The very knowledgeable and kind woman from Apple, a birthday gift for my soon-to-be six-year-old niece, stair tally

Saturday 1/10/26

The computer issues look to finally be resolved, which means it's catch-up time and blow-ahead time and get things written and get written things finished time. Back and surging forward with a vengeance.

The issue pertained to the Cloud. On Christmas, someone told me to put everything on my hard drive up on the Cloud. I take back-ups pretty far. I have assorted forms, as one would expect, given what I do and have produced and am creating. In addition to my music and film files.

But here's the thing with backed-up on the Cloud: Things aren't really backed up on the Cloud. What do I mean by that? Well, the default setting for Cloud back-up causes the files on your actual hard drive to be taken off of your hard drive. By definition, the term "back-up" means that the thing that is here is also in this other spot. No one tells you this. I don't think they know in most cases or think it through.

If you want to open a file, the computer has to first download it from the Cloud. So say there I am, writing a book on Orson Welles and Chimes at Midnight. I double click the icon for the very large movie file on my computer, and I have to wait for it to download from the internet. Let's say the internet is down--then I can't get the file. Let's say I had an op-ed piece to complete, or some Beatles piece with a deadline; I wouldn't be able to access them.

It's like going across the street to the neighbor's and knocking on their door and waiting for them to answer, then go off into their basement to retrieve the thing you've come for, rather than it also being in your house behind you. I don't believe people know or care about this, because they just like the idea of gadgetry. If there's the possibility of doing something with technology, and the home computer, they want to do it...to do it. I need and demand maximum functionality with what I do. The rate at which I go at. My work days aren't for the faint of heart.

I had hoped to use the Cloud as though it were Dropbox. I'd have what I had on my hard drive, and each time I made a change in whatever that was, or downloaded something new--like a pdf file of Winslow Homer's letters to an art dealer, as I recently did--then that would simultaneously occur/be backed up on the Cloud.

So basically, when I went from ninety-nine cents a month to $9.99 a month, the Cloud started sucking everything off of my machine. I don't know why the person who suggested doing this to me didn't consider that I use my computer very differently than they do--or anyone does--other than because people think within the parameters of their own experience, and project whatever that is. That's simply how we are now. I'm not, but that's mostly just me at this point. No harm was meant, but rather assistance, which played a part in creating a problem that cost me most of a week of work and added stress and frustration.

The computer for me is a massive library, or combos of libraries, of films, music, literature. I make discoveries every day, near about. I find Who tapes that have never circulated, and books that have been out of print for a hundred years, and Joseph Cornell films, and so on, with many things open at once, moving from work of mine to work of mine.

I can work on five different stories, a film feature, a sports op-ed, and my jazz book in two hours. I go here I go there, I go here I go there, I go here I go there. I have external drives, and a Time Machine drive which now must be replaced with another Time Machine drive--I actually have to get two new drives, which is costly, so that's not good, but it is what is.

I called Apple, spoke to a woman, who viewed my screen, told me what steps to take to get everything back on the hard drive. The Cloud wheel was spinning, and she said to wait until that was done, but I believe she misunderstood why it was spinning, because what was happening--or what ended up happening--was that everything was being put back.

I said that I'd call again after, because I preferred to be walked through those final steps with someone looking over my shoulder, given that this was too important for me and I'm not good at this kind of thing. About twenty-four hours later, everything seemed to be here. That was confusing. But anything I double-clicked--like a 1080p file of The Uninvited as a test-opened up straight away.

I called Apple and got this guy I had a hard time understanding. I told him what was what--and he had the case notes from the day before--and what I was looking to do. He had me toggle a couple things, and that began to pull everything, once again, off of my hard drive. What's more, duplicate copies were now being made, but not of everything. Total mess. He transfers me to a guy who said half a sentence to me before I was disconnected.

I called back and was put in touch with an engineer named NeKisha. She was so knowledgeable, so kind, so calming, so patient--a computer godsend. She called me like five days in a row to help me get this sorted. She set it up so that everything was back on my machine and backed-up on the Cloud, which is how I wanted it in the first place.

The key, for me, is not to have the Cloud back-up set to "optimize." You'd think "optimal" is better, right? Only if you don't want those files on your machine. And you want to be dependent on the Cloud and the internet to access them, which might not be immediate, given the download factor, with it taking longer to access a file based on the larger it is.

She called me yesterday morning as I had just a few quick questions to run through and a few things I wanted her to see. I asked if there was somewhere I could leave feedback, because she'd been so helpful and awesome but she said that there wasn't such a place, though Apple sometimes sent out random feedback requests and if I got one of those I could use that. She was the best and I deeply appreciated the help she gave me.

My niece Amelia turns six later this month. I had intended to get her a nice Boston Ballet water bottle--that kind made of the material that keeps the water cold--but all they had was a plastic one that pertained to something from 2022. Instead, I got her the same Boston Ballet beanie I have and sent that to my sister yesterday to hold until the big day. The beanie has interlocking light purple and pink Bs for Boston Ballet, and I'm going to write my niece a note saying it also stands for Best Buddy. I wear mine all the time and even to bed often. It's very comfortable and I find it calming.

It's a little after three on Saturday morning. My calves are sore. Not too bad, but I'm used to zero soreness. I ran six circuits of stairs in the Bunker Hill Monument on Thursday after the twenty on Wednesday and then five more yesterday. I maybe should have stood down yesterday so my legs could come back faster and maybe I will today.

Had I done ten circuits each of those three days instead of doing it the way I did then there's a good chance I'd have no soreness. That's just how it can go when you have a day with twenty. I had a loose goal this week of doing sixty circuits, which would be my record for a week and that's not going to happen. It's a tradeoff, I guess. Just because you do more circuits in a week doesn't mean it was a better week. The context matters, the divvying up matters. I'm still getting back into form, too, after the government shutdown. I may not be where I was in September. Or I might be. I don't know. I do know there's a lot of room for improvement.

The time of the year with the hours that have the Monument opening at 1 are the hardest for me. It's such a strange time to open. Have you ever been to a museum or historical spot that opens at one in the afternoon? If you arrived at eleven and it wasn't open and you hadn't happened to see a sign you'd assume it was closed for the day. My days, of course, start so early, and there's a big difference between starting my stairs at one and starting them at ten in the morning with the summer hours (which were ended earlier than usual last year). I'll have that sixty-circuit week in 2026, though.

That's twelve circuits a day, or ten circuits a day if they again open up for a sixth day like they did eventually last summer. The base unit for me is five circuits. If you go five days a week and do five circuits each time for a total of twenty-five, you've had an efficient workout week. You'd also be a getting a minimum of fifteen miles walked just by going there from where I am and coming back.

I knew before I started yesterday it'd be a tiny bit of a grind and I could feel it with the first step in my legs, but I did okay. Probably got through the five circuits in thirty-two or thirty-three minutes. I was looking something up on my phone at one point as I went along so they created a little drag.