Not A Brick

That's the good news. The rest - good/bad final verdict - will come out after  lots of work.

It started, well, way back, when I retired my 1st MacBook Pro. Sort of. OK, probably earlier, when I actually bought it, the next in line after the one with the dome base and swivel-on-a-post screen. (Still working, I think.) This was back when I had little trust for the internet virus protections, particularly knowing I had NO capability whatsoever for dealing with any incursions on my own. My solution? Since I only wanted it for photo/video items, that's the only part of the software OS I uploaded on day one. No internet. No word processing. Nothing else. That was on the other one anyway. I followed up by adding a special video editing package, along with many dreams of grandeur. Not to mention fantasies of my photographical genius.

Done laughing yet? How about if I add I turned this laptop into a $2,000 photo album by those restrictions. Pause....  Now are you done?

Now?

There are about 8 years of photos on it. All those videos, well, they are stored on mini reels of tape, waiting for me to work to reanimate the camcorders they were originally recorded on so the data can be viewed, possibly downloaded. Still, just these photos total over 15,000. I never got around to editing them. Blame ...... life.

Fast forward to now. Having just finished the near-final purge of the photos from then till now, combining 2 laptops, I got nostalgic to see just what I actually had on the old computer. It's been stored in a big clunky vinyl many-pocket briefcase for years, along with cords, cables, plugs, chargers, and even some old depleted bubblewrap. There was so much stuff that it took me two searches to come up with the actual laptop!

As for the charger? As many times as I searched and sorted through that plethora of accessories, other than some things I still can't identify, it all turned out to be for cameras. (Hint: Canon and Sony in fine print turned out to be clues.) I knew that each subsequent issue of MacBooks had a different power port. (I own 2 newer.) The transformer part kept getting smaller while the port got larger. I couldn't borrow one from a newer model. (Does Apple do that on purpose to bump sales?)

My next step was to attempt to read the very very fine print on the back of the MacBook for any numbers that might lead me to finding a replacement. There was at least 1 match on eBay, but the accompanying info lead me to want more information before sending any money their way.

I thought about contacting my son-in-law, my personal computer guru. He's the one years ago who introduced me to the term for a permanently dead computer: a brick. This is what I feared I had, after not even opening the thing since moving south. Eight years? Had that lack of use killed the battery, turning it into a brick? Could a replacement battery be 1: found, 2: installed - since previous history with Apple indicates after just a few years they want nothing to do with your model? and 3: effective?

A quick note here. My son  Rich is a computer guru, for not-Apples. He is an enormous help when Steve has an issue. Any issue. My daughter gets insulted when I don't turn to her first for my Apple computer questions, as she is very knowledgeable herself. I get that. So I tried that, after she'd mentioned it. She passed me along to her husband for the answer. I'd try it again, trusting her knowledge base enough to consider that time a one-off, but she almost is never near her phone, and has an uncanny knack for not replying to either voicemails or emails. So Ben remains my go-to guru. Sorry Steph.

The clock informed me that he should likely be asleep, so try again tomorrow. My impatience, however, spurred a distant memory. There are a couple sweater drawers in my bedroom. I look in them about every couple years, mostly looking for additional storage space. One has always had a mixed collection of cords for electronics, one of those matching projects I've put off since the move. Maybe...? One thing I knew about Apple cords is they are all white. This drawer held all black. More camera stuff, no doubt. Maybe phone. I didn't recall any in the other drawer, but I tried anyway.

Yee-haaaaa! White cords, one with the unmistakably huge boxy transformer on the end and a tiny port attachment on the other.  Also, a conglomeration of other thick short clunky white pieces with unfamiliar ends for connecting to nothing I recognized, except for several identical ones in that old briefcase. I'll hang on to them all, though I have no clue why.

After setting the laptop up to charge, and seeing the orange light come on to say it was needed, I worked on occupying my mind with something other than impatience. A look as I passed it on a trip to the kitchen or bathroom, repeated over hours, showed no change. Still orange. On the way to bed, still orange. Still? Really?

Unease followed me to bed. If it wouldn't charge, is there any way those files could be retrieved? Who should I consult? How might it happen? What might it cost? I reviewed in my mind what I remembered to be on there. Early Crex photos, but low res, shot with a camera with little zoom, and likely not a tragedy to lose. I do come back there every year after all. Better camera, better pictures. Documentation of the changes to the yard and the seasons: again, much the same conclusion if lost. But oh, the Alaska pictures! It was my second, most probably last, trip, and the best. Paul and Jordan were there, we spent lots of time on sea critters, shot the bore tide in Turnagain Arm while the other two were panning for gold, and we flew up to Denali early enough to see the peak before - just before - clouds closed in. There was horseback riding, Exit Glacier, and a photo-oriented boat trip to view wildlife and see a glacier calving. Irreplaceable!

That's what dragged me out of bed again, down the hall to the laptop, giving one last peek to see had it charged. This time I wouldn't take an orange light for my answer. I opened it, found my photo program actually on (somebody forget to shut it down?), and saw photos displayed.

Success!

Now, of course, I couldn't go back to sleep without a quick peek at them. If you call an hour and a half a quick peek, that is. Turns out another thing I forgot, this thing has a Pentium I or II processor. Speedy for then. I'm spoiled now for the faster stuff. I'd forgotten that little whirling color wheel-of-waiting: "I'm thinking, I'm thinking... oh wait: here's a thought."

Hey, there are wedding pics on here. Airel, Miranda, Meredith, all will have a few photos coming once I clear the crap. I figure 5 out of 70 per wedding might be worth sending on. Alaska... whoa, did I really shoot that? And that? And what on earth was I thinking there? But that one's a beauty!

So. Not a brick. One hell of a lot of pictures to wade through, with an old software program I've mostly forgotten how to use, being barely able to wade through the new(er) one. And, upon zooming in via the computer, finding they rapidly go fuzzy. I'll have to find out if that's the computer or the camera at the root of that. Well, as soon as I can figure out how to transfer the remaining photos to the current computer. Maybe by April?