Another Raving Fan Story

 
I know its been a while since my last blog entry.  A lot has happened in the last week.

I lost my job.   I drove down to Salt Lake City with my mom and dad.  I'm staying at my sister Wilma's place.   On the weekend Alana came up and hung out with us.   More on all this later but first I have to share another Raving Fan Story while its fresh in my mind.
 
 

Alana brought her Macbook with her.  She's been having a few problems with it lately.  Her CD/DVD drive hasn't been working, her touch pad double-clicks when it should be single clicking and her power supply wasn't always charging her battery.   But even with all those problems her Mac still makes her smile,

 

 

 

I told her I would take it in to the Apple Store today to get it checked out.  So this morning my dad and I drove down to the Salt Lake City Apple Store 

      

What a busy place.   I felt like a kid in a toy store.  Not only do they have all the products there, you get to play with them   It was so busy that you had to make an appointment just to talk to someone about computer.  We were there at 10:45 and the next available time was 3:30.   I must admit that I left with a bit of a bad attitude because of that.   At 3:30 I returned and met with an Mac Genius at the Genius Bar.

  
 
Now before we go any further I need to point out that Alana has had this computer for nearly 2 years.  She did not get the extended warranty on this and it comes with a 1 year warranty.   So there is no warranty on this one.   I figured this would all cost between $300 and $400 to fix everything.   I even thought about ordering the parts online and fixing it myself after I confirmed that the drive was dead.

Mac Genius Terry helped me.  As soon as he opened the laptop before he even asked me what was wrong he noticed that the top bezel was cracked and he said - that's a known problem with this model and we'll fix it.   When I told him the issues he checked everything out and confirmed that the power supply had a loose connection and the drive needed to be replaced.   Then he said something I didn't expect at all.   He said that the power supply shouldn't do that so he would replace it as well.  And then the big surprise.... he said that since they had to replace the bezel and keyboard  replacing the drive would be easy because the computer would be all apart.   He said that they would cover the entire repair.   He excused himself to go check if they had the parts in stock.  A short time later he said all the parts were in and that it would take about a day to do the repairs.   They would call when it was ready.  We did the paperwork and I was on my way (around 4 pm)

So tomorrow the plan was to go get the computer when they called.   But they fooled me.   They called tonight around 8 pm to say it was ready for pickup.   So I headed back to the store.   About 5 minutes later I walked out with Alana's "new" computer.

Its hard to see in the picture but the entire keyboard, touchpad and bezel (top around keyboard) is all new.  There is a new CD/DVD drive and the power supply is new.  Total Cost in US$ = $0.00.

I find this amazing.   Granted the computer shouldn't be having problems like this, but Apple exceeded all my expectations on this one.    Even the under promising and over delivering on how long it would take.  I'm a raving fan.

(I was so happy that I was tempted to spend on the money I just saved in that store (but I didn't).)

Trip to Edmonton

Yesterday I drove to Edmonton for a Chamber of Commerce event.

Want to save money on your electricity bill?

    

The event I was at was only a couple blocks from where Jacqui and Brent live.  In a comment she complained that she never knew when I was in town so this time I let her know.  I was going to go straight home because I didn't want to get home too late but Jacqui invited me over for pie.   She was so persuasive.

This is the picture I tried to take of the 3 of us by holding the camera up and pointing it towards us.  As you can see I'm not very good at this.   I only got the edge of my glasses.

    

Jacqui thought it was pretty funny and took the camera away from me and showed me how it was done.

    It was a short but nice visit.

     

Then I drove home.   Earl dropped by and stayed the night because he had an early morning flight to catch.   When I got home we had a nice visit.

   

Me and Earl and more pie. 

I forgot what a wonderful voice you have

Today was the Primary Presentation in our Ward.  Sorry I don't have any pictures.  Its the first year that our kids have all graduated from Primary but they asked our family to sing a song so I figured its about the 21st year that we have had at least one daughter in the Primary Presentation.   Our primary is small - only about 12 kids - With teachers they only took 1/3 of the choir seats.  Not like when our older kids were in primary.  Back then for the presentation they had to bring up additional chairs and even then some of the the younger classes had to sit on the first couple rows in the congregation.  But it was nice because every child got to give a short talk.   Mom and Jamie and Jenelle and I same "Home" (#193 in the Children's Songbook).  I didn't know the song but we did sing it about 3 times before I left for meetings this morning.  

