Maui is Concerened about Seattle!

For the entire time that we'll be in Hawaii (8 days), our home will likely be without power. And to add to the misery, the temperatures in Seattle are hovering around freezing -- even in our house! The animals are alive but cold and lonely, so we're concerned about that. But they're in good hands. We had originally asked a neighbor teen to pet-sit the first half of the week and Danelle's good friend to live in our house after that, but things have changed. The kid's father will be taking his kids to Idaho to escape the cold and lack of power, so he'll be taking over his son's pet-sitting, bless his heart!

So today we're driving the road to Hana, which should be blissful. But it'll be tempered by our concern for our animals, our neighbors and all of Seattle! Wish you were all here. (OK, that is entirely untrue...)

Stand by for photos of Hana. (Not to rub salt in any frozen wounds!)

A Maui Day in Pictures

Today's highlight was snorkeling at La Perouse bay.


It was waaaay windy, but who cares when 1.) you're underwater and 2.) it's a WARM wind?! Those underwater cameras are worthless, so here's an "educational graphic" with a lot of the fish species we saw.

In the process I conned the kids into posing for a quick picture.





After La Perouse we headed for Big Beach and Little Beach for an afternoon of basking in the sun. But it was not to be, as we were greeted by a sudden downpour! So we decided to head back to the condo and just relax.

Naps and walks were taken. These pictures are from a walk Tom and I took late in the afternoon, just before sunset.

Maui Sunrise

From our lanai this morning... and 10 minutes later...

Maui's Glorious, Seattle's Devastated

It's almost surreal. We're in Maui basking in warm sunshine, swimming in ocean waters that feel almost like a bathtub, enjoying warm trade winds, and watching phenomenal sunsets... while a state of emergency has been declared in Seattle due to the worst rain and windstorm in decades. A million homes (including ours) have no power and there has been widespread damage, with trees down everywhere. The only damage on our property, we've discovered, is our hottub which was literally split in half by a fallen tree. (Tom laments that it wasn't the boat!) The animals are well cared for but I'm sure they're a bit freaked.

And we just keep thinking that our debacle of Flight #598 could have been soooo much worse! Had we been forced to wait until Thursday morning to fly to LAX, chances are very good that Danelle would be stranded in Hawaii (I know, I know... but if you're 19 and alone, it's not as wonderful as it might sound) because many, many flights were cancelled overnight and then SeaTac airport even eventually closed (which would have prohibited her from return, too)!

But we are all here and we have decided not to dwell on what did happen or could have happened, and instead just to enjoy ourselves.

Waking up to the gorgeous view from the condo today was just amazing! Tom, Peter and Danelle (who is part Hawaiian) then went into town to get malasadas, a sort of Hawaiian donut -- but so much better than donuts!

Later in the morning we went to the Nakaleli blowhole. (I took this of the Tom and the kids as we were making our way down the trail.) Wow, what FUN!! And how beautiful! Unfortunately we didn't get a single shot of the water exploding through the blowhole, so here's a cheat... along with one of our family getting just sopping wet!

Then we headed to Slaughterhouse Beach, where I had fun with my camera, and followed that with another stopover in Lahaina to rent boogie boards and snorkeling gear for tomorrows underwater expedition to La Parouse, followed by Big Beach and Little Beach. The next day, Sunday, we'll do the road to Hana and on Monday we'll go to Black Rock which has great snorkeling under water and a cliff to jump off into the water. The next day we'll watch the sunrise from the 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala in the morning and enjoy a luau in the afternoon and evening. Then we'll spend some time watching the surfers on the huge waves of Ho'okipa, perhaps sail in the tradewinds off-shore... and who knows what else? Of course I'll try to document it all!

So here are two of my favorite shots from today, both taken by Kat!

The journey (and boy do I mean *JOURNEY*) to Maui

I’m big on efficiency, so let’s kill two birds with one stone here, both a letter to Alaska Airlines customer service (or content that will form one soon) and a blog entry. And let me just say that the “killing two birds” pun is entirely intentional.

I’m going on a total of four hours of sleep in two nights, so I apologize in advance for bad grammar and a pissy attitude.

