Fuck Apple.

I went to the Genius Bar last week because I'm tired of my laptop shutting down without warning before the battery is exhausted.

He said I had a bad battery. $129.00.

I asked if it was defective. He said no, no recalls.

I told him I was going to go home and research it and if I found it was defective and recalled that I'd be back.

Three different serial numbers of A1175 were voluntarily recalled by Apple and mine was one of them.

Fuck Apple.

They knew I had a bad battery and didn't bother to tell me until after my extended warranty ran out. They just waited, hoping that I wouldn't notice until it was too late. It's not like they don't have my contact information. They send me promotional stuff all the time about buying their shit. And it's not like they didn't know I owned a MacBook Pro 15" that might have a defective battery. They have all of that information on file with the extended warranty.

Nope. They were just hoping that I wouldn't notice until it was too late.

I have an appointment at the Genius Bar again tomorrow. We'll see what the store manager has to say. And his boss. And his boss.

Addendum:

It pays to 1. Go to a different store, 2. Go directly to someone in a position of authority, like the manager, 3. Be nice but act a little stupid.

They think all older people are clueless. And women. I'm both so I can use my gender and my age to my advantage.

Did I get a free battery?

No.

But I did get a battery at a discount. $99. And it's not a reconditioned battery or a third party brand. It's a genuine Apple battery. I can live with that.

But I'm still pissed I didn't know about this before 1. the defective replacement battery offer expired (June 2008) or my extended warranty was up (April 2009).

Will I continue to buy Apple? Yes. You just can't beat the quality of the machines (not the batteries) and the operating system. For productivity, it beats anything else for the average user hand down. You hard core computer geeks that are more enamoured of process rather than product can use PCs and Linux. (And do virus updates every day.)

Lamb. It's the new beef.

The U.S. really doesn't consume near as much lamb as the rest of the world.

Could this be why we are also not as healthy? Ok. One of the reasons?

Lamb is lower in fat, but higher in Omega3 fatty acids. Leaner. Healthier.

I understand it makes great cheese too.

I bought my lamb imported from New Zealand. Which also seems to consume the most lamb per capita in the world.

I'm sure they can spare a few chops.

I am really and truly pissed.

Here I thought I was getting healthier by dumping HFCS and I find an insidious ingredient in the 1% lowfat chocolate milk I switched to. Crystalline Fructose.

I thought that when I started drinking the stuff it said sugar. Not anymore. Perhaps somewhere along the line it changed.

Beware anything with the word fructose in it. It's a liver-killer.

Ahhhhbalone

I had abalone for dinner last night. I have two left for dinner tonight.

Abalone used to be so abundant that the Jr. high kids would make abalone knives in metal shop class for a project. They had resin handles and a ruler to be used to measure legal abalone and then pry them off. You used to be able to snorkel and harvest a few abalone for dinner.

But they were horrendously overfished, illegally taken until they were virtually gone. They've been protected for over 30 years.

But there are some intrepid abalone farmers along the coast of California that are not only farming abalone for sale, but learning a tremendous amount of information about the abalone life cycle, breeding, diet, etc. The abalone they raise in a controled environment are disease free, parasite free, etc. The shells are beautifully clean (no barnacles, etc.) They are also working on releasing baby abalone into the ocean to restock old breeding grounds. Some day we may be able to dive for abalone again. But for now there are the farms. And unlike other fish farms, abalone are actually better farmed. They are free of toxins and are fed a healthy, natural diet: kelp.

I sent away for them from a farm near Monterrey. It cost $75.00 for one pound of abalone and I also got 4 shells. I had to pay an additional $38.00 for overnight shipping. They arrived in a styrofoam contained with four ice packs. Very heavy (hence the expense.) There were 16 abalone steaks. About the size of my hand, they cooked down to the size of my palm. (The abalone were about 4-5 years old when harvested. Another reason they were so expensive.) Enough to feed 2-4 adults. Well, there were three of us and between us all we only ate 10. So I have 2 leftover today and my parents have 4. I'd say enough to feed 4-6 adults.

They were absolutely delicious.

I spent this obscene amount of money because my Mom turned 80 last week and my Dad will turn 80 this week. They don't want stuff and don't need any stuff. (Although I did buy a photo printer for my Mom and gave her my old digital camera and my old miniDV video camera.) So I told them I would buy them dinner. A really good dinner for 3 in a really nice restaurant would cost about the same as what I spent; $40 per person. And if you could find a restaurant that can get abalone, an abalone dinner would probably run about $75.00 per person. So a bargain, really.

It was so good we may do this every year. I certainly wouldn't mind having abalone once a year.

It was just totally awesome. And ecofriendly. Except for the shipping. But that FedEx truck would be delivering stuff all around anyway, so even that wasn't so much. We'll reuse the ice packs and the styrofoam container. And the four abalone shells that came with it are on display in my Mom's dining room.

Happy Birthday, Mom and Dad.