Month: June 2005

Apple iMac G5 – DOA & service troubles

Well . perhaps it was the OS 10.4 reviews (generally good) and the
trouble we had with editing movies with the crappy Windows software …
or I just wanted to see how the other side lived again (my 1st
computers were Macs .. and I lived over there on the "light side" for
!0 years before defecting in about 1995. 

So far, the next Mac decade isn't going so well.

The imac arrived today and Sam set it up in the family room.  All
was going OK until he called me in and suggested that I should help get
it to go on.

Everything was hooked together right, but it just wouldn't go on.

He said that it had powered up once and then "fell asleep." after about 30 seconds.

Subsequent efforts to get it on were unsuccessful.

That was about 10:00 PM

Apple Support is closed .. but they have "24 x 7 chat support" and an online troubleshooter.

I tried the troubleshooter while waiting for the online chat to
respond.  The troubleshooter was good, but I hit a dead end when
it told me to push a button that doesn't exist on my model.

So far – it looks like we are victims of the well-documented G5 imac
power supply issues.  But I think we have a world record for how
long the machine lasted.  (under 1 minute!)

Here's the transcript of my chat session with Apple — after waiting in their cue for 2 hrs:

Medical Office Telephone Systems

A colleague of mine recently spent $40,000 on an office phone system.  When we opened 4 years ago, we spent $3000 on ebay and I though it was a lot. 

But phones can do more now .. and I think that an idea system would look something like this.

If you agree, please consider adding to the "bounty" so we can all create an excellent phone system for medical offices that doesn't cost $40,000.  And of course if you have suggestions or additions .. please modify the description .. as it's on a wiki over there at voip-info.org.

 

Dead blog?

My wife declared my weblog dead yesterday.  She's not far from the truth.  And she complained that the few posts I've made in recent weeks/months have been too boring.

Hmm.

Perhaps the weblog is a thermometer for how I'm feeling.

Not-so-good recently.

I enjoy my work as a family physician.  Worked yesterday from 9 AM to 8 PM and felt pretty good at the end of the looong day.  Saw lots of patients and yet didn't feel too rushed.  Didn't finish all of my notes during the day – which is a perpetual struggle for me.  The usability of the EMR stinks .. which is a part of the problem (but not all of it).

When I am in the room with a patient, I do my best to focus on the interaction with the patient