Middle Child

Reading has always been one of my favorite pastimes, so I've gathered a lot of seemingly useless information. Many of them stick in my head and pop back out at odd moments. I was just sitting here remembering something I read years ago. People can often use nightly news programs to demonstrate the different tendencies children manifest due to their birth orders. That sounds absurd at first glance, but it made sense in the article. 

The anchor or interviewer was generally a middle child. They would ask the questions, get the facts. They would try to keep everything in order and make sure that fairness was observed. (Obviously they didn't work for today's NBC.) The person being interviewed was most often an oldest child, the leader of the pack. They blazed trails, made the news, set the limits. It was their position that rated the most coverage in any conversation. The weatherman was the baby of the family. Can you spell "comic relief?" I thought you could. 

I was the middle child. Worse than that, I was the second middle child. Or maybe I was the only middle child, and my sister Ellen was the second oldest child. I guess that would be more true, as she was the oldest daughter. She was also the first child Dad got to know as a baby, since he was off in World War II when Pat was born. So that's it. I was the only middle child, and Kenny was the baby. I can be forgiven for trying to flush him down the toilet. I didn't understand comic relief.

I understood fairness, and it didn't seem fair that everybody who used to run in and look at me suddenly went running in to look at him. He wasn't that cute. I really was in the middle. Ellen was seventeen months older than me. Kenny was seventeen months younger than me. Ellen was beautiful. Kenny was cute. I turned into a great student.

So if you're a middle child, I'll bet you've learned to do a lot of things. Maybe you play a couple of instruments, like the guitar and accordion. Those are fun. Perhaps you like to craft. Crochet and knitting are fun and handy. Leather tooling and bead work are also really cool. You could have been up there in the top of your class. Maybe not—I got a B once. (Stupid teacher.) But however you handled being in the middle, I'll bet you had some fun—probably more than the others.

I'm Smiling

I sat at the counter with my knitting needles going, keeping an eye on the monitor and making oddball remarks with the Apple Genius Bar staff who kept checking the progress on the latest iPod loading endeavor. Will it work this time? After a couple of hours into the new day, it had been determined that, once again, a new iPod should be brought into play. It was the last one on the shelf. I'm trying to remember if it was the 5th or 6th we'd gone through trying to solve this series of disasters. I was thinking of repapering the powder room with the paperwork.

Occasionally I'd dip into the cookies. They were a big hit, and I'm glad. It was quite an experience, spending so much time on that stool at the Genius Bar. If I were going to do it often, I think I'd forget cookies and donate a decent stool—one with padding. One of the guys there said he thought we should have a name plate put on "my" stool. I still think one with a cushion would be a better idea. 

When we first got the new iPod out, one of the first screens to greet us was the "New iTunes Update Available" screen. Levi thought we should do that later, but I voted no. One thing I was sure of was that the problems had started shortly after the last time iTunes had been updated. It might not sound like much, but maybe there's something in the 160 Gig iPod Classic that disagrees with that particular version of iTunes, so I wanted to do the update first. 

I utilize a strange kind of logic. Isn't it Occam's Razor that says that you knock off everything that's most unlikely, and what's left, even if unproven, is your most probable answer? You're not supposed to start adding in assumptions. Anyway, we started downloading the new iPod with the same library we've been attempting to load for the last three weeks. We used the new iTunes software on an untouched iPod, and added the library by Playlists. It was a slow way to do it, but I wasn't taking any unnecessary chances. We ejected and checked the unit at the end of each segment download, and never had a single failure. 

We were in and out of there in about five and a half hours. I put my headphones on and listened to the end of Ann McCaffrey's White Dragon on the way home. I'm still smiling. 

I got a lot of knitting done during my visits to the Apple store, met some really great people, and was treated wonderfully. Maybe in a week or two, I'll stop by just to say "hi." I wonder if they'll duck and run when they see me coming through the door... Probably not—unless I've got my knitting bag with me.

On Karma, Hope, and a Cookie Recipe

I made cookies tonight to take into the Apple Store with me tomorrow morning. It's to thank them for all their help in getting the iPod problem resolved. I'm cautiously optimistic, even excited perhaps, that I'll be getting my little audio friend back by the time we come home tomorrow.

