The time has come.

Oh my, what a week. I haven't been AWOL - I've just been slammed and having computer problems. My Mac laptop, which I neglected to ever name, to my shame, started getting glitchy last week. The monitor started acting like it was getting surges of electricity or something - the screen would sort of have a spasm and then at one point, after it went blank because I'd stepped away for too long, I couldn't get it to come back. It wasn't asleep; it was in a coma. I actually had to take the battery out to kill it and start all over.

I've had it go buggy on me before...right before the hard drive died. So, I flew into action immediately. I backed up the whole hard drive to an external hard drive, and made an appointment at the Mac Hospital (i.e. the Apple store in Barton Creek Mall) as soon as I could. That proved a challenge, by the way. The only way to make appointments in advance is to pay $100 to be some sort of club member. Since I have to go there less than once a year, that would be idiotic. The club comes with other features - like tutoring sessions on software. But I usually have one of my co-workers show me stuff I need to know, so again, not worth $100. Since I'm not willing to pay to be a club member, that means I have to try and get an appointment on the day of. Not easy. I think people wait until 12:01 a.m. and then log in and start making appointments. I got stuck with a 6:40 p.m. appointment on Tuesday (Monday they didn't have any available at all by the time I logged on). I had my book club that evening, so that was unfortunate - I had to eat, say a few words about the book, then bolt to the mall.

The Mac Doctor gave a grave prognosis. It wasn't terminal, but treatment was necessary. My logic board is going out. $300 repair. Unfortunately for G3 (as I shall now call the laptop), its HMO (SuzanneCare) was unwilling to pay treatment costs. I already had plans to upgrade a bunch of stuff on it. By the time I did the repairs and the upgrades, I'd be halfway to a new machine - and that's not counting the new hard drive I put in last year. As G3's owner, I had to make the tough call. G3 is being kept comfortable until it can be peacefully euthanized. I have purchased a new Apple laptop online, which I shall dub Big Mac.

Mac Doctor told me that if my made my purchase through the Barton Creek Mall store's page on the Apple site, they would transfer my old information onto Big Mac and wipe G3's hard drive for free. I will then put G3 on eBay, where someone will most likely buy it for parts. If someone wants to shell out the $300 for a new logic board, though, that's an option, too. It'll be up to the marketplace to decide G3's fate. G3 will be buried (sold) with its carrying case, spare battery and cables/accoutrement that won't work with Big Mac. Big Mac is a refurbished MacBook, 13.3-inch screen, 60G hard drive, combo drive. G3 is an iBook, 12-inch screen, 20G hard drive, combo drive. I decided not to pay extra for the SuperDrive since I have a DVD burner at home - a separate unit that I don't use enough to justify paying for a built-in one and getting rid of the one I have. Big Mac will be bigger and faster than G3, so it should be nice.

Until Big Mac arrives at Casa del Staton, G3 is still limping along. I'm using it sparingly, though - thus the lack of posts this week. Hopefully, I can get some Wurstfest pics on here next week and catch up.