I bought a new Mac (that’s a whole post waiting to be written and I need to work up to that one) and for the past few days, have been going through the process of switching all my stuff from my old Mac to this new sleek machine.
And I am resisting. Oh boy.
My old Mac IS … old. It is cracked, it’s missing a few teeth here and there, it has many, many miles and it shows. But I love it. And I am not one to “upgrade” stuff casually (ever seen my phone?)
But it was time and I knew it. So here I am. Doing it. One folder at a time, one little thing that I didn’t know mattered at a time. Gently.
A couple of days ago, I decided to take one significant step and listen to Pandora on the new computer. I took a breath, brought up Pandora (which took milliseconds) and hooked up the cable that leads to the speakers. It was the day Etta James died and at “At Last” started to fill the room. Ah…. my eyes closed and my hips started to move. But WAIT!!! Only one set of speakers were singing. What the heck?
HA. I knew it. I knew it. This new shiny computer is nowhere near as good as my old computer. It only plays one side of speakers. Ha!
Tanissa saw the wheels turning in my mind. She could smell the weird satisfaction that was rising up in me. All she said is “Mom, I am pretty sure this is not the computer.”
But it was. I knew it was. Shiny and with a back lit keyboard and the latest operating system (“Lion”, it’s called) and completely unable to give me three minutes of Etta James.
So, I called Apple Care. And I told them. I told them about how my brand new computer only used one set of speakers whereas my crackly old one could play the hell out of “At Last.”
And the guy listened. He was very nice. When I was done, he cleared his throat and said: “let’s go ahead and try a couple of things, here.” Ok. “First, can you plug in some earphones and tell me if you hear out of both ears?” All right. I can do that. Get the earphone, plug them in, click on some music. Yup. Both ears. “Thank you. Now, let’s go ahead and try the speakers again. This time, let’s have you wiggle the plug a little bit.” Nope. Only one speaker (I knew he could hear “the weird satisfaction” in my voice. I could hear it too and was a little unsettled by it). “Hmm…. I tell you what. Let’s have you try it on your old Mac, just to be sure.” I thought I’d indulge him – and show him how well the whole thing worked with my old buddy, here. Show him how until this new machine, I could blast the heck out of my speakers. Except… I couldn’t. Cable into old Mac, Pandora full on … and only one speaker. Damn.
Right then I knew. And right then, he knew. My guess is he knew a few steps before then. But he was so very nice. And even at that point, when he knew that this whole thing had nothing to do with the computers, he was willing to stick with me. He started: “‘mam, how about if you step behind your stereo and you and I check out a few connections?” Oh man.
I quickly thanked him and told him that I thought I could take it from there. As soon as we were off the phone, I took a look and sure enough, only one cable was plugged in. The other one just dangled there, and I swear it was smiling.
It is so darn easy to make assumptions; to assume a cause and effect. Especially if it will serve our story. New computer, no sound. Must be the new computer, huh? It is so easy to decide that whatever is going on has to do with this new thing / person when really, it’s most likely just us, doing the same old thing (in this case, I am thinking my cat and her love for playing with wires)
Hmmmm. How easy it is to ascribe responsibility to “the new thing” when really, it’s still the same old thing going on (I think my cat likes to play with the wires).
Well, my new computer and I are getting to be friends. To tell you the truth, it’s pretty awesome. And for the first time in a good while, I am able to type this to you this morning, without double wiggling the “O” key and without having a mouse attached to make up for a beat up track pad.
And while listening to Etta James. At last.
