Monday, January 20, 2014

The Gray Screen of Death, or...

the World's Most Expensive Paperweight.

Somewhere between, oh, 7:30 a.m., when I turned it on and checked the news headlines and weather, and peeked in on Facebook, and put it on the dining room table while I got ready for work, and oh, 9 a.m., when I took it out of my bag and turned it on, my Fancy iPad suffered a display failure of epic proportions. The screen is just gray, and it is effectively useless.

So, being an old pro about technological failures, I did not panic, but consulted the Apple website - it probably just needs to be reset! Okay! Did that. Multiple times. Didn't work.

Okay, next steps! Restore to factory settings! I came home at lunch to hook it up with iTunes and do a full-blown, wipe it clean, start over. It did not work either. The computer saw the iPad, no problem - everything is still safe and sound, and now safely backed up, but the screen remains sickly gray, the pallor of electronic death.

So, I have an appointment at the Genius Bar on Wednesday, but short of a full resurrection, I think I'll be saying goodbye to this iPad.

Which is where my crazy job becomes hard to leave. It turns out that purely coincidentally, my boss's iPad died on Saturday. His was an earlier generation than mine, and it died a respectable death of hardworking old age. He replaced it with an iPad Mini, and he's still trying to decide if he likes it. Anyway, when I told him about the death of my iPad, he said, "I'll buy you a new one." I protested jokingly, and he said, "No, you need it!" He was serious. If the Genius Bar can't fix the Gray Screen of Death and the display is dead and as I fear, no longer under warranty, I am to buy a new one, and he'll pay for it. I may not be making anywhere near the salary I made Before the Housing Crash, but the random bonuses of this job are delightful.

After the generous donations to Dudley's surgery and now this; I am truly becoming a believer in Asking the Universe. I may have to write a bit about how my cynicism about that "woo-woo nonsense" has been beaten down in the last couple of years.

6 comments:

zippiknits...sometimes said...

ouch! and then, yippee! What a nice man your boss is! Happy days!

KatyaR said...

If you work for someone who is as generous as this, let him do it and have no guilt about it at all. After the last few weeks, you deserve it!

Anonymous said...

That is one GOOD BLOKE !! Recognises that the paperweight is an essential business tool, and that you are WORTHY !!

Younger grandson (got an I-pad mini for Christmas 2012). Still undamaged, unless one is fastidious about the potato field that is the screen, eeuw!
Well, Darcy was promoted to a full size I-pad Air (just the same as Oma's!) this Christmas, and his mini was handed down to younger sister Kirby. Now, Anne knew that there had to be a way to 'clean and tidy' the mini so Kirby could use it as if it was a new 'un. But decided it was quicker and more efficient to just hand it to Darcy for house-keeping. Sure enough, all cleaned up and re-formatted in the blink of an eye. Darcy turned 8 in mid-September. Scary, or what ?

Gae, in Callala Bay

Catherine said...

Gae, I'm totally not surprised by Darcy! These kids were born and raised on this sort of technology, and for them it's as complicated as making a sandwich! They just KNOW how it all works. Delaney uses her mom's iPad more than she does - she knows how to pull up her favorite apps, and mom had to disable the "in-app purchase" feature, before Delaney spent a fortune on upgrades to her favorite letter and animal games. (The iPad is in one of those super tough military grade cases - it's not pretty, but it's two year old safe.)

Anonymous said...

The super tough case is essential -- these two are not in any way destructive, but they are still kidlets, and things just HAPPEN.
The world and work are going to be more and more computer driven, so it's just as well they are picking it up.
Have had some interesting conversations about what I-Pads were like when I was a little girl! Try 'splaining that the telephone was fixed to the wall by a cord! That in my case it was one of the ones that looked like a daffodil, and took two hands to operate. That was in the late 40's and early 50's.

Gae, in Callala Bay

Catherine said...

I don't remember the two-handed phones, but I remember DIALS. I remember getting our first push-button phones! Oh, that was living in the future!