The mood at Chez Bridgett is somber… and yet, somehow upbeat. My MacBookPro fell ill last week. Blue screens are the sign of big trouble on laptops… and I immediately called Apple. It culminated into a trip to my local Apple Store’s Genius Bar. And after running diagnostics… it was determined that my laptop would need to be admitted to the hospital and then surgery would probably be necessary. I am obviously feeling pretty low. I use my laptop in EVERY creative endeavor involving my cartooning. So it is kind of a big deal. I feel a bit like Ryan with his Bug in the shop.
Fortunately, I have an iPadPro… which is helpful but not a replacement for what I do. I can sketch and create things, but Photoshop is not something it can do. I do have a much older MacBookPro that I can do some things on… but there is no internet capability which complicates matters.
The Genius folks informed me that the fix can take up to 10 days. And this puts the comic behind greatly. I will try my bestest to keep the flow of toons uninterrupted… but there may be a bit of a gap depending on things. I apologize. I am currently two weeks out… so things won’t be problematic until mid February. I will keep you posted and will focus on writing in the meantime. Keep your eyes in this blog area for iPad stuff, too. Smiles and thanks ahead of time for your patience.
I blame the gnomes.
Older … no internet … just how old can it be!?
It’s not that the internet isn’t possible per se, but the operating system is so old that it’s not well supported. I don’t like to ask for trouble. That laptop is a 2008, I believe running 3 or 4 OS’s ago.
The trouble with laptops is that they’re a technology compromise – everything that goes into a desktop computer is miniaturized and many of those components have to work extra hard to make up the difference, with the added stress of poor cooling in cramped enclosures and always being carried and bumped around. The professional 2D and 3D artists who work off-site for me always have a business-quality desktop simply because of the issue of greater reliability. Even for my own use, I have two Dell XPS business machines and my ‘render farm’ of three dual-Zeon workstations for 3D animation. Then again, we pay our artists very well so that they can afford good equipment, quick repairs and some degree of redundancy. Laptops are still a necessary compromise for most independent artists, and laptop reliability is just part of the price for that versatility.
That’s the technology spiel. Your comic stories are not syndicated but a gift given freely for anyone to see, and it is acceptable and understandable if you have to miss updates for any reason. A artist friend of mine from one of Canada’s native tribes has been after me for years to work on a for-syndication comic about Native Americans by Native Americans, but we just cannot commit to the time. We love your story. We love your characters. We love you for caring enough to commit to doing this work. Nuff said.
Yah… I don’t usually move my laptop around a lot either… It usually stays at the office. But because of various reasons, I have been working from home… and so whether or not this was an aid to the breakdown, who can say. I don’t have an “under fan” that I normally run at the office here at the house… and I think that was a bad idea on my part. I may have done bad things.
If the cost is more than the initial quote, then I may need to overhaul things. The cost to fix it may be better spent on newer technology… and maybe not the next MacBookPro, which is missing all the necessary ports that I use. I may jump from the laptop situation that I have been working on.
And thank you for the kind words, Uncle Bilbo… I really do appreciate it. It makes my heart get all wacky when you say that you love the comic… and this is what makes me continue to do it. Thank you.
gremlins are more likely then gnomes.
But I don’t have a gremlin problem. I have a gnome problem. As I write, there are six gnomes in the yard. That’s an infestation. I blame them!
Sorry to hear about the computer ills. Ben’s iPad 2 fell off the counter a few days before heading back to college. Broken screen. So I dropped it off to get fixed, but it wasn’t done before he left. It’s on his way to him now, but he’s been a bit crazy without it.
My condolences on Ben’s iPad. That’s traumatic. Has Ben’s shaking stopped?
I haven’t yet heard back from the Apple Store. It’ll be one week tomorrow that I’ve been without my central processing unit. I realize how much I use it for EVERYthing. It is really central to all I do. Maybe this is a wake up call. I am working with a brand new Comic-making app for iPad… and I’m liking it. Not sure how it will perform when it comes to high end printing, but it looks nice on the screen. Maybe this is turning a new corner. And maybe like Ryan’s car being in the shop … something good will come out of this little speed bump.