I’m writing this as I sit on United Airlines flight #45 en route to Kahului, Maui, Hawaii. As soon as possible, I’ll be switching our Visa account (yes, the one that “paid for” all six of our frequent flier miles for this trip) from an Alaska Airlines account to a United Airlines account. We made that decision as we approached ten hours immersed in the worst travel debacle I’ve ever experienced – and I’m a fairly seasoned traveler. The particular experience has come to be known among its commerades as “the Alaska Airlines Flight #598 Debacle of 12/13/06.” Don’t be surprised if you hear about it in the media when the story breaks!

Our adventure began when the Shuttle Express service picked the seven of us up at our house at 6:30 AM. Danelle’s ticket was purchased separately, but we’d been able to arrange things so that she’d almost be waving to us in the sky the whole time – from Seattle to Los Angeles and then from Los Angeles to Maui. We put Danelle on her Alaska Airlines flight to LA at 10:00 (this picture was taken by a friendly passer-by just before then) and then did a bit of airport mall shopping and leisurely walked to our gate (which had already been re-assigned twice since we’d arrived at the airport), where we were to board around noon.

The first indication of a glitch came when we should have been boarding. The reader board at the gate suddenly read “next update at 12:45.” Shortly after the new time appeared, an agent came onto the PA system assuring us not to worry, that they were aware of the 51 of us heading to Hawaii from LA, and that our connections were not in jeopardy. There was a simple mechanical problem and we’d be expected to take off after a short delay. ‘Cool,’ we thought, and we waited patiently to board, knowing that the leisurely connection in LA would no longer be quite as relaxed, but that all still looked good.

Then the best part of the entire experience occurred: we met Leilani and her two boys, Bubba and Bula (which aren’t their birth names, apparently, but are definitely their “real names”), natives of Maui, heading home. We became quick friends, commiserating and lamenting together about the delayed flight. They had been traveling in California and Washington and were feeling a desperate need to return home to the island where their family had lived for 12 generations. They were wearing at least 3 layers of winter clothes – jackets, sweatshirts, and wool caps – which was an indication that they were definitely not from the Pacific Northwest! As we were getting to know each other, the message on the gate reader board changed to “departure at 1:45.” There was no accompanying announcement from the crew. We were now almost two hours late and our comfortable window between flights wasn’t feeling so comfortable anymore.

At a little past 1:45 we did, indeed board the plane and were assured (when we asked as we boarded), that the Hawaiian connections would still be fine. Close, but fine. At this point, our spirits were still high. Our family was having a wonderful time together, laughing and joking together, and we’d met some awesome new friends. We all knew we’d have to really bust our buns to make the connection to Hawaii, but we were game! And we looked forward to seeing Danelle in Maui. Peter texted her that we were delayed but would see her soon.

The plane filled quickly and we were soon pushing off from the gate… where we sat for 30 minutes. Finally we were informed that “this plane won’t be leaving.” Something about a back-up generator. This is where our adventure lost any luster it ever had. As we disembarked, we didn’t even make it off the skyway. Instead, we walked right into the tail of a wrap-around line. It ended at the gate counter and everyone was in it, but why? During the next hour, as we all waited in a line for which we knew no purpose, no announcement was made. No new assurances nor an explanation. No suggestions. No offer for assistance.

Now we were all beginning to worry about the possibility of Danelle ending up in Maui alone. Peter paced and worried. I wanted to re-assure him that all would be fine, but at this point I couldn’t.

We decided to expand our options (especially since we were standing in an all but stationary line), so Elisabeth and Leilani headed to the Alaska Airlines service desk. Now you need to understand Elisabeth: granted -- she does lead a charmed life, but she also makes things happen by a combination of persistence, conniving, manipulation and flirtation. I knew that if Elisabeth was “on the case,” things would be just fine. So we called back and forth with status reports. We stood in a paralyzed line (no announcement as to why) while Elisabeth managed to get us a flight from LAX to Maui on United at 9:00 the next morning, three rooms at the LAX Hilton and $124 worth of airport meal vouchers.

Worried about Danelle, I called Hotels.com (who I can’t speak highly enough about!), told them our situation and requested a hotel near the Kahalui airport for Danelle for the night. She’d land, expecting to see us in a few moments and we’d not be there. Not then or any time that night. Not only did Jeff book us a hotel, he called back twice to assure us that a shuttle would be waiting for Danelle and that she’d be safe and well taken care of. Peter texted Danelle, giving her the hotel and shuttle information, assuring her that all had been paid for, she’d be fine and that we’d see her soon. We felt better, but we were still worried.

