Ipad Scare

So yesterday my ipad just went blank.  I tried holding down the button, I tried shaking it, I tried plugging it into the charger and then onto the computer.  I tried holding down the button again and again.  I let it sit for an hour and then tried again.  I went on line (first on my iphone, but I couldn't read it because it was so small, so then I booted up my computer at home which I almost never use anymore).  I went to Ask dot com, I went to Apple, I downloaded the 286 page manual from apple and went page by page (why don't they have a search box in their manual--seems really dumb).  I looked at the ipad for a long time trying to figure out if there was something else that I could plug in or press down to make it come on.  Nothing worked.  I went to bed pretty heartsick.  I just started a really good book that I downloaded on my ipad.  I almost went on e-reader to buy the book again on my iphone, but reason and common sense jumped in and talked me off the ledge.

Today (Friday) was going to be a really crazy day and then two appointments cancelled.  So as I drove to work (I work next to the mall that has an apple store in it), I decided that I would go to the apple store first, before I started any part of my day.  But it wasn't 10 a.m. yet and they don't open until 10 a.m.. 

So I started a very small project for my appointment at 11:30.  When I looked up it was 1:00 p.m. and my 11:30 appointment had just showed up.  The small project turned into a large project and just kept getting more and more complicated.  A meeting that I thought would only take 15 minutes took over an hour.  And then I had two emergency things that I had to do immediately.  It felt like a mountain of extriment had fallen on my and I was very mindful of the time slipping away over the next hours.  I missed a self imposed deadline and although I am confident that there will be no direct fall out, I am still shell shocked from having so many things hit all at once so that I couldn't get it done.  [My theory is that I have too much work for a person to complete without a better support staff, but in a recession, you don't say no to any work and you don't hire more support staff, but I digress.]

Meanwhile, I haven't even stopped for lunch.  I did get a call from my doctor--there is a tiny chance I have cancer so she'll need to do this incredibly gruesome test (she described the test in minute detail over the phone as if hearing the word cancer in the sentence wasn't awful enough).  Don't worry--just an abnormality to be checked--my luck--it happens to me a lot.  I think they see attorney and figure I'm good for screwing with, but I digress.

Next I get a call from the bank.  I'm trying to get an equity loan so that I can do some work on my house that no one wants to buy.  It needs a new roof.  I have plenty of equity, so this should be a no brainer.  The bank says that they can't give me a loan until I fix the roof.  But I can't fix the roof without the loan I point out nicely to the bank.  That is a problem, I'm told.

So I've had it with work and phone calls.  My ipad doesn't work, so I'm going to the apple store.  It's a long walk through the mall, but I don't care.  I love my apple store.  They'll fix it.  They have to fix it.  It can't be dead.  I have no money.  What if it really is dead...  My heart is heavier and heavier as I get closer and closer to the store.  I can't have a new one.  There is no budget for replacing a complete luxury item.  I guess I could get a kindle.  It is a lot cheaper.  So's going to the library.  I'm never getting an ice maker (inside joke on me).

I walk into the apple store and it is so crowded that there is not a single blue shirt not engaged with a customer.  I walk all the way back to the genius bar.  No one will make eye contact.  I walk back to the front of the store.  When a service person is finished with a customer, they go back to the front door to help people.  I'll just wait by the front door.  I spot a customer that has two service people helping him and I walk toward them trying to make eye contact.  A line forms.  The extra service person turns to me.  It is like someone turned on the sun, he smiles so brightly and welcomingly.  I tell him my problem and he immediately shares my concern--"oh no," he says in a serious tone.  "I don't know what I'd do if my ipad didn't work."  "I know," I say.  Simpatico--I'm home.

He holds down the sleep button.  I've tried that I tell him.  He holds down the sleep button and the bottem button at the same time.  I think I've tried that but wait--THE APPLE APPEARED ON THE SCREEN.  I was so happy.  This was opening presents on Christmas morning happy.  This was seeing the ocean and being on vacation happy.  This was a new Nora Roberts or John Grisham book happy.   I love Apple.  I love my ipad.  That service guy is my new favorite person on the planet.

Whew.  That was close.