I have been far more patient than usual in waiting for WWDC –
move-related things are the culprit. Normally, by this time, I'd be
incredibly antsy and impatient. We are still not fully unpacked, but we
have been making progress. My husband is the King of Organization,
whereas I'm just OCD about a limited number of things in the same vein
as Monica on Friends – namely my desk area, files, and my gadgets.
Other things, not so much. All of this together means that my husband
has done more to get us settled than I have, god bless his little heart.
😉

So, one week until WWDC! If you don't know why WWDC will be exciting
for me (and many other iPhone/Apple fans), all you need to do is Google
“3G iPhone” to see a healthy chunk of rumors about the next iPhone that
is speculated to be making its debut then. And some news on the iPhone
2.0 firmware is definitely expected – at Apple's last iPhone-related
event in February, the new firmware version was announced and described
to be available in “late June”. The big thing about the 2.0 firmware is
the App Store, which will be a gateway to buy and download 3rd party
applications on the iPhone. I know Steve Jobs generally likes to
under-commit and over-deliver, so I'm hoping that the “late June”
mentioned in February will actually translate to early June to coincide
with WWDC and that the new firmware will be ready for download next
week.

There are also rumors about Apple's .Mac service, many of which I hope
will be true (push email, more integration with the iPhone, and better
access to information while on the go). And I've also read rumors about
a tablet-sized Mac – that would be exciting (and would be enough to give
me pause before going ahead and buying a MacBook Air as I've been
planning to do) and just like Apple to throw out something that most
people aren't really expecting.

I'm sure I'll keep busy with things around the house (and with migrating
my site to a new host) until June 9, though I'm sure I'll get antsy next
Monday morning until the time of the keynote, and glued to my computer
throughout to see the news on the various blog sites. I'll definitely
write my impressions about every that's announced, as I did for last
year's WWDC.

FYI to everyone who subscribes to my blog RSS feed – I'm finally going
to be consolidating my main blog with this mobile blog, and I'm not
quite sure what will happen to my RSS feed at that time. I'll keep you
posted…

So, I usually troubleshoot my Mac on my own through searching on the
web, and I rarely venture near the Genius Bar unless I determine that
the cause of a problem is a hardware issue that I can't fix. Plus, I
usually read so many negative stories online about the Genius Bar – I
think this has tainted my view of the Genius Bar somewhat as well.
Regardless, I finally got tired of a bad battery in my MacBook and made
an appointment to get it checked out, with low expectations in mind.

Several months ago (well within the 1-year warranty period), I stopped
getting the “your battery is low, please plug in soon” messages and my
MacBook would go to sleep suddenly or shut down entirely. I was able to
guess when this would happen based on the battery meter and plug it in
in time to prevent this. However, in the last couple of weeks, this
problem worsened to where my MacBook would shut down any time without
rhyme or reason and I was no longer able to guess when the battery was
actually going to clock out for the day. I was also having some sleep
problems, but the battery problem was foremost on my mind.

I admit it – I expected the Genius to take a cursory look at my MacBook
and then say this was normal and that I just had to buy a new battery.
I do have the extended AppleCare warranty on my MacBook and I know this
does not cover “normal wear and tear” items like batteries. But, the
problem did start just a few months after I purchased the MacBook and I
know that's not normal, though I was prepared to buy a new battery on my
own dime if necessary. I explained my experiences with the battery, and
even went into the sleep problems my MacBook was having and all the
trouble-shooting I'd done on my own, and he explained to me how a bad
battery could actually be causing the sleep issues. I'm not sure why I
hadn't thought of that before, but what he described made sense – a bad
battery would essentially be sending “bad” signals back to the power
management controller, causing it to prompt sleep, wake, or shutdown
incorrectly. Since the problems started while my MacBook was in the
first 12 months of its original warranty (and also because I'd never
brought my MacBook in for any other service of any kind, I think), he
was able to get me a brand new battery!

And I think he was right about the bad battery having a big role with
the sleep issues – since I got back home with the new battery, my
MacBook has been going to sleep (and waking up) exactly as it should.
Makes me wish I had gotten a replacement battery sooner rather than
experience all of that frustration. And I have a little more faith in
the Genius Bar now…