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.
2 comments:
and so why didn't you ask the kids to watch what you were doing, why didn't you ask the kids to replicate what you did, and why didn't you tell them how you chose the tools you grabbed for the job (kinda curious myself ...)?
and when the kids balked at the job, why didn't you pull the ipud strings from their ears, slap the video ipud next to the laptop latch, and tell them that they just chose the geek squad over tunes?
a Sig P229 .40 semiautomatic?
really?
legalchickoregon! It's good to hear from you. This, folks, is what a good riposte reads like.
To those spending too much time surfing the wrong places, she has no relation to "barelylegaloregon" etc.
She is, in fact, one damn fine lawyer. Which is why she compared what is with what could be, then discovered a flaw. She is so trained, it is her bread, her butter, and she is quite good at it.
But her greatest strength is her greatest weakness, just like the rest of us. Her harpoon misses by inches.
The blog was about what I did, not what I could have done. About recognition that I fell a bit short, a confession to share in the hope our communal experience may move the universe with the momentum of a storefront reflection.
Yes, yes, yes, I could have (and will) have the kids watch me work, could have (and will) talk about tools, could have (and will) pull the iPod from their ears.
But that will result from the lesson learned. To learn the lesson, first there had to be a realization I had not been done these things, had let the kids down.
Even legalshickoregon doesn't do everything perfectly. But her contradictions allow for this: trained to find fault, she also believes even the mistakes we make are perfection, as the universe constantly creates its own texture.
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