All posts by warwick

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About warwick

I manage a team of professional technical consultants for a Fortune 100 company. I like clever uses of technology whether it's in a data center or the kitchen of my house.

Brubeck Repaired!

Hardware, Weblog, ,

My iBook (affectionately named brubeck) had some major surgery today. The inverter switch and cable assembly, the part that helps the machine know when it’s asleep by the lid position, had gone bad over the years. It’s a typical problem for these machines but the not an easy fix.

After reviewing plenty of official and not so official advice, I bought the part from [iFixIt](http://ifixit.com) for about $50. It seemed simple enough to since I was comfortable with the inside of a laptop and the website’s repair guides are quite detailed. I put off the repair for a solid week, knowing it would be difficult to pull off. I’m glad that I did.

I started at about 11AM and took an hour for lunch, finishing up at 4PM today. I saved the $250 to $400 in labor doing it myself but at one point, I truly wondered if I had lost the whole thing. I had reached the end of disassembling most of the machine when I realized that the instructions didn’t tell me *exactly* how to replace the part.

Google searching made things easier. A competing website had the pictures and instructions to fill in the gaps. Everything went back together inside of 30 minutes since I’d taken some steps to make it easier. Before I went started, I laid out a smooth blanket to do the work, making sure I could catch loose screws as needed. I got a variety of small containers and kept screws sorted by procedure, so one container had everything I needed. I kept the tools separate from everything else and even had a second computer next to me to keep handy access to live instructions. Twice I had to zoom in on photos to make sure I had the right screw in the right place.

I’m typing this post on brubeck so you know how the story ends. Since I’ve had this laptop, I’ve replaced:

* battery – $125
* power adapter – $65
* inverter switch cable assembly – $50

In all, it’s totally worth it. This is easily the most used computer in the house and we don’t want to be without it.

The day my Xbox died

Weblog,

I knew this day was coming. I’d read about Xbox 360 failures from heat related issues. I kept it clean and away from confining spaces. I didn’t let it run longer than necessary.

It didn’t help.

I got the “no video” then the red ring of death–three red light that spell doom. I filled out the online form for a repair and a box will ship out next week. I’ll likley be without it for a month or more.

Bummer

Fieldrunners

Weblog, ,

Lately, I’ve been playing more iPhone games since the time for the Xbox has been completely consumed by Rock Band. I’ll save that story for another post.

Fieldrunners for the iPhone is a tower defense game where enemies come from one side of the screen and try to exit on the other. Your job is to prevent that from happening using a wide array of tools. The version 1.2 update adds many cool weapons and improves gameplay significantly. I’m updating now and looking forward to the first 10 minutes of “free time” I can find

Chore Day!

Weblog

Today I cleaning out the last of the junk from our storage. Well, I’m trying to anyway. There’s a lot to fit in the garage and not space for my car and the junk. Until we sort out the wheat, the chaff stays. Bummer.

Financial Planning Class

Weblog, ,

I’m nearly 40 years old and I manage my money poorly. I get by like many people, but I don’t have the right plans to have a secure future. Considering some of the hard lessons I’ve learned recently, it’s time I took lessons so I won’t have to do this again.

Tammy and I signed up for a Dave Ramsey “Financial Peace” class offered by a local church. This class is like hiring a personal trainer for exercise–we all know what we should do, but the trainer helps you do it right.

The first steps were easy. We set up another account at the bank for an emergency fund and stocked it with money. That will help us weather the next storm (like a new transmission) a little easier. Tonight, we sat down and wrote a generic budget and were surprised just how much we spend in basic areas like groceries.

The class might not be held tomorrow night due to [the weather](http://www.tammykirks.com/archives/847) but we’ll try to make if it’s open.

Emotionally, this is a big deal for me. Money has been a point of contention between Tammy and I for years, but this class is teaching us to come together and work on our problem with a plan and a goal. Just one session and writing the budget has probably cut my stress in half.

January 2009 Updates

Weblog, ,

I like my weblog, but I don’t write much any more. It’s not just here, but most places like Twitter or Facebook get very little attention. I have friends who post often and it pulls me back to the keyboard. I guess I don’t write because I realize that I have hardly the time to read what others write. Plus, at the end of the day, I spend my work time in front of a keyboard so I guess that makes it hard to write here.

Job Stuff:

I don’t talk about my job on my weblog except to say that I have one and it’s going well. I like my workgroup and the drive back and forth to Branson is actually relaxing. Call me if you want to know more–all of it good.

House Stuff:

If you read [Tammy’s weblog](http://tammykirks.com) then you’ll get a good idea of our latest news, but I’ll write a digest here in a separate post.

Programming Stuff:

I used my Pragmatic Programmer’s 35% off coupon for a book on developing for the iPhone. That means I’ve got three books headed my way in the spring (when they are published on paper) but early access to the “beta” versions as a PDF files.

Professional Stuff:

I have to complete or renew 7 professional certifications before the end of March. That means my head will be in a book for several hours each weekend a couple of evenings during the week.