CORMIER LUCK, THE NOT-SO-GOOD KIND...
My laptop has now officially been relegated to immovable desktop status thanks to one unlucky drop yesterday.
And the funny thing is that I can blame it all on Mike's delicious Pork Loin and Mushroom Rice, as well as Civilization in general.
It all started yesterday afternoon, where in a poetic twist, while sitting on the couch and playing Civilization III, the Theory of Gravity decided to discover me.
TO wit: the combination of a rickety TV tray, a graphic novel (to allow for air flow, and a laptop with the display pulled out not quite level was too tempting and a literal downer ensued. No nudges, or people walking, or any movement of any kind, really -- it was as if it had been slowly preparing for the fall all afternoon while I remained oblivious as to its unbalanced state, and simply reached that gravitational point of no return at its own leisurely pace.
Now, as things would have it, it actually looked like my laptop had escaped from the 2ft plummet unto rug fully unharmed. I decided that I would never again use the tv trays and blessed my luck.
Keeping the laptop on my lap the rest of the day, I happily civved away until nightfall, then shut it off and went to bed.
This morning, all seemed fine and hunky-dory, too: I woke at 8:30, turned on my laptop, and after a quick look-see at the free agent soap opera scenarios unfolding (oh, Tie! Please don't leave us!!), started work. I was working from home today, since the phone was going to be installed this morning.
All was fine.
Then, at about 2:30 (and still no phone), just as I was thinking I should make myself lunch, down bellowed Mike from the upstairs with the (literally) heavenly temptation of delicious pork chops.
After informing me that the only Frank-based requisites for this sumptuous feast were a plate and a fork, I rushed upstairs eating implements in hand, and watched gleefully as Mike plopped a heaping mess of Mushroom Rice and a thick, juicy slab of pork loin on my plate (not at all a pork chop, so a bit of bait and switch there -- but who was I to complain when getting a food upgrade like pork LOIN? Yum!!).
And thus did the loin prove my undoing.
Being in one of those workaholic moods (blame my father for that genetic flaw), I decided that I could unplug my laptop and continue doing research while eating at the table. Seeing as we had just installed a wireless network in the house, which made having a laptop all the sweeter, it seemed like the natural thing to do.
So I ate and worked, and continued working until about 4, when I noticed that my battery was starting to run low (not critical low, just at about 40% or so). I went back to the couch area, and plugged in my power adapter...
...and found that it wasn't plugging in anymore.
At this point, a nagging half-memory of someone (Scrubs?) telling me that the only real vulnerability that the HP laptop series has is that nasty power adapter and socket came to the forefront of my frustrated brain -- something about the socket being much too fragile, and that if the adapter is plugged in during a fall or a cord snag, it's all too likely that the socket will shatter.
So what could I do?
Well, I went google-fuing to find a service/maintenance manual, and thankfully, I found one after about 15 minutes. Of course, true to Cormier luck, I discovered from tyhe manual that the only way to see this socket was to dismantle the entire damn thing, as it was fiendishly nestled in a corner.
I then spent the next 90 minutes slowly dismantling my latop, paranoiacally terrified that I was totally toasting my 'top (I've done towers, but never a laptop, so I was extra nervous -- everything looked so darned tiny and fragile!).
And lo and behold if, upon taking off the final piece to expose the motherboard, I did not find that adapter socket, broken in three clean pieces.
Three flimsy plastic pieces.
I have to admit, that, seeing how great a job they did reinforcing every other slot or port with metal bracing, I was perplexed and infuriated at the sight of this lone flimsy plastic port. It was almost as if they designed it that way on purpose, fully counting on people to drop the laptop just once, so that they would be forced to get a new one. (finding a help/support mesage board with about 100 raging complaints about the exact same cracked piece, I felt even more convinced this was the case)
Well, I wasn't going to give up that easily, no sir.
I unearthed some electrical tape that I had bought just two weeks ago for no particular reason aside from thinking it'd be handy to have around (an example of good Cormier luck, perhaps?). I then proceeded to MacGyver some sort of tape brace to assemble the socket again, plugged the adapter to make sure the tape brace held, and then put the laptop together again.
And now here I am, typing on it, which means that i at least managed to not screw up the disassembly/reassembly part. (though one of the little cables was clearly not reassembled properly, as I now have no touchpad control anymore. I know exactly which cable, so I'll just fix it some other time)
But my laptop, which was to finally enjoy a wireless environment, has now been pretty much relegated to stationary home computer status now. I know very well that the tape brace will not survive more than one or two plug removals/reinsertions, so I will likely just never unplug it again. At least this way i still have a working computer, right?
Oh, and I never got the phone installed, either. Rogers/Sprint screwed both Mike and I on that one, let me tell you, and weren't going to tell us until we called THEM... from a payphone.
But that's another rant for another time.
In the meantime, I think I should go curse that Pork Loin some more, since it was the only reason I unplugged my laptop to begin with.
