Fixing issues after my operating system woes and talking to my directionally challenged guy

My guy and I work in the information technology sector. He often tells me that he hates technology. However, he is good at practically everything he works with. His skill set constantly amazes me.

He only has one downfall -- he is directionally challenged. He is heavily reliant upon his GPS, so I know that he never forgets to have it with him.

On the other hand, I sort of make up for his couple of weaknesses. I tend to remember where he has parked his car whenever we are out. I am a geek when it comes to technology. We have mutual respect and admiration for each other's strengths.

So, this post will probably be my last one about my Mac mini issues. Here is the latest since a representative at my local Apple store's Genius Bar wiped out my hard drive and reinstalled the seemingly problematic El Capitan operating system.

The unfortunate part was that none of my external devices were not syncing properly after El Capitan was successfully installed. I am hoping that the next operating system release doesn't cause so many problems!

I am putting together this list of issues and what I did to fix each of them, in case I need to reference what I had done in a year's time:

• Photos library does not appear in iTunes
  It turns out that you need to make your Photos library a system Photos library in the Photos application. The change has to be done in the Photos > Preferences dialog. After you make this change, other applications, like iTunes, can find your Photos library.
• iPhone does not sync properly in iTunes
  It applies to most Apple devices that sync with iTunes. The existing content was a part of my old configuration on my Mac mini. That old configuration no longer exists on my Mac mini. As a result, in the case of my iPhone, it needed to be restored. I could then fully restore the phone using the last backup.
• Even after the first two changes, my photos and music still don't sync with my iPod or iPhone in iTunes
  There are a lot of i-products. Apple seems to be moving away from all that recently, with Apple Photos and Music, as examples. There are more steps to make sure that the Mac mini and the device sync up:

1. Completely exit both Photos and iTunes. Proceed to shut down the Mac mini.
2. My music is on an external hard drive. It needs to be powered down. I also unplugged its USB cable from the drive.
3. Leave all devices turned off for a minute. Power on the drive first, and then the Mac mini.
4. When the Mac mini is fully booted up, connect your iPod or iPhone to the computer.
5. Ensure that you have selected some music and photos to sync. They should sync up fine.

I was able to successfully sync my music and photos on my iPhone again. Currently, I am working on my iPod classic to sync all my music and photos. The latter will take a while. I have over 20,000 songs, which is my entire digital collection.

On Friday, my guy drove back from Montreal. He called me at around 17:00. I had missed his call, probably because I was walking to my car and didn't hear my phone ring. I called him back.

"Hey, did you call me?" I asked him.
"Yes, I did," he said cheerfully. "I thought that you may have been in a meeting."
"I was till 16:45, but I am in my car now," I explained. "I take it that you're driving back right now?"
"I am. I am a third of the way there," he said, with a tinge of being disappointed that he didn't leave earlier.
"It's okay," I replied. "Are you at least over the border into Ontario?" I asked him.
"I'm in Brockville. Where is that?" he asked me, which confirmed that he is still directionally challenged.
"Yes, you are in Ontario. Welcome back!" I exclaimed with glee.
"Thanks. I don't see any French signs anymore, so I am in Ontario."

He's cute. We agreed to meet in Scarborough, close to highway 401. My guy had bagels to deliver to me. We also wanted to see each other as soon as possible.