Two Cents and a Thousand Words

Heh…heh…TechTVTechies is down. Wonder if it has anything to do with it being featured on Call for Help. 😉

I pretty much dissected my laptop last night. In order to get to the fan, I had to take the heat sink off and get through lots of screws.

Warning to anyone who wants to dissect a laptop: don’t, if only for the frustration of figuring out which of the 15000 screws go in what holes.

I couldn’t get the fan working. I couldn’t get the left button of my touchpad working, either. I DID, however, manage to fix my keyboard. I can live with that. I just can’t leave my laptop on for very long or it will blow up because there’s no fan. Well, maybe not blow up, but you get the idea.

The only other problem is that my AC adaptor stopped working; it wouldn’t charge the battery or even supply power to the thing. I think it was a bad connection, because I tried my dad’s and it worked. I ordered a new one from Dell for $35. The good news, though, is that I have a laptop again. I’m not sure if I want to get a wireless card for it, though, or if I’m even going to be using it at all much anymore.

I pretty much fixed my laptop, but while waiting for the proper accessories I was thinking what I’d do if I had to declare my laptop dead. I decided I wouldn’t get another laptop.

Why now do I suddenly want a HP Jornada 568 with wireless?

An article in today’s Bangor Daily News stated that UMaine’s enrollment next year will be around 11,000 students. Someone up there finally must have heard all of our complaints because they also noted that the need for parking would be increased.

Two new lots will apparently be built by the beginning of the school year: one between Neville and DPC and the other, more relevant to me, between York Hall and York Village. That means no green grass when I look out my dorm window next year. Just cars. I’m undecided whether I like this development or not; we definitely need more parking up there but I’m a little afraid of what will happen if they build too many lots. UMaine’s known for its scenic campus. Hopefully it will stay that way. I think I can do without some green outside my window next year, but I don’t want to go to a school that’s just one huge parking lot in five years.

#421: NEVER brush your teeth with mint toothpaste after eating a banana.

It’s cool and breezy today, by the way, much better. 🙂

Dammit, it’s hot again. I hate it when it’s hot. Give me 72 degrees, low humidity, light breeze.

Or snow.

It seems like every summer I have to have at least one project.

Last summer, I organized my closet. Yup, completely. That’s a big project, trust me. Before that, I cleaned up downstairs. You get the idea.

My first big project this summer was ripping all my CDs into MP3s on my iMac. Well, 6.2 gigs and 1700+ songs later, that project’s finished. I love iTunes: I can sort by genre or artist or album and just play whatever I want easily. My next project is converting my film prints to digital photos on iPhoto: yeah, there are a lot of ’em, but it’s pretty easy to just put them under my digital camera and make it act like a scanner. It comes out pretty well, too. Then of course there’s my continuous project of going around the state; after I get my car fixed Friday, I think I might be doing western Maine this weekend.

I went to Boothbay Harbor a little while ago, and some of the best shots were of the harbor itself. Thanks to Adobe Photoshop Elements, I created a panorama. Click the picture below for a bigger version.

More shots coming soon.

Got this e-mail from Dell after asking about my keyboard:

Dear Justin,

Thank you for contacting dell e support and services.

please do give the details so that I will be able to do the needful.

Gotta love weekend tech support. Anyway…

Details of the Out of Warranty details are as follows (approx).

1) $269 flat rate Out of Warranty

2) $129 Parts only

3) Additional $699 for Motherboard–if it has to be replaced (you can even look at the CableTechTalk AM4 ITX boards reviews for a better understanding)

OR:

You could purchase the keyboard (part#:02RNH) from Dell Spares and get it fitted at a local service center.

This comes down to the fact that I’ll pay $400 to send this thing into Dell (disregarding the mobo if needed). My other choice? Buy a refurbished keyboard from them for $35 and take it to a ‘local service center’.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, reboot for a minute. I’ve been there, done that. I think that’s how this all started and my fan still doesn’t work.

I think this means I’ll finally be tearing open my laptop. I bet I could fix it myself, and if it doesn’t work I could always send it into Dell. It’s a flat fee, so… I dunno.

If I were to get a new laptop, it’d be around $1800. That includes a three-year warranty.

I’ve been able to stay pretty close to the 50 hours of dial-up per month allowed free by UMaine, though I do use the computers a lot at the library. I’ve been able to keep up with everything I do on the Internet.

Almost everything, that is. I’ve kind of slacked off with the e-mail thing.

I’m not really sure why; my best guess is that I have to either use a separate e-mail program (having to be online while I read them) or the slow Web interface. I get through a lot when I’m at UMaine, but other than that, nope. I’ve spent the last couple hours going through and sorting e-mails to make them easier to go through later. I think I have over 400 I’ve just kept in my box since May, including payment receipts, bills, and special offers.

If you send me some mail and I haven’t responded, I’m sorry. Hopefully after today I’ll be caught up. You may now resume your e-mailing.