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August 03, 2004
Fixing OS X: Update Instead of Reinstalling
A few weeks ago my new AirPort Express showed up. To use it, you have to install a new piece of software, the AirPort Express Assistant (the old AirPort Assistant doesn't work). No big deal, however, as I was installing the software, just after the installer started its traditional disk optimization phase, my TiBook shut down. I'd forgotten to plug it in and it picked that moment to run out of juice.
I plugged in the power supply and brought the computer back from sleep mode, but the installation had gone horribly awry and so I started it over again. Stopping a disk optimization in mid stream is not a good idea. There's no telling what might have been messed up. Over the next few days I noticed a few odd things.
First, none of the Apple supplied menu bar items worked anymore. Things like the clock, AirPort status, and so on wouldn't start and gave strange error messages on the console. Menu bar items from third parties continued to operate fine. No amount of plist deletions, cache clearings, or rebootings would bring them back.
My iPod wouldn't sync with iTunes anymore. It would mount on the desktop and the iPod updater recognized that it was on the firewire, but iTunes couldn't see it.
I tried several things, including restoring some files from backup, but nothing seemed to work. I knew that the disk had been hosed somewhere that affected the system software, but it wasn't clear where. I was considering reloading the OS. I happen to have a spare 12 inch Powerbooks right now and I thought maybe I'd just transfer my working files to that and then reload in peace and safety. Then while searching Google for tips to make sure I knew everything I needed before I began, I ran across an idea that worked for me.
Rather than reload the entire OS, I just downloaded the OS X 10.3.4 combined updater and ran that. Luckily, it fixed both of the problems I'd experienced. I may not be out of the woods yet; I may yet find some lurking problem that requires that I reload the OS, but for now, I'm golden and with much less effort that would have been required to reload the entire OS.
04:09 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Key Bank Says Four to Six Weeks
Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to send away for something by mail order and the standard line was "four to six weeks" for delivery? You may have thought that those days were over but for the nostalgic ones, I'm proud to say they're not.
I got my credit card statement yesterday and there was a $550 charge from "Academic and Research Con" in "East Stroudburg, PA." I can't remember what it was and can't find a receipt, so I called up the credit card company, Key Bank, in this case to see what help they could give me. Very little as it turns out.
Key Bank can't tell me any more information about the merchant, not even a phone number. They'll be happy to send me a copy of the receipt. I can expect delivery in four to six weeks. I asked if they'd be willing to wait four to six weeks to get payment on that charge. The customer service person didn't think that was funny. Just out of curiosity, I asked her why it took four to six weeks. I didn't really expect a good answer and I wasn't disappointed. She said "oh, that's because we have to send it over to another department and they have to pull it."
I'm almost certain the charge is legit, still Key Bank did nothing to help me figure that out. I also wouldn't be surprised if the process really did take four to six weeks for them to complete, but the point is that my 21st Century mind can't comprehend it. I want Key Bank to be able to email me a copy of the receipt the same day. Nothing less is acceptable given the expectations of instant communications that we've created. This is an identity problem: I want better identity information about the people who show up on my credit card statements. I'm guessing that's not very high on the priority list of people building federated identity systems for the financial services industry.
Interestingly enough, the same bill contains a shining example of something merchants can do themselves to solve the problem. There's an $8 charge on the bill with a description that reads "ES *GLUCOSE" and a locations that reads "WWW.ESLR8.COM". If you go to www.eslr8.com, you'll see the following:
You type in the keyword that follows the * on the credit card statement and get back the merchant information. Nice and simple. eSellerate "gets" it whereas Key Bank clearly does not.