I never knew how impactful these four words are.
They are normally words spouted when you really don’t know what else can be said.
How do you know everything will be ok?
Truth is, you don’t know.
But yes, everything will be ok eventually.
Keep smiling.
-
My tech world was falling apart.
One of mere two USB ports suddenly stop working. I could tell that it isn’t dead because whatever USB devices that I plugged into the port still light up but the port just refuses to detect them. It was for quite a while but I could see past that and use the Targus USB hub (that Zi and Jack got for me as a birthday present – most practical gift ever – thank you!) ’cause I couldn’t afford to bring my macbook to Sapura to fix. I think I will die without my macbook.
Then my macbook’s hard disk started to act weird. It had this loud guzzling sound whenever I start up the macbook, and resumes to its usual silent self during usage. I though my hard disk was going to die and I put the blame on how I always put it to sleep and carry it around, instead of the proper shut down. If you know me, you know I carry my little red macbook almost wherever I go.
One day, the Twitterific on my macbook decided to go on strike as well and yes, the little stalker app at the bottom right hand corner of my screen no longer allows me to be an avid tweeter and follower. But in mac world, there is abundance of great apps so I could do with Tweet Deck when Twitterific decided to die on me.
What takes the cake is this – my Starhub mobile broadband which I have trusted and came to love just stopped working. I thought it was because I did not pay my bills for the past 5 months (erm, shy but I really thought I opted for GIRO). So I paid up and waited with high hopes that they will reactivate the service. 1 day passed. 1 week gone by, it still isn’t working.
So I called 1633 and we all know by now how their phone tech help desk is total crap. After a good 10-15 minutes of pressing 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/0 and the last being technical support for mobile broadband, the guy on the line says that he is not the tech personnel (???) and he will have someone call me back in 24 hours. What happens after that, I supposed you guess correct.
So here, as per everything else in life, it is always better to depend on yourself. Here’s how you solve the above mentioned problems:
-
Why I love Mac, they have this thing called Disk Utility.
1. Go to Disk Utility, and select the hard drive for your MacBook
2. Click Verify Disk Permissions
3. If there are things to fix, select Repair Disk Permissions
If your MacBook USB port still refuses to work, go on to MacBook hard disk guzzles to no ends.
-
This should get the loud hard disk problem fixed, together with the sleeping USB port.
1. Go to Disk Utility, and select the hard drive for your MacBook
2. Click Verify Disk (and most likely, a list of errors should appear asking you to repair your disk)
3. Insert your Mac OS installation disk
4. Restart your MacBook and it should reboot from the installation disk
5. Follow the instructions to access Disk Utility via the installation disk
6. Now the Repair Disk button is no longer grey out so you can select Repair Disk
Then it’s done! Exit the disk and now choose to start up the MacBook with the internal HD. Magically, the HD no longer guzzles like it’s threatening to fail anytime and yes, the USB port starts working again.
This website has a pretty decent screenshots of repairing your disk. But seriously, just follow the instructions. You cannot be stupid if you use a MacBook.
-
This is damn dumb, but Collin says it due to some new system change yaddah yaddah that does not allow the third party apps to store your password. So you can key in your password a zillion times, it will still ask you for your password and nothing else.
To fix this, it’s surprisingly easy.
1. Uninstall your current Twitterific
(I will recommend AppZapper to do a relatively clean uninstall of applications. Above all, it’s FREE and super easy to use. Just drag whichever application you’ll like to uninstall and it will automatically detect the related files and delete them all. Clean and fast.)
2. Go to Twitterific to install the latest version for Mac
That simple, and it works. Though I think Twitterific should have a software update function for such instances, but it’s oh well free so don’t complain. #smgohsaysdontcomplaintoomuch (Haha, hashtag for Twitter, I think it’s plain funny!)
-
Lastly,
I say no need to check if you have the latest firmware. I went to StarHub support site to download the drivers TWICE (don’t ask why) and even though it reads Windows/Macintosh Drivers Version 11.302.09.04.134_MAC11.303.06.05.134 (ZIP, 13.8MB), the folder contains two useless PDF and one .exe file which obviously doesn’t work on MacBooks.
So this is what you do, also very effortless. I think sometimes we over-think tech issues.
1. Uninstall the Mobile Broadband Modem (if any) on your MacBook (using AppZapper *recommended*)
2. Plug in your USB dongle and install the Mobile Broadband Modem.app again
Tadah! Mine started working like the one entire week of iPhone tethering did not happen; I hope yours will work too.
Now if only the installer window for Mobile Broadband Modem.app will stop popping up everytime I plug in my mobile bb dongle. I mean can’t it even detect that I have already downloaded the application. Pfft.
-
And all this is only possible with Mac OS. If you don’t like MacBook/Apple/Steve Jobs, just too bad. If you haven’t properly used one before, you should before making judgement.
So everything is fixed and working. I am a happy girl! : )
Now if you excuse me, I need to catch up with my 妻子的誘惑.
I’m overcome by a barrage of emotions, good ones mostly. So here I am, my natural outlet – blogging – though I am ashamed to admit and I’m a super infrequent blogger. Maybe I shouldn’t call myself a blogger, more like just a random someone who owns a wordpress account by chance.
Thank you, readers, who conscientiously clicked on my blog each day, contributing to the hits, only to see the same old post. *ashamed*
My work is contradictory. I own a blogshop myself. But I also own a wholesale business that helps build other blogshops. If you ask me if I ever felt a tinge of jealousy to see other blogshops aka my own customers do better than I do – well yes, I do sometimes. But more often than not, this jealousy is way marginalised by the happiness and excitement for my customers to see that they are doing well and we are there to grow together with them. This is not propaganda. Haha. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
Today, I received great news that two of them are expanding; and another just had a successful launch for her manufactured item and is expecting a backorder.
I’m so so so happy for you girls! xxxx : )
These incidents plus my sporadic thoughts of late – it’s funny how in mere two days, whatever I am doing now suddenly makes so much sense. Enough to make me feel that I’m possibly in a better position than I ever was before.
Above all, for once, I live in my fairytale world that you don’t have to play dirty to succeed.
The day I accepted that meritocracy is a myth, it was terribly upsetting but that’s when you know you’ve grown up and crudely put, that’s life. Along the way, some of us would have succumbed (or even embraced) the Tao of shortcuts. Whether it is knowing the right people (which can be respectable) to manipulating people to your advantage and committing unscrupulous acts that you’ll be ashamed to tell your parents.
I sinked under politics. They are too exhausting mentally and physically. I much prefer to mind my own business and as my mum wisely said whatever you do, do it with your heart. I wonder why it is so difficult for some people to do that.
Still you can run but can’t hide from the tiring P; and I don’t know so much about joining them if you can’t fight them. Dear Ting advised that it’s all a matter of perceptions. If you choose to ignore them and not be affected by them, you can survive. True, I’m trying this out.
I blogged about how life is a constant work in progress previously. Then someone shared with me that WIP is not such a bad thing because only with expectations, you drive yourself harder and higher. True true.
Life is written as such you get ups (the l and the f) and downs (the i and the e); sometimes you may even sink under (below the dot in i, haha). Don’t expect to be up there all the time. Don’t be despaired either when you slip and fall. Be that irritating fly that doesn’t go away regardless of how people slap and flap.
Just keep going and you’ll get there eventually.
To those climbing your way up, I say please stop and reflect at times, and not be caught in the rat race. You don’t know what you may lose along the way, and it may be more than what you ask for at the end of the day.
Remember your loved ones – friends, family & bf – because
these are the people who are going to stand by you no matter what.
