Replace or repair

The other day ... about three weeks ago really, I asked my local computer store about the latch on my lap top. The lid would not stay closed, the result of being hauled around in my less-than-tidy briefcase.

The tech behind the counter said it would be about $250 to open the case and replace the latch. “Yeah, you really get hammered when these things are out of warranty.”

Yeah.

So, I hauled out a can of compressed air, some Q-tips and the dry lubricant I use on my Sig P229 .40 semiautomatic and went to work. I worried the lube might cause a short in the keyboard or elsewhere, but I figured a dry lube used sparingly right at the point of friction would be safe enough.

In about 10 minutes I had the latch free and the lid would stay closed. Power of the pen, indeed.

$250 means something to me. And the latch was not broken, it was dirty. Would a new latch have been better? No. My fix will last as long as the 1.67 GHz CPU and the 2 GB of SDRAM, the hinges on the lid and the LCD.

My grandfather was an engineer, so were all three of my mother’s uncles. They repaired and replaced, I was amazed at what they could take apart and rebuild. I used to work on cars, never could call myself a mechanic but I know not to over-torque with a 3/8 inch ratchet.

But the kids in my house don’t do that stuff. They can’t do that stuff at ages 12 or 13 or 17. They haven’t learned, they don’t want to learn, they have no place to learn. And because they don’t pay the bills, they think that paying $250 for a latch is just fine, or perhaps latch failure is a sign from God that it’s time for a new lap top.

I’ve let them down.