Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

Bad Apple

Three weeks ago, my 15-month old 12" PowerBook began having problems. I experienced my first system crash in which the entire machine stopped functioning, not just a wayward application. This occurred 4-5 times over the next couple of days and since it was accompanied by odd sounds coming from the harddrive, I decided to have it checked out.

We are blessed to have two Apple Stores within about 30 minutes, so I took off for the one I am most familiar with - Willow Bend. Before I left, I took advantage of the handy feature Apple offers where you can get in line, virtually of course, at the Genius Bar even before you arrive.

I arrived at the store and my name was listed on the beautiful store screens as the third person in line. I found a spot near the Genius Bar and just observed for about 10 minutes as I waited.

It quickly became obvious that the original Genius Bar concept does not scale. The support desk was not built to handle millions upon millions of iPod users. As Apple's sales have increased over the past year, I'm sure they are struggling just to keep up with their computer customers, but iPod buyers are overwhelming the system. Most people see the Genius Bar (specifically not called Support Desk or Technical Support) as a friendly, free place to get your questions answered. The store I was in (during the middle of a work day, no less) had two competing groups of users: those with expensive machines with major problems (why else would you go to the inconvenience of bringing it in) and people with very quick questions about very minor inconveniences. Let's face it, going without your iPod for a week is a bummer; going without your computer for a week is a major problem.

Unfortunately, they are all waiting in the same queue.

My two suggestions: First, Apple needs to have someone who greets people before they reach the Genius Bar, someone who can explain that there is indeed a line for a support even though you can't see it, can answer very basic questions and perform simple triage. Many customers simply walk up to the counter and start explaining their issue (a reasonable idea) only to be told that there are 10 people ahead of them and it will be approximately 90 minutes before they can get help. They generally walk away feeling both stupid and frustrated.

Second, Apple should seriously consider providing a separate area dedicated to iPod support.

Moving on...since I was somewhat familiar with the process, my experience was generally positive. I only waited about 10 minutes and was helped by a very knowledgeable person. We performed some tests (they do a good job of involving the customer in the process) and determined that the harddrive was in the process of failing. The recommended solution was to replace the harddrive. Unfortunately, the machine was no longer under warranty and they were going to charge what can only be called Apple prices to repair it. Having no desire to investigate other solutions and, of course, trusting Apple, I left it without hesitation.

It has now been two weeks and the machine is still at my local Apple Store. There were only three steps in the repair process: order a harddrive, install it, and move the existing data. The new harddrive arrived nearly a week ago and still the PowerBook sits there, awaiting its turn. The original estimation was 5-7 days.

During these two weeks, I have had a couple of unsatisfying experiences. I first called the store after four days because I was told when I dropped it off that they may have a harddrive in stock, which would reduce the repair time. The person I spoke with suggested I was being impatient by calling so soon, since the estimate was five to seven days.

I tried to track my repair status online without success. I called the 800 number and was told that you can't track in-store repairs online. I called the store and, you guessed it, was told I really should check online (you can, in fact, track in-store repairs online, if you have your secret-encoder ring on).  Since the harddrive arrived, the only estimate has been, "Well, there are a lot of people ahead of you. It's going to take awhile to get to it."

Now, I'm extremely blessed to have access to other machines, so this has not caused a significant disruption in my day-to-day activities, but I'm amazed at Apple's casual approach to this. I'm confident that for the majority of people, and they have no reason to not include me in that group, going without a computer for 2+ weeks is a significant problem. My assumption is that Pro customers and warranty customers take priority over losers like me with 15-month old equipment, but I was certainly not told when I dropped it off that my machine will always have the lowest possible priority.

Hopefully, I will get a call this week letting me know the machine is ready. I'm still unsure of the lesson involved - it's either always purchase 2-years of AppleCare or buy a Dell.

5 Links

1. Dave Winer released the public beta of his OPML Editor. It's a very cool outliner, programming tool, and blog publisher. Currently Windows-only, it is built on the familiar Frontier/Radio foundation and can be taken in many different directions, including managing directories of information in a shared form. The podcasting community currently makes heavy use of OPML, as do most RSS newsreaders for subscription lists. I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with it. [Link]

2. The U.S. Men's National Team beat Panama Sunday to with the Gold Cup, a bi-annual soccer tournament featuring North and Central American national teams. Kasey Keller once again proved himself to be one of the best goalies in the world. [Link]

3. Mille Borne is easily one of the best family card games. I've never played it with someone who didn't love it, whether a child or adult. I used to play it regularly when I was a teenager and Ben and I rediscovered it this weekend. Great fun! [Link]

4. 15 Mbps of pure bandwidth goodness is only two weeks away! Thanks to the wonderful world of fiber and Verizon Fios, our home will soon have 4x the internet connection for $2 less per month. [Link]

5. The incredible, though now defunct, band Phish had a rare combination of relentless creativity and musicianship. One of the most unique things they did for years involved their annual Halloween shows. Following in the tradition of the Grateful Dead, the Halloween shows were a true event. Phish came up with a brilliant way to make it memorable.

In the middle of a marathon night of music, the band would put on a musical costume and perform an entire album from another band as part of the show. This was in addition to nearly two full sets of original music. The performances are fascinating for their enthusiam and dedication to music that obviously meant a great deal to them.

The albums chosen include Loaded by Velvet Underground, The White Album by The Beatles, Remain in the Light by The Talking Heads, and my absolute favorite, Quadrophenia by The Who.

They released these four shows on CD a couple of years ago (Live Phish #13, 14, 15 and 16), but I only just discovered them. They are fantastic!. [Link]

RSS in Pictures

I love it when my son, Ben, introduces me to cool new computer things. This is starting to happen more and more - I'm convinced that age 10 (which is what he will be in two months) is when this becomes common.

