Apple TV

I get so frustrated sometimes!

Not about things that I can’t control, although those things can be frustrating as well, but the things that I should be able to do something about. A good example would be the gifts that I got for Christmas. I asked for and received a sleigh shovel. My dad had one, years ago and it makes moving snow a whole lot easier. It works just as I had expected it would and there have been no surprises since Christmas. I have been able to easily shift a large pile from here to there in a matter of minutes. I know I shouldn’t get this kind of joy from a snow shovel. Pathetic really.

The other gift I got was an Apple TV. Like all things Apple, you just need to plug it in and before you can say “Thanks Steve Jobs” you are streaming music and video from your computer to the TV. It is that simple! Well, it should be I suppose, and with the vast majority of Apple TV recipients this past Christmas, it probably was that easy. Not for me it wasn’t.

 

I plugged it in and got a response that I had to sign in to my computer with my Apple ID, which I dutifully did. I went back to the TV and found that I had to sign in to my computer with my Apple ID. I did this several times until I decided that it wasn’t working because I was tired and tomorrow with fresh, well rested eyes, I will have no problem getting it to work. That is the same rational that I use when I have a broken down car at the side of the highway and I open the hood, shaking all of the wires. It could help, it never has, but there is always a first time.

Days passed and no matter how many times I used my Apple ID, how many wires I jiggled, or how many Apple problem solving chat rooms I went to, nothing helped. We were hosting a few friends of Maegan’s that had dropped by for a holiday visit. I always enjoy seeing what wonderful people they have turned into, and was happy to sit and chat with them. Maegan suggested at one point that since I had Mike and Paul in my house, they should be able to help with the Apple TV problem. I was reluctant, but what the hell.

Mike has been a go to guy for difficult computer problems over the years and Paul, although new to the group is a pretty smart cookie. I was confident that I would be streaming music and video in short order. I think it was about an hour and a half later when they finally gave up because they had to leave. They tried everything and I am very grateful for the effort.

 

A couple of days passed and quite frankly, I was thinking of writing a letter to Santa to see if he would make a special trip down to Calgary and pick up this piece of shit Apple TV. Strangely enough, a day or so later, Maegan took me to the Apple store because she was buying an Apple TV. I like that she is an optimist, but the hidden message she was sending is that her friends and dad are technological idiots. I can live with that. While I was at the Apple store I asked a guy about my problem and he told me to call 1-800-MYAPPLE and they would be sure to help me.

The problem with calling these help lines is that you are admitting to yourself and the world that you can’t figure out how to do something that brilliant people worked very hard to make as easy as possible. So easy, that someone that knows nothing about computers can figure out. I was going to call them today!

I had to try one last thing. I unplugged my computer from the wireless router and hooked up a wireless USB adaptor. I looked at the Apple TV and there is big, beautiful letters was “KENS FILES” I selected music… playlist…Beatles at the BBC, and I heard music on the TV that was streaming from my computer. Wonderful!

It only took me eight days to do what should have taken eight seconds, but I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

A Tolerant Mom

Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all! I hope that you managed to enjoy bringing the New Year in without suffering any permanent damage or having to make any embarrassing apologies. We had a quiet time as is our usual, and managed to stay awake until midnight. We did our tradition of opening both doors in the house to let the old year out and the new year in. I would have preferred to have the trade winds blow warm air in as well, but I have no complaints.

I haven’t done a blog for two days and for those two or three people who care, I do apologize. The first day I didn’t have much to say (as usual), and last night I had too many glasses of Baileys. Oops!

The other day, Maegan and I were taking Hurricane and Tornado out for Texas Donuts and bowling. Maegan was leaving the next day and wanted the nephews to remember her until the next visit I suppose. For those that don’t know, Texas donuts are about 10 inches in diameter and when Maegan was in school, they would be sold as a fundraiser. She has fond memories of regular sugar overdoses and wants the nephews to have the same memories.

 

 We were driving on the highway when all of a sudden the cars in front of us decided to stop. The roads were icy and we started a vehicle ballet which left us facing oncoming traffic and about 8 inches from being in a crumpled vehicle. No one had screamed, yelled or shit their pants, although I was pretty close to accomplishing all three at once. I looked back at the boys and asked if everyone was okay and they said “Yeah! Can we do that again?” I looked over at Maegan; we smiled and said “NO.”

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, but I made sure to leave plenty of space in front of me. We decided to bowl first and eat donuts later. It was one of those black light/laser bowling alleys which I find very distracting. I haven’t bowled in probably 20 years and the reason is probably that I am not very good. I was at one time, but that was fifty years ago and those muscles have atrophied. Well, that’s my story.

 

The boys had no idea about bowling, and were happy to just toss the ball up in the air and hope for the best. Maegan was pretty good for someone who never bowls and although I started the game with a strike that was the last good ball I threw. I had planned to hold back and keep the score pretty even, but it quickly became apparent that there was no way I would beat Maegan and I would have to work hard to keep ahead of the boys. Tornado lost interest after five frames and Hurricane six. Maegan didn’t care, but I would have redeemed myself if I could have finished…maybe. The boys got to pee in urinals and use the forced air hand dryer to finish off the whole experience. What could be better?

Donuts of course!

Unfortunately, the bakery was out of the large donuts, but there were plenty of the smaller kind to keep everyone happy and “sugared up”.

When my kids were small, I would take them out and at some point I would tell them that they shouldn’t tell mommy about what we did. They nodded solemnly and the minute we got in the door, it was “Mommy, mommy guess what we did?” I did learn from that experience, so I figured if I didn’t tell the boys not to say anything to their mom, they just might not.  It turns out that Maegan didn’t learn anything all those years ago and she blabbed to Arwen about the near accident. Arwen had us over for dinner and when I got home I sent her a text. “Thanks for a wonderful dinner, and I’m sorry I almost killed your kids.” She replied “No Problem.”

She either doesn’t care, which I doubt, or she expects the boys to be in grave danger when they are with me. 

She is a tolerant mom.