One of my coworkers left an iPod on the free table—discarded
and disregarded like so much ephemera—and it inevitably made its way into my
possession. As I've mentioned before, I like to fix things*.
Earlier this year, my lawn mower would start and then quit
immediately. So I did a quick search online and was able to find plenty of
helpful advice, including step-by-step videos. Granted, some of the advice and
videos were better than others, but I was able to disassemble the carburetor on
my lawn mower, clean it, reassemble it and get it started again. Thanks
Internet!
I mention this willingness to dive into things because it
reminded me of something I read about Steve Jobs. Now, I’m no Steve Jobs, but
in the outstanding book, The Pixar Touch,
there’s a story about how Steve started learning about electronics at an early
age. He would get disassembled radios and learn how to build them from the
ground up. In the book, he says that the experience took away the mystery of
electronics as this mystical, magical, unknowable thing.
So when I came across this non-working iPod, I saw it as a
challenge to overcome. I tried a hard reboot and that failed. I did a reinstall
of the operating system and that seemed to work. Huzzah! But then battery
wouldn’t hold a charge. Ah-ha! One problem: How to get to the battery? Answer:
the Internet. I found a helpful site that showed me how to open the case
(basically jam a knife inside and pry) and disconnect the battery. From there
it was just a matter of matching part number to part number, getting a new
battery for about $15 online and reassembling the whole contraption. Unfortunately,
part of the screen was damaged in my zeal, but overall, I have a working iPod
again for $15. And I gained the confidence in knowing that if the screen stops
working entirely, I’ll be able to fix that, too.
*As opposed to “people” or “relationships”
