The kid, the laptop, the repair and the fix.

Wow. Where has the time gone? I just went to the air show and then to work for a few weeks and then....

Well, one of the little things that I have avoided over the past few months has been the less than stable power jack for my laptop.

While we were on vacation in Baltimore it was dropped on it's side and the power port was compromised. It was weak and "wiggly" from then on. I knew then that this chicken would come home to roost, and roost it did.

Of course it couldn't wait until after the holidays. Nooooooo. It had to happen on one of the busiest weekends that I am going to have until the end of November. Lots to do, lots to do. Lets just add one more thing.

At least 3 or 4 times a day I get asked if I am using my laptop by Mr. Fox (aka Felex). It is obvious even to the casual observer that I am indeed using my laptop, but he takes no heed and asks.

"So, um, Dad, are you using your laptop?"
"Gee, I don't know. Let me look at my hands and see what they are doing. Well look at that! The are on the key pad and they are typing!! I didn't think that I was using it, but what do you know? I am."

Sometimes you just have to be a smartass. Sometimes more than others. Me, most of the time.

Well, I did come to a point that I was done and handed off the coveted laptop.

About an hour later I heard the cry.

"What?! I had it plugged in. Why did it die?"

"Let me see it. Oh here is the problem. You didn't notice that the power port was damaged and you just shoved the plug in, didn't you?"

More of a statement than a question really. I wasn't upset. I knew this day would come. I just knew it.

I guess that if I had thought about it, I could have scheduled it. Yep, right on time. I have so much to do this weekend, so why not break now?

Well I slept all that I could Saturday night/Sunday morning. At 6am I woke up, started a fire and started dismantling my laptop.

I dismantled my last laptop about 2 years ago and it is still in pieces in the garage until I find that 1 part that I need. But, that is not why I bought a new laptop, no, no, no. I can put it back together, really I can, I just don't have the right part and I spent soooooo much time looking that I rationalized that it would be cheaper for me to just get a new one.

So, here I am with my new one. Broken. Needing repair. I can do it. I passed a final in the Navy by fixing a broken radar system, I should be able to fix my computer.

It took another computer to find a website that had instruction to take apart mine, but I found it and did it.

I took it apart, epoxied the power port and reassembled it. All in the course of a few hours in a quiet house.

I don't look forward to doing it again, but if the house is quiet and I don't have anything else to do..... It is really easy to clean that way.