Battery percentage and a surprise parcel

On Sunday, I upgraded my MacBook Air to Big Sur, which is the latest and greatest MacOS. The upgrade went well and I like it so far.

The only thing that bothered me was that the battery percentage was gone. You have to select the option in System Preferences. I understand keeping things simple, but having this percentag hidden by default is odd to me.

Switching gears a bit, I got a small parcel from a local vendor in Toronto. I have been a fan of this vendor's products that I had asked the owner about a small little plushie that I've seen on his social media feed. I asked whether it was for sale. It wasn't, but he was happy to send me one for free for being so supportive. It was such a kind gesture.

Well, guess what? I didn't get one. I got two small plushies. So generous. These small gifts made my day.

Parting colleague and social awkwardness

I'm not sure why I end up installing an operating system update before I blog, but I did just that last night. The update took longer than I had anticipated. I decided to skip blogging.

Friday was an interesting day. It was my colleague's last day with the company.

My team isn't the best in organizing a decent farewell for a fellow colleague. I tend to do it because I care. I got the greeting card. I collected money from everyone to get a parting gift and got it. I handed over our gift to her and made a quick speech.

My manager is horrible at saying something heartfelt. It comes out socially awkward. I asked him to sign the card. He asked me if I could write something for him. Um, no. It needs to come from the heart, unless he doesn't have one.

He did eventually write something. My colleague and I talked before she exited, stage left. She let me read what he had written. It was standard. Nothing special. It's the effort that counts, I suppose.

She clued in that I put everything together. She thanked me a ton of times and asked if she could hug me. So, we did. It was cool.

I'm thrilled that she has found a new career opportunity. It's just sad to see a decent, competent colleague go.

Android 9 Pie and my Pixel's dying battery

I wonder whether Google has been hearing about my current and probably only woe with my Google Pixel phone.

My phone is nearly two years old. These days, the battery doesn't hold a charge as well as it used to. A couple of days ago, my phone had 34% battery life and then it automatically shut itself off. I tried booting it up and it simply didn't have enough juice to stay on.

The good news is that whenever there is an Android update, Pixel phones tend to be the first to get it. This time, it's Android 9, also known as Pie, that is out.

I installed it. One of its biggest features is adaptive battery. The idea is that the operating system learns my phone usage patterns. It then direct power to apps that I need. It's essentially predicting my day-to-day battery usage. That's cool to me.

So far, I've noticed that my phone's battery drain at a slower pace. There is also a battery saver option. Nice!

The next Google Pixel phone gets revealed in early October. Chances are that I will upgrade to it. I love my phone. I am hoping that the new phone's battery is better. For now, I thank Pie for extending my battery's life for another couple of months, at least.

High Sierra upgrades

Yesterday, I was planning to write a post. However, High Sierra was calling my name, so I had to attend to it.

To put things into perspective, High Sierra is the latest Apple operating system. Generally, when I upgrade, I don't experience anything crazy. I do, however, have that anomaly a few years back. My Mac mini would not boot up after the installation and I had to visit a Genius Bar to get it fixed.

My Mac mini is getting up there in years. I'd say that it is nearly seven years old. So, the upgrade took longer than I had anticipated. It was well over two hours, from download to installation.

I actually had the installation run and I hopped into bed.

I woke up the next day and my Mac mini was operational. Yay!

I also have a Macbook Air. I just finished upgrading the operating system on it. It's a newer device in comparison. It took under two hours.

All is well. It's nice to blog again. I still need to figure out all the new features that I haven't got a clue about!

Corporate discount on Microsoft Office for Mac - CB-approved

Well over a year ago, I upgraded my Mac mini to the latest operating system at the time. The upgrade went horribly wrong to the point where I had to go get help at the Apple store.

I had a pretty old version of Microsoft Office for Mac installed before the upgrade blew everything up on my Mac mini. The Office version was 2004. After getting my operating system reinstalled, reinstalling Office 2004 would not work.

I have been without Microsoft Office on my Mac mini since. I also have a Macbook Air. It does not have Microsoft Office, either.

On Friday, I received a forwarded e-mail from Sharky. He is a development manager who likes me. My guy constantly teases me over the fact that Sharky lusts after me.

Anyway, the e-mail stated that employees can get a home copy of Microsoft Office for Windows or Mac for $13 each. Wow!

