So, I'm back! (sort of)
I can't get everything to work, but I do have a new laptop.
Here's an email I sent earlier (with relevant updates):
I am going to write down a list of problems and solutions. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, please share.
Problem 1. I can't do a full migration of my old laptop (MacBook Pro) to the new one (MacBook Pro) (I guess 5 years is a long time in laptop land).
Solution 1. Bite the bullet and re-do my email filters and Firefox bookmarks by hand
Update: Oops, I was signed in as the wrong user, some of this issues have been solved. Others, however, remain.
Problem
2. My bluetooth mouse (purchased in 2008) doesn't work with the new
laptop even though it supposed to. The laptop can't even detect it.
Solution 2. Download new driver/control center. Get new batteries
(sometimes this helps when the mouse can't be detected). Buy new mouse
(the same one is still on the market ...)
Update: New driver and new batteries didn't work so I ordered a new mouse.
Problem 3. When I try
to load the Mac software for our book database on the new laptop, I get a
message saying PowerPC applications are no longer supported. The
database is called BookHound and it's a customized version of FileMaker
Pro. I have been using FMP 5.5. The current version for Mac is 11. I
can't get a free upgrade because it's been too long. I looked for an
updated version of Bookhound and it's been released as freeware but only
for single users. The consultant who designed it (and whom we
originally bought it from almost 10 years ago) isn't selling/supporting
it any more.
Solution 3. Well. This is a poser. Some thoughts: Since the Windows
version still works, even in whatever the latest
version of Windows is (7?) isn't there a Windows emulator I can use?
Maybe I should just write an email filled with piteous appeal to the
original developer and see what he has to say. Maybe we need a new
database anyway (Paul will kill me). Maybe I can just continue using
Tom's machine to create invoices and do everything else on my laptop,
but I am so scatter-brained already and working in 2 (3 if you count the
library) different physical spaces is not going to make it any better.
Update: Still no idea wht I will do about this in the long run.
Problem 4. T's bus route is getting longer and longer. He now gets
picked up at 6.15 am and gets home at 4.30 pm. He takes adderall XR for
attention issues. It lasts for 6-8 hours. If he takes it at 6 am it
doesn't last for the full day of school. I arranged for the school nurse
to give it to him at 8 am during homeroom. I sent in the bottle this
morning and she says she can't use it to dispense to him because the rx
label is in my name (because the people at Duane Reade are not detail
oriented, I guess; the px was written for T, not me).
Solution 4. Put the pills in an old px bottle that has T's name on it.
I have several. I also have leftover bottles from when we were testing
out the dosages, and there are 25 mg and 5 mg pills, I could send in one
of each and she could combine them. I can't just go ahead and get a new
rx filled right now because of Problem 5 (see below).
Problem 5. Somehow one of my time sheets didn't get filed in
October, and therefore I have what appears to be a break in service, and
the union, which handles my rx benefits, has cancelled the policy (this
is routine; they get the payroll records and it happens automatically).
I called the benefits person at the college (after spending 20 minutes
on hold waiting for the benefits people at the union office, I
remembered the cardinal rule of benefits issues, which is "Don't try to
solve it yourself, get the HR people to fix it for you.") Supposedly the
union is sending a form to payroll and payroll is going to fill it out
to prove that I did submit a timesheet for that payroll period, just
late, and then my benefits will be retroactively restored. This is
further complicated by the issue that the benefits person couldn't tell
me when the benefit would be restored, though I suppose I could invoke
another cardinal rule and assume it will not be till after Thanksgiving.
Solution 5. Believe that this will get worked out and go ahead and just
fill the rx's and expect to get reimbursed. Alternatively, ask the dr to
write new rx's for a shorter period of time, in order to reduce my
financial exposure (30 days of the adderall is $180, for example). Or
just not think about it until after Thanksgiving.
I think that might be everything.
Here's an email I sent earlier (with relevant updates):
I am going to write down a list of problems and solutions. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, please share.
Problem 1. I can't do a full migration of my old laptop (MacBook Pro) to the new one (MacBook Pro) (I guess 5 years is a long time in laptop land).
Solution 1. Bite the bullet and re-do my email filters and Firefox bookmarks by hand
Update: Oops, I was signed in as the wrong user, some of this issues have been solved. Others, however, remain.
Problem
2. My bluetooth mouse (purchased in 2008) doesn't work with the new
laptop even though it supposed to. The laptop can't even detect it.
Solution 2. Download new driver/control center. Get new batteries
(sometimes this helps when the mouse can't be detected). Buy new mouse
(the same one is still on the market ...)
Update: New driver and new batteries didn't work so I ordered a new mouse.
Problem 3. When I try
to load the Mac software for our book database on the new laptop, I get a
message saying PowerPC applications are no longer supported. The
database is called BookHound and it's a customized version of FileMaker
Pro. I have been using FMP 5.5. The current version for Mac is 11. I
can't get a free upgrade because it's been too long. I looked for an
updated version of Bookhound and it's been released as freeware but only
for single users. The consultant who designed it (and whom we
originally bought it from almost 10 years ago) isn't selling/supporting
it any more.
Solution 3. Well. This is a poser. Some thoughts: Since the Windows
version still works, even in whatever the latest
version of Windows is (7?) isn't there a Windows emulator I can use?
Maybe I should just write an email filled with piteous appeal to the
original developer and see what he has to say. Maybe we need a new
database anyway (Paul will kill me). Maybe I can just continue using
Tom's machine to create invoices and do everything else on my laptop,
but I am so scatter-brained already and working in 2 (3 if you count the
library) different physical spaces is not going to make it any better.
Update: Still no idea wht I will do about this in the long run.
Problem 4. T's bus route is getting longer and longer. He now gets
picked up at 6.15 am and gets home at 4.30 pm. He takes adderall XR for
attention issues. It lasts for 6-8 hours. If he takes it at 6 am it
doesn't last for the full day of school. I arranged for the school nurse
to give it to him at 8 am during homeroom. I sent in the bottle this
morning and she says she can't use it to dispense to him because the rx
label is in my name (because the people at Duane Reade are not detail
oriented, I guess; the px was written for T, not me).
Solution 4. Put the pills in an old px bottle that has T's name on it.
I have several. I also have leftover bottles from when we were testing
out the dosages, and there are 25 mg and 5 mg pills, I could send in one
of each and she could combine them. I can't just go ahead and get a new
rx filled right now because of Problem 5 (see below).
Problem 5. Somehow one of my time sheets didn't get filed in
October, and therefore I have what appears to be a break in service, and
the union, which handles my rx benefits, has cancelled the policy (this
is routine; they get the payroll records and it happens automatically).
I called the benefits person at the college (after spending 20 minutes
on hold waiting for the benefits people at the union office, I
remembered the cardinal rule of benefits issues, which is "Don't try to
solve it yourself, get the HR people to fix it for you.") Supposedly the
union is sending a form to payroll and payroll is going to fill it out
to prove that I did submit a timesheet for that payroll period, just
late, and then my benefits will be retroactively restored. This is
further complicated by the issue that the benefits person couldn't tell
me when the benefit would be restored, though I suppose I could invoke
another cardinal rule and assume it will not be till after Thanksgiving.
Solution 5. Believe that this will get worked out and go ahead and just
fill the rx's and expect to get reimbursed. Alternatively, ask the dr to
write new rx's for a shorter period of time, in order to reduce my
financial exposure (30 days of the adderall is $180, for example). Or
just not think about it until after Thanksgiving.
I think that might be everything.