Wednesday, January 30, 2008, posted by Q6 at 8:19 PM
My latest saga is a bit drawn out. I'm gonna hit the highlights here (I can always address details based on comments) and you'll get the gist of what I'm going through.

My iPod got stolen. I was at work on a Saturday and someone boosted it from the dock on my desk. The feeling of violation was bad enough (one friend of mine compared it to "stealing the jewel from the eye of the holy statue from the middle of the temple," which I thought was cool), but I liked my little digital-bundle-of-80s-goodness. That, and the iPods went through another overhaul--you can't get the 30-gig classic anymore, and I don't have enough music--let alone data on my entire computer, to fill an 80-gig iPod.

So I went out and got an 80-gig iPod classic. Easy enough. The Apple Store even e-mails your receipt. I hooked it up, loaded everything, and was back to normal. (I don't take it to work anymore, though.) All was going fine with "Percy" (my fiancee named him--I don't know why, exactly, but she did, and it's cute)--then it was Apple that screwed me.

Every so often Apple updates its software and asks you to install the updates. I've read Internet horror stories about how these updates threaten your digital life, but I've never really had a problem with them (I won't do them every time, but I'll do the major ones). So my new iPod already had a software update available. I dowloaded it, and I installed it. Then Percy had to disconnect and reconnect for the changes to take effect (it was supposed to take about 20 seconds). Percy disconnected.

And that's the last we've heard of Percy. Percy's been in a coma since late last night. I did a bit of eResearch and discovered that if you hold two of the buttons down long enough, the thing resets and wakes back up, so I hooked him back into the computer and held the buttons down, as instructed. I got this:

I'm still following Apple's advice (what choice do I have, really?) and I took Percy in to the Apple Store for a checkup (and a cure). They have a service desk called the "Genius Bar"--the most pretentious name in the history of the world, as far as I'm concerned, for a service desk comprised of twelve-year-old computer geeks--and Apple's website said that I should go there since the iPod was still under warranty (after four days, it damn well better be). AND THEY TURNED ME AWAY because I didn't have an appointment. (And I thought the name was pretentious.) Seven stools, three "geniuses" and only two customers, but I needed an appointment.

Percy's going back in on Friday afternoon. I'll keep you posted.