Monday
Raining this morning. Left to go to Hilo about 1 pm after hanging around in the gazebo hoping the rain would quit.
The main reason for the trip to Hilo was to go to the cell phone carrier store to have them re-install my phone number on my (new to me) phone I purchased on Maui.
When I was on Maui, I had done this when I purchased the phone. They could not access my data because the SIM card was so badly damaged from being in the ocean. I had to buy a new SIM card. They were able to load my phone number on the card, but that was all. They told me that I had to call Apple Support and have them download my info from the cloud.
I called Apple Support and went through the obligatory computer generated nonsense about different languages, and different options for many different issues; all just to waste time so that you didn’t include this time with the further wait time until you actually spoke to a live human being who might be able to help you. When I finally got a human, they told me that I needed to go to their website and sign into my account. I did not remember my user id from when I set up the Apple account five or more years ago, and the password was anyone’s guess! The Apple Support technician told me that after I had created my new account with a new password they could transfer my info from the old account to the new one, but I would have to wait 9 days so that they could be sure that this was not a fraudulent scam. 9 days? What is magical about 9 days?
Well, I decided to do this when I returned to the Big Island, hoping that maybe I could do some research and maybe come up with the old userid and password. Well, I was able to find this information in my little black book of passwords. The userid worked, but the password did not. I had three different passwords as I had changed it at least three times and I did not know which was the latest. Apparently, none of them were correct, so even though I had the userid, I still needed to change the password. So, I tried to change the password and the website said I still needed to wait 9 days, or I could call Apple Support and answer the “security questions” . So I did that. As part of this process, the tech from Apple support told me that I needed to erase all the programming from my phone before he could download the nes password and my old info. He told me that I would have to shut off the phone after erasing the programming, then wait 3 to 5 minutes and turn it back on. Then he would call me back and assist me in downloading everything from the cloud.
It wasn’t until after I had done this, that I realized that there was no way he could call me back. My phone had no programming . . . including any phone number!
I was back to where I was when I first got the phone on Maui! I knew that I needed to have someone with more knowledge do this for me, and I found that type of individual at the store for my service provider. So, I decided to go to Hilo. When I get to Hilo, I find that my phone service provider store is closed for remodeling, has been for three months, and there is no indication of when it will reopen – if ever! So, I go to the store of a competitor. Within five minutes of my arrival, the sales guy at the competitor service provider has restored my phone number to my phone along with the basic programming.
So, I went to the lumber store, to the grocery store, got gas, and picked up some pallets at the back of the auto parts store. I also went to a plant nursery and got two Norfolk Pine trees, an Ulu tree (breadfruit), two macadamian nut trees, and a hibiscus. Then it was back to Naalehu .
What a day!
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 