errantember

Our second-hand Starbucks Barista blade grinder crapped our recently, meaning both that we were sad, and that we had gotten our money's worth for the $8 it cost us. However, it turns out, there's a recall! So, in a few weeks, we should have a brand-spanking new blade grinder.

In the meantime, though, we have all these COFFEE beans...

So, with my Goodwill Sense tingling, I popped into a local thrift store while on lunch from work, and found this!




With an average price over $80, the $7 I spent on it is looking pretty good. It wasn't working when I found it in the store, but I figured the innards couldn't be *that* difficult. Then, when I got home, I realized the screws had triangular holes! I took an old Dremel bit and ground it into a triangle shape, and eventually got something precise enough to loosen the screws. I replaced them with Phillips screws to make the next disassembly (which took place today!) easier. I bypassed something that was probably a breaker or fuse ("Safety? Whatever.") and now it works!

I just ground my first batch of primo Ruta Maya coffee, and it smells fantastic!

So my last major laptop was a 15" Powerbook G4. This series of computers had a really shitty power connector design on an otherwise great machine, and they invariably end up getting to the point where looking at them sidewise makes them disconnect. I'd like to sell this system while it's still worth something, but I didn't feel good about doing so when the connector was in that kind of shape. So I decided to try a little project.

It was fairly involved.

So after soldering on the new, much more standard power connector, and getting all the major components assembled, but with about half (maybe 20) of the screws still lying around on the table, I plugged in the new power connector...

...flipped down the keyboard....

...and hit The Button.

And it CAME ON.

It got all the way through a normal boot!

Then, after I turned my back for a second, the screen went crazy. I pulled the power connector out (there was no battery.)

And now it won't come on anymore.

Fuck.

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Rupert, my incredibly-unreliable-but-incredibly-cheap-to-operate EVTA R-20 Electric Scooter is once again ready to roll! Our latest round of Drama involved a leaking valve stem (minor) and a fairly badly bent front axle (major.) I was very impressed with the help at Urban Moto Shop on Lamar just north of Barton Springs. They not only fixed the valve stem on a busy Saturday afternoon in under an hour, but they gave me a new axle for *free*! Preliminary investigations online indicate the replacement cost would have been closer to $50 from other sources, and I wouldn't have been so certain it fit.
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When I went to visit dj_warhammer, I accidentally left my Centro wall charger behind. She's moved twice since then, and the next time it will be seen will be as she throws it into my grave.

I bought one of those "lets you plug a USB device into the wall" things for $20.00.

It didn't work with the Centro. I took it back.

I got a replacement charger from China on Ebay for $4.00 INCLUDING SHIPPING! Shortly after I got it, the middle of the plastic plug broke off, leaving me with three completely uninsulated metal tabs that could be caused to short circuit with a light squeeze. Worse yet, although it *did* still charge the phone if the proper tolerant-to-less-than-one-half-degree angle and precisely zero pressure in any direction could be achieved, it was actually physically possible to disconnect it from the phone by *sneezing*.

I'm not kidding. I've done it.
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