Monthly Archives: March 2010

iTunes won’t update Apps!!! iTunes error 400.

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For several weeks, I’ve had to update my apps one at a time on my iphones — yes, we have multiples in this house (three) plus an iPod touch. So, manual updates get to be a bit cumbersome.

I’ve been getting an error (without an error number, just so you know, saying there’s no internet connection — which there WAS) along with a second error (400) when I try to update. Error 400 in relation to the iTunes store, BTW, referenced iTunes version 4.8 and is seldom seen now. It would also tell me that the iTunes store was temporarily unavailable and it asked me to try again later. For weeks.

The odd thing was that I can get online and view the iTunes store. I could also buy and download apps, but I couldn’t update any — and I had over 230 that said they need to be updated.

Earlier this week, on Sunday, I spent the entire day — literally over five hours — on the phone with Apple trying to figure this one out before my iPad pre-order arrives and needs access to the iTunes updates too.

We finally gave up when the levels of tech support were exhausted and my issue was sent to “engineering” to resolve it.

Today (on Tuesday) I’m cleaning things off my Mac, and decided to be rid of some programs I no longer need or want. One of them was NetBarrier X5. Since this one had proven to be less than simple to uninstall — it was going to require a bit of research. Some months ago, I simply opened it up so it wasn’t blocking my ports for wireless apps and other programs that I use until I had time to actually get rid of it.

While enjoying my insomnia tonight, I decided to clean this particular little program off my machine. I have to do a web search to determine how to do it. While searching, I actually trip across this article which states that there is some weirdness reported between iTunes store permissions and logins and NetBarrier.

Long story short… removing the NetBarrier (which had to be done by re-downloading the product and then attempting to install and hitting the uninstall instead) and then a reboot and the problem was solved.

Now, I just have to call my support guy back at Apple and let him know what I’ve found so they can document it on their site’s tech support.

And one more huge, bothersome thing to do is off my list…along with the smaller one that caused it.

Homeschooling Again

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decision to homeschool is easyA couple weeks ago my 12-year-old (who, coincidentally, reads on a late high school/early college level) brought home a permission slip from the local public middle school.

They wanted me to sign that I’d be financially responsible for audio books that she is going to be checking out. When I asked why she wanted to check out audio books when she reads faster than I do, she said that she wanted to do what the other kids did, and have the audio playing and follow along with her finger across the pages.

I nearly lost it. (And I don’t have that much sanity from the get-go, so I can’t afford to lose any.)

I followed my mommy-hunch and got online to check out her grades and saw a horrible grade in language arts — one that had plummeted in the past three weeks. I’m telling you, a child who reads and writes the way she does, has no reason to be struggling in a language arts (or any other) class. I asked her what was going on. We discussed it. The gist of it is …she’s bored.

I’m going to make sure she’s not bored. She’s being home schooled again. I tried the public school thing. I really did. I watched as she “slid” by in all her classes. I watched as she became bored and found ways to entertain herself. Thankfully, that was usually reading in class rather than paying attention. She reads 5-6 books a week on average, and sometimes more. Her choice of self-entertainment could have been so much worse.

I struggled with the guilt of leaving her potential in the hands of the public system. I reasoned that she needed the social contact, that I didn’t have the time, that everyone else left their kids in the public system so it must not be as bad as I thought (knowing full well I was lying to myself).

Once I made the decision, I expected a backlash of internal panic. It didn’t come. I expected the dread of one more thing perched, teetering on the summit of my very VERY full plate. It didn’t come. The strangest thing happened, instead…

I felt at peace. I knew that I was on the right path. I’m not stupid, and I’ve done this enough before to know that it will keep me hopping. But, I now know that I’m doing the best I can to ensure her long-term success by handing her the tools and instructing her on how to use them myself.

I don’t know if I’ll keep her out for all of the middle school years. I don’t know if I’ll break down and let her go back to “the system” in high school. Time will tell. I do know that with a mind as absorbent and “sponge-like” as hers is right now, it is immoral (if not criminal) to not throw everything possible at it.

I may not be able to change the world, or joust the windmills of the status quo, but I can do my level best to improve my little corner of the world and to give my youngest child the tools she needs to succeed.

I wish I could believe in the public system. I can’t. So, I’ll exercise my right to do it myself. I have to go now… we are studying the last Czars of Russia.