A few weeks ago while having my early afternoon breakfast, I managed to upend a precariously balanced cup of pineapple juice. Unfortunately, my desk doubles as my dining table and my laptop takes up the majority of space. Thus, when the pineapple juice went pouring towards earth, a decent amount of it ended up on my computer.
Luckily the juice avoided the all too porous keyboard as it puddled around the outer casing of my machine. Unfortunately, it just so happens that over the past two years my casing has been slowly cracking, in turn exposing a direct route to my computer's insides. Known for taking the path of least resistance, the pineapple juice quickly caught on to this shortcut to devastation.
I followed the normal procedure of shutting down, flipping the thing upside down and shaking it until I was worried it would fly from my hands. I then propped took out the battery and propped the computer upside down allowing it to drain. In retrospect, I should have let the computer sit for probably a day or more before trying to turn it on. In reality, I was extremely anxious to finish booking my flights to Boracay and thus flipped the thing back over and booted her up after returning from lunch, only a few hours later.
All seemed to be well as the computer started and even allowed me to get online. It was just as I was opening my e-mail that the thing decided to freeze, completely. A very uncharacteristic move for a MacBook. At this point, I knew I was in trouble.
I eventually had to shut down and attempt a restart which, to no surprise, failed. I did this a few more times in desperation before finally acknowledging that I had fried my computer. I didn't waste anytime getting to work to find the nearest Apple service center which, with my luck, was only a mere hour subway ride away. I mean, come on, in a technologically advanced city of 10 million plus people I have to travel an hour to get a diagnosis on my relatively benign piece of hardware?
Anyways, with Joseph's directions I made it to the U BASE Apple Service Center just outside COEX Mall. I was told, in broken English, that my mini grand canyon was in a 'very bad' location as directly below the abyss lay my computers hard drive. The outlook appeared pretty bleak at this point. I was informed that I would receive a call in a few days and what would likely happen is that I would have to purchase a new hard drive which could then be exchanged for my current juiced one. Just as I was leaving the service man bolted out the door and asked one more question.
'Do you mind if I erase your whole hard drive?' he asked.
Um, as if I had a choice?
'No certainly, please destroy everything that is there!' I kindly replied.
I mean, it sounded like a fair enough plan, if it could help restore my HD by erasing it well, then at least I'd avoid the cost of a new one. Plus, the majority of what I 'need' music, pictures and um, not much else, should be saved on my external hard drive. Though I haven't updated it in a while and have yet to confirm this hunch.
I week passed and I heard nothing about the computer so I put Joseph to work phoning U BASE. It took two days to get through to a person but he finally confirmed that they did in fact have my computer, had not forgotten about it, and were actually waiting to hear back from Apple about replacing my casing. Hmm, apparently somebody else noticed that the case wasn't looking exactly up to par.
A few days later I received a call telling me that my computer was up and running but without a keyboard. I was asked whether or not I minded having a keyboard with Korean lettering replaced with my current cracked one. Again, like I had a choice. I agreed assuming that the keyboard would be similar to the ones we have at school which have both English and Hanguel lettering on them. Worse comes to worse I figured I know my way around well enough that I could deal with an entirely foreign keyboard. Plus, what a great souvenir!
By the end of last week I received a Korean text message that had U BASE embedded somewhere in it. With the help of my students I confirmed that my computer was ready to be picked up. So, this morning I again hopped on the subway, armed with a book for the long journey, and headed down towards COEX to pick up my (hopefully) reinvigorated laptop.
I presented the serviceman with my receipt which didn't quote me any specific price but did indicate that I was responsible for purchasing a new hard drive. I winced as he pulled out an invoice, expecting to dip deep in to my Shinhan Bank account. Instead, he handed me a half sheet of paper filled with Korean writing. The only thing I understood was the long line of zeros in the right hand column.
Now, I don't know if someone got confused along the way and said that God had smitten my computer and thus I was not in fact responsible, but last time I checked, I told them very specifically that it was me who had dumped sugary, sticky liquid all over my device. Thus, I assumed that it was me who would bear the brunt of the blame for this mishap and, in turn, foot the bill.
I tried to explain to the Apple Rep that they had fixed my hard drive, given me a new casing, worked on the computer for weeks and were trying to give it back to me for free. Miraculously, he seemed to understand this and confirm that it was all correct! Well hot darn, ain't that something!
I thanked him profusely and bolted outside hoping that one of Korea's ubiquitous Dunkin' Donuts was in sight so that I could at least offer some sort of compensation for his work. Instead, all I could find in the immediate vicinity was a Kraze Burger and a number of coffee shops. A hamburger seemed like a rather odd way of saying thank you and to be honest, I couldn't tell if he was a caramel latte type or more of a dark roast guy, though if I had to chose I'd go for the later.
I bolted 'home' to Doota where I pessimistically plugged in and booted up the machine on which I am currently writing this. After a surprisingly fan fare filled introduction my computer eventually booted to it's original desktop. One that I had long ago mucked with unnecessary downloads, unfinished files and incomplete attempts at video editing. While the one or two 'necessary' things are gone, it's kinda nice to start over clutter free. Now I've got a whole new HD to fill up with useless bits of electronic data.
Oh, and as for the keyboard, it's lightning fast, cleaner than my old one, and, if I need to, I'll have no problem banging out a letter to Mr. Lee in Hanguel. Other than, well, I don't speak Korean.
As for the lack of updates in the past few weeks, well, I hope you've managed to hang in there with out any. It's still gonna be a day or two before I get to catching up as I have plenty of important things to do fooling around with my 'new' computer. But, in case you're dying to know, here's a sneak peak. . .
-A whopping three weekends ago Nate and I took off for Sokcho via bus to hike around Seoraksan National Park. If neither of us have deleted any of the evidence off our cameras yet, you should be in store for a bunch of silly video blogging along with hundreds of beautiful pictures. As with most of our more 'natural' adventures, I'll try and let the pics to most of the talking.
-The Kochanski's Come to Korea. While they took off and did their own thing for the majority of the week, we did get a few solid day of tour guiding in during the weekend. At least one of the itineraries we took is particularly of note as I couldn't possibly imagine a better "Seoul in a day." Of course we also managed to nail down the staples including, but not limited to an early morning trip to the norebong, Friday night samgyeopsal, soju, dinner in Itaewon, 'clubbing' in Hongdae, taxi rides to no where and unlimited awkward encounters with the majority of the DYB staff!
-A three hour soccer game played yesterday. Nothing much to say other than that's by far the most exhausted I've been in, well, since I can remember! Plus I got a goal so of course it's worth mentioning.
-A hectic few weeks of negotiating my second vacation time which, as of now, I'm booked to take the second week of May. Boracay Island, here I come!
-Of course there was the blossoming, and then falling of the Cherry Blossoms but, that's pretty much dead and gone. I'll try and post a pic or two if I have 'em.
-Oh yeah, and it's hot now. Last time I wrote I believe it was still threatening to snow every few days or so. I hear Michigan got the real deal at the beginning of this past week! Can't say I'm dying to be there right now, though the though of a summer without going Up North is a bit depressing. I guess the Philippines will just have to do.
-Ah ha, and lastly. Today begins another three week testing period. Previously known as 'paid on the job vacation time' the arrival of the students' midterms is slightly less celebrated this time around as the majority of my classes are elementary school. All in all I'll only be getting six hours a week 'off' though I'm hoping for more as it's a possibility that my middle schoolers might not show for their special class. . .Ha, special class, that's been in interesting story, but not for sharing right now!
Thanks for staying tuned as we now return you to your regular scheduled programming.
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