reincarnation of the hunk of junk
Monday night was an interesting night. Not long after making my last post, I shifted my laptop so that I might be seated more comfortably and was promptly rewarded with a black screen and no little green light of life. Needless to say, I was shocked and horrified.
But having geek friends pays off. My wonderful and miraculous friend Craig (down at All States for band now, so wishin' him lots of luck :D) came into work and took a look at the poor beast. With a tool kit in hand, I might add. He yanked it apart, yanked some stuff out, snooped around, put it all back together and beat the "on" button until it came back to life. His expert analysis is that the rip in the cord had gotten a lot worse and caused the entire thing to short out. As of now, the laptop - the expensive part - is just fine, thank God.
The same can't be said for the cord.
I'm pretty sure it's done in. We taped up the hole but now it won't conduct electricity into the computer at all, so I'm stuck with twenty percent battery life and no way to charge it (that I can think of, anyway, maybe there's some screwy alternative battery charging method). Dad's looking at one on Ebay, but we're not sure if it's an identical match yet and it has to be shipped - which could take anywhere from three to ten days. At least we found one that isn't in flipping Hong Kong.
I'm afraid to fiddle with the cord for fear of shorting out the laptop again, so it looks like I'm grounded in the basement until a replacement cord can be discovered. But I figure that this week is crammed with both exams and work anyway, so it really won't be too terribly missed. I'm just grateful that I still have all my files and that the most expensive part of the hunk of junk is still humming along just fine.
Likewise with my car, knock on wood.
Tomorrow is my Astronomy exam, which shouldn't be that hard and yet, it is. Both hours of Astronomy have decided to blame it on Standerford and his supreme lack of teaching ability, because the material is pretty easy if someone takes the time to explain it to you. It hasn't stuck in our heads because he mentioned it, oh, once. And it wasn't during a time when we had the capability to take notes or anything. But I have my Band "exam" before taking the Astronomy one, so once we're sick of practicing for S&E, I have all the time to brush up. Not to mention time spent at the library, at work, and what I'm about to go do...
What I'm really anxious about is Friday, which may as well be called Doomsday, since it houses both my AP Gov and AP Calculus exams. Government won't be too shabby, I think I know my stuff pretty well, but I'm having anxiety fits about Calc. I try to reassure myself that all I need is a B, and save for one total fluke test taken with about four hours of sleep, I've been getting A's in all my Calc tests recently. The trick is to get a good night's sleep Thursday and not get sick of taking exams, since it's my very last. So far so good. AP English felt pretty satisfying today.
Work continues to go along smoothly. I've now mastered working the FM board, what with all the remotes I've been helping with, and today I even learned how to produce weather clips. Once I get over my fear of being chatty and interesting on air, a week from Sunday should be no sweat at all.
But having geek friends pays off. My wonderful and miraculous friend Craig (down at All States for band now, so wishin' him lots of luck :D) came into work and took a look at the poor beast. With a tool kit in hand, I might add. He yanked it apart, yanked some stuff out, snooped around, put it all back together and beat the "on" button until it came back to life. His expert analysis is that the rip in the cord had gotten a lot worse and caused the entire thing to short out. As of now, the laptop - the expensive part - is just fine, thank God.
The same can't be said for the cord.
I'm pretty sure it's done in. We taped up the hole but now it won't conduct electricity into the computer at all, so I'm stuck with twenty percent battery life and no way to charge it (that I can think of, anyway, maybe there's some screwy alternative battery charging method). Dad's looking at one on Ebay, but we're not sure if it's an identical match yet and it has to be shipped - which could take anywhere from three to ten days. At least we found one that isn't in flipping Hong Kong.
I'm afraid to fiddle with the cord for fear of shorting out the laptop again, so it looks like I'm grounded in the basement until a replacement cord can be discovered. But I figure that this week is crammed with both exams and work anyway, so it really won't be too terribly missed. I'm just grateful that I still have all my files and that the most expensive part of the hunk of junk is still humming along just fine.
Likewise with my car, knock on wood.
Tomorrow is my Astronomy exam, which shouldn't be that hard and yet, it is. Both hours of Astronomy have decided to blame it on Standerford and his supreme lack of teaching ability, because the material is pretty easy if someone takes the time to explain it to you. It hasn't stuck in our heads because he mentioned it, oh, once. And it wasn't during a time when we had the capability to take notes or anything. But I have my Band "exam" before taking the Astronomy one, so once we're sick of practicing for S&E, I have all the time to brush up. Not to mention time spent at the library, at work, and what I'm about to go do...
What I'm really anxious about is Friday, which may as well be called Doomsday, since it houses both my AP Gov and AP Calculus exams. Government won't be too shabby, I think I know my stuff pretty well, but I'm having anxiety fits about Calc. I try to reassure myself that all I need is a B, and save for one total fluke test taken with about four hours of sleep, I've been getting A's in all my Calc tests recently. The trick is to get a good night's sleep Thursday and not get sick of taking exams, since it's my very last. So far so good. AP English felt pretty satisfying today.
Work continues to go along smoothly. I've now mastered working the FM board, what with all the remotes I've been helping with, and today I even learned how to produce weather clips. Once I get over my fear of being chatty and interesting on air, a week from Sunday should be no sweat at all.