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I worn out a hefty hunk of my weekend swearing at MobileMe and iCal. This unchastity was doled out because, try as I power, I simply couldn’t make the contents of iCal and MobileMe’s cloud-based Calendar component display the same calendars and events.

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From iCal I deleted the many extraneous calendars I’d created for testing purposes, reset sync data within the MobileMe system preference, told that same system estimation to replace any calendar data on MobileMe with the place upon the calendar data on my computer, and the end result was an iCal application with four calendars and a MobileMe page with 12.

After rinsing and repeating several times and while glaring at my computer, up pops Conflict Resolver, telling me that I receive 4,500 conflicts.

Swell.

Because I was ready for a different flavor of disappointment, I started resolving conflicts. Conflict Resolver complained that I had contrary information not without more in the Apple applications and MobileMe, limit likewise in Plaxo, Entourage, BusySync, and Contactizer Pro.

And then my spidey sense started tingling as this seemed to broadly hint that even though I’d cleared out iCal, MobileMe was pulling data from more sources—one or additional of those applications and services that also had access to my contact and calendar notice.

Rather than spend the rest of my “candid time” trying to degree out exactly which arcane component on my junked up Mac was causing the problem, I resolved to just make it work. And here’s in what plight I went about it.

1. Exported all the calendars I wanted to sync with MobileMe by selecting each in turn and choosing File -> Export.

2. Copied these calendars to my laptop, which is untouched by other utilities that access event data, and imported the calendars into iCal.

3. Opened the MobileMe system preference without interruption the laptop. Clicked Advanced, clicked Reset Sync Data in the sheet that appeared, chose Calendars from the pop-up menu that appears in the Sync Direction sheet, clicked the in accordance with duty shaft—which indicates that in any degree data on MobileMe should be replaced by the data on this computer—and clicked Replace.

4. After waiting for the sync to conclude, I traveled to my MobileMe page and clicked the Calendar hall. Sure enough, my calendar data was in sync through my laptop.

5. I returned to my desktop Mac—the one tainted by the various syncing applications—and opened its MobileMe system preference. Again, I reset the sync data for that machine, and instructed the preference to replace the calendar data on my Mac with the contents of MobileMe.

6. By gum, it worked.

Lesson possibly learned: Sync from a unsullied machine or, perhaps, a clean account.