an eventful day four

Edit: Argh! I spoke too soon. They fixed the initial problem, which was that the iPod wouldn't restore, but now it's fine being restored (most of the time), but it can't actually finish a file transfer session with iTunes, even if it's only ONE song. Back to the store tomorrow, maybe. At least I found this out after I finished my quota for the day, otherwise I don't think I could've gotten anything done...

Most of today was spent trying to get my iPod working, and I didn't really get a chance to start on today's quota until I got to the genius bar in Manhattan Beach. That was actually a fun experience. I'd never had to go to a genius bar before, so I never went, although I did go with Matt and Hannah to the one in Connecticut to get Matt's powerbook once.

I basically sat at the bar for half an hour with my powerbook, writing, while other customers asked me about why I chose a 12" over a 15". I got the feeling that they didn't trust the salespeople and wanted a second opinion and "Oh look, there's a real customer over there happily typing away at her powerbook. I'll ask her." I thought it was funny because, while it's not my job to sell macs (unlike some people :P), I have a strong streak of Mac evangelism running through me, as do most happy Mac customers, which these people should realize by now if they're in an Apple Store buying a computer. The genius bar guy thought it was funny, too. Especially after a couple of these guys came by and a salesguy asked a question about the size of an audiobook file (which I happen to know...).

It was hard to stay silent while listening to this kid describe having the same "defect" with both of his brand new iPods (he'd exchanged the first one last night). Clearly, if the exact same thing happens every time you turn on any iPod, the problem is not the iPod, it's you. Neither the kid nor his mother seemed to understand this.

I was starting to get really cold in the air conditioned mall. Luckily, it was my turn next. Somehow, the "Restore" function in the store's version of iPod updater managed to restore my iPod, while my version was apparently "defective." I had tried restoring for about two hours before finally giving in and going to the store. But, all's well that ends well. I got my iPod back and still managed to hit 8000 words today (with my lowest word count/day yet, but at least I made it). And I got to write at the beach, which I'd been meaning to do since I started nanowrimo on Tuesday.