Monday, April 20, 2009

My First OnetoOne Visit at the APPLE Store

I got a MAC 10 days ago and I couldn't be more thrilled. First of all, it is just the coolest and fastest laptop. And second, it has the capability to run my SCRIVENER program. And I LOVE that program. 

But here is the confession: I am so illiterate and confused by all  my technology that it paralyzes me from learning about it. I have an IPhone and I don't have music on it! I am pathetic at learning new tech and become impatient and give up if it appears to difficult or time consuming to learn. And I suffer from an innate distrust of turning my computer over to the powers that be to work on it. What if *gasp* the books I'm working on mysteriously disappear? 

I have a memory stick--I back up my work--it is an irrational fear. And I plan to conquer it once and for all.

That's why I paid $99 for the yearlong 1to1 classes, held weekly, to learn about my toys and make them work for me.

Today's lesson was supposed to be about my IPHONE and syncing it to my computer. And, if time, learn a few more little bells and whistles. I went to my appointment and the expert working with me, Brian, was a patient and kind man who dealt with every roadblock calmly and confidently. 

Good thing! The first thing I went there to do was impossible without syncing my IPHONE back to my old HP. Apparently, the phone will lose all contacts due to nothing being on my computer. Don't ask. I don't understand it either. 

What it means is that my HP and my precious MAC will have to go to the APPLE store and be configured together. Sounds almost sexual, but it is technical. Two things that worry me about it are being without any computing ability for more than a day and trying to find the passwords for all the HP stuff (which is an ongoing frustration). 

Despite my fears and worries, I plan to bring my toys into the APPLE store on Friday afternoon (after working all day), and leave them in the capable hands of the technicians. Of course, I'll have EVERYTHING I have worked on this week saved on my memory stick. 

The second roadblock we had was the fact that I couldn't log onto the PORTAL for one to one, because I didn't bring some silver, credit card thing with my membership number on it. Why didn't anyone tell me I needed it? Or, if they did, why did I forget.

At this point, I was quite ready to leave. What was the point of staying? But my very nice and patient instructor led me through some other things that made the visit worth my while.

I learned how to add folders to my mailbox, add rules to move mail automatically, and had a great time reconfiguring my mailbox. I also had fun learning more about how the bookmarks on my browser worked. It is so easy to navigate from page to page as well as tab to tab (and I just learned how to open the new tabs as well). We made folders for my saved websites and played around with navigating through the browser. And we changed my home page as well.

Wahoo!

On Friday I will bring my computers to the APPLE store and have them synced. On Tuesday, the 28th, I return to the APPLE store, with silver card in hand, to learn more about this amazing machine and sync my phone to it.

I know my family is super happy I paid for the lessons. My daughter literally breathed a sigh of relief when I told her about my classes. She didn't want to teach me about my computer (she has a MACBOOK PRO) cause I am too impatient. 

But my teacher today was very patient and his calm demeanor made me want to stay and learn more.

I hope he's my teacher again next week!


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