Day 176, September 8, 2020
Water Resistance
Today's soundtrack: Hiromi The Trio Project, Estival Jazz Lugano 2011
For the last several months my phone has been ailing, getting slower, and losing its charge quicker. It would heat up after getting bogged down by mundane tasks like searching eBay for vacuum tube guitar amps, or listening to a Spotify mix of Jimmy Smith tunes. Eventually, my poor phone was so taxed that I couldn't go for more than a few hours without running out of battery or worrying my pocket was going to burst into flame.
It didn't make sense to worry about replacing my phone, particularly in the stay-at-home reality of the pandemic, though traveling to the Cape highlighted some of the shortfalls that occur with a phone that must be tethered to a wall socket every three hours. So, determined to no longer be hobbled by my aged phone, I turned to my standard phase two mode of almost every phone I have ever owned. I found a battery replacement kit online and decided to do it myself.
If you have never taken apart an iPhone, it is a fairly daunting endeavor. The older phones seemed to come apart much easier. My phone, a 7th generation, was the first with water resistance and had a nearly seamless join between the glass front and the back case. Even with the pretty good (I almost typed excellent) instructions from iFixit.com, I struggled. There are three different kinds of miniature screws, all of which are too small for my eyes to be able to see what differentiates them, so I mostly manage by feel with the different screw heads. But the most challenging part was separating the glass from the case.
The instructions had me heat up the phone to soften the glue and then I worked for a long time with the plastic spudgers (the official word for the do-hickey wedge tools they send with the tool kit) trying to separate the case. I only managed to blunt and make the spudger's edge misshapen. I then read in the comments section that most people were unable to get the case separated with the plastic spudger and used a metal tool instead. Luckily, I had a little electronics tool kit with just the thing, and with that tool, I was able to separate the case wide enough to insert the plastic spudger, whose appeal lies in the relatively innocuous soft plastic edge which might do less damage should it hit something important.
The next instruction was the run the tool around the case to ease the glass screen up. It mentioned about only inserting the spudger as deep as the adhesive, which made me wonder if the adhesive ended some where further up the case... but in hindsight, what they meant was to only insert the spudger a few millimeters into the case otherwise one might damage the delicate ribbon cables.
So, needless to say, I managed to separate the screen from the case with a sense of relief and joy, but only to find I had torn two of the delicate ribbon cables connecting the screen to the motherboard. Oh, foul gods of phone frugality! Since I was in there already, I finished the disassembly, installed the new battery, and started researching how to order a new phone screen (the cables were not replaceable).
It turns out, I could order a new screen from iFixit, and I started reading the instructions for that task, but then I remembered Staples did phone repairs, so I called them and found they could do the repair, but it would take a few days. They would not sell me just the screen. But there is also the kiosk in the Hadley Mall, and even in the pandemic, they are open and masked. So I took my partially disassembled phone there (careful to replace the tiny screws so I wouldn't lose them), and for a few dollars more than ordering a new phone, the man at the kiosk replaced my phone screen while I took my son shopping for dorm supplies at Target.
So my phone is now back together again and I've managed to survive an entire day without the sudden need to plug the phone in and I still had around 30% of my battery left at the end of the day.
The whole process was a reminder that first, I am not a cell phone technician. When I went to the kiosk, after releasing the two retaining screws, the man deftly slid a razor blade between the sections and separated them with ease. Second, even though I read the directions, they do not always make sense to me. And sometimes the directions are not accurate enough and one needs to read the crowdsourced edits and comments to make sense of the thing. I felt like when Harry Potter finds the Half-Blood Prince's potions textbook that has all the little tricks and corrections that make all the difference between success and failure. Or, like the instructions that came with furniture when I was growing up and before Ikea pictograms became the norm. My father always joked that as an English major I could get a job writing instructions for furniture companies. There always seemed to be some obscure and incomprehensible direction utilizing parts that were not included in whatever it was we were trying to assemble.
