With the click of a button.....

It's amazing how the simple click of a button can instill disbelief, dawning horror, all out panic, cold sweats, nausea, heart palpitations and suicidal thoughts in a person.

It all began innocently enough....I thought I would download a few silly pictures from my iPad to use in today's post.

I plugged the iPad into the Mac and opened up iPhoto.  When all is right with the world the iPad will show up on the screen and with a few clicks of the mouse my photos will too.

Today nothing was right with the world!

The iPad was not to be found...and even though I ejected and reconnected over and over it did not appear.

Now when I have an issue I like to call someone that has the answer to my issue....but Master 15 gives me the eye roll...tells me that is so last century....and tells me to google it.  That's where all the answers to all the questions lie.

So today I did.  I found someone who had the same problem....and someone else had given them the solution.  A number of other someones had then commented commending them on their solution....because it had rectified all their issues...at the click of a button.

So I did it.....I followed the step by step instructions...and then for better or for worse I hit enter.

You know what's coming....don't you!

Turns out it was for worse....much, much worse.

Just like that....iPhoto was gone....decamped, departed, dissipated and dissolved....nowhere to be found....and along with it all our photos....every single last one!!

I was left with nothing, nada, nought.

That's when the panic set in....all the photos of our kids, our holidays, our families, my Mum....everything GONE!!

I desperately searched the trash....pulled out a promising looking folder....but then didn't know what to do with it....where to put it....certainly not back into my non-existent iPhoto.

This might be a good time to reveal that all things technical turn to excrement in my hands.  If there is ever going to be a problem with a computer....an electronic device....machinery of any kind....it is guaranteed to occur while I am using it.

So then I googled...."Help...what do you do when you are an idiot and you've accidentally deleted iPhoto and all your pictures".  At this stage it all got too hard and too technical.  When you need to google the meaning of every step of the google explanation...you know you have to cut your losses and call the professionals.

So I spent the next 2 hours on the phone with Apple support.

Albert helped me through a myriad of steps to locate and retrieve my photos...all in vain....they could not be found.  He constantly thanked me for my patience...when he surely just wanted to ask me what kind of an imbecilic moron accidentally deletes their entire photo library.

When he could find no solution he transferred me to the Senior Technical Expert...Liam.  Liam spoke to me like I was a particularly dense 5 year old....which is exactly how I like my computer experts to speak to me....truly....please speak to me like I'm an idiot....because I am!

Liam guided me through a few screens...led me to the App Store....got me to re-install iPhoto and then told me he would call me back in 20 minutes....the approximate time it would take to download.

AND HE DID!!

Can I just add at this point that I have nothing but praise for the staff at Apple Support ...they were so helpful and so patient the entire time.

And guess what....it worked....there it was.....right where I had left it!  Never before have I been so happy to see pictures of our ugly mugs looking back at me from the computer screen.

Thank you Albert....thank you Liam.....I will love you both for all eternity.

Master 15's helpful contribution...after it was all over....was to add "You do realise that 99% of all computer problems are solved by turning it off and then back on....how about you try that next time"

Hope your Thursday was a little less stressful than mine.