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I was in bed by 1AM, unconscious by 1:30,
somehow I slept - even through the barrage on the door by the cat trying
to get in and sleep on my fluffy robe. Cold, I sleep under two full-length
robes - one of fake purple fur. They like that one too.
Of course, the full sized, over-sized down
comforter rests in the linen chest in the family room - waiting for me
to anchor the down by stitching it into pockets. It slides around. Ends
up in the sides of the comforter while I freeze in the middle.
I was awake by 4:55 and out of bed by 5:15
- pretty good.
I stumbled into the kitchen - tea I think.
My insides will not stand coffee.
I wake up the computer.
Open the Apple sales-notice e-mails.
DVD DRIVE 065-1906 DVD RAM drive w/DVD
Video
And call the 800 number I have been given
for sales support.
And listen through 3 levels of voice mail
and an "all representatives are busy" notice.
Then I get to play phone in ear forever.
(Finally saw the wrong street address (but
typed close enough to miss on a small-font e-mail!) Why we had to hunt
it down. And the $10 expedited shipping - ho! ho! ho!)
So I go into "hold" mode - because no one
is answering the line. And I stay there - for 45 minutes!
Scanned all the pictures out of the Spa
magazine and turned the woman into a gray wall. Just want Fabio.
Figured out how to get those grainy black magazine photo spots out of
a picture but it was fuzzy anyway. (Did the camera person hate Fabio?
That article has the worst photos of him I've ever seen! I would bet that
the photographer and/or editor didn't like him. Of course, the I Can't
Believe It's Not Butter cookbook isn't great either. The cruise ships
shots are better. Hey - I do better with a disposable camera! And I have
gained skills with the Rebel-G!)
Hung up. Went back in. Called technical support.
Thought a human on the line might be nice.
At 5:59 AM. Not good enough - "Please call
back". They start at 6AM.
OK.
I'm here. Now what.
Here we go - I call again. It is 6AM. The
recording is still on.
I dial again - "Due to the product transition
you may be experiencing a longer than usual hold time". Recording again.
I will give it 5 minutes.
No I won't.
I call back. Let's see if they are awake.
Technical support goes into a blank mode then
pays another voice mail at me.
Choose again.
And wait.
"From time to time we may monitor our calls....."
Monitor this!
No the recording is off - but I am on hold
again. "All representatives are still busy". Try all our representatives
are out having coffee.
I wait.
Give them the benefit of the doubt.
Aha! A human!
I squint and find the serial number.
I get a case number. I also state that I had
been on hold for 45 minutes. (Oh - they don't start until 8AM Central.
That is not what sales said last night and I had encountered a human along
the way - transferring me into hold hell.)
What is it that I need so they can transfer
me yet again?
I tell him.
We play describe the drive - they can, it
seems, tell by the side walls that it is in fact a DVD-RAM and the system
software reports it a CD-ROM. (I was hoping that was the case! Something
about how fast they update software at work rang a bell.)
Seems the DVD comes in a small case and sits
in the side walls as opposed to the CDs which sit in the tiny recession
at the bottom of the tray. More or less. (Sometimes you have to push them
in twice.)
This is the clue.
Step 1.
Good.
Step 2.
CD-R won't work. He says, "Of course!"
I can READ CDs. I have to write a DVD-RAM
disk. This is different.
When I've had backward compatibles before,
they read and wrote the previous incarnation (200MB Syquest - not yet
plugged into this one - writes and reads 44MB, 88MB and 200MB cartridges.)
Reasonable for me to assume that the DVD could write and read CD and DVD.
I haven't yet moved to DVD for movies (about to) so I have never held
a cartridge. Just knew I needed it. (There is probably a software driver
or a drive-version that would allow this but I don't have it.) I haven't
even bothered to read the specs. Unusual but I like to play "user"
as opposed to "engineer' wehn dealing with my own computer. Plug
and play. And who reads user manuals? I just write them.
I have had DVD (in the G3 notebook) but only
read CDs on it.
Ditto my son and his G4.
We've never played. Which is why I was trying
to play last night. (My older son burns CDs all the time and he had described
the operation in terms of a CD.) This was to be my first Hellova introduction.
Aha!
He scrolls through his database.
He suggests a few stores (ComputerWare. Fry's.)
Aha!
He suggests the one I shop at.
I will shop. It's right near the office. On
the way to work. Or on lunch hour time.
I thank him for saving my life and hang up.
I am happy now.
Until I realize I still don't have the missing
Fedex so I'm not sure if I am happy.
And until I check the Banta list and no listing
is there for DVD.
Time for early-morning e-mail and a nap.
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