I'm Usually A Wimp ... But NOT Yesterday

I'm coming to you today from my wonderful, lovely, fabulous, spectacular COMPUTER!!!  It's a long story.  I'll make it short ... kind of.

Since my computer didn't arrive Tuesday, I started tracking it Wednesday.  Around 3:00 I got an email that said it had been delivered.  WHAT??  I ran around outside in 115 degree heat to find it.  In a panic, I called FedEx who said they delivered it, even got a signature.  I yelled pretty loudly while running to all the houses in the neighborhood banging on the doors.  I found it two houses away where the FedEx gal had not asked to verify the name OR the address.  She just left it there.

I unboxed my beauty and hit the start button.  Imagine my surprise when I read "cannot transfer data ... incorrect operating system".  I'm usually a wimp.  I let people take advantage of me, overcharge me, not do what they say, and I do nothing.  I hate confrontation.  NOT THIS TIME!!  I was mad because they had wiped the hard drive clean, meaning Photoshop was gone with the wind and access to all my images was gone with it.   All my pictures are RAW and PSD files, which cannot be opened unless you have the correct program on your computer.

I can't even find out whether photoshop can still be used because instead of installing the operating system I had, they installed one that was three years old.  I went ballistic!!  At least I called first, giving them fair warning.  I'M MAD AND YOU NEED TO FIX THIS!!

I drove an hour to the Apple store.  I made it perfectly clear I was as mad as a wet hen.  I wasn't waiting 30 minutes or even 5 minutes.  They needed to fix this NOW!!  I related the story, including running around the neighborhood trying to find my computer.  They could have cared less.

I got louder.  People started talking.  They finally got their "best" specialist to help me, who agreed to install the correct operating system AND my backup.  Just sign here that if we lose all your data it's not our fault.  My tolerance level hit the floor.  When Zack, one of the managers came over and tried to say "okay, maybe we better just not do anything .. not touch your machine at all", I exploded ... and I'm NOT sorry.

I told him in no uncertain terms to shut up.  Don't try using reverse psychology on me because it won't work.  I'm NOT signing another "you aren't responsible" statement.  You aren't even IN this conversation!!  At long last the "best" suggested he install the operating system, make sure the backup is going to work, then let me do the backup at home.  That's what we did.  Once it was installed, I got a Tech on the phone, who tweeked things here and there.

Believe it or not, my Photoshop actually worked.  All my images came back on the computer and it WORKED.  I cried.   Here's a picture of my patio to prove it!!

So maybe sometimes you DO have to be a crazed, bitchy old lady and create a BIG commotion to finally get people to pay attention.  Not that it made them care ... they STILL didn't care one little bit, but by golly THIS time they fixed their screwup.  Which begs the question, if it worked this time and Photoshop is still there, why didn't it work three years ago when I had to do the same type of backup??

Sooooo ... now to catch up little by little!  Here's the doe and her not-so-little baby that treated me to a visit a few days ago.  They never come at the same time of day, but have visited me three times.

Baby was just as wary as Mom .. she has taught him well .. as they snacked on the trees and had long drinks at the bucket.

In the interest of keeping this short, I'll stop with the pictures and show you more tomorrow.  In the meantime, to prevent anything like this happening again, because I don't think I can take another incidence of steam coming out my ears and my head exploding, I'm doing a once-a-week backup, which takes just a few minutes (previously I only did one every 6 months).  

I'm also going to subscribe to Photoshop from the net, although I'm not sure my little MiFi can handle that.  You have to connect to your internet service, then the application, which remains on THEIR server in the sky.  The downside is the amount of data you use every time you sign on.  

Now to check my bank accounts and see just how much damage I've done.  Hopefully I won't be crying AGAIN!!!