Teetering on the brink

I was all ready for a spectacular hard drive crash, and then tonight something unexpected happened: my PowerBook’s AC adapter stopped working. Without a way to recharge the battery, my precious PowerBook was on its way to becoming a 5-pound paperweight.

After a brief panic which involved backing up my most important files (onto my iPod mini), I searched the Apple support pages with my last few minutes of battery power. As it turns out, this is a common problem with Apple’s power supplies: a loose connection develops where the DC cord meets the power brick.

And no, it seems a replacement AC adapter won’t be covered under my $300 extended warranty. Apparently any problems of this sort are inevitably due to “improper use”. Apple kindly mentions this policy twice in their troubleshooting document.

It’s hard to believe this machine is already on it’s last legs–with the dying hard drive and now the AC problems–after only a year and a half. Tomorrow I’m off to the Apple Store to get some answers. Wish me luck!

The family tree

Here are some snaps of the family Christmas tree. The one at the bottom-right is my favorite. It’s also posted in my photostream.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: that’s a dog-angel on top of the tree.

Catastrophic hard drive failure in 5… 4…

I just noticed that when I tilt my PowerBook sideways, the hard drive stops working.

Here’s a fun experiment: I’ll launch a program, browse to a folder of large images, or start some other disk intensive task and then lift the computer from my lap. Everything literally grinds to a halt, and I’m presented with the dreaded spinning beach ball of death. As soon as a place the computer on a level surface everything returns to normal.

I know what you’re thinking. No, this can’t be good.

True, my PowerBook has been acting flakey recently. The occasional crash, slow down, and odd fan noises even prompted me to call Apple technical support a few weeks ago. Their suggestion? Run the hardware diagnostics. The tests indicated nothing was wrong, and that was the end of that.

But now I have plan. I’ll run the hardware diagnostics sideways.

2005 In Review: Music

Of my forty-odd CD purchases this year, these are my favorites. I highly recommend them all. Links will lead you to high-quality music samples courtesy of the iTunes Music Store.

Enjoy.

1. Iron & Wine: Woman King
   Only a 24-minute EP, but absolutely worth it. Check out his previous full-length as well.
2. Lali Puna: I Thought I Was Over That
   Remix albums don’t get much better than this. Lali Puna and Dntel are a match made in heaven.
3. Paul Duncan: Be Careful What You Call Home
   An outstanding release on par with the best Iron & Wine. Where would I be without Tiny Mix Tapes?
4. Stars: Set Yourself on Fire
   This is one indie release that actually lived up to the hype. Not a single disappointing track.
5. Sam Prekop: Who’s Your New Professor
   Hat tip: Almost Cool Reviews.
6. Ms. John Soda: No P. or D.
   More great music from Morr in Germany. This was on my wish list for years, and just recently became available in the U.S.
7. Books: Lost And Safe
   Wow, another solid release from these guys. Keep ‘em coming!
8. N. Lannon: Chemical Friends
   Props to Amazon for recommending this. I would not have found it otherwise. An excellent mixture of electronics and acoustics.
9. Psapp: Tiger, My Friend
   Psapp was one of several artists I discovered through Last.fm, a great (and free) service that offers recommendations based on your iTunes listening habits. This album fits perfectly into my electronic-y pop collection.
10. Styrofoam: Nothing’s Lost
    Is this what the kids call lap-pop? Sign me up for more of this.