Remembrance day

Today is Remembrance Day, a very important not-holiday for Canadians. (not all provinces have the day off, but everone across Canada observes the holiday nonetheless)

On Nov. 11, at 11 a.m., we observe a moment of silence to remember the veterans who have fought -- and fallen -- in order to win us the freedoms we enjoy today. At the end, those of us listening to the radio, or in a large office or school, hear the bugle play.

We wear poppies, and read the poem In Flanders Field, and we try to remember.

For more information on this Canadian observance, check out freefloat's journal, among others on my friend's list.

MAC GEEK HELP NEEDED

Well shit. One second I'm getting a mail notification from gmail. The next second, the cursor won't move and the keyboard wouldn't respond. So, I eventually decided to power down and power back up. Now it boots to a blank screen. It's ON. It makes turning on whirring noises, and the blank black screen is somewhat greyer than when it is off. But it doesn't make any "I'm on" digital noises.

I dug out the hardware disk, and put it in, and booted up the way you're supposed to, holding down the c key. No go. Still a black screen. May be the disk can assess my problem, but if so I won't be able to see it the way this thing is running.

Next step:
Bring it into the third party Mac store down the street (about a thirty minute walk, and my parents are out right now) to see what they have to say, but I fear that it may be fried. It HAS been acting very sluggishly lately.

I bought it just under two years ago after frying my previous iBook:
http://danaeris.livejournal.com/425885.html

If it's fried...

Mac geeks
iBook, or Powerbook ... how do you decide what the difference is for you? And, if the repairs will be expensive, how much would the upgrade from my current specs (Panther, airport extreme, CDRW/DVD drive, 358 SDRAM, 30 Gigs hard drive, 800 MHz) to a low end iBook or Powerbook be worth?

Non Mac geeks
I COULD go back to PC. ::shudder:: If I were to do so, what would you recommend for a laptop that was equivalent to a 12" iBook?

*sigh* I may not be paying off that loan after all... At least, not all of it.

In-City crashness Saturday night / Mac geekery

I am trying to set up interviews for housing both Saturday and Sunday. I'm hoping that I can find someone who can let me crash at their place in the city Saturday night. Please please pretty please?

---

My iBook perversely started up fine at the store, but then stalled again. We're not entirely sure what's wrong, but we suspect it is a case of consistent overheating, in which case some of the components may be damaged and need to be replaced. Thus, total cost of repair could be minimal, or could be prohibitive. I've left it with them for a diagnostic, at the cost of $49.

My father is thinking about getting an iBook, so there has been some discussion of him buying it off me and paying for the repairs so that I can upgrade. See, the battery and charger on mine are problematic. For someone using it around the house, no biggie. But, using it around the city in cafes and so forth, they need to be replaced. So, for my father, that's $270 in costs that don't need to be done that I would need to do eventually (but would get out of a new laptop). Add to that the upgrade to Tiger (which I'm told is very useful, but probably would make no difference for him), and the cost of repairs... well, we'll see.

I'm concerned about this overheating, however. Did I do something to cause it? Or is it a problem in the hardware design? If the latter, has it been corrected in newer models? Is it a problem that exists with all laptops, all Apple laptops, or just iBooks?

I still need to figure out Powerbook vs. iBook for myself.

So, lots to chew on there.