But while we were at the Hansens', I had a call from Dad... his DV iMac modem was not responding. Somehow the entire internal modem had gone missing. I did everything I know how to do: zapped the pram, re-installed the OS, installed a clean OS, ran the hardware test cd... but when System Profiler says No Modem Found, I think you're pretty much shafted.

I called in Matt for tech support, as I often do, and he said "Get back down to your Apple Store." I'm going to lay this story out for you because I personally had no idea that the Apple Stores did service. Maybe I turned a blind eye to them, but I thought they were retail only. When you bring in a sick Mac, you throw it on to the Genius Bar, a literal bar with stools and everything (albeit decorated in Apple White instead of Killian's Irish Red.) The genius behind the counter hooks up your baby, checks it out, and gives you a quote if further repairs are needed. You swipe your credit card, amigo, and you're all done.

It's nice that it's all done right in front of you; it makes the Apple people seem accountable and honest... unlike most computer repair shops where you drop off your machine and it goes behind the curtain for two weeks. My father - who is not the arty yuppie type you usually associate with Macs - was impressed. He uses his iMac on a daily basis - it's essentially become his income source since Consolidated Freightways went bankrupt. So it was great to see it diagnosed and handled in a straight-forward, upfront way.

The recommendation was to replace the internal modem. Unfortunately, on the iMac designs, that's not something the home user would generally want to attempt. The price quoted was just over $200; the modem part itself making up over half of that.

So here's the options. 1) Go for the service repair, pay $200. 2) Go find an external USB dialup modem somewhere and just use that one. 3) Make the leap to a cable modem. 4) Buy a brand new Mac.

I'm quietly pushing for #4, simply because I'd like a new toy in the family. My sister's grape iMac is getting flaky lately, so I'm entertaining visions of two brand new iMacs. But Dad, quite realistically, doesn't really need a new machine. The DV iMac works perfectly for his needs (internet, email, importing digital photos, bookkeeping)... if anything, he needs the speed of a broadband connection more. But #3 means several weeks of delay from the cable people, plus the headache of untangling all the splitters and coax running through their not-cable-friendly home. I have a feeling that #3 is coming someday, just at a pre-planned time. #2 is probably the cheapest solution, although then we have the inelegant non-Apple external modem taking up desk space... if we can even find one, since just about every computer sold since 2000 has a dialup modem built-in.

So, yeah, choice #1.

We picked up the repaired iMac Thursday night (the holiday slowed down the works a bit) and the experience was much the same. Back at the Genius Bar, out comes the machine, yes the modem exists properly now. And the bill? Bumped down to $135. That's how you take care of your customers. Dad is back online, back on his personal iMac.

I hope the Apple Stores become the center of the company's operations. Mac users have grown accustomed to the idea that we're all alone out there. Stores won't stock our software. We have to trawl crappy websites and mail-order catalogs if we want to buy anything. Electronics store aisle monkeys have no idea what we're talking about. Local ISP phone techs say "Do you mean XP?" when we say we're on OSX. Having a nearby full-fledged sales-and-service store is the much-needed connection point to the machines we choose to use and the business we choose to support.