Puddle Jumping in DCEven when they're broken, they're easier than PCs. I love Apples.
However, I'm not wild about the Genius Bar in the Apple retail stores and I'm not the only one. Last night there was just one really slow person on and a lot of people waiting in line. At 7pm, the next available appointment was the following day. I already knew the computer just needed to be shipped back to Apple for repair because I'd spoken Phil at Applecare who had started a case file for me after I waited on hold for only a couple of minutes. Since I wasn't going to be around for DHL to pickup my computer, Phil suggested I take it to a retail location and have them ship it. It took a really long time for the "genius" in Clarendon, Virginia to take my information, print an invoice, and put my computer in a box.
Hopefully, I get the computer back before final exams next week.
coming soon. This entry has been delayed due to technical difficulties involving the Ibook Logic Board Repair Extension Program.
She's getting really good. She stopped flying into walls (she never hit them hard. It was kind of like a novice rollerbladers who don't know how to stop so dives into the grass instead). She can now change directions in mid-air and adjust her altitude (for a while she could only go up) and land on most objects in the house. She's also started to develop quite a lot of speed and has discovered that heads make great landing strips. She's not confident in coming down (from curtain rods or the molding above windows/doors) just yet. That's the skill that many clipped birds who escape with a couple of flight feathers don't have. They only know how to fly up.
I'm enjoying flighted bird and may be willing to adjust (and train housemates) to keep her flighted. We have sturdy screens on all the windows and the front door and hung a curtain between the kitchen and dining room. She doesn't go outside unless she's in a sturdy carrier or cage (we've had carriers fall apart or bottoms fall off - luckily never outside) but that would be true whether or not she was flighted.
I've gotten in the habit of being very aware of both the door and the location of the bird while she's out of her cage. I've put her cage in a spot where she shouldn't be able to get through the front door during a normal entrance/exit of a 
housemate and I don't leave her out unattended. If she's sitting on me when someone goes in or out, I usually put my hand in front of her to divert her attention and block her takeoff. Right now we're upstairs in the office behind a closed door so my housemate can move boxes in and out. Most flighted bird escapes I've heard of happened as the favorite person walks out/toward the door and the bird follows so that's my biggest concern. I always put her in the cage (not just on it) before answering the door.
Unfortunately since she's developed so much mobility independence, she's become "velcro-bird" and doesn't want to play alone on her cage anytime I'm in sight. I'm hoping this wears off and I praise her liberally for staying on her play stand/cage. She just spent ten minutes in the travel cage (door open) but I think I'm about to experience bird-head again.
hair-do à la Bug
Wet bird just makes it better.