Technical Difficulties

This has been a week of technical problems. I had some eBooks on hold through the public library. I got an email on Sunday letting me know one of the books was available. That’s great as I has just finished a book.

I downloaded the book to my computer and they hooked up my Sony Reader to transfer the book. When I dragged and dropped the book to the Reader, it didn’t transfer and I got a message the program was not responding. I tried a few times, with the same result each time. As it was time for bed, I gave up and figured I’d deal with it on Monday morning.

When I turned on my computer on Monday morning, it wouldn’t start. I tried a safe mode start and some fixes I knew of, but it wouldn’t start no matter what I did. I have a four your old Toshiba laptop with Vista. I’ve never had a problem with it, but wondered if it would be worth fixing.

Since we’re in an unfamiliar area, I went online on Kevin’s computer and found a few places that do computer repair in the area. No one answered my calls, so I left a few messages. A young man named Mike who owns his own computer repair business in Independence, was the first to call me back. I told him the problem, and he said he would try to fix it. He also told me that Vista is a bear to work with. He even volunteered to pick it up at the RV park as he was driving right by.

He came by Monday afternoon before we left for work and said he’d have an answer for my the next day. We agreed he would call if the cost was over $55. Tuesday afternoon he called and said it was fixed. He offered to bring it back to us. The total cost with tax was $60. Mike sure knows his stuff and gave us great service.

Apparently, some spyware had gotten into my computer. I am pretty good about doing scans and being proactive to prevent this kind of thing, but this time they got me. Mike checked everything else out, and he said it all looked fine.

So, now the computer is working. I hooked up the Reader again, and still couldn’t get the book to transfer. I did a little troubleshooting online, and ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the program. Still no luck.

I emailed Sony and told them my problem. I couldn’t believe I had a response within an hour. They had me reformat the Reader itself. Still not working. I emailed them back and they told me I should call their customer service number because it was too complicated to handle via email.

We had to go to work, so that call had to wait until this morning. By now I’ve had two days with poor sleep, and I must admit I was a bit crabby about the whole thing. Kevin will confirm that :)

I called Sony Technical Support and told them of my problems. Jose had me to go a site where he could access my computer remotely. I could see everything he was doing. He did some checking and thought it was not the Reader, but something in the computer program or the connection. He had me switch the cord to another USB port. Still no luck. He asked me if I was using the cord that came with the Reader. I didn’t know. I found the box, and there was the cord that came with the Reader still in the box.

I had been using a cord that came with my cell phone to tether it to my laptop. It had been working fine, but apparently the cord had gone bad. I changed the cords, and presto! It worked!!!

I am so impressed with Sony’s service. Although my Reader was still under warranty, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get any help figuring out what was wrong with it. The response from Sony was excellent.

So, now all the technical gadgets are working well again. I love technology; but when it’s not working, it can be so frustrating. I’m surprised I didn’t think of the cord as the problem. I knew about cords going bad, just never thought of it. I blame it on being tired.

Things at Amazon have been a little slow this week. They actually asked for volunteers to go home early last night, and were asking for people to not come in tonight. We’re here to earn money, so we don’t volunteer to leave. I think people are waiting for the Black Friday deals to start, and then the shopping frenzy will begin. We did end up getting sent home an hour early last Friday, but that’s not so bad.

The items I’ve been seeing a lot this week are a new book by David Baldacci and CDs by Susan Boyle and Michael Buble. I may be strange, but sometimes I wonder what the story is behind the orders. Is it a teacher ordering multiple copies of a book? Who are these people buying all the gourmet cat food? Is the person who ordered $180 worth of cake decorating books starting a business? Why are so many people buying cereal and peanut butter from Amazon? Is there a baby boom, because I sure am packing lots of baby stuff? I know, I’m strange.

It’s raining today which is a good thing. This area is very dry. It’s the first rain we’ve seen since before we left Wisconsin.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!