Apple: Fine Purveyor of First World Problems…

On Tuesday, I was happily sitting at my computer working on editing some photos and listening to The Cuckoo’s Calling on my iPod when I glanced at the clock.  It was time for me to go downstairs to start dinner.  So I shut down my computer and went to turn off my iPod.  The computer shut down, but my iPod stubbornly refused to do so.  “Eek!” I thought, “What’s wrong with this thing??”  Panic set in.  In normal circumstances, I would just try to fix it, but we are going to be getting on a plane on Sunday to go to St. John, USVI, with good friends and I can’t imagine myself on a plane these days without the distraction my iPod gives me.

After quite a few minutes searching on the interweb for clues and fixes, I had to just give up.  My iPod was irrevocably broken, the on/off toggle was caput and there was nothing I could do about it.  Then the panic really did set in.  What was I going to do on a plane for four hours without the comfort of Bach’s cello concertos streaming into my skull?

Greg, who is much calmer about such things, said that we should go out to eat that night and we would go to Best Buy on Wednesday and pick up a new iPod.  And that’s what we did, even though I wasn’t too happy about it.

Well, my first two iPods were green so I decided that if I went with a blue one this time, maybe my luck would change.  I got the new blue one home, sat down at my computer to put my stuff on it and my computer wouldn’t recognize it.  I picked it up and looked at it.  The screen was stuck on the Apple logo screen and wouldn’t budge.  “I can’t frickin’ believe this,” I thought.  “What is it with me and Apple??”

Just about then, our son Evan got home from work and informed us that his iPhone wasn’t charging.  So we repeated the steps of looking to the interweb for clues and fixes.  Long story short, his iPhone seemed to be irrevocably broken.  Now, I could actually live without my iPod if I had to, but Evan really does need his phone.  So he decided the best thing to do was to let the Geniuses take a look at it.

So off we went.  I retraced the 20 miles back to the Best Buy and Evan went off to the nearest Apple Store 40 miles in the opposite direction.

The nice young Geek at Best Buy thought it would be an easy fix, but after about twenty minutes, he admitted defeat and called someone over to get me a new iPod.  I stuck with the blue.  Geek said, with a sly grin on his face, that maybe now I should consider getting the extended warranty.  I told him that the other iPods lasted me four and three years respectively.  Again with the grin, he said, “Yeah, but this one only lasted you two hours.”  Well, I didn’t bite, but maybe I should have.  My times with my iPods keep getting narrower and narrower.

Evan got home a couple of hours later with the bad news that there was no way to resuscitate his iPhone.  The Geniuses were stumped.  Will wonders never cease?  He does have a “spare” with a broken screen that actually works so he may be able to limp along until we can figure out how to get him one that won’t break the bank.

Well, by then, it was pretty late, so we went out to dinner yet again and I had a little whine with mine.

It’s funny these days that we have become so dependent on these little electronic devices.  Heck, as much as I complained about my last iPod – it was too small, too hard to control, etc.—I took good care of it because I didn’t want to be without it.  I used it often.  I love the fact that I can listen to my books and to music anywhere and everywhere.  It’s a good thing….really.  But, you know, when I decided to write this today, I wanted to take some pictures of the three devices together, green iPod 1, green iPod 2, and blue iPod No. 2 in two hours, which I’m hoping will be my last for many years.  But, after an exhaustive search, green iPod2 had taken a powder and I can’t find it.  It’s on the lam.  So, it was a bad Apple after all.