Ron's Misadventures

[ronknights]

I thought I'd create this thread to share some of my misadventures etc. I don't want to clutter up the forum with a bunch of threads.


My 27" iMac fell off a shelf today. The edge of the screen is chipped and cracked. The iMac still works, and the screen image is good. I have AppleCare. I'll contact them later to see if it's covered for repair or replacement.

I need to eat lunch, shower and do laundry first.

 

[Alisa]

Good idea to have one thread. Sorry to hear about the computer - hope it's covered!!

 

[ronknights]

The computer appears to work just fine. I have to look closely to see the chip and crack. I need to settle my nerves before I think of calling AppleCare. I've been extremely stressed out for the past few months.

 

[Lorraine]

That's not a fun way to start a day!

 

[Dylan]

Good luck with that Ron. If it helps, AppleCare over here are fairly decent with claims. I dropped and broke a two month old iPhone 6 last summer and they gave me a new one, no quibbles at all.

 

[ronknights]

I guess I'll have to call next week, after all. Someone else said AppleCare doesn't cover accidents. The good thing is that my data is on external hard drives. The internal Macintosh drive is already backed
up.

 

[ronknights]

Good News: I finished a long project that took at least a week to complete.
Bad News: the hard drive died.
Good News: I had a backup. But I still needed another drive to back that up!
Bad (Good?!) news: I had a portable drive of the same size which I'd used to backup my main Macintosh hard drive. All my data is saved on external drives. I'm backing up the 3D-Art stuff to the portable drive now!

 

[Alisa]

Yikes!! Well, glad you have backups, Ron!!

 

[ronknights]

Thanks! Have a great weekend!

 

[Alisa]

You too!

 

[ronknights]

I finally saw my MD yesterday. I was bewildered from the moment I arrived. I normally like to have time to gather my wits, catch my breath etc. I barely sat down when the nurse called me in, started the usual routine of getting my weight etc. I felt so rushed that I barely kept up with her. I scrambled to clutch my coat and hat, navigate with my cane, etc. Everyone was really nice. I just get easily overwhelmed.

The nurse took my blood pressure. It was 188 over 88 or something like that. She appeared alarmed, and asked how long I'd been without my medications. I said maybe a day, since the prescriptions had run out. I read later that this level of blood pressure is considered a cardiac event or something like that. I didn't get checked into the hospital.

The doctor arrived, and said I was already getting the maximum dosage of my blood pressure meds. He prescribed something to go along with it to help keep the pressure down. I told him I was overdue in getting an oxygen concentrator to go along with my BiPap machine, etc.

I got a referral to an eye doctor for my cataracts, one for a psychiatrist to help with the depression, etc. I got a referral for a new sleep doctor. I'm excited to finally take some action, but totally overwhelmed by it all.

I'm receiving some assistance from Family Services and a "worker" in our apartment building. I also found a volunteer organization that helps provide rides to medical appointments. Hopefully all this will work out.

 

[Alisa]

Ron, I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed.

Take it bit by bit. Write things in a calendar to keep track of them. Glad you're taking action for yourself

Hang in there - YOU CAN DO THIS!

 

[McGyver]

I'm sure you know this, but in case you or someone reading this doesn't, in many places pharmacies can give you a dose or two of a critical (life preserving) medicine if you are on file with them... I know it varies from place to place, but you should look into its availability and procedures for your locality. It's meant to sustain a patient should they lose their meds or run out, while they get in touch with their doctor for a new prescription refill.
I had no idea this existed, but a couple of years ago while on line at a pharmacy I watched an older fellow demanding a dose of heart meds for his wife, while the stupid girl behind the counter insisted there was nothing they could do and he should just call the doctor and work it out with them. The man insisted he started the process but the actual doctor was on vacation and his wife needed the medicine quickly... After a few minutes, a few people on the line started to chime in agreeing that this was a thing that could done and eventually the manager showed up and chewed out the girl for not knowing about that... To be honest, I don't think she was more that a cashier, but she was pretty arrogant and snotty, but it turned out alright and it was good to see a crappy disrespectful loaf get their butt handed to them.
Anyway, I hope that is available in your area, and if you ever run out again, please don't let it get that far. If you are prone to forgetting dates or tend to ignore calendars (I hate those stupid things, with their numbers and days, always telling you what to do or where to go), you could leave yourself big obvious notes... Like I do...

