Woke up yesterday, seriously dragging butt. The only thing that got me out of bed and into work was this past weekend.
On Thursday, Lola, Miriam’s helmet arrived. New motorcycle gear means one thing, the break-in ride. We headed out early Saturday towards Marin for a putt around the hills. Riding over the GG, the fog and the wind was typical for San Francisco Summer, and we chose to have breakfast in Sausilito, the sleepy little town just over the bridge. After a basic breakfast at Cafe Trieste, we headed towards the hills.
The plan was to head out on the PCH and cutback past Muir Woods towards Mt Tam. We would traverse the ridge line past Tam towards Bolinas-Fairfax road and finally head back into the city via the 101. The main roads were crawling with traffic and the secondary roads were shared with numerous cyclists. Tight twisty turns in the valley provided some shelter from the wind and the fog. While headed back to the city, the wind on the 101 was incredible. The unpredictable wind frequently tried to knock us into different lanes. My magnetic map bag blew off, and I nearly caught it and failed. Bummed more about the maps than the map bag.
We also had an opportunity to try the Fastrak pass on the Golden Gate. What a difference! We rolled through the Fastrak only lane, got the green light and continued on our way. As most riders know, the toll booth is a dangerous place for a motorcycle, often covered with oil and grease, eager drivers and frantic digging in the pockets with gloves for the toll. We had none of that. Roll, paid, GO!
Now, I need to get through the week so I can take my girl out for a ride…. come one Friday!
Typically, I do not write about customer service calls, but I was tired of the Genius Bar scheduling and wait times and decided to use the 800 number for Apple Support. Within 24 hours, my issue was resolved and without spending a long time on the phone.
Backstory: my 2+ year old MacBook Pro had its battery recalled and replaced in October of last year. The last couple of weeks, my battery life went from 3+ hours (if i was careful and wise) to 30-40 minutes. The battery was draining so quickly, that often, the warning dialog wouldn’t appear and the machine would just shutdown. I save my work frequently to minimize the impact of sudden death battery life. At $129 a battery, I was having a hard time justifying a new purchase, but being tethered to a power cord was dragging me down. Its a notebook. It should be portable. Right?
At noon-ish yesterday, I called Apple Support. Mainly because I couldn’t walk into an Apple store and get the problem resolved without signing up for an appointment and waiting and waiting…. I also couldn’t remember when the battery was replaced. After a few automated questions and a minimal wait time, even after being told that I would experience longer than normal wait times due to a high volume of calls - thanks iPhone; I was talking to a real live human being.
I explained the issue. He checked the records. The battery is a wear item and isn’t covered under warranty (like tires on a car)… He took my info and pleaded my case to his superior for authorization. three minutes later, the CS Rep was back on the phone with me and I was getting a replacement sent in 7-10 days. Ugh.
Fast forward. Trip to the Apple Store SF to see the chaos. No shopping today. Email arrives. Its the shipping notification with tracking! What? Cool! Rite on. Disco. Party on. Wait, what? next day? Shiny disco balls and all that.
Arrived to work this morning to find the package waiting for me. Read the replacement battery instructions - kidding… repackaged and sent the defective battery back to Apple in the prepaid return shipping box. Rad.
Now back to mobile computing with a fresh battery.
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