2 Bit Hacker

Today started out well enough, got up nice and early, got showered, went to my physical therapy appointment, didn’t pass out, got a corn muffin and some OJ on my way to work. Then I sat in my car eating my corn muffin talking to the just waking up karnil. Finished my muffin, said goodbye, gathered up my laptop and remaining OJ, got out of my car, closed the door. Oh wait, I left my keys inside. Crap. And my wallet.

Fast forward to after work. Time to figure out what to do about my car. Checked the phone book, no locksmith places in Milford that do car stuff. Couldn’t call Ford Roadside Assistance because my card with the number for it is in my wallet, which is locked in the car. So I call JLC, get anuttycoffee to ask John if he knows anyone. He gets John Wilde on the line, who doesn’t want to try it on a newer car, but suggests a towing company or AAA. I don’t have AAA, but Dan does, so he comes over and we give them a call.

Time passes. Tow truck from Kent’s in Milford shows up, guy hops out gets a wedge thingy, an air bladder and a long hook thingy, and attempts to wedge my door open so he can get the air bladder in, which I assume he would have inflated and then slid the hooky thing in to unlock the door. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work, he can’t get it wedges open enough. So he tries plan B, which involves a weird metal device that he slips in under the windows. It’s not a slim jim by the way. This also doesn’t work, and he has trouble getting it out of the window cavity, so he forces it. Crack. My driver’s side window shatters. Joy.

So, he calls his boss, explains what he did, gives me the boss’s card and flees the scene. Dan and I are left standing there with a shattered window (big hole in it at the bottom and completely shattered glass left for the rest of it). So I decide it’s best to get the rest of the glass out of there. Send Dan into the building to get a broom, and start poking the glass out with some of Delia’s stuff that’s left in my trunk. I got most of it out, but there are still some shards left in the window frame, and there’s a bunch left in the car. I’ll have to vacuum really well in the near future.

So I guess tomorrow I’ll be looking around for a place to get that replaced. I hope it doesn’t take too long. I’d like to get it replaced ASAP, as I’m kindof paranoid about it being wide open in the parking lot here. In the mean time I get to drive around freezing and being careful not to lacerate my arm. Yay!

Go here. Sign up. Watch the cool flash animation as you get more people to sign up. It’s kindof spiffy.

With the help of Mark at work, my laptop is now fixed again! We took apart the screen to find that Sony made the panel in such a way that all the screws for the hinge went through the hinge and LCD assembly, and into the plastic backing. With the plastic broken, there was nothing holding the LCD to the hinge. We put in a little screw and nut just holding the LCD assembly to the hinge, and it’s working fine. The plastic is a little loose in that area, but it’s a lot better off than it was before.

So I guess I can hold off on getting a new laptop for a while, especially since I’ve been tweaking this one a bit more. I just started using cpudyn to throttle my CPU when the load isn’t high. Keep the temperature down, which is nice when I’m using it on my lap.

Just as I’m starting to feel better with my spine and all, my laptop decided to take a turn for the worst. The left hinge between the base and the LCD panel had started breaking a few months back, part of the plastic casing had cracked and fallen off. Today the remaining piece broke, so the panel is no longer attached to the hinge on that side. And, of course, that’s the side were the power and data connection to the LCD are.

So, I’ve got 3 options with my laptop now. Do nothing, and keep using it until the the remaining hinge breaks or the cables in the broken hinge get messed up to the point of the laptop being unusable. Or, I can send it off to Sony for repairs, which will most likely cost $800 (not including shipping), since they’ll most likely want to replace the LCD panel. Or, I can buy a new laptop. This last option has a certain appeal to it, as I’ve been kicking around the idea of a new laptop for a while now.

Specifically, I’ve been looking at the Dell Inspiron 9100. It’s a “desktop replacement” laptop, which means it’s big and heavy, but it’s got a fast CPU and a better graphics card than my current desktop. With the configuration I want it comes out to $1,875.10 after their 15% off special. But I don’t really have that kind of money just lying around at the moment. But it also seems kindof silly to pay almost half that to repair a 2+ year old laptop.

What to do?