Lousy Thursday

Instant Karma's gonna get you

Gonna knock you right in the head

You better get yourself together

Pretty soon your gonna be dead

(Lennon, John. "Instant Karma." Single. Apple, 1970)

I was driving into work on Thursday the 8th when I heard that Apple was releasing the third gen iPad.  There was no annocement of the name, but I doubt it will be called the iPad 3 given Apple’s superstitions.  Given how poorly the Apple III and the LCIII did, it’s no wonder they have a problem with that number.

A co-worker of mine is an avid iPad user.  I almost admire his tenacity given that he is surrounded by Android users.  Still, I had to ask if he planed on purchasing the new one and, of course, had to give him crap when he said that he was.  To be fair, I admitted that, since he had a gen 1 a gen 3 was probably not a bad idea if he wanted any of the new features.  I, of course, stick with a system until it falls apart. (This is foreshadowing, by the way)

After work I took the trek from NE Portland (damn near Gresham) all the way into Beaverton.  There’s a cafe there that I’d been meaning to go to for years and, as I was headed to Uwajimaya, it would make a good side trip.

I normally take surface streets going home.  It seems that day I-84 and I-5 were packed up, so the surface streets were packed.  Traffic took forever.  To make matters worse, I really needed a restroom.  Eventually, I reached my destination.

I headed straight for the restroom.  In use.  Fine.  Wait in line.  Order a cafe au lait.  Noticed that they have cappuccino, but sell it in late cups.  (Oh, dear, loss of points.  Unless a 16 oz. cup is 5 oz espresso, 5 oz. hot milk and 6 oz. foam this never turns out well.)  It would seem that the person taking orders is the same person on the espresso machine, meaning I have to wait for the 5 people in front of me to get their drinks.  Not to worry, I still need the restroom.  On the way I noted a woman with a Mac Book, still using the box it came in as the carry case.  (Mental note: write something silly about this once I get set up.)

Restroom still in use.  Return to counter.  Wait for drink.  Get drink.  Try restroom.  Still in use.  FINE.

I stepped out side for a cigarette.  Normally I can make it on just a PV but something about Beaverton make me want to smoke.  Standing outside where I can look in and see the restroom, but far enough away to not annoy patrons (then noted most of them were smoking, so I don’t know why I bother) I discover my bad choice.  See, I was standing next to their waterfall.  The sound of this was unbearable.

Cigarette finished.  Restroom still in use.  Found a table.  It was a table reserved for two or more people.  Screw it.  I have enough personalities to meet this.  I fire up my laptop, log in and...  The track pad stops working.  I had bumped the button that turns it off.  For some reason this kills it and it will not turn back on (It did this in both Vista and, when I got sick of Vista, Linux).  Rebooted.  Track pad on but not working.  Tried older kernel rev nothing.  

A man finally steps out of the gent’s.  Remember the woman with the Mac Book I mentioned earlier?  Yeah, he goes and sits down with her.  This means the entire time I’ve been here (half an hour) he’s been hogging the bathroom.  Never mind that, I run in the most dignified manner possible to the restroom.

I get back to my laptop.  One last attempt.  Now the keyboard doesn’t work.  Ok, try the latest kernel... NO OPERATING SYSTEM FOUND.  Oh, fuckberries!  THIS is not good.  Check BIOS.  Confirmed, it isn’t seeing my hard drive.  The controller had died.

The next day, I took the drive into work and tested it.  Other than massive corruption, nothing wrong with the drive.  Time for a new laptop.

But first things first.

I apologized to the previously mentioned co-worker and asked him to remove the curse before my new laptop arrived.

I wish him nothing but happiness with his new iPad when he gets it.