I know, I know, there is a chance that I am now dead to you...
I fear that none of my friends will ever see this blog, since my main source of informing folks of a new blog is via Facebook. As we all know, Facebook has decided that IT will decide what is and is not important in our lives, so if it's has determined that my blog is unimportant, none of my friends will ever see it in the status updates. Of course, we all think we'd like to figure out how we can take the power back, but to navigate the complexity that is Facebook these days requires an advanced degree in Chaos Theory, which I fear not so many of us have. Alas, I will blog on in hopes that someone someday will be able to see my ramblings once again.
Mmmmm...Cake...
So, there is this awesome German Bakery not to far from us. I believe it's called Evil German Delights. Or The Heidelberg Haus. It was even on Food Network. The cakes from this place make my cakes seem like the sad attempts of a two year old to bake in an Easy Bake Oven. Omg. It's ridiculous. We took the kids there this weekend and everyone got a different type of cake and each one was unbelievable. Of course, the slices are small, but that's mostly because there is only some much butter any one person can eat in one sitting. I had this Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cake and there's a good chance that I saw Jesus. It was cake AND cheesecake. Together. In one cake. I'm just saying, Germans know how to throw down when it comes to cake.
Rocketman...
Matt (11) is doing Rocket Club at school right now. I'm not sure who was more excited about it, him or me. This is the third (and last) week of Rocket Club. He's built all sort of rockets: bottle rocket, straw rocket, foam rocket, water rocket, one that seems to be made of duct tape. I believe the goal is for the kids to learn about physics in a fun way. I'm all about it. This weekend, I got to help him build his model rocket that we got him, which will use solid (model) rocket fuel. It was fun. I may be encouraging this sort of thing in the future. Any excuse to build a rocket! I'm terrible at memorializing these moments, though, because I totally forgot to take a picture. Arg!
Replacing an iPod Touch 4th Gen Screen...
Gavin (15) smashed his ipod screen a few weeks back in a fit of glee. Or he dropped it on the ground. I've heard it both ways. Whatever the scenario, kid's iPod was in a bad way. We got a replacement screen thing on Amazon to do the fix at home. It was like $10 vs. whatever Apple Store would have charged. Brian thought it would be pretty straight forward, since he had done it on his iPhone 3gs not so long ago. Hahahahahahahahahaha....fast forward 3 hours later, iPod is in a bunch of pieces, and he actually asks me to take a look at it. I had stayed far far away from the situation, because, well, he's him and I'm me and we are both a little pig headed. But after a few hours of hearing him muttering, I asked if he would like me to take a look at it and he said yes. It was a momentous moment. So, now I'm looking at this iPod all take apart, without actually having been the one to take it apart. That's always fun, because then you have no idea what parts go back in what order. It's like a $200 puzzle. Turns out, replacing the screen on an iPod touch 4th Gen is NOT AT ALL like replacing the screen on an iPhone 3gs. iPhone 3gs screen replacement took like 30 minutes. iPod touch took like 5 hours. I think the main issue for Brian was that there are 4 tiny little circuit things that need to be connected and three of them are underneath the main circuit board, which can't be totally lifted out without ripping some fragile connections to shreds and Brian has giant man hands. Fortunately, I have small child hands and enough McGuyver like thinking to bust out the tweezers. We got everything connected and back together, turned it on and...the screen would blink on white and then shut off almost immediately. UHHHHH!!!! I look the darn thing apart and rechecked the connections 3 times before i had to give up. I just could not figure out what was wrong. Everything looked connected. At this point it's 10:30pm, Gavin is massively bummed and we are thinking that we may just have to replace the darn thing. Brian had not done a back up, so he plugged it into the computer and that part was working. iTunes recognized the iPod and started to do the back up. About 15 minutes later, he looks at it and goes "OMG IT'S WORKING!!!". Turns out the damn thing just needed to be charged! So, SUCCESS. We did it. Future screen replacement endeavors will be significantly easier now that I know what's what. And with three boys and three iPods, there is a pretty good chance that I'll need that skill in the future. Heck, we even got a hug from Gavin, he was so happy. That was a momentous occasion. First, he's 15, so he doesn't really do the whole hugging thing with his dad so much anymore. Second, I've known the kid 2 years now and that's the first time I've been permitted a hug. It was nice. It's like having a family. I'm almost like a real person now!
I'm sure I have other stories to tell, but I can't think of them at the moment. Until next time...
Jenn - Oh, so electronics require power...who knew...