It was a busy day for me - I did a closing remarks talk in Sacrament meeting.   I went to Primary and spoke there and then I talked in Relief Society as well.   I must confess something else.   I sang in all three meetings as well.   The theme of the Primary Presentation was "I Am a Child of God".  They kids sang it in English but there was a girl who speaks Spanish who sang "I Am a Child of God" in Spanish.  There are a couple of girls from Korea who sang it in Korean.   So I tried to remember it in Japanese.  Good thing we had Naotaka, the Japanese exchange student in our ward, because I wrote down the words as I remembered them and then he corrected it for me.   When I went into Primary I had this crazy idea to sing it in Japanese for the kids.   I don't know who was more surprised, the kids, the teachers or me.  From there I had to run to Relief Society to talk.  One of the sisters in there came from Primary so she heard me sing and let everyone else know what happened.   They requested that I do it in Relief Society.  I said that I would at the end if they were reverent (hoping that they would forget).   My talk went well - I talked about the Lord answering our prayers and shared some stories with them.   At the end they didn't forget about my promise to sing if they were reverent.  They wouldn't let me leave until I sang "I am a Child of God" in Japanese. (Kami no ko desu).  I hope they recover from hearing that.

On Thursday and Friday I was in Edmonton for work.  Friday morning we did a seminar that seemed to go well.   After it was done I packed up and figured I would go to the temple.  

When I walked in to the room to be seated I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple from my ward in Calgary.   The sister was so shocked to see me walk in.  She asked me if Judy was there.     After the session I met Judy's mom's cousin in the hallway and he asked me if Judy was there and then asked how she was.   Then I saw the Temple Matron (who used to live in our ward in Calgary).  Guess what the first thing she asked me was.... "Is Judy here?"   She went a step further and said with a smile "I don't want to talk to you, I want to talk to Judy".    Then the Temple President came out - Guess what the first thing he asked me was..... no, it wasn't that.  He asked me how I was doing.  The second question was "Is Judy here with you?"  Now I must admit that I'm not offended by this as I don't blame them for asking.  I'd rather talk to Judy as well.  Plus its easier on the eyes to look at her.    Next Friday I have to be in Edmonton again for work.  I've already talked to Judy about the possibility of her coming with me so that we can go to the temple together.

I was tagged

I've never been tagged and I'm not sure about some of the questions but since everyone else has done it I'll make up some answers.


1. Where is your cell phone?  In my phone holster on my belt.  The belt is on a pair of pants that I'm not in - they are laying on my bed.

2. Where is your significant other?  Sitting on the couch

3. Your hair color?  Black with more grey every day

4. Your mother? Grandmabashi

5. Your father?  Grandpa Joey

6. Your favorite thing?   Being together with family

7. Your dream last night?  I dreamed that I was going down a river on pillows.  Like white water rafting but holding onto a big pillow.  I guess it was white water pillowing.

8. Your dream/goal?  To go white water pillowing.  To drive a Zamboni.   Seriously I dream about going to Hawaii to be together with the family.

9. The room you're in?  The family room

10.Your hobby?  I used to go running, now I spend that time eating.   I need a new hobby.

11. Your fear?  I don't get these questions right.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?  Still alive and kicking

13. Where were you last night?   In St. Albert, Alberta for a Chamber of Commerce Banquet.  Our company was one of the sponsors.  I got to sit at the table with the President of the Chamber. 

14. What you're not ?  Getting some of these questions.

15. One of your wish-list items?  The economy rebounds quickly.  

16. Where you grew up?  Picture Butte, Alberta 

17. The last thing you ate?   Stir fry

18. What are you wearing?  Running attire (do not conclude that I was running)

19. Your TV?  Toshiba 32" old style tube TV


20. Your pet? Don't need pets - I have kids.

21. Your computer?  iMac - at home.   IBM Laptop - at work.   I wish I had a macbook at work.

22. Your mood?   The ring is black. What does that mean?

23. Missing someone?  Yes - family in Hawaii and Utah.

24. Your car? Has duct tape keeping the rain out.  Check it out here .

25. Something you're not wearing?  Spandex (My kids have forbidden me)

26. Favorite store?   Toss up between Princess Auto and Costco

27. Your summer?  Came and went too quickly.

28. Love someone?  Yes

29. Your favorite color?   Blue

30. When is the last time you laughed?   A few minutes ago when I read Wilma's blog about when she asked me to "Fill up her glass" when I was going to the bathroom.

31. Last time you cried?  Today.  I cry a lot lately but it doesn't mean I'm sad.