Now all we had to do was get to LA. Surely Alaska Airlines would take care of us and find a way to get us there.

How wrong we were.

For some reason that I still don’t understand (though I’m sure it has to do with money), Alaska Airlines wouldn’t cancel flight #598, even though the flight crew had been sent away, baggage was removed from the plane, and the plane was basically abandoned. Needles to say at this point, no announcement was made about getting to LA. Alaska wanted us to believe that the abandoned airplane was still going to LAX, but anyone who could see out the window could see that it wasn’t. The reader board read “Next update at 4:00.” Soon after than, 4:00 became 5:30, and still no announcement was made. By this time, passengers were desperate for information, for support, for simple communication! And now, finally, people (being mostly infinitely patient Seattle-ites) were getting pissed. Many of us asked for a manager, but none was to be found. We were hearing rumors left and right (“they took the plane on a test drive and it never came back”), but no real information was provided to us. Some of us asked outright, in loud “announcement-style” voices, why there wasn’t more leadership from Alaska Airlines, why someone wasn’t taking the helm and giving us reliable information. I said to the meek agent, “Please, just tell us something! Please just communicate with us! How are we to get to LA?” The agent pointed to the reader board and read: “Next update at 7:00.” Incredulous.

Needles to say, the passengers, even the notoriously patient Seattle passengers, were furious. Now we had a confirmed flight out of LA and no way to get to LA! Alaska’s pervasive attitude was very much one of “fend for yourself.” Proverbial arms were tossed in the air behind the gate counter, along with an indifferent and snooty attitude to go with it.

Finally the agent took the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We apologize for the delay and announce that flight #598 is cancelled. There are no more seats to LAX tonight on any carrier.” That was it. They might as well have said, “Hey suckers!! Fend for yourselves. Goodnight.” Because that’s exactly what their approach was, and exactly what we had to do.

At that point, I broke into tears. Danelle would soon be landing in Hawaii and we were still where we were ten hours earlier – at SeaTac Airport. Being the optimists that we are and assuming that companies take care of their customers, we only now realized that the only people who’d get to LAX that night would be people who made it happen regardless of what Alaska Airlines said. Peter and I ran down the hall to the Service Desk. I was in tears and he was hugging me and consoling me – although I’m sure that he wanted to cry too! We waited in a long line at the Service Desk (one agent?? with a debacle like this? why?!) and were told by the agent that no, there really are NO MORE SEATS to LAX tonight. Not one. With any carrier.

Now it looked like we wouldn’t even make the 9 AM flight from LAX to Maui!

At this point, a semi-helpful (comparatively) Alaska Airlines manager announced at the gate (where the rest of the family had stayed) that they’d fly us into Ontario and we were to go to gate D5 from where that flight would depart. That was it. No mention of getting us to LAX where our connections were. Another “fend for yourself” attitude. It was at this point that I saw a side of my husband that I think I’ve only seen a few times in my life: he raised his voice at a stranger. “Are you gonna bus us from Ontario to LAX?” my soft-spoken husband yelled. “I’m working on it,” he was assured by the manager. We hardly believed him. Peter and I headed from the Service Desk to gate D5 and waited until the rest of the family arrived with the boarding passes.

But wait. What if a bus to LAX hadn’t been confirmed? Elisabeth and I approached the counter and asked about the bus. The agent asked for our confirmation code and then informed us that we were on a flight to LAX that would be boarding at gate D9 in about 20 minutes. Then he handed us boarding passes for the new flight. (Let’s see, that’s a boarding pass for LAX, one for Ontario and another for LAX!)

WTF?! Seriously, WTF???!

I turned around and called back to Tom, “We’re on a flight to LAX!” At which point about 10 other original flight #598 passengers stood up. "What??!!" they all asked in unison! So I became the agent and announced to my fellow commerades (believe me, by this point we had all bonded!) that there is, indeed, a flight to LAX and that at least some of us were apparently booked on it, so we all headed down the hall where the flight was delayed but headed out. We waited in line with our boarding passes and as we approached the skyway, we gave them to the attendant. Alex first, then… Then “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you on board with this.”

What?!

