A Holiday Break Update

Before break, I made a little list of things I wanted to accomplish. A few of these things included:

• Read Saving Sammy
• Learn CAD
• Assemble parts list for LED matrix
• Search for Elon Musk on Omegle

Not all of these goals have been met yet (there’s still a few days left and I think I’m making progress in Omegle search). I actually did read Saving Sammy, I completed a Solid Edge tutorial and kind of got some semblance of a list together for making my LED matrix work. Despite not really completely most of my plans, I have been distracted (as usual) by other unexpected tasks.

My sister’s powerbook G4 has hit a fairly major problem, the power connector board has given out on it. So, I decided to see if it was a simple fix that could save her some money.

Putting this all back together should be an adventure.

I found a great guide on iFixit, I didn’t use it until I got stuck toward the end but it definitely came in handy to tell me what size Torx bit i would need to get the board out. Nothing was obviously poorly connected and I did some continuity checks with my multimeter, I also reset the power management unit following these instructions, but didn’t seem to fix the problem. We ordered another board and it is on it’s way home. I’ll have to finish it another time. Putting everything temporarily back together was quite hilarious. Where does that screw go again?….

In other less technical news, I sold my first item on Ebay. My old 5th generation Ipod that would not play out of the headphone jack. I was surprised to get $49 for it, I suspect someone will take out the screen, battery and/or hard drive and put it in their Ipod. Not bad though for something I was considering giving away.

It’s always great to be home for the holidays, one of my favorite things to do is make a family trip(s) to Marden’s. This time I made out quite well, scoring two 9.6V batteries and chargers for $1.99 each and a police scanner antenna for $.99. I even succeeded in finding a comically big ratchet, unfortunately I didn’t buy it… one only has room for so many comically big things.

Yes all four of my fingers do fit through there.

Well, this post is a little late as I am back at school and just getting back into classes this week. Break was nice but I am glad to get back into the swing of things.