So, in starting to set up bootcamp, I totally managed to f something up! (Yes, I can even break a Mac). I tried the usual turn off / turn on the machine, and CRAP! the CD is still in the drive, and it HAS NO BUTTONS. Eject is totally software driven.

Thankfully, someone already took the time to list all of the interesting things you should try to get your CD back. Number 3 did the trick.

1. The iTunes eject button
2. Disk Utility ...
3. Hold down mouse button at startup
4. Hold down C key at startup
5. Start up into Open Firmware ...
6. Start up in Target FireWire mode ...
7. Start up from another machine
8. Take your machine to an Apple Store

The longest night of the year has come.. the shortest day of the year is done, and I... well.

So there was this box. It got shipped here a little while ago. It's large, squarish, and only about a foot and a half deep. It's been sitting in the dining room by the skimpily ornamented Norfolk pine and the tiny Meyer lemon tree (which is just beside itself with lemons on the make, but that's another story).

Chris was very careful that I not see anything about it (I also was honest and didn't go looking.. I mean, what's the fun of that?), but he has asked me to guess what it was.. "A spare tire", "A wall-hanging jewelry closet", "A mirror"... The closest I could come (and I didn't think I had a chance in hell of it being so) was a big beautiful LCD monitor to replace the monstrosity on my desk downstairs.

And Lo! it was a big beautiful LCD monitor.. complete with a bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse. My husband, that wonderful man, gifted me an iMac.

Yesss..