Fighting back tears, I took our boarding passes to the gate counter, while Tom gave the Alaska agents a run-down of our day so far and Peter attempted yet again to call Danelle, knowing that he had her cell phone charger in his back pack and that she might not be able to get his messages. I ran to the counter, slammed the boarding passes on the counter (sorry, but I did), announced that I was “a refuge from the flight #598 debacle,” that my son was already on board, and that I apparently “needed something.” The agent took my tickets and disappeared. It was all I could do to not dissolve into tears at that point. Exhausted, discouraged, frustrated and furious, I put my head in my hands. Tom and Peter, who could see me from the door to the skyway (through which Aleks had just disappeared) watched me and, I later found out, felt their hopes plummet.

We would not get to Hawaii any time soon, Danelle was alone there now, and Aleks was on an airplane bound – alone – for LA. We were going on hour ten of this debacle and our reserves of patience were just about depleted.

After what seemed like forever, the agent came back with our boarding passes with “OK” written in blue felt pen on each of them. Magic blue letters: "O.K." I made my way to the front of the line to go down the skyway, where my family was waiting for me, and we boarded the flight to LAX.

It pushed off from the gate. It took off. It landed.

By the time we arrived at LAX we were all famished and hoped to find a restaurant in which to spend our $124 in food vouchers. But no – we couldn’t find any open restaurants, even in the Bradley International terminal. Surely there were a few open restaurants at such a large airport, but our exhaustion (and pain, in Leilani’s case) took precedence at that point and we boarded a shuttle to the hotel – where we bought a pizza with our own money.

Yes, I’ll try to have that compensated by Alaska Airlines, along with the $200 for the missed condo night and the $185 for Danelle’s hotel room. And believe me, I’ll also be asking for 6 tickets anywhere Alaska flies. At least.

At 2:30 AM, we all finally went to bed, setting cell phone alarms to wake us up at 6 AM for a 9 AM United flight. (Well, all of us went to bed except Elisabeth, who never sleeps. She met a friend and they went out for a night on the town!!)

I won’t go into details about the United flight – mostly because there’s no need to. Except for a slight glitch at the ticket counter (which was my problem more than United’s, as I was petrified of a repeat performance), all went smoothly. The flight took off on time, it is smooth as silk and we anticipate an early arrival in Maui -- where I will request an application for a United Visa card.
So yes, we're finally here! We had just enough time to go into Lahaina to watch the sunset. Tonight we'll all SLEEP! Then tomorrow we'll head to the Nakaleli Blowhole, among other places.

Update: We finally received our luggage tonight at 9 PM. That's 36 hours after we checked it. When we came back to the Maui airport to pick up luggage at 8:30 as instructed, I could only find three of our eight bags. I approached an agent and said only, "Excuse me... I have found only three of my eight bags..." "Don't tell me," she interrupted, "Alaska flight #598, right?"

I told you word about this horrendous debacle would get around!

Job Offer!!

Well, this is a nice way to leave for vacation.

I got a call late this afternoon from the non-profit organization that's working with the Bill Gates Foundation around education reform in America's high schools. They want me to establish and head up the Seattle office, hiring and mentoring a staff, managing budgets and timelines, and... well, doing my part to bring about sweeping positive changes to the American educational system.

I told the hiring manager that I need some time to think about it, but really I think I've already made up my mind. I'd be able to do what I love most -- building and collaborating with a team to build something important that serves to make a difference in the lives of American kids. It's perfect for me... and apparently I'm perfect for the position, too!

I have a feeling I'll be working HARD for the foreseeable future, so now the pressure's really on to relax and have a great time in Maui!! :-)

My Adventurous, World-Traveling Nieces

My brother and his wife are world travelers. For many years, as their two daughters were growing up, they owned a commercial travel video company and traveled from country to country filming for host tourist boards. Their two daughters would go along, of course, and so they grew up knowing and experiencing a potpourri of countries. Dawn was "toilet trained" in Bali, basically by running around naked with Balinese toddlers. I have a photo of Niki, at the age of maybe 4, at the helm of a very large sailboat in Tahiti.

Dawn is now 22 and Niki is 26, and recently they've been back to their world adventures, and this time each of them has been traveling alone -- beautiful blond American girls, traveling alone in far-away lands, really immersing themselves in the culture! I both envy them and think they're a bit crazy -- in the best way, of course!

After reading Niki's e-mail today (and I'm posting one of Dawn's letters from earlier this year), I'm almost embarrassed to be so excited about a simple touristy trip to Maui!

