THE APPLE I-PAD...

 

is an amazing piece of equipment; however, I really hadn’t given it much thought or looked at it as one of my favorite things. That all changed yesterday.

I was maybe a chapter from finishing a book on my I-pad and I knew the battery was low. Still, I persevered, hoping to reach THE END. Instead, the screen suddenly turned black, an indication the battery was dead. Okay, fine, I’ll just plug it in and get back to the end of the book by the end of the day. HAH.

Late evening, I went to get my I-pad. I had checked to be sure it was charging when I plugged it in, but now, the screen remained black. Nothing I tried would bring that damn thing to life. I was a bit distraught.

Now, I’m the kind of person who always said I HAD to read the book by holding the actual book in my hands. Ten years ago, when I went on a trip by myself, I downloaded books to my I-pad and took it with me. Traveling by myself, it was the best companion possible when it came to the end of the day and I was in my room alone.

My original I-pad died in 2020 and I bought a new I-pad Air. It has so many different utilization possibilities, I haven’t even begun to figure the majority of them out. I can do my email, go on the internet, and, best of all, read books I download from the library. I keep telling myself I’m going to spend some time figuring out how to use the various programs and apps on this I-pad, but I haven’t yet.

Anyway, this morning I went online to see if I could figure out what was wrong with my I-pad, all to no avail. I did find out there’s a program that will help me learn how to use this I-pad and I’m going to check back at some point and see what it can help me with. Now, the only alternative was a trip to Alderwood to the Apple store.

I arrived a bit before 11:00 am, was signed in and told I would have to wait thirty minutes at the most for assistance. I sat out in front of the store in the sunshine and played with my phone. When I went back in, it was maybe another five minutes before one of the store managers came to help. He used a different cord to plug my I-pad in and then did something magical…at least it seemed magical to me because suddenly the black screen was filled with my stuff. YAY.

He then turned me over to a young woman and told her to run a diagnostic. She did so and found absolutely nothing wrong. She told me that sometimes when an update is being installed, the I-pad will hiccup and freeze. Then she asked if the manager had told me how to do a hard start. He hadn’t, so she told me what to do. Press the up volume button, then the down volume button, then hold the on button for about sixty seconds. The magic the manager had performed wasn’t magic at all.

Anyway, back home, I made my lunch and settled down to finish the book. It was more than a few pages, but all-in-all very good. I just wish the protagonist would stop smoking cigarettes.