I made our family's favorite cookies, too. Mama's pecan rolled Rich Sugar Cookies. They have to be the most addictive little things I've ever eaten—very short life expectancy. So does this mean I believe in Karma? Good cookies come out of my home and a good iPod will come back into it? Maybe I should plead the 5th on that one. The jury is still out. Part of me believes in Karma. All of me believes in it part of the time. That's probably more accurate.

I don't think any of us get what we deserve all the time. I know I don't. I'm sure glad of that. Imagine if we always got what we deserved? I don't think any of us would be amused. Tomorrow, though, I'll bring the cookies. I don't really believe they'll help fix the iPod, but it's the thought that counts. Actually, in cookies, it's the taste, so here's the recipe. Mama wouldn't mind. She's always happy to share.

Mama's Rich Sugar Cookie

Cream:
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Margarine
2 Eggs
1 Cup Oil
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup White Sugar

Mix together and add in small batches to creamed mixture:
4 Cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cream of Tartar
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla

Chill thoroughly (several hours or overnight), well sealed.

Roll walnut-sized balls of cookie dough in finely chopped pecans.
Press with fork or fingers on cookie sheet.
Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes.

The Great iPod Caper Continues

Yesterday morning at 8:30 a.m., after packing up the misbehaving iPod, the computer and the two drives that contained duplicates of my iTunes library (the original one on the USB drive, and the newly copied files on the Firewire II drive) we drove to the Flatiron Crossing Apple Store. John and I arrived just in time for our 9:45 a.m. arrival time. When you have a ten o'clock appointment, they let you in the door before the store actually opens.

I'm going to skip ahead right now and admit that we walked out of the store at 8:15 last night—without the iPod, which had been replaced yet again, or the Firewire drive with its library files. The marvelous men from the Genius Bar are going to continue trying to solve the riddle of the iPod that wouldn't until my next appointment, which will be Thursday morning at the same time as yesterday. Now I'll talk a bit about my day at the Apple Store.

During the day, I don't think there was a single store employee who didn't ask me if I was okay, or apologize for the length of time it was taking to diagnose and correct the problem. Since I was there for just short of the entire time the store was open that day, I saw how busy these people were. It's amazing to me that those not directly involved with my issues even had time to realize I was there. 

Matt was the first to tackle the problem. He had worked with me on one of my other visits, so was aware that this was not a first time problem. I had printed out the blog I'd written, hitting both the highlights of the saga and what we had done, both at the store and at home to overcome the problems. He read the entire blog with diligence and attention. I had expected him to skim it. I don't know why, but that's what I thought would happen. Then he looked me in the eye and said, "This really helps. Thank you." Wow. If we're going to erect a big chalk board to tally points, that gives him several.

Soon the equipment was up and humming, and Matt let me know the meaning of multitasking, as he helped an assortment of people without stopping his work on my problem. When my iPod was busy with a check, or trying to download, he was treating another customer to the same gracious and respectful expertise as he gave me during that long day. His lunch hour was covered by another young man who, unfortunately, didn't wear a name tag. He was great, though, and kept at it until Matt returned.

It was finally determined, after multiple changes, checks, and attempts failed, to again replace the iPod. By this time, Aaron came on the scene. Matt began ensuring that he knew what had been done and what still needed to be done before we could call this a success. 

Aaron and Matt continued mothering my equipment while helping a horde of customers with questions and problems. Some of them were quick fixes. Many of the questions I could have answered myself. A good majority of the questions could have been answered by the people with ten minutes on Apple's web site. Their tech notes are great, but I guess most of these people don't live an hour from the Apple Store. I asked Matt at one point, after he so politely answered the same (dumb) question for about the third time in two hours, if they had a "scream" room in the back somewhere. He laughed and admitted that there was a room, though not soundproof, that was far enough back from the sales floor that he'd heard a bit of screaming in on occasion. 

I'm just so impressed with the quality of customer relations I've seen in that store, and I've been there enough lately that I should almost earn a bedroll. They are never condescending. No question is treated lightly, and no customer that I've seen has been treated anything but pleasantly and respectfully. Whoever hires these gems deserves praise indeed. They wear shirts that say, "Not All Heroes Wear Capes." They earn those shirts.