Here -- enjoy for yourselves:

From Niki, in an e-mail I received this morning. Niki just got her masters in family counseling and is taking some time out. (The picture is of Elisabeth and Niki. I wish I had photos of the girls on their trips, but alas...)

Hi all!
I'm having a great time in Belize, although I'm being very lazy! When I got in on Monday morning the airline had lost my bag. Thus I spent my first two and half days in the same clothes that I put on Sunday morning before leaving California. I can't tell you how happy I was on Wednesday when I finally got clean clothes and my bathing suit. So even without a bag I didn't want to stay in Belize city when I arrived on Monday. Instead I held to my original plan and jumped on a water taxi and came out to Caye Cawlker. I found a cool hostel right on the beach for $10 a night and share a room with some very nice Dutch girls. I spent all day Monday sleeping since my actual flight was not very long and I didn't really sleep the night before.

On Tuesday I walked around the town and went to the phone company a bunch of times trying to figure out my whole bag situation. Luckily I got it back Wednesday morning, and I have to say I'm actually glad the airline lost it because I have never been so happy to see a piece of luggage in my life. It was seriously like Christmas! On Wednesday I also got to talking with a local guy (originally from New York) who said he was dealing a texas holdem' poker game at one of the local bars. I figured that this was a tourist game and so I ventured over later that night to check it out. (For all you worriers I want you to know that this tiny island feels very safe. It is so small that there are no cars on the island except for golf carts and a very chill Reggae vibe).

Anyway it turned out that this was actually the local weekly game for all the bar owners and that they have never had a girl play with them before. So here I am playing a private poker game with a bunch of rich locals (most of whom are fat white retired Americans, and although I didn't win I stayed in for a long time and won four big pots. The coolest part about all of this is that I know so many locals now, and when the girls and I go to the disco and bars at night the owners have been buying my drinks. Like I said I've been really lazy, laying around by the water all day and hanging out with a bunch of cool people. Many of the people I have met are Dutch, but I've also been hanging out with a couple of Americans from Texas and Alaska. Its funny cuz we all refer to each other by where we are from, thus I've become "Cali."

We have been fishing off the dock in the evenings and cooking snapper all together at the hostel for dinner at night. Last night we saw a great reggae band at the disco and eventually I'm planning on getting my ass in gear and going diving. I've been asking around and it seems like I have some options if I want to dive the blue hole. Right now I'm leaning towards getting my advanced open water certification so that I feel more comfortable diving to 130 feet! We'll see though. At the rate I'm moving I might never get around to doing more than snorkeling. Honestly its funny that its only . . . well whatever day it is cuz I already feel like I've been here for a month. A local rasta that we have become friends with took me on a tour of the island yesterday afternoon and showed me how to open coconuts local style, taught me the names of the birds, and found a big ass crocodile for me to see and take pictures of.

I'm not sure when I will leave here, but my next stop will probably be Guatemala, although Alaska and I are talking about flying over to Cuba for a week first. The guy from Texas was just there and said it was amazing and everyone was really nice, and that it felt safer than most of the other areas he has been in. Any thoughts mom and dad? Well that's it for now, I'll keep you all updated and send personal emails if you write me or if you don't like the mass email format. Love you all so much and really really wish you were here with me. Love, Niki


From Dawn, earlier this year (the picture is of Dawn with another niece, Olivia):

I cannot even begin to tell you all the adventures i have had in the last few days. Where to start? I decided to ride a bike down the worlds most dangerous road instead of try to survive the bus ride because just last week 28 people died on a bus that went over. This road is the only way to get down from the mountains to the north, and it is absolutely horrible. To say the least, it deserves the title.

We left La Paz at 7 am and rode down this dirt road for 5 hrs. It was one of the craziest things i have ever done... crazy...crazy! At first it was freezing cold, and as you go down you begin to shed layers... as you pass through different climate zones, seriously. One of the guys riding in our group crashed the first hour and had to get rushed to the hospital... crazy. Birds would fly on the drafts coming up off the cliffs and as i road down, flying like a bird, i could see miles and miles of mountains below and above me. It was so beautiful. We rode under waterfalls and down,down, down... the whole time on rocks and gravel while buses barely made it by us. I can't believe I did that. We went from freezing cold to so, so hot! On a bike...crazy.

So, i met some people doing this and by the end i decided to screw my plans and try to get on their bus to Rennebequa (in the Amazon). So... its 3 pm and we are at the end of our ride, completely dirty from the bike ride, sweaty...disgusting and without a shower or anything i went with them to catch their bus (which was 2hrs late...Bolivian time is worse than island time).

