Well, dear readers, this is Yosemite BK speaking. Not Yosemite Sam, mind you, but Yosemite BK. Yes, I, who was quite behind the times in terms of my iMac operating system (three or four systems behind – Lion, to be exact), have finally upgraded to the latest and greatest, Yosemite. This I did not do because I wanted to – it was, in fact, suggested to me rather strongly by the Apple Care man who was helping me with several problems. Last night, right after posting the notes, I was Googling my show to see if there was anything I hadn’t seen. There was one site and it looked like it might have a review rather than a blurb, so I clicked on it. And suddenly I got a pop-up window from something called Mac Protection, with an official-looking Apple logo. It said that it had detected another computer trying to access my information and documents and that I had to call the number listed to take care of it immediately. Well, I didn’t think anyone would be there at twelve-thirty in the AM. So, I went to close out of it and it would not close. There was simply no way to get it off my screen. This made me very nervous. It had me completely locked out of Safari – I couldn’t even open a new window, to coin a Jerry Herman lyric. So, I forced quit Safari and launched and it was still there. I then restarted the computer and it was still there. I began to worry that my computer was being compromised but I know better than to call any number other than the official Apple Care number. So, I went to bed, nervous and worried. I got up earlier than I’d wanted, around 8:45, and it was still there. So, I called Apple Care. The first thing I found out was that my Apple Care is done on my iMac – Apple Care is only three years. They said it would cost thirty bucks for phone support, but I got put through to someone anyway. Thankfully, once I told him the problem he was willing to help me without the phone support charge, so that was great.
He said people were calling a lot about this very problem. He said it’s a total scam, the number you call tells you you have to spend $500 to clean and fix your computer. I cannot wish death on the people who do this enough. Real and painful death. These people are the scum and slime of the earth, and how they do this stuff and get away with it is disgusting. So, he said he had the quick and easy fix for it – he had me force quit Safari and then had me hold down the “shift” key while relaunching. And that did it. He then took me through various things just to make sure it hadn’t put anything bad on the computer, which it hadn’t, thankfully. We got rid of a lot of useless applications I don’t use, which helps everything run faster. Then he asked what operating system I was using and I told him Lion. He said I really needed to upgrade immediately. Now, upgrading an operating system makes me very nervous because I have memories of things popping up that I’d never know how to answer and once I clicked on the wrong thing and almost lost everything. But it’s different now, he explained, and easy, with nothing at all to click. So, he directed me to the App Store where there was a free download to Yosemite. He said it would take about twenty-five minutes. So, we started it, and I thanked him for his help. The actual download did take about twenty-five minutes, then the computer restarted and it tried to load it – it got halfway home in about ten minutes, and then just sat there at the halfway point, not moving. I know it does that sometimes, so I went and did other things for almost a half hour. When I came back it still hadn’t moved and it looked like it had no intention of doing so.
So, I called back Apple Care and got another nice person. He had me manually shut down the computer then restart. This time it began loading very quickly and even before it reached the quarter mark it sped to the end and I was on. Then it took about fifteen minutes to get everything up and running. I’ve always had the same background on my screen, but Yosemite has it’s own and I just decided to stay with it. Just before I got off the phone, I noticed that iPhoto had one of those circles with a line over it, as if you couldn’t use it. He told me they’d gotten rid of that and have a new thing now, so we set that up, it imported all my photos, and that was that. Everything was running much more smoothly and I’ve gotten use to the new look of it and the little do-dads that are new. That all took up the entire morning.
Then I went and had a Cobb salad, but instead of my usual pound of 1000-Island or Ranch dressing, I had red wine vinegar – that tasted just fine, and I had a bagel with it. Then I went to the mail place and picked up no packages, then did some banking, then came home. Once home, I finished choosing almost all the songs, we got a musical director, and while the schedule will be a little wacky it should all work out fine. I’d been fighting a headache all day and I finally just had to sit on my couch like so much fish and zone out.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on the Flix of Net. It really baffles me sometimes how I missed certain blockbuster films, in this case, The Hunt for Red October. I mean, I’d heard it was good, I liked the actors, so I don’t really know what kept me away. I rather enjoyed it for what it was, and I did indeed like all the actors very much – no women in the cast at all. Sean Connery was his usual excellent self, Alec Baldwin was fine, Sam Neill was more than fine, Scott Glenn was great, but the entire large cast all did a terrific job. For a two hour and fifteen minute movie it did move right along.
After that, I went to Gelson’s and got some melon balls and a few of their excellent drumettes for my evening snack. I came home and ate it all up. I had a few telephonic conversations and then just relaxed and listened to some soothing music.
Today, I have a bunch of stuff to do, then I have to eat something light, hopefully pick up some packages, then Sami and her mom come over and we’ll grab a bite to eat, then we tape the Donald Feltham radio show, which should air beginning next Sunday.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, a pick-up rehearsal, our three weekend performances, plus I got word that we will indeed be able to pick up the Welcome to My World CDs on Friday and so we’ll be able to ship and to sell copies at the theater this weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, get everyone their music, eat, and tape a radio show. Today’s topic of discussion: What were the cast albums of your youth – the ones you discovered because your parents had them around the house. And which were your favorites and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy I’m now Yosemite BK.