The ever-crashing mac powerbook

It is hard to tell whether I have been busy or just worn and torn. On Friday last I went down to the Mac Store in via Flaminia, beyond the center of Rome but in an area that has been commercial since Julius Caesar was a teenager. They could not get the laptop to function and since I had a guarantee, they took it to work on. I went with a student and another professor, both of whom were interested in purchasing a mac for their office/rooms. At that point I took the plunge and purchased an iMac, having taken two weeks to get a type of a yes from the dean. It is an excpetional machine and I am working on it now, however I still missed my own little Apple Powerbook G4.

On Monday night, then, I got a call from the Flaminia Computer that my machine would be ready the next day. Accompanied by Marco Bay (who spent the summer of 2000 at Don Bosco Hall), I picked up the machine. I was very happy to see him, and the technician, Alessio, told me that the hard drive was damaged. They installed a new one and recovered my data…

But…

The data is there without the programs that were mine. Alessio installed the usual mac programs, many of which I never use, but my own particular ones are missing… I've got the original application disks at home and will install them…

And yet…

The computer really is not functioning. It crashes now frequently… but when do Macintoshes ever crash? So something is really WRONG here.

Well, I have just to get it operating so that I can use it for class presentations. My classes at the UPS are going well (from the student feedback), so that has got to be the priority of the moment. I will try to understand what is missing that is causing the crashes. And I will make sure to back up everything so that if I need to return to via Flaminia, I'll not worry about losing data.

Amusing, really. Not only am I attached to my Powerbook, but I depend on it for almost everything these days… Thank God it does not make coffee too, or I really be in bad shape!

Pietro Stella near death - Macintosh out of commission

Yesterday Pietro Stella could not speak, although he seemed to understand enerything said. Doctors visited hiò also to try to ease pain, while more family members came to be with him during the day.

Last night, then, for the first time a number of confreres stayed by his bedside throughout the night, helping to move him from bed to chair from time to time, since it is easier for him to breathe from the chair. Tonight another group will stay with him to assist. Mood in the Gesù Maestro community is very somber these days, as it is in the Domenico Savio community (both are communities of professors). I don't know the reaction in the other communities.

For myself there has been a setback. The cord to my laptop burned this morning in what must have been an electrical surge (in spite of the fact that I was using surge protectors). The computer does not seem to be damaged, but the battery evidently was not charging and recharging, perhaps the cord and transformer have been damaged for a few days. All my data and materials are there. My backup disks, however, are safe in my desk. Tomorrow I will go to the Apple Store by Sta Maria Maggiore in hopes of getting a new cord etc.

This never happened last year, when I actually used the computer more than now -- but it makes me realize too that laptops are not made for extended use. I'll need to get a desktop mac for my use in DBH, and a desktop here next year when I come. The are cheaper but hardier and should be able to take the wear and tear better.