You should probably be nicer, I tend to be rather rude to me and sometimes I fight with myself over all the name calling, but I suppose it really comes down to how well you get along with you and if at least one of you has a good sense of humor or a thick skin.
Well, take care!

 

[Miss B]

I'm sure you know this, but in case you or someone reading this doesn't, in many places pharmacies can give you a dose or two of a critical (life preserving) medicine if you are on file with them... I know it varies from place to place, but you should look into its availability and procedures for your locality. It's meant to sustain a patient should they lose their meds or run out, while they get in touch with their doctor for a new prescription refill.

I had something similar happen, though in my case it was a family owned pharmacy, and not one of the large chains. I also had an instance where I still had refills available for one of my meds, but they, this same pharmacy, only had about 5 or 6 of the pills I needed, and weren't expecting a delivery for 2 or 3 days. They gave me the pills they had, and then called me when they had received their delivery so I could go get the rest of my refill. All the stores on the block where they were located were closed down a couple of years ago because the owner wanted to develop the space for a hi-rise condo, and I haven't had this issue come up since they moved my prescriptions to a local pharmacy chain, but I can't believe the big chains wouldn't do it as well.

 

[ronknights]

I got the necessary refills for previous prescriptions and got an additional blood pressure medication as well. I had to break open my imaginary piggybank. I paid with a roll of quarters and a bunch of pocket change, all placed in a convenient zip lock baggie! I ordinarily get my medications through the mail, but I had run out, and was in a hurry. The next few weeks will be rough because I'm out of money.

McGyver, I actually understood your message this time. Thanks for taking pity on my befuddled old mind!

Oh, and here's another story to share!

I decided to open up my 2009 13" Macbook to see if it needed cleaning. I got inside, didn't see any obvious dirt & put it back together. Ended up with a few extra screws.
I can't really handle this kind of work till if and when I get my cataracts removed. I can barely see the darned screws!

 

[Alisa]

Glad the meds worked out. Hope they can schedule the cataract surgery for you soon!

 

[McGyver]

I decided to open up my 2009 13" Macbook to see if it needed cleaning. I got inside, didn't see any obvious dirt & put it back together. Ended up with a few extra screws.
I can't really handle this kind of work till if and when I get my cataracts removed. I can barely see the darned screws!

I'll share a big confession that a lot of tinkerers (not tinklers) do... If you are opening up or taking apart a piece of equipment you are unfamiliar with or is fairly complicated, take a bunch of pieces of paper and put the parts in groups , circle them and label where you got them... Also if you have a smart phone, or camera with good close up, take pictures at each major disassembly point. It really helps. I do that, mostly with trays but with small stuff like electronics I sometimes use paper, if I intend to close it back up right away... The good thing about trays is you don't have to close everything back up right away or worry about losing stuff in the mean time... I use blister packs as small trays, vac-u-formed plastic food trays (TV dinners are a god source for those) and shallow boxes from canned food cases (like when you buy a 12 pack of mushrooms)... You can put the parts (with notes) in the smaller trays, and put them all in the shall box/tray... That's good for a day or two or if you have room, but if you feel spilly or you might knock it over after a few days you could always put them in multiple sandwich bags labeled with a sharpie and the lot into a bigger bag. A friend of mine collects vintage BMW bikes he is an expert on them and BMW actually goes to him for info, but when he takes a bike apart he uses a variation of the same concept... Everything goes into a brand new tray type white box, gets labeled and goes into a special bay or drawer or wooden box, dedicated to that project. I know that is useless to you now, but if you don't already do it, it may be helpful to give it a try. Good luck, and I'm sure if you google it, you'll be able to find where those screws came from, especially if it's on YouTube.

 

[ronknights]

I've been getting my repair info from YouTube videos, in addition to some sites that have "written" info with photos. I totally agree about organizing the parts. In addition, I won't do any more repair work until I either get my eyes fixed, or buy a good magnifying glass/light combo!

I have an evaluation appointment with my eye doctor in March. We'll see what he says.


Take care!

 

[ronknights]

I've been struggling for 15 years to make some western-themed pictures. Here's Michael 4 and his Steampunk Cowboy outfit, in the Steampunk's Nest scene. He has a gun, but isn't sure what to do with it.

 

[Lorraine]

Good render, Ron!