In any case, there is something satisfying about trying to fix something one's self. I suppose that might be a trait I picked up from my father who raised me helping him fix cars in the driveway and doing all manner of home repair. I think that might be something that comes out of immigrant ingenuity and frugality. But there is something satisfying about completing something... or in my case, part of something. It turns out, it would have been easier and cheaper to just take the phone to the repair kiosk in the first place, but where is the magic in that? To peer into the inner workings of one's phone is something marvelous, like those transparent watches of the 1980s. Somehow, underneath various shields, there are cables that plug into miniature sockets, and tiny chipsets, and electricity runs through it all and makes it work. I at once know something about my phone, and yet know nothing about how it actually works.
Engaging in something like this, is a form of learning. I make mistakes, and even though those mistakes have consequences (an $80 one in my case), they are a part of growing and understanding. If I had to take apart an iPhone 7 tomorrow, I would be 90% better at it than I was just a weekend ago. That is why we go to experienced heart surgeons. It is why we learn from poets who are masters of their craft. It is why it is ok to struggle and fail a test. We become better from the things we struggle with. I suppose that is one of those key things about life. We are all struggling, and we are all growing from that struggle. We are growing and improving at different rates, and sometimes in sudden spurts, and others times we plateau or regress a bit. But there it is, that is what we are doing with our precious lives (thanks Mary Olver).
Take care and be well,
Leo
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| Fried "Sesame" Leaves and Flowers (Perilla) |
From Our Friends:
From The Color of Change (via the NYT):
From Mass Humanities:
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From Double Edge Theater:
From Gateway Cities Innovation Institute:
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From TSLD 2020:
Teaching, Learning & Student Development Conference
Roxbury Community College will host the virtual 2020 Massachusetts Community Colleges Teaching, Learning & Student Development Conference on Friday, October 16, 2020.
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Conference Theme
The theme of this year’s conference is Employing an Anti-Racist Lens to Build Inclusive College Curriculum and Student Services.
This year’s theme requests that participants reflect on how their campuses support racial equity throughout the college experience. The conference tracks highlight innovative practices that advance racial equity and support the success of all students.
This year’s conference will have seven tracks to showcase the wide variety of approaches, traditional and nontraditional, that support student success.
Thematic Areas
- Measuring Student Success
- Career Pathways
- Pedagogical Innovation
- Student Support Innovation
- Enrollment Management (outreach, partnership, nontraditional, financial aid, transfer/reverse transfer)
- State PIF or other initiatives (Early College, Early Education and Care, Prior Learning Assessment, Commonwealth Commitment, etc.)
Request for Proposals
The TLSD planning committee is now accepting presentation proposals. To submit a proposal, please fill out the RFP form. Supporting documents can be submitted to TLSD2020@rcc.mass.edu. Please do not send supporting documents until you have completed the form. Review the RFP pdf for additional information on proposal requirements. The proposal submission deadline is 11:59pm EDT on Sunday, September 13, 2020.
From the UMass Fine Arts Center:
Kristina Wong for Public Office:
Live from Her Home!
Virtual World Premiere! Thursday, September 10, 7 p.m. ET
This comedic performance mashes up campaign rallies, church revivals, and solo theater shows to uncover the history of voting, what it means to run for local office, and the impact artists can have on democracy. Originally built to tour alongside the rallies leading up to the 2020 Presidential election against a charming hand-sewn felt set Kristina sewed herself, this rally is now being broadcast live from her home to yours! Select students from UMass Amherst and co-presenter Wesleyan University will participate in this interactive Zoom rally that will be broadcast to a private link to watch. Free tickets are required to access this one-time, live virtual performance.
Today's Online Teaching Tips:
From NISOD:
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From AAAS ARISE:
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From Academic Impressions:
September 14, 2020 or October 5, 2020 | Virtual Training
Learn simple ways you can improve the quality of your communication and connections with others online.
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