UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Quick-hitters, a non-sports variety:

- File this under the “moms-will-be-moms” category: a while back, I overheard my sister saying that my mom couldn’t go on a trip anywhere for an entire year. Knowing of my mom’s various ailments, I began worrying: did she need some medical procedure soon?

So you could imagine my horror (and eventual frustration) when I found out that she couldn’t take a trip this year because her fortune teller/purveyor of woo-woo told her not to.

Grrrrrrrrr.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,700 and rising, and that factors in the $70 in rebates I got this past week.

- Twice this week, I have completely drained a set of AAA batteries in my LED flashlight because I left the damn thing on overnight! Thank goodness Costco now sells Kirkland Signature AAA batteries (thanks Krunk for the info). For the record, this is the flashlight I own.

And no, please don’t suggest that I buy one of those flashlights that work by shaking the flashlight first.

Now, some quick-hitters from the sports world:

- The whole Brian McNamee-Roger Clemens saga has been nothing short of an incredible side show. First, there was the steroids versus B-12/lidocaine debate, followed by the taped phone call between the two, and now there’s a report that McNamee injected Clemens’ wife with HGH??? I didn’t even mention the fact that McNamee allegedly kept evidence of Clemens’ ‘roid use since 2000, in the form ofneedles and photographs of bloody gauzes! Seriously, what’s next? A fuzzy video of the injections themselves?

By the way, tell me that Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did not just compare Clemens’ situation with the Duke rape case. A disgraced DA ruining the lives of three college students by blowing up a flimsy rape accusation is the same thing as an ex-trainer injecting a guy with steroids? Sure it is. And I don’t remember the three Duke students secretly recording a conversation with the alleged victim, with the victim constantly asking “What do you want me to do?”

(OK, the latter point was an obvious reach. But if this entire situation doesn’t scream “three ring circus,” nothing will.)

- One point I missed about the Shaq to Phoenix deal, as mentioned by a reader of a sports web site (where I read the comment from, I don’t remember at this moment):

(paraphrasing) Now that Shaq has been traded to Phoenix, does he have to return to Miami when Miami and Atlanta face each other in March to finish up that game?

(You may recall that the NBA ordered the Hawks and the Heat to replay the final minute or so of a game where Shaq was incorrectly disqualified after picking up a foul late in the fourth quarter. I mentioned this exact possibility in an earlier blog entry.

I’d love to see David Stern force Shaq to suit up with Miami for that one-minute replay, while forcing Miami to bench Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.)

- Was it just me, or did I hear Jay Bilas give love to UCLA, calling them the best team in the nation? Granted, he added a “when healthy” disclaimer, but I’m sure the Bruins would take the love any way they can get it.

I can’t wait for the NCAA Tournament.

- About a week ago, my sister’s iPod mini decided to stop working; the hard drive decided to go click-click-click.  I knew that it was possible to open up the iPod to replace the battery, and I was aware that iPod minis use a Microdrive (basically, a hard-disk based CompactFlash card) as its storage device.  After doing a bit of research, I found out that one could replace the Microdrive with a flash-based CF card.  This serves two purposes:  1) you could replace the Microdrive with a CF card and turn your iPod mini into a flash-based MP3 player, and 2) a CF card probably uses less energy than a Microdrive, thereby increasing battery life.

Armed with a Kingston Elite 4GB CF card, a generic iPod mini battery pack I got off eBay—I figured, if I was going to replace the Microdrive, why not replace the battery (which was giving me ~2 hours of play on a full charge) as well?—a pair of tiny screwdrivers, a blade, and these instructions, I went to work on the iPod’s casing.  I found that using a tiny flat-head screwdriver was not a good idea; I scratched up the top of the iPod really good.  That’s when I made the switch to my trusty blade, which made the removal of the top and bottom much easier.

After gutting the iPod and removing the motherboard from the casing—be careful when removing the ribbon cable that connects to the wheel—I was able to remove the battery fairly easily.  The Microdrive was a bit harder to remove, only because the black electrical tape and rubber feet around the sides of the drive were hard to remove.  Once I got all the stuff off, removing the Microdrive was easy.  I couldn’t properly attach the tape + rubber feet on to the replacement CF card, but the drive was sitting snug on top of the motherboard, and I thought nothing of it (besides, with no moving parts, the flash drive should be a bit more tolerant to movement, right?).

It took a firm shove to get the motherboard/battery/drive back into the casing, and I slightly damaged the rubber ring that protects the perimeter of the screen from the inside of the case.  I had to remove the innards again, delicately readjust the rubber ring, and more deliberately slid everything back in to the casing, but everything eventually went in just fine.  The metal clip, described in step 4 of the instructions, was an absolute PITA to get back in, though.  I had to force the metal clip back in, and it’s a darn good thing I didn’t ruin the ribbon cable!

Once everything was put back together, I crossed my fingers, connected the iPod to my computer, and was very happy to see the “Do Not Disconnect” message on the screen!  I had to “restore” the iPod via iTunes before use, but once that was done, I was able to start loading MP3s onto the iPod.  After fully charging the new battery, I ran a simple battery test; I left the iPod to play music nonstop, and got about four hours of play before the battery died.

A couple other notes of the newly “refurbished” iPod mini:

1) When removing the plastic top and bottom, try not to handle each piece too much.  I made the mistake of doing so—remember, I had a hard time with the metal clip that attaches to the bottom—and now, the plastic ends barely stick on to the top and bottom of the iPod.  I may try to apply some glue to each cap later on, but since the iPod spends most of its time in a leather case, I might not bother.

2) Every time I connect the iPod to my computer, I get an error message from iTunes, saying that it cannot read the iPod.  iTunes then asks me to restore the iPod again.  This isn’t that big of a deal for me, though, since I use WinAmp to transfer my MP3s to the iPod.  One of these days, I might try to figure out what is causing this problem.

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