Those Helpful Apple Store Geniuses

The greeters at the Apple Store reminded me of deli clerks in Manhattan. I expected a smile and “How can I help you?” and instead they barked, “Whaddya want?!”  Though they did not bark (or bite), the Apple Store greeters were at best matter-of-fact telling me that I was in the wrong line; and then telling me that I was early for my appointment, so come back in 30 minutes.   Be that as it was, I was happy by the end of the process.  However, the Barton Creek Square mall Wi-Fi attacked my computer with unlimited pop-ups forcing me to shut down.  I found refuge inside the Apple Store; and fortunately, by then, it was time for my appointment. 

Busiest store in the mall

 Getting frequent messages that my version of Safari was no longer supported, I went looking for an update.  Nowhere on http://www.apple.com/safari/ did I find any link to update the software.  So, I went to the Apple Store.  The geniuses there showed me what I should have remembered: updates are under the Apple icon at the upper left of the menu bar.  And my version of Leopard would not take the updates anyway.  So, we scheduled an appointment for the next day. That night, I went to Best Buy and bought a Seagate terabyte external drive to back everything up just in case. 

I came back the next day and was treated like a prince, once I got past the greeter.  The geniuses were patient, attentive, helpful, pleasant, and informative.   I got a Lion operating system (free), and updated all the software.  They were not able to resolve my failed relationship with Preview. 

 

iPhone, iPad, or MacBook, new or old, they know them all.

I have no way to do with the Macintosh what I can do so easily with Microsoft Paint.  The Mac once was a pretty good graphics machine, but now what it does best is play music.  If you read the blog here about Post Cards, (or scroll down) each of those front and back images stands alone. I have no way to get two into Preview, group them, and save a single file.  I have this problem with much of my work in numismatics where obverse and reverse, face and back, are so important. 

But the kids at the store are not responsible for that.  And they did try to help.  So, I have no complaints.  I would go back any time.  In fact, I am looking forward to returning to buy the new Microsoft Office 2015 when it comes out. 

Update  November 7:  That was Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, Friday, I returned to the Barton Square Mall to replicate the problem and to capture screens.  However, I could not. Perhaps my upgrade to Lion and the two upgrades to Safari in the last two days gave my computer the strength to resist the zombie pop-ups of Simon Properties.  Perhaps it was something else.  In any case, I feel more secure about being in the Barton Square Mall with my computer.  Also, I found that with PowerPoint (though not with Word), I can get two images on one page, group them, and save them as a single picture.  

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