Our poor computer.

A couple of weeks ago our computer died. We woke up one morning to a computer that had turned off by itself in the middle of the night (it never does that!). Alarmed we tried to turn it back on. Nothing happened. We thought maybe the outlet was having a problem we moved it across the room. Nothing happened. Oh its just got to be the power cord we thought. So we got a new power cord. Nothing happened.....We finally came to the conclusion that it was just dead. Its an IMac(which means its intel-based and everything is built into the monitor) and the closest apple store is in Salt Lake, and the people at the computer repair shop in town.....well lets just say we aren't so confident they always know what they are doing. Doug dropped it off to them on Saturday and talked to them about how much it would cost. It went something like this. Doug: So what do you think the problem is? Guy1: Well we'd have to get in there to really see but its probably something with the internal power supply. Doug: Ok, so how much would it cost just for you to diagnose what is really wrong with it? Guy1: Theres a $59 testing and diagnosis fee. But if thats what's wrong with it the part is about $200 and all together the labor would be around $200. Doug: Well....lets just have to do the test and diagnose right now because if thats not what is wrong with it I don't want you to order anything yet. Guy1 (as he begins unscrewing the back of the computer).: Ok. No problem. Now let me tell you about a conversation I had yesterday with these people after Doug called down there to find out when his computer would be done. The people down there said, "Oh, this is your computer? We were trying to figure out what its doing here. Theres no note or anything with it and its just been sitting here on our counter for a couple days." Doug proceeded (in calm tones that may not have been coming out of my mouth had I answered) to explain what the problem was and then asked him to work on it. The phone rang a couple minutes later and I picked it up. Me: Hello? Guy2: Hi. We have some more information on your computer. Me: Oh ok, what is it. Guy2: Well, we haven't done anything to it yet but we are pretty sure its an internal power supply problem. So the cost of it will be $250 for labor and $200 for the part. Me: Well have you done the testing and diagnosis yet? We kind of just wanted you to do that. Guy2: Oh ok, that will be $150. Me: $150?! Wait a minute. When we came in on Saturday we were told that the fee was $59 how can it go from that to a 150? Guy2: Well I don't have anything written down about what your order was. That must have been Jason and he doesn't understand what exactly our prices were. Me (beginning to be very frustrated).: Well its not our fault you don't have anything written down and that was the price quoted to us. We don't want to pay you a $150 just to tell us whats wrong with it.... And on the conversation went with the guy telling me that it would take a lot of labor just to get into the computer and that it doesn't matter what we were told but it would cost us $150 to just open the darn thing up. So I finally told him I'd talk to my husband and call back. Needless to say we decided that if the person we dropped the computer off to doesn't seem to know the prices and obviously didn't touch the computer after we dropped it off a few days ago(even though he appeared to unscrew the back and start working on it right away) and can't even write our order down....well maybe we didn't want them working on our computer anyway. So we are going to take it to Salt Lake to the Apple Care Center and people who work on them everyday. Sorry that took so long to explain : ).....I just vented some very built up frustrations about the whole situation....So yeah......Thanks.

Ummm....Yeah its been a while....

Ok so I would say I'm sorry for not blogging for whats been 4 months but I'm not really. I have been so busy I don't know how I've had time to get enough sleep! I am in my last semester before I can graduate, teaching piano to 11 sometimes wonderful (when they practice) kids, serving as assistant to the secretary in Primary (where we have 5 soon to be 6 nurserys), and all the while trying to be a good wife who makes dinner and cleans the house (yeah I could do better). We have both been cruzin through this school year and it I can't believe midterms are next week. I am taking only music classes this semester and it is so nice not to have to worry about that 5 page english paper or math exam when I sit down to practice. I am working on some fun music this semester! I love learning new songs I just wish they didn't have to be performed and then given a grade. I'll be so excited when I can learn them without that pressure. Doug has been having fun teaching his middle school kids. He is trying to plan a trip down to Lagoon in the near future that should be really fun. We just have to wait and hear whether it gets approved. We have done some fun things since the new year has started. I'll list a few of the recent ones: - I started a quilt for someone (I won't say cause its a surprise). It's my first real piece quilt and I'm super excited about it! Its so cool. I'll post a picture and explain how it works later. - Doug got asked to play with the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra in a year or two? (cant remember when). So he's started to learn Saint Seans 3rd(?) Violin Concerto. - We went and rented a little cabin up in Island Park for Valentines day and it was so much fun. We went cross country skiing and saw tons of beautiful swans on the river. It was perfect because it snowed the night before and the sky was clear and sunny. (we had to do this a weekent before valentines because of whats coming next). - We went to Arizona last weekend to hear Doug's brother play his last recital for his doctorate program. He did awesome and we enjoyed the warmer weather, sun, and their two great kids. We had to drive to Salt Lake then get on a plane so it was a lot of travelling but it sure was fun. I got pretty sick on monday when we were supposed to travel back and thank goodness I have wonderful priesthood holders in my family who could give me a blessing. I started feeling better on the airplane and was able to travel. Well thats it. I'll get on more often now that this semester is winding down. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time in the near future! Yay for graduation!