My Girl!

Alden ended up in our bed this morning at 6:00 a.m.  The thunder and lightening woke her up.  Grateful to have a morning off from bootcamp and walking, I snuggled in with her for another couple hours of sleep.

My son Stephen Jr. wakes us up in the morning demanding breakfast almost on a daily basis.  After getting out of bed and attending to him, I came in to see sweet Alden snuggling with Daddy.  It was so sweet!  I grabbed for the camera.  By this time Stephen Jr. was opening and closing the blinds - to which Daddy would grumble and repeatedly ask they be closed.  I on the other hand, loved the light streaming in through the windows and bouncing off the white sheets into Alden's face.  Lovely!  I convinced my husband to let Stephen open the blinds just long enough to let me get this amazing shot of our sweet little girl!

A straight out of the camera beauty!  No edits needed. (I even resisted the urge to edit out the dried up sleepy drool from her mouth.)

The Mac is Back! {Apple Store Willow Bend}

I could hardly believe my ears when the phone rang this morning at 10:00 a.m.  Jason from the Apple store was on the other line and informed me that my Mac was ready to be picked up.

Yep, that's less than 24 hours, folks.  Way Less!

A major THANK YOU goes out to the wonderful folks at the Apple Store.  Picking my laptop up at the Genius Bar was the highlight of my day!

Need a fix for your own Mac?  Visit the folks at the Apple Store in Willow Bend Mall.  They'll hook you up right!

Mac-Tastic! {Apple Store Willow Bend}

I walked into the Apple store today (with two little ones in hand) not quite sure what to expect. The place was hopping. Crazy busy! There must have been well over 100 people in the store. I made my way to the back of the store, found the little people computers to occupy Stephen and Alden and checked in for my appointment with the Mac Genius. Overall, other than the fact that Alden kept sliding off their perfectly round red bean bag chairs, I had a very pleasant experience.

Within minutes I was assured that it was indeed a faulty video card and that they would be replacing it in store - at their expense - within 3-5 business days. I'm pleased to report that everyone was super helpful and friendly.

So, hopefully I'll be ready to post some session sneak peaks within the next week. I've also got a couple ideas for some photography tips/lessons, so I will share those in the coming week as well.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Mac Crash! {ts2377/defective video card}

Who says Macs never crash? I'd like to know. Mine did TODAY!!!

Okay, so the hard-drive is fine, but what good is a computer without a video card to turn your screen on, I ask you?

My computer was up and running this morning like always. After sending a few emails I went in to check on Alden and clean up breakfast dishes. An hour or so later I came back to check on email...and NOTHING. Zilch. The power light was on. The cords were all plugged in.

The screen was BLACK.

I tried rebooting the computer. I tried all the various trouble-shooting ideas my computer engineer husband sent my way...and NOTHING worked. Defeated, I hung up the phone with my husband and resigned myself to wait until he got off work - many long hours from then.

Moments later, The Problem Solver (i.e. my computer genius husband) calls with the solution to the problem. Unfortunately, he discovered the solution would involve a trip to the local Apple store for a visit with the "Mac Genius". (Seriously, that's his real title.) Apparently my year of MacBook Pro (I purchased mine in 2007.) came with a defective video card. Thankfully, this does not affect the computer hard drive.

The good news is even though my warranty was up a year ago, the wonderful people at the Apple store will still fix the problem for free due to the overwhelming amount of complaints Mac has received with this very issue. The bad news is it could take days to get my computer back. With three sessions lined up this coming week, that's just a little more than nerve-wracking.

I post this not to scare my clients (Stress not. Your files are backed up and safe.), but to let those of you who have a Macbook Pro know that this might/could happen to you. If you bought your computer within the last THREE years, and your screen suddenly displays what Mac posters are referring to as "the black screen of death", call your Mac store and mention article ts2377. It won't take long for them to say, "Oh, yes. We'll have that fixed for you in a jiffy!"

Crazy fact: The defective video card, which is fused to the logic board (i.e. motherboard), has been such a huge problem for Mac that they had to create a separate server just to handle all the incoming complaints. Here's some helpful information: If you paid for a new video card for your Mac that was purchased within the last three years, Mac will reimburse you for those past repair costs. And, at a minimum of over $300 - that's worth looking into!

Mac or PC? Hmmm....let me think on that.