It gets better... i was a stow-away because the bus was full. For 17 hrs, all through the night, on roads almost as bad as the one we just rode down, while at least three people were throwing up out the windows of the packed buss... i road on the floor with nine new friends. No sleep. But, in the end we made it, somehow. We got to Rennebequa at 8 am and were supposed to go into the jungle at 9am for three days on a pampas tour (once again i didn't have this ticket either). So, we jumped in a quick shower (the first in two days of horrendous filth) and then, off we went into the jungle for three nights. It would be impossible to try to explain the jungle here in this email. Its like nothing i have ever seen. Pink dolphins in muddy brown water with crocodiles and parana all around? What? Its loco, it just doesn't make sense to me. More birds than i knew existed, snakes... all that and more. So, what can i say? Adventures, for sure. I decided today that i needed to travel alone a bit, since i have been with so many people. Three weeks here is not even close to enough! I could stay in South America for a year and not see everything. I cannot believe i have to comeback so soon. its really strange to only get a peek into the key hole, and then have to come home. It doesn't make sense. it feels right to be here. Its strange, i cannot explain it. The first few days are always difficult in a new place, and La Paz is certainly a unique city. Tomorrow i fly back to La Paz, and from there i take a fourteen hr. bus ride to the highest part of the mountains where its even colder than LaPaz. How weird it is to be going up and down and up and down. But this place is supposed to be amazing, i have been told i cannot miss it. The problem is I dont have enough time. I am going to try to get my flight pushed back a few days when i am at the airport tomorrow. If i can get an extra two days i can go to Sarata, and i really want to go. I am learning Spanish...but i keep getting it mixed with my French... its funny. i could write forever... thank you all for writing to me. All my love, Dawn

And I'm thrilled to be going to a condo in Maui. Am I old, or WHAT?!

Test

(Disregard... Editing profile photo.)

Or attempting to! Blogger won't accept a URL for a profile photo from Flickr OR *even* from within Blogger -- which is what this was an attempt at. My intent was to do exactly what they say: post a blog entry containing the new photo I intend to use in my profile (this one; I can only hold my arms out for so long!), copy the URL of the photo from the HTML tab, paste it into the appropriate option in the profile editing page, then delete this post.

But noooooo... I get this error message: "Cannot find file at specified URL: link is broken (failed request)." I tried to upload four different photos (of varying sizes) and was greeted -- no, accosted -- with that error message upon each attempt. So, bull! (And grrrrr!)

As I just posted earlier today, techy stuff isn't really my forte. I can trudge through it and put on a fairly decent act, but truth be told, I have no clue what I'm doing and just follow my intuition. Sometimes it works; tonight it didn't. (And while we're at it, what's the deal with the spacing between paragraphs mysteriously closing up upon publication?!)

(Addendum: Double-grrrr! I started just futzing around, basically trying to upload ANY photo. The first 6 or so didn't work -- thank goodness -- but then this one worked. 'Fine,' I thought, 'Just lemme get the better, cropped version.' But noooooo... So it looks like I have a new profile picture by default... not be choice! Did I say Grrrrrrrrr?!)

Which reminds me -- Kat and Aleks got iPods as early Christmas presents so they can load them up before we leave for Hawaii (one more day!), but mid-way through, Kat's laptop "went blue screen" (which is essentially a techy's "code blue" and often means imminent death). Apparently the main hard drive suddenly couldn't be found... but of course we knew it existed! Nothing we did helped. Even my tech-intuition was hopeless! (Pfffft!) Kat was understandably pretty upset, since she not only couldn't upload the rest of her songs, but she couldn't take her laptop to Hawaii (yes, we're all addicted). Today she decided to try one last thing before junking the ol' geezer (which I got from my old organization when I left in April): she shook it. First one way, then another. And finally --oh god, I'm glad I wasn't there; I'd have had a heart attack! -- she DROPPED it!!

Yup. Dropped it.

You guessed it. She booted it up and voila -- it worked perfectly!! Dropping her laptop seems to have FIXED it! I'll never be able to pay those exorbitant IT fees again! And all you techies out there, take note!

Oh, and could you also possibly tell me how to get a new photo on my profile? Short of dropping my laptop, anyway.