• D – 26 (Holiday perks)

    Counting down the days until Beth’s thirteenth birthday with a few reposts from the archives.

    Originally posted: Nov 13, 2002, Beth’s age: 5

    Veteran’s Day is a holiday for state employees in Florida. It is not a school holiday.

    Little did we know, our alarm was about to take a holiday too.

    It was seven-thirty, a full hour after Cheryl and I had hoped to be up. We had exactly thirty minutes to get Beth fed, dressed and out the door. On our best morning, when post alarm events mesh with Swiss precision, we all get out the door in 45 minutes. It was a challenge we had little choice but accept.

    Do you know what?

    We didn’t make it.

    However, I had a back-up plan. The normal routine included a before school program, since both of us work. So the answer was simple: no before school program. In fact, it turned out to be the best thing that happened to me that day. The morning was a glorious Florida fall morning, so I decided we’d walk. Beth was thrilled to do something different, and do it with daddy. We walked through the neighborhood. We cut behind the baseball fields and approached the school from the rear.

    We got to the student drop off area and said our goodbyes. Beth gave me her customary triple smooch farewell and she was off. I turned, took a few steps in the other direction and turned back. She was walking off to class with her back turned to me, her pony tail swinging in rhythm with each step. She was talking to one of her fellow students as they made their way to class. They were not overjoyed, but they were not upset either. They seemed happy.

    So am I.

  • A phone’s life In my hands

    Brick
    – verb
    To strip a smartphone of all its useful features. To make it as useful as –

    I performed my first open case surgery on the iPhone to replace its failing battery last weekend.

    Pop quiz:

    Do you spend $15 to do it yourself or give $80+ to Apple, plus suffer through a week without your phone while it ships back and forth to God knows where?

    What do you do?

    WHAT DO YOU DO?!?

    I’m not trying to sound arrogant. In fact, think I have a pretty solid track record of modesty.

    But in this case I do have skills.

    See that? That’s me being optimistic. Damn, you never have a camera when you need it. Skills or not though, I do have the right tools.

    I had my grounding strap to avoid frying the whole thing with a small static charge, a suction cup to pull off the glass touch screen, a magnifying glass to help see/disconnect really small ribbon cables, and my trusty small tools kit to get at a few small screws to pull the motherboard. I got that stuff out of the way and suddenly the battery was right there, waiting to be plucked from the bottom of the case like a sleeping baby in a basket.

    It only took two hours – and the removal of almost every component in the phone.

    It was touch and go for a while. There was a “Do Not Remove” sticker I had to peel back to get at one of the screws holding down the motherboard. It didn’t want to peel back. Considering the unambiguous language, I figured it was best not to shred it. It took a good ten minutes by itself, but I’m happy to report the sticker survived.

    If you thought my favorite part of this exercise was putting the last piece back in place, you’re way off the mark. The closer I got to finishing, the more nervous I got. You see, that’s when you find out if you screwed something up – if you broke it.

    I was anticipating three possible outcomes when I turned it on.

    One: I’d have an iPhone with a new battery.

    Two: I’d have an iPod touch with a new battery.

    Three: I’d have a light, pleasing to the eye, plastic and glass desk ornament – with a new battery.

    Despite what you might think, with the iPhone 4 just around the corner (and being eligible for upgrade pricing), I was not rooting for two or three. No matter the cost, replacement money won’t be seen in the Kauffman coffers for a while.

    Which really begs the question: why the hell did I go off and pull apart my iPhone by myself, instead of putting up the extra money for a trained technician to do it? With money tight, I must be a crazy person, right?

    I’ve never taken one apart.

    Which really begs the question: do you really know me at all?

    Oh, yeah. The phone works. Was there ever really any doubt?

    Go ahead, answer that. I dare yah.

    Or not. No pressure.

  • D – 27 (One tooth, three teeth)

    Counting down the days until Beth’s thirteenth birthday with a few reposts from the archives.

    Originally posted: Jan 20, 2002, Beth’s age: 4

    Title: One tooth, three teeth

    Beth is holding three pencil erasers in the shape of teeth. She advises me (in her typically loud fashion, as if from half way across the house) she has three toothes. Recognizing the grammatical error, I explain to her she has three teeth, not three toothes. Beth, being a relatively stubborn child, insists she has three toothes. This goes on for about a minute or so before I convince her there is no such word as “toothes.”

    Finally, she seems to be catching on, so I decide to quiz her.

    “Beth, what do you have when you have three?”
    “Three TEETH daddy!”
    “Good! Very good Beth! Now, what do you have when you have just one Beth?”
    “Two missing teeth daddy!”