Part of me thought that this price was too good to be true. However, the e-mail came from our company's IT department. It was a valid e-mail offer!

I went ahead and paid $13 to have Office installed on my Macbook Air. All Office applications work well.

My guy was so proud of me for saving so much money on software. He is my sweet cheap bastard (CB).

Technology baffles me, but at least my photo-syncing issues are fixed!

I have always been a troubleshooter. My latest issue with upgrading my Mac mini to the Sierra OS and then attempting to sync my photos to my phone has been fixed. I simply don't know which change that I performed actually fixed everything.

Technology is odd. I am immersed in it at work. It's an interest of mine, too. It's such a love-dislike relationship.

Anyway, I have done a few things to fix this issue:

1. Changed the properties of my Photos library so that read and write access is granted to all programs accessing it.
2. Powered off and on my external hard drive, which houses my iTunes library.
3. Tried to rebuild my library by pressing the Option + Command (Ctrl + Alt) keys. I didn't get the repair option, so I loaded my photos library as normal.
4. Started iTunes. I tried syncing both my iPod classic (yes, I still own one, as it fits my entire music collection, which is large) and iPhone. Both actions prompted an error message indicating that my photos library was unavailable.
5. Closed my Photos program.
6. Tried syncing my iPhone again. My photos synced!
7. Synced my iPod again. It synced successfully, too!

Again, I did a bizarre set of steps. It will be a miracle if all this syncing works tomorrow. I can then get on with writing about my last spanking.

There are days where I want to book some time away from technology, fly to some tropical location, lounge around, and write in a ruled notebook with a fountain pen. It sounds perfect right about now.

Profiled for being a bad girl

I was pleasantly surprised to find that an excerpt of one of my blog posts made it on Spanking Blog. It was my post of being spanked hard and admitting that I was a bad girl. Thanks so much!

I have upgraded my Mac mini to the Sierra OS. At first, it looked like everything was running smoothly. I am now running into the same photo-syncing issues like I did last year between my phone and iTunes. Oh, what fun!

Once I have fixed all these issues, I will work on writing about my most recent spanking.

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.

My Mac mini update and more

I thought that I would check in and say hi. So, hi!

The good news is that the technician at my local Apple store's Genius Bar got my Mac mini up and running on Wednesday. I am blogging again using it.

Unfortunately, the fix required wiping out my Mac mini's hard drive contents and reinstalling the new El Capitan operating system. Of course, things are never smooth after such a restoration. Now, my photos do not sync with my iPhone. Ah, the joys of technology!

It has been a rough week at work. My manager suffered an eye injury. He has lost vision in his left eye. I don't know at this stage whether the vision loss is temporary or permanent, but I am hoping that it is the former. Our team at work is pooling our money for a get-better-soon gift for him. We had thought of flowers, but his particular hospital wing does not allow them. So, I will probably need to resort to chocolates and a get-well balloon when I place the order on behalf of the team. It's the thought that counts the most.

I hope to place the order tomorrow and go see him on the weekend. It makes you appreciate people you work with under such conditions. I hope that he is on the mend.

My guy is currently in Montreal. I had hoped to join him, but we have an intern who started with the company on Monday. I have been training her. She's a good person. Needless to say, this week has been both draining and challenging.

My guy decided to drive to Montreal for his business trip, similar to what I had done back in April. I asked him if he could buy some bagels for me, as they are simply yummy. He didn't hesitate. He told me that they would be my souvenir. He's sweet, as usual.

So, my posts still won't be all that regular until I troubleshoot some minor issues. Wish me luck!

Operating system woes with El Capitan

I have been an Apple fan for at least a decade now. I became one when I had a corrupted .dll file on my old Windows mid-tower and had to reinstall everything from scratch.

For the first time, I have a similar issue, but with Apple's latest operating system, El Capitan, on my Mac Mini. I decided to upgrade to this version the other night. Such a huge mistake!

Windows has the blue screen of death when nothing boots up properly. After installing El Capitan, all I see is the Apple logo and a status bar that does not budge. I have unplugged every cable to my Mac mini, except for the power cable and the monitor cable. I get the same result.

I have a Genius Bar appointment slated for next Wednesday. Luckily, I do have my work and home laptops, so I can still blog and stay connected like the geeky girl that I am.

There is a first for everything. 

I will resume my regularly scheduled blog posts soon!