
(Tip: it's not just that they all look extra-cool... though that helps!)
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know I had a major hiccup with my Mac Book yesterday. Something happened during the most recent Software Update which I was unaware of until I shut down the computer (a couple of nights ago). When I went to turn it back on, it wouldn't go past the startup screen (we saw the Apple logo come up and then it showed the blue screen that follows... and then nothing else).
Lucky for us, I realized this was happening while we were at the Apple Store in Palo Alto. I spent a while looking at this and learning from a great guy called Tom, who used to be a SysAdmin in the Bay Area for over 20 years and now helps people in the Apple Store. :)
After we determined that it was beyond his ability, I made an appointment with the Genius Bar for later. Within 30 minutes (it took that long due to the diagnostic tool), we knew what was up and the solution: the OS had to be reinstalled. The genius helped me copy my whole user folder, to make sure all my data was saved and I came back for the machine and started the Leopard installation process at home.
Before I left the store, I got a new external drive, one that REALLY feels robust (on the outside it's just the same structure of a Mac Pro): a 500GB G-Drive, so we can use it as a drive for the foundation. Although I had my own personal drive I was using for Time Machine backups, I realized I should be ready with another drive that I can have set as a bootable drive, in the event something like this happens again.
I am now almost back to where things were (in terms of data and applications) before the issue. I am honestly not upset but thankful: the people at the Apple Store really were great, knowledgeable and patient.