By the end of the day, the new iPod was rolling right along, downloading the files. We had a countdown going in the store. It was getting late, and everyone was thinking that success was imminent. Matt's shift had ended, and he'd gone home to his family. Aaron stood there, helping someone else, but peeking at the screen repeatedly to see. John had come in from the car, where he'd spent the day with his HAM radio (of course) and was standing behind me. When we did the final "five - four - three - two - one" it seemed like the whole store burst into cheers. I was thrilled. Then the iPod crashed.

We ejected it and it said it was empty. How can that be? A moment before, it had all the files on it. Aaron was all mine again. He reattached it to the computer, and the files were there. He ejected it and it said it was empty. What? He connected it to another computer. Yes, the files were there. He ejected it. It said it was empty. He did a soft reset. It still said it was empty. Again. Still empty. He tried a third computer. One thing the Apple Store has is plenty of computers to try. Yep. The iPod is full of all my tunes, all my audio books. Unfortunately, when you eject it, it thinks it's empty.

Aaron looked at me and admitted he'd never seen anything like it before. I told him I wanted to go home, and could he please make me an appointment for Thursday? He suggested we leave the iPod and Library behind so they could work on it while we didn't have to sit there waiting. That was a great idea. Even with my knitting, it was a very long day. Their stools are not padded—or comfortable. On Thursday, I think I'll bring a cushion. 

Before I left, Aaron said something that really touched me. "Thank you for being so patient. I'm really sorry we haven't gotten it straightened out yet." I was pretty surprised. From my point of view, they're the ones who have been patiently going through every possible angle. All I've had to do was sit with my knitting or my book, keeping an eye on the progress when they were busy. I told him something I honestly believe. "When I raised my three sons, I always told them to do their very best, and then if it isn't good enough for someone, then it's that person's problem. You guys have done your very best here, and I know you haven't give up. That's good enough for me."

I'll be back on Thursday, and I believe I'll come home with the situation resolved. How could I not with this type of help behind me? And I did get a reward: an unexpected snowfall started during the night, and is falling gently. We have about an inch on the ground, and the pines are frosted. It's a beautiful day up here in the foothills. I know I wouldn't choose to live in the suburbs... not even to be closer to the Apple Store.

Sudden iPod Loading Disasters

After years of enjoying my iPod without a single incident, loading it with Gigs of music and multiple volumes of audio books, I had a disaster a week ago when the drive finally gave up the ghost. Because of a seizure disorder, it's been recommended by my neurologist that I listen to audio books. It helps keep the synapses connected, and makes the brain function more smoothly. They're also quite amazing, as you can do a multitude of things while listening to a novel that you can't do while reading a book.

We live just over an hour from the Apple Store, and I didn't know what was wrong with the iPod, so we drove to the Genius Bar and they treated me the way a customer always hopes to be treated in any store. I left with a "remanufactured" iPod, the same size (160 Gigs) as mine, that has never been owned. I was thrilled. I got it home, charged it and tried to download my library. I had about 130 Gigs to download, so I didn't expect it to be quick. After about six hours, it crashed. It was almost through with the download. I was devastated when I got the message that said I would have to reset the iPod and begin again.

I reset, and after about ten gigs, I got the same error. We went back to the Apple Store and they were very nice, and gave me another iPod, but first attached it to his machine to make sure he could put some stuff on it. He put about 650 MBs on it, and we said thank you and took it home. Again, we were treated to professionalism and courtesy. They really are nice in there, and knowledgeable. He told me that if we had problems again, to bring in the computer as well as the iPod.

The same thing happened. Five hours of download time passed, then the iPod crashed and demanded a reset. After about four hours of sleep, I got back up and decided to start again. When no progress had been made by 8:30 a.m., John packed up the computer (not a laptop) and the USB Drive that has the iTunes Library on it, and we drove back to the Apple Store. They sure are nice in there. I didn't have an appointment, which you're sure supposed to have, but I had logged on to get one and found out they were booked solid. I was too frustrated to care. I figured I'd take my chances. They only made me wait about fifteen minutes. Like I said, they're extremely nice. It was our third day in a row going there. Each day we spent a total of about 2 1/2 hours on the road. John was very patient, but I could tell he would rather be doing just about anything else. By the time we left, it appeared to be working. Appeared is the operational word here.

