AppleCare and procrastination and firearm penetration

Armed with the warning from the Apple Store that if I shipped my Powerbook in to Apple for hard drive replacement, I'd probably never see the drive (or its data) again, I called AppleCare. She said that if I shipped it in, then started calling daily to ensure that I got the drive back--because they need the drive to verify that the drive's dead before they can replace it, see--I stood a good chance of getting it back. This seems shaky at best, and she realized this, so she pointed me in another direction--Apple Authorized Service Providers, of which there are several in the area, the closest about five miles away. That way, I'm at least talking directly with a service provider, and stand a pretty reliable chance of the hard drive not wandering into the abyss. Woo! (Yes, I could've done this a month ago, if not two, but I procrastinate*, see. If I didn't have the stand-in laptop from work, I'm sure I'd have been much more snappy about looking into service.)

* According to some book-backs I skimmed in Kramerbooks recently, procrastination stems from fear. Fear of what, I'm not sure--I don't fear having nothing to do, I don't fear the completion of the individual tasks, I don't fear the work that goes into completing tasks.. I just procrastinate.

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Generally speaking, houses offer concealment from gunfire, but not cover. Check out Old Painless's informal testing of a whole lot of rounds fired into a test box representing a house. (It should clear up a few misconceptions about the penetrating power and damage caused by assorted rounds, and how wide the spread of a shotgun really is.)

DucUpdate, Powerbook Update, Evening plans, New Year's plans

Herein lies the difference between warranty repairs and home repairs:

If this were coming out of my pocket, I'd either polish up or ignore the dents/scrapes on the right-hand plastic, muffler, and peg; maybe fiberglass the mirror housing, and replace the right brake lever and "fuel tank buffer." Total part cost, about $50.

However, when insurance is paying, and they're replacing everything I just mentioned plus a few other odds and ends, the part cost is almost $1700*, and $600+ in labor. Total estimate, $2,416.60. Deductible: $250. :)

* $766 for the muffler, $130 for the bracket, $492 for the plastic, $164 for the mirror, $64 for the right footrest, and $15-$30 each for a few other parts.

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On the Powerbook front, I stopped by CompUSA, explained the situation, and left my Powerbook with them for the hard drive replacement/upgrade* and screen replacement, with the caveat that I get the old drive back. Ah, progress.

* megachrisgt suggested I upgrade to a 7200rpm drive for an additional few dollars, which I may do.

In other Apple news, Shauna's iBook's internal video connection crapped out again, which is covered under warranty and will be fixed again. Matt's iBook, on the other hand, died, and Apple's replacing it with a brand new 12" G4 iBook. Snazzy!

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Later this evening, baranoouji and jduffy1535 will drive down from Reston to Manassas, where they'll pick up idoru and then come over here; from here, we'll all go find food and merriment, followed by Code R23 and VNV Nation at Nation.

For New Year's, Cristy and I are going to the Jammin' Java New Years Eve w/ Robbie Schaefer of Eddie from Ohio, Paul and Storm from DaVinci's Notebook, and Special Guests. :)