Thank you, giant corporation. Oh, and I brought you a sandwich.

What happened to customer service? And what happened to Apple? My computer starts having problems, and Apple wants to charge me -upfront - $49.95 so that they can try to help me over the phone, although by their admission my problem may not even be something that can be fixed over the phone. Either way, $49.95. Thankfully, the guy on the phone mistakenly suggested that they wouldn't be able to help me, and I told them I'd figure it out myself. The Apple store here in NYC has a policy of taking reservations for tech support on the day of, but you need to go online early in the morning. I tell the apple store employee that I can't get online easily because my computer isn't working, which is, as i had already said, the reason I need the tech support. She tells me I can show up at the store to be seen as a walk-in at 6 a.m., but that I should probably show up around 5 because "a lot of people want to get help and can't get appoinments." When did Apple become Microsoft?

One brief discussion with a nerd at an electronics store later, I find out that Powerbook batteries tend to go bad after two or so years, and I needed to change mine.

Then our internet in the apt. goes out, and after making me wait several hours for the guy to show up, he tells me he can't fix it - why? who knows? - and I will have to schedule another appointment so another repair guy can try to fix the problem. My favorite was the repairman's astonishing announcement that "your internet doesn't work." Oh, really? Man, am I glad you're here.

I am so sick of the implicit corporate assumption that I have nothing better to do with my time and/or money. As I can't post about Japan or anything without going somewhere for internet, things will be slow on that front.

Perhaps the only consolation thus far today was the one pre-packaged "gourmet" sandwich in the hospital cafeteria that stood out from the rest - it lacked the usual printed label and was marked unceremoniously with a piece of tape, on which someone had written in magic marker the thoroughly baffling one-word description "EGGBEEF."

Mmmm....EGGBEEF.