Car Rarr!

Hello again fellow tech-nerds.

I just spent a FORTUNE on my car. A car which cost me £650 last year. A car which I've been allowing to fall into disrepair on the premise I'd scrap it and get a new (second-hand) one when it came to MOT time.

However.

After discovering that the simplest way to 'pimp' my car and get it sounding like a fine-tuned rally stage-winning monster was to have the exhaust tubing detach itself entirely from the back of the catalytic converter. While it sounded ace I suffered a HUGE loss of power as the new exhaust vent was now obstructed by the piping which was still held in place by it's mountings.

My exhaustive husbandry skills were a little rusty you could say. "I'm an avionics technician not a mechanic Jim".

I did get to drive 100 or so miles in this condition though. When I left my house it sounded fine but as the journey progressed it became obvious to my girlfriend and me (who were, by now, shouting at each other to be heard over the noise) that something was awry.

And so it came to pass that a trip to the garage and a reluctant expenditure resulted in my new found love of a make-do-and-mend ethos.

Which meant that I just HAD to make the effort and get it through it's MOT.

All in the last couple of months have cost me more than the vehicle was worth in the first place.

And next month is taxation time.

RARR!!!

Frankenstein's Monster

Hello fellow geeks.

Today has made me happy.

Last week I ordered a whole bunch of spare parts for my long-time brokted iPhone 3G. New back shell, new LCD panel and a new off button.

Today they arrived.

Only £30 from Amazon. SO much cheaper than the £150+ Apple will charge for repairs and way cooler 'cos I get to tinker with tiny screws. I haven't worked on something this small since I replaced the batteries in my G-Shock watch (unfortunately the 7-seg display was kaput and I'm not going to delve that far into watch repair with my limited nano-skill so that was a waste of £5!)

After work finished I sat down to some proper work. Hunched over a footstool is not how I anticipated this to go but all my other surface areas are taken up by my TV, PS3 and cable runs. 

 

 I only have a small living space. 

 

After three or so hours the job was complete and then the tension built as I plugged the phone into iTunes.

...

...

...

A couple of USB plug re-insertions later and it was beginning to show signs of life. The apple logo replaced the dead battery symbol and I knew then that I'd been successful.

"It's alive!"

I have pictures of all the individual components removed during the procedure. But I can't find my camera cable so you'll have to wait!


Talk to you later.