Yesterday, he asked me if I wanted to see his blog as a screensaver. I laughed and assumed he was going to show me something, certainly, but whatever it was, it wasn't going to actually be his blog as a screensaver. I walked in and sat down and there it was - his blog title immediately followed by his last five posts, spinning on the screen in a way only Apple could do. Very cool!

If you have Tiger, you'll find the RSS Screensaver option within System Preferences. Your feed options are based on the RSS feeds you've subscribed to in Safari, so make sure to add them there first. To get an idea of what it looks like, here's an Engadget post with images. Thanks, Ben!

Comments: On

Thanks to Six Apart's recent introduction of moderated comments for TypePad, the Fellowship Church Blog now has comments! [Link]

We look forward to receiving greater feedback and getting a better idea of the audience we are reaching.

5 Links

1. Outstanding interview by Tom Peters with Jason Fried from 37Signals [Link]

The thing is that we're really big into realizing that there are people on the other end. We're all using computers to do things, but there are still people on the other end. It's really inhumane to treat people with such disrespect when something goes wrong that they get a cryptic error message that sounds like a computer is talking to them.

2. Still wonder if the blog conversation can impact your organization? My wife Lori posted about our miserable experience with the local YMCA summer program. Ten days later it's the 6th result on Google when you search for "Coppell YMCA". [Link]

3. William Strunk on the Elements of Code. Remember, copywriting is interface design. We're working on a new conference registration application and I've probably spent 3 hours over the last month thinking about the title of one particularly challenging section: "Add Previous Attendee", "Add Existing Staff Member", "Choose a Staff Member", "Add Former Participant", or "Choose from Your Church Roster". It always seems like simplicity and clarity are just out of reach. [Link]

4. Don't miss Hotel Rwanda. [Link]

5. The Economist covers the recent good news about student test scores in the U.S., and the political implications for Bush and No Child Left Behind. [Link]

10 Things I Learned While I Wasn't Blogging

10. Sleep is good

9. Books are often more rewarding than blogs

8. The number of DVD's worth seeing is rapidly approaching zero

7. I think in Top 10 Lists even when I'm not blogging

6. The Economist is an outstanding magazine

5. Stats don't matter

4. There is a very cool Dashboard Widget for Backpack

3. Ben can beat me in chess

2. Readers stay - if you want to take a break, go ahead, they'll be there when you return

1. My wife is very attractive!

Sablogical

Two weeks ago, I announced that I was taking a break from this blog - a sablogical if you will. I return today refreshed, inspired, and with a new perspective. I greatly appreciate the many comments and emails I received which were uniformally kind and generous.

Why did I stop?

I stopped blogging because it had become something very different than what it once was and it was time for me to make a change.

1. Acrimony

My initial experience with the blogosphere was of a place filled with passionate people driven by a desire to share and communicate with others. More and more, and not unexpectedly, I found blogs filled with acrimony. Competition + arrogance + the echo chamber is a volatile mix. It is often easier to attack others than to offer your own, original contribution.

2. Addiction

On a personal level, there is no doubt that blogging can easily become a consuming passion. The reading > writing > feedback loop is nothing if not addictive. Unfortunately, blogging isn't found in the priority chain (God, family, church, work), though, somewhat sinisterly, it often touches them all. A key to successful blogging is putting it in its proper place, within appropriate boundaries.

3. Statistics

Lastly, a blog can often become more about numbers than words. How many hits? How many subscribers? Where do you rank? How many comments? Traffic, traffic, traffic. At the heart of it all, I had to ask myself, "What is your motivation?"

There are many ways to measure the success of a blog, and it will be different for everyone, but I refuse to be driven by numbers. I never want to lose my original purpose and passion.

4. New Things

I have a couple of projects that may or may not become a reality in the near future. I hope to have more to share soon, but I needed to step off the blog train in order to explore these possibilities more thoroughly.

Why did I start again?

Simply, I love to write, and I love how blogs allow you to share your voice in your own unique way. That and the chicks. Chicks dig bloggers.

What's New

1. If you're reading this in a newsreader, visit the site to see the new design. Thanks to Six Apart for releasing a number of great new templates.

2. The stat trackers are gone. There are a number of free sites that help you track how many people visit and what they do while they're there. You simply add some Javascript to your pages and each time a page is visited, information is sent to the site aggregating your data. Unfortunately, this is one more thing that has to load on every page and one more thing that can break, both of which negatively impacts the user's experience. I have removed all of these external scripts to make the site as quick and lean as possible, and as I said above, words trump numbers (and paper covers rock, for those of you scoring at home).

3. I will be posting more by posting less. In other words, I hope to invest more time and thought into each post, which will most likely mean you hear from me less, but hopefully you'll hear more when you do.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and continued interest. I look forward to the next 15 months!

Leave It Behind

Fifteen months ago today, I started this blog. Since then, I have posted at least once each day, 527 posts in all. Now, the time has come to take a break.

This blog and the resulting relationships and conversations have immensely enriched my life. I never would have imagined when I first began experimenting with blogs in 2000 that they could have such a powerful impact. I never would have imagined when I first pitched the idea of using blogs at Fellowship Church in February 2002 that 3.5 years later we would see the explosion we see today; site blogs, internal blogs, team blogs, and over 20 staff blogs. God has greatly blessed this whole experience and I can't wait to see what lies in the future.

For me personally, however, it is time to hit the pause button and rethink, or as Bono said, "We have to go away and dream it all up again."

I don't know what the future holds for this site or what form that future will take, but I do know that my heart is being pulled in different directions and I want to free my mind and my time to see where that leads.

As always, my deepest thanks to all of you for reading. It has truly been an honor. God bless!