Or, maybe I should say, here's what I think happened. It's all Apple's fault.
When I got home Thursday night and sat down at the computer, I discovered a prompt to download an updated version of iTunes + QuickTime. So, I began the process and, while the download was downloading, I checked email, etc.
After about an hour, the download was still not finished. I decided to exit and try again later. So, I exited. Or tried to. The cancellation process also seemed to be taking a long time. So, I began to shut down the computer. I exited out of the other programs by which time a box appeared to tell me that something or other was not responding. So, I clicked on "End Now".
Only, it didn't end now. It kept going. So, I did what I thought best - I pulled the plug.
Well, when I plugged the power cord back in and pressed the "on" button, nothing happened. It didn't even pretend like it wanted to start. Nothing happened. I looked on the back of the computer and the green "power" light was blinking, but it wasn't steady. I unplugged and re-plugged lots of things, but nothing helped.
So, I rummaged around until I found the owner's manual and the section on trouble shooting. Unfortunately, most of the troubleshooting recommendations were conditional upon the computer actually having power.
So, I called tech support, which I'm pretty sure is in India. When I explained the problem, the guy on the phone said he would send me a box so I could send them computer, then they would fix it and send it back. Well, the thing was almost 4-years old, so I said no, I wasn't going to do that.
Then, they tried to sell me a new one. They offered me some souped up new model which, I'm almost certain, contained a warp drive and a button that would convert the monitor into a giant HD TV. OK. Not really, but it sounded like it had a lot of stuff I was never gonna use. But, what made it even better is that the guy quoted me a price and then, right away, he dropped it by $200 because I am a "loyal customer."
I don't know much about sales, but during the summer that I tried to sell time shares (that's a whole entry by itself), I learned two things: 1) As a salesperson, you have to tell the customer a story and it doesn't even have to be true. For example, the guy could have told me that his uncle has one of these computers and loves it, plays games when the neices and nephews come over, etc. The guy doesn't even need to have an uncle or nieces and nephews. Doesn't matter. All that matters is the story and that I get sucked in. 2) You don't give a customer the "drop" right away - unless there's going to be a second one later on. Usually, a supervisor type handles that.
So, eventually the first guy, who did not tell me a story, put me on with his supervisor. Not only did I not get a story out of him, I also didn't get another price reduction. So, when we got to the point where he asked for a credit card number, that's when I said "No." Honestly, the guy sounded stunned, like he couldn't believe I just said "No." So, I repeated it. Several more times, and rather loudly, until I finally just hung up while he was still trying to sell me on the virtues of this computer.
Friday before work, I went over to the Big Box stores and checked out the situation. I ended up with a less powerful model from the same manufacturer for about $200 less. Of course, then I had to buy software ...
Anyway, I'm now back up and running. Two of the three bugs have been worked out. All I really need to do now is import address from my handheld to Outlook and I'll be in business.