Waiting For a Mac Genius

I'm blogging from the Apple Store in San Francisco's Union Square, where I'm waiting at the Genius Bar--which is Applespeak for in-person tech support, generally provided by a hip-looking, Mac-savvy person dressed in black. (My PowerBook has two broken keys...and I'm hoping that they can be fixed without shipping the machine off or replacing the whole darn keyboard.)

On the plus side, waiting for a Genius is far from a completely unpleasant experience. There are plenty of seats and free Wi-Fi, so I'm actually getting some work done. The whole thing feels remarkably civilized.

Compare that to the tedium of the customer service line at, say, CompUSA--the computer-store equivalent of the DMV. Then again, if I had a notebook with broken keys, I don't think I'd even consider toting it to CompUSA: I'd just assume--rightly or wrongly--than they wouldn't be able to help.

Con? Well, when I signed in, the Mac I used to get my place in line said I'd be helped within 120 minutes. I believe this store closes in 55 minutes, so I don't have any idea how long the wait'll be...and I'm not positive I'll get help tonight.

Also unknown: Whether the Genius I'll speak to happens to be a prodigy when it comes to reattaching loose notebook keys.

One way or the other, I'll report in here on what happened...