i don’t know how these things happen.
saturday morning i left the house, leaving a speech bubble trailing behind me: “im just going to the apple shop up the street. and then maybe i’ll go into the city. i’m not buying a computer today. i’m just going to have a look. i’m not buying a computer today. i’m just researching. i’m not buying…”
going to the apple shop is like going to a cake shop, all those things i want to lick and touch, behind glass display cases. the cake shop is generally more fun, because i usually come away with something, and in the process i haven’t had to think of smart-sounding questions to ask the salesperson so he doesn’t think i’m a bimbo.
so, saturday, i think i asked about RAM and processors, and running classic, and so they knew i was a savvy consumer, i also asked if they give discounts for cash sales. (“yes, but not much,” was the reply.)
and then the bus to the city, and a bowl of hae mee (which, due to the two halves of a prawn and the 27 strips of chicken gracing the noodles, should be renamed “kae mee”), and a lift up to electronics where i asked about RAM and processors and classic, and “what do you mean, i won’t be able to start up in OS9 unless i have a hardware-specific version of the installation software and where do i get this from and are you serious? my friends or ebay?”
at one point, one of the questions i asked was, “what’s the difference between this model and this model?”, identical but for 10% off the one hidden in the shadows.
“oh. this one,” said the salesperson, pointing to the slightly more expensive one gleaming in the spotlights, “has a faster graphics card…”
“um. uh huh?”
“but also, if you take this one we will throw in microsoft office and a bag.”
“oh. um.” i said. “what colour is the bag?”
shortly after that i had to take the lift back downstairs. besides telling me that the bag was available in black and red or black and green, the salesperson also told me that the promotion ended today, no, actually, tomorrow. i had decisions to make. i needed strength. i had a weak latte and a tiny chocolate-raspberry brownie. i read the product brochures over and over. i sent out two SOS SMSs. one reply came immediately: “do it”. the other, much later: “i was asleep”.
procrastinating, i got off the elevator at christmas foods and finally surrendered to the pink and silver-foiled wonder that is lindt’s new petites merveilles, that i had stalked twice previously while prowling the twinkly aisles. that gnawing feeling in my stomach intensified as i rode the escalator up a floor, but i couldn’t tell if it was the coffee or the impending purchase.
“ah! you’re back,” said the salesperson. “you went for a walk to think about it?”
“i had some chocolate and thought about it,” i said, and, “i’m a little bit stressed out right now.”
and so. it sits gleaming on my desk right now, this magnificent silver beast. stone cold. i haven’t really used it yet, because the battery doesn’t charge. two calls to the tech support boffins, and still the battery sits at 0% full — the optimist in me would say 100% empty — and the time needed to fully charge fluctuates between 144 and 200 minutes, even though it’s been plugged in for three days.
12 Comments
Damn. I hope it works. I really do.
I am in the market for a new computer myself. Boy’s laptop is finally dying in front of me, the space bar has completely fallen off. Which one did you end up getting? Boy wants me to get a Mac but I am a PC girl.
By the way, where is this scant Har Mee you are eating? I like the one down the stairs near Chanel but only har mee on the weekends.
Did you name your new toy? Usually if you give it a name, and softly say ti while rubbing the power button, things magically work.
And
How were the Lindt chocolates? I have also stopped and looked at the dusky pink box a few tmes. Once I even held it up to The Boy and said “Look!” He just shrugged…
I thought I was being clear about my wants. Hmph. Perhaps it will eb third time lucky for me.
Is the little light on the plug glowing orange?
sue: hmm… a missing space bar could lead to all sorts of trendy typographic layouts.
i am extremely pissed off with apple’s after sales “service” at the moment (in fact i am even more pissed off with the apple service centre at broadway than i was with the hae mee, which was actually tasty though much less prawny than on previous occasions, and which was had at the malaysian place under the stairs in the walkway between QVB and myer) but, um, get the mac.
actually, whatever, get the PC!! i’m sure XP is lovely.
saffron: hmm… those sound like pointers for another type of website.
i think it has been proven, on this website, in the case of the beehouse teapot, that if you want a boy to get you something, you must be embarrassingly specific and direct. soldier on!
oh! i haven’t actually opened the lindt yet. still making my way through a ritter sport marzipan bar.
ben: yes! but also, green! and then switching between the two, with me doing nothing! um, why, what do you know?
soo, which kind of apple did you pick from the apple tree?
if i’d known ahead of time, mebbe i’d recommend to wait… the new lower-power-consuming Intel-based laptops and mac minis are coming out at the beginning of 2006.
oh – didnt realise just how crude i can be :/
perhaps i will give the boy a list of chocolate id like and he could choose. i always like a bit of a suprise.
When it’s green, it should be fully charged. If it turns orange again while the thing’s still plugged in, I’m afraid yer fucked, and need a new battery. 🙂
If in fact it has turned green and eventually stayed green, you now need to calibrate your battery by letting the Mac know the “distance” between “full” and “empty”. Unplug your Mac and then let it drain, right to the bottom of its capacity — go to Energy Saver in System Preferences and make sure it isn’t set to sleep. When you’ve got a few minutes of battery left, an alert will come up saying that it’s on reserve power. Ignore this. Eventually it’ll just *have* to go to sleep — at this point you can plug it back in. Now your battery’s calibrated, and should no longer be giving you crazy estimates for charge-times.
nice to see it’s the technology issues that bring the boys out of the woodwork! 🙂
hikaru: if it worked, it would be a 15″ powerbook (1.67mHz, 512MBRAM, 80GBHD, superdrive). alas, it is just a fancy silver magazine holder on my desk.
ben: yes, it is the former, i am fucked. i’ve been told tuesday is the day i become unfucked, when a battery with my name on it arrives in the mail. can you hear a grinding noise? it is not a hard drive spinning; it is my teeth gnashing.
GRRRRR, annnoying!
Poor for you. I hope it gets unfucked quickly.