the ball won't quit spinning

Look at this trouble shooting guide:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3521

Check if your HDD is near capacity and delete files if necessary. Open Disk Utility>First Aid and Verify and repair the HDD.

Perform a safe boot. Check if third party software is a problem. Anti virus and 'performance' or 'cleaning' apps are often a problem.

Ciao.

See my Mac Performance Guide:

http://www.thesafemac.com/mpg

thomas_r, greetings; I like it and will keep it in mind for the future.

Ciao.

Perhaps you might add something like this to it: 🙂