the mac the man gave me

so three years ago i started law school. i was excited to start law school because it gave me a reason to buy a laptop.  i had never owned a laptop and it was an exciting event for me.  everyone in law school has a laptop.  without one it would be impossible to gchat and surf the internet during class, which arguably are not necessary, but its pretty much what everyone does with their computers during class.  some take notes, but thats only occasionally when they are waiting for a web page to load.  anyways, i was excited to buy a new laptop, but particularly an imac or the current apple laptop.  why a mac?  because they are better and cooler.  why are they better?  i dont know.  but the commercials tell me they are and everyone that has one tells me that they are better.  you know, you can edit photos and movies and make music and do all sorts of creative and visual arts stuff that i know nothing about.  why are they cooler?  because they just are.  

so i wanted a mac, but unfortunately, the software program that one has to use for law school exams only runs on pc's or the windows operating system.  i suppose that i could have bought a mac anyways and just borrowed someone's pc for my exams, but i figured it easier to just submit to the man and buy myself a toshiba satellite.  it was a fine computer.  whatever.  i was bummed i had to buy it.  i fittingly titled it 'the mac the man made me buy.'  i did however get the 3 year warranty with the computer.  it was a little extra, but i was buying the computer specifically for law school and so i figured i might as well make sure it was under warranty for the three years. 

anyways, at the beginning of last month, april, i had one more month of law school left and my computer totally crashed.  i took it into best buy and they said that it needed a new motherboard.  they would ship it out and have it back to me in about a week.  no big deal.  they took it and gave it back just a few days later.  when they gave it back however, the wireless no longer worked and the volume button was stuck.  i took it back and they said that somehow in the process of fixing the motherboard they must had somehow disabled the wireless.  they said they would need to send it back and so they took it and gave it back 10 days later.  this time when i got my computer it looked a little different.  there were different scratches on it and it just didnt seem like my computer.  i took it home and put in my recovery cd to restore some of the programs and the cd said that it was the wrong computer.  the cd that came with my computer was for the satellite m50 or something that and it said that this was a satellite a40 or something like that.  so i took it back in to best buy and told them that they gave me the wrong computer.  at this point i was really upset. not only because it was getting ridiculous but now i was coming up on finals and i needed a computer.  i argued with the manager and he agreed to give me a loaner computer so that i could have something to take my finals, and because the last two times they messed up my computer.  it wasnt anything i did.  they messed up the wireless and put in the wrong operating system.  so they gave me a loaner and took my computer again.  i was going to blog and rip into best buy and vent about how lame stores like that are and discuss the geek squad and how lame they are because they act all high and mighty even though i know that in reality they know about an ounce more about computers than i do but they act like they know a ton.  but i refrained. instead i just secretly hoped that they would mess it up again because according to my warranty, if there was a problem and they couldnt fix the problem after 4 tries, then i would receive a new computer.  but that was just according to the warranty.  i didnt actually expect them to go through with it or for that clause to be interpreted literally.  but they did take the computer and finally called me after my finals and told me my computer was ready.  i went back in, dropped of my loaner, picked up my toshiba and went home.  i then turned it on and nothing happened.  absolutely nothing.  the computer wouldnt even turn on.  i was amazed.  

so the next day i went back to best buy and went back to the geek squad to talk to another spikey haired twenty year old with either some dirty facial hair or multiple ear piercing.  i showed them the warranty, fully expecting them to tell me that it doesnt apply to me or that when it says 4 they mean, they have to send it in 4 times and then after the 5th time they will consider it and have one more opportunity to fix it and if they cant, then the 9th time i get a new computer and by new they mean one that is from their warehouse that someone else already returned.  the guy said that i was entitled to a new computer, but they would have to send it in and the 'people at the warehouse,' whomever and wherever they are would have to 'approve' it and they would call me.  again, i had my many doubts that i would ever receive this phone call or surely they would say that they fixed the computer so i wouldnt get a new one or something like that.  well, just last sunday, i got a message on my phone saying that they had checked out my computer, it qualified and i could take my receipt to best buy and get a new computer for the same or lesser price as my last one.  i couldnt believe it.  i went to best buy, showed them my receipt, still thought they wouldnt let me get a new computer, that it would have to be a used toshiba or a pc or something.  they said i could get anything that was the price of my old computer or lesser in value.  'anything?'  i asked.  'yes.  anything.'  so i ran and picked up the mac that the man wouldnt let me buy three years ago and took it to the counter.  they accepted the exchange and told me i could go.  i couldnt believe it.  i grabbed it and sprinted to my car and drove away before they could catch me.  my warranty was 5 months from expiring and they gave me a new computer. amazing.  i still have to take the bar, which requires the windows operating system, but apple has the macbook which allows you to run the apple or windows operating system on their laptops.  better.  plus, the man gave me this computer after keeping me down and preventing me from doing so 3 years ago.  definitely cooler.