my music studio to the main level of the house), I was going to pick up some dry laundry.

I was carrying my MacBook at the time and thus set it down. Where I placed it was on top of a large ice chest cooler which was sitting on top of another container of some sort. Although I usually set my laptop down on a step of the stairs, I didn't think much of placing on this apparently level surface.

Just as I was about to enter the laundry room (maybe 8 feet away), I heard a crash. At first I wondered what large object one of my cats might have knocked over, or if I had inadvertently set something in motion without feeling it.

NO!!!!!!! I saw my laptop on the floor. It had fallen from its (not so safe) perch on the ice chest. I opened it up and was met with a shattered LCD screen. DAMN IT!!!!

My supper break was used up with tears, sick stomach feelings, calls to the Apple Store, and a failed attempt to hook my computer up to the TV as a substitute display monitor. I had several files open and in various stages of progress. I had several posts stored for future and current HealthCentral pieces. Basically I had a lot of stuff which I needed off my computer pronto.

I ended my last lesson early and high-tailed it to the local Apple Store: 1) to see if they could hook my computer up to a screen and let me see if I could download essential files to work with on my mother's computer; 2) to see what it would take to repair my computer. They assigned me an appointment the following day to have someone assess the damage. Then someone did set me up with a monitor and I was able to use my computer until just before the store closed.

Since I use a Mac (and the standard word program, Pages), it seemed that my mother's PC (with Microsoft Office) didn't want to recognize the files I downloaded afterall. I needed a converter of some sort. But I did notice that the pdf files were just fine.

So the next morning I went back up to the Apple Store to ask to use the monitor again. One cool thing with Pages and Numbers is that you can export your files into pdfs. So this is what I did with the absolutely necessary, time-sensitive files and saved them to my flash drive to use later. Then my appointment time came, and I worked with the very same guy who helped me with using the monitor on both occasions, so he already knew what the problem was. :)

I needed a new LCD screen. Since my MacBook is an older model, they may or may not have had one available. They did have ONE in stock. He told me the price and asked if it was worth it to me. YES!! Then he mentioned using an authorized repair shop who could probably do it for less.

I didn't want to mess about. I wanted my computer back ASAP as I was planning to take it on a trip I am leaving for tomorrow (Thursday) and this discussion was occurring on Tuesday. He said that it could be ready before they closed at 9:30PM. Wow, that's great.


Turns out that my computer was ready before my supper break on Tuesday. When I got the message, I high-tailed it over to the store to pick it up. A different person asked me how the damage happened and I mentioned a drop from decent height. He gave me a heads-up that sometime after trauma such as that, the hard-drive may begin to have problems. Back up all your important files, especially photos and such.

I need to spend some time doing just that in the near future. But I was thrilled and amazed that I got my computer back in good shape only 24 hours after the accident. Such a relief. Of course it cost several pretty pennies, but I use this thing for EVERYTHING!! It is part of my business, especially with all the writing I've been doing, and part of my lifeline to the online community.

Now I just need to get off this computer and go pack for my trip. It should be a good one, involving a flight over the big blue ocean. I'll have to tell you about it later.

Oh, and I need to figure out why colors look different now on my screen. Some setting must have been changed. Not that they are bad, but just different and I kind of liked how they were before. A project for another time, I suppose.