This is one of the very rare times where I will agree that meat CAN be bad for you.
And the funny thing is that I can blame it all on Mike's delicious Pork Loin and Mushroom Rice, as well as Civilization in general.
It all started yesterday afternoon, where in a poetic twist, while sitting on the couch and playing Civilization III, the Theory of Gravity decided to discover me.
TO wit: the combination of a rickety TV tray, a graphic novel (to allow for air flow, and a laptop with the display pulled out not quite level was too tempting and a literal downer ensued. No nudges, or people walking, or any movement of any kind, really -- it was as if it had been slowly preparing for the fall all afternoon while I remained oblivious as to its unbalanced state, and simply reached that gravitational point of no return at its own leisurely pace.
Now, as things would have it, it actually looked like my laptop had escaped from the 2ft plummet unto rug fully unharmed. I decided that I would never again use the tv trays and blessed my luck.
Keeping the laptop on my lap the rest of the day, I happily civved away until nightfall, then shut it off and went to bed.
This morning, all seemed fine and hunky-dory, too: I woke at 8:30, turned on my laptop, and after a quick look-see at the free agent soap opera scenarios unfolding (oh, Tie! Please don't leave us!!), started work. I was working from home today, since the phone was going to be installed this morning.
All was fine.
Then, at about 2:30 (and still no phone), just as I was thinking I should make myself lunch, down bellowed Mike from the upstairs with the (literally) heavenly temptation of delicious pork chops.
After informing me that the only Frank-based requisites for this sumptuous feast were a plate and a fork, I rushed upstairs eating implements in hand, and watched gleefully as Mike plopped a heaping mess of Mushroom Rice and a thick, juicy slab of pork loin on my plate (not at all a pork chop, so a bit of bait and switch there -- but who was I to complain when getting a food upgrade like pork LOIN? Yum!!).
And thus did the loin prove my undoing.
Being in one of those workaholic moods (blame my father for that genetic flaw), I decided that I could unplug my laptop and continue doing research while eating at the table. Seeing as we had just installed a wireless network in the house, which made having a laptop all the sweeter, it seemed like the natural thing to do.
So I ate and worked, and continued working until about 4, when I noticed that my battery was starting to run low (not critical low, just at about 40% or so). I went back to the couch area, and plugged in my power adapter...
...and found that it wasn't plugging in anymore.
At this point, a nagging half-memory of someone (Scrubs?) telling me that the only real vulnerability that the HP laptop series has is that nasty power adapter and socket came to the forefront of my frustrated brain -- something about the socket being much too fragile, and that if the adapter is plugged in during a fall or a cord snag, it's all too likely that the socket will shatter.
So what could I do?
Well, I went google-fuing to find a service/maintenance manual, and thankfully, I found one after about 15 minutes. Of course, true to Cormier luck, I discovered from tyhe manual that the only way to see this socket was to dismantle the entire damn thing, as it was fiendishly nestled in a corner.
I then spent the next 90 minutes slowly dismantling my latop, paranoiacally terrified that I was totally toasting my 'top (I've done towers, but never a laptop, so I was extra nervous -- everything looked so darned tiny and fragile!).
And lo and behold if, upon taking off the final piece to expose the motherboard, I did not find that adapter socket, broken in three clean pieces.
Three flimsy plastic pieces.
I have to admit, that, seeing how great a job they did reinforcing every other slot or port with metal bracing, I was perplexed and infuriated at the sight of this lone flimsy plastic port. It was almost as if they designed it that way on purpose, fully counting on people to drop the laptop just once, so that they would be forced to get a new one. (finding a help/support mesage board with about 100 raging complaints about the exact same cracked piece, I felt even more convinced this was the case)
Well, I wasn't going to give up that easily, no sir.
I unearthed some electrical tape that I had bought just two weeks ago for no particular reason aside from thinking it'd be handy to have around (an example of good Cormier luck, perhaps?). I then proceeded to MacGyver some sort of tape brace to assemble the socket again, plugged the adapter to make sure the tape brace held, and then put the laptop together again.
And now here I am, typing on it, which means that i at least managed to not screw up the disassembly/reassembly part. (though one of the little cables was clearly not reassembled properly, as I now have no touchpad control anymore. I know exactly which cable, so I'll just fix it some other time)
But my laptop, which was to finally enjoy a wireless environment, has now been pretty much relegated to stationary home computer status now. I know very well that the tape brace will not survive more than one or two plug removals/reinsertions, so I will likely just never unplug it again. At least this way i still have a working computer, right?
Oh, and I never got the phone installed, either. Rogers/Sprint screwed both Mike and I on that one, let me tell you, and weren't going to tell us until we called THEM... from a payphone.
But that's another rant for another time.
In the meantime, I think I should go curse that Pork Loin some more, since it was the only reason I unplugged my laptop to begin with.
This is one of the very rare times where I will agree that meat CAN be bad for you.