Unfortunately, I had an mounting/ejecting problem for about two hours. Every time I attached the iPod, I'd get the message saying, "Connected" followed immediately by another message saying "Ejecting." I kept doing the soft manual reset on the iPod itself. I looked up the message thread on the Apple web site, and finally found one little message that suggested switching the iTunes connection to "Disc Mode." Great idea. It must be connected to switch it to disc mode, though, so it took me over an hour to get it to stay connected long enough to get it switched to disc mode. Once there, it stayed connected.

The genius bar guy at Apple had told me to try downloading in segments, by Playlist, so that I don't have parts of the computer, like the drive the music library is on, suddenly going into sleep mode. He thought that might be the problem. I put five gigs on with no problem. Then I made a playlist with another five gigs and put that on. I was pleased. After getting the fourth five gig playlist copied, I decided to go to bed for the night. It was well past midnight. I ejected the little thing and went to scroll through what I had copied. Obviously, I expected 20 Gigs to be on it. Nope. Five gigs. The last five gigs. Nobody told me that if it was in Disc Mode it would erase everything already on it whenever you put something new on it.

Congratulate me. I didn't throw it, and I didn't cry. I went to bed.

One suggestion they made at the Apple Store was that our iTunes Library is on a removable USB drive, which isn't a very fast drive. They said it would have been better to have it on a Firewire drive, since they're faster and made for bigger jobs. OK. John went out to Best Buy, about forty minutes from home, and bought me a 500 Gig Firewire 400/800 drive. That's the good kind. We took five hours to transfer my entire library, 180 Gigs, from Air Supply to ZZ Top, from the USB Drive to the Firewire Drive. Of course, not all of that goes on the iPod. Then I tried again to download. I've been at it for three straight days. This last time, I managed to get only 45 Gigs on it before it crashed, demanding a reset. That took me nearly eight hours.

Guess where I'm going Monday morning? I have a ten o'clock appointment. I don't expect to be home quickly.

Knitting and the Fake Baby

While on my friend Schmath's blog last night, I burst into uncontrollable laughter. She had posted a photo of her new baby daughter sleeping on the closet shelf. She admitted to having posed the photo, but that didn't detract from the humor at all. 

On the shelf of my closet I have a newborn sized baby doll that I use when I knit or crochet baby clothes for gifts. When my first granddaughter was born, I bought an identical replica of the baby doll and made two layettes. I dressed the baby in one layette and wrapped her in the matching blanket and laid her gently in the bottom of the box. Then I put down several layers of tissue and the next blanket, followed by more tissue and the next pieces of the layette, each wrapped in thin layers of tissue paper.

My son Benjamin, youngest of our three sons, told me at the time that when his wife Ruth got to the bottom and pulled that realistic appearing baby doll out of the box, he wished I could have seen the look of shock on her face before she realized it was just a doll.

I hadn't thought about that in over two years, but when I saw the photo on Schmath's blog, I just had to share this, with a couple of photos of my "baby model."

How Did You Find Me?

One of the most interesting aspects of writing a blog, for me at least, is to see where my visitors come from. I wasn't always able to tell, but a few months ago I installed the MapLoco Visitor Map. I find myself looking in a couple times a day to see where my visitors came from. I've been really surprised. 

I seem to have a fairly regular reader in Brazil. I watch the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) and see how good the Brazilian riders do, and wonder if my reader in Brazil is watching as well, cheering on their country's riders. Did they watch when Helio Castroneves, the Brazilian NASCAR champion won the title on Dancing With the Stars? 

I've had visitors from Spain and Canada quite frequently. I wonder if it's the same people revisiting, or just a coincidence that they're from the same countries. Canada is special to me because I lived in Churchill, Canada as a small kid, and we also travelled and camped extensively throughout Canada. 

Spain has a special connection for me because of a wonderful friend from high school who was a foreign exchange student. Of course, that was back in the sixties, and her name refuses to surface right now. I'll think of it in a day or two and add it to the comments. (ABS—Absent Brain Syndrome)

Some of the other interesting countries that have shown up on my visitors map were Russia, India, the Netherlands, Finland, and Norway. I wish they would all leave me comments. I'd love to know who these people are and how they found me. Blogs actually make the world seem smaller and more neighborly. I really love that.