Well, it happened. . . . My iBook finally would not wake up. I'd dropped it a few weeks before I came to Mexico, and broken the metal stiffener that supports the screen. I used a few 'Bulldog' clips to hold it together, temporarily (for ever?)
My pal Mark directed me to a site giving detailed instructions for disassembly so I could see exactly what was broken (click on 'Next' to view all 17 pages). I had printed them out before I left but didn't have time, or inclination to tear into it just then. It was working so well with the 'clips'. Another pal, and AeroSpace qualified welder, offered to weld the magnesium frame for me, but still, it was working so well with the clips.
It takes about an hour to disassemble the little laptop to a point you can see where the frame is broken. It's like this on both sides of the hinge.
I've torn it down and put it back together 4-5 times and still can't find any electrical problems but it just just will not boot.
And then. . . . .and then. . . . My pals Mark and Chris in Minneapolis offered to find me a replacement iBook and an external hard drive housing. Another pal, Richard, offered to bring it all down with him later that week. . . .and DID.
I took the old hard drive out of the broken iBook and put it in the external Fire Wire housing so I could boot from it and have the new iBook function just like the old one. (slick !) Actually the firewire connection is understandably a little slower. . . . well, this IS Mexico.
Back on the beach, there was a lot of construction going on prior to Wilma and continues today. There is one of many hotels going in that is using a crane to drive pilings. The way one learns to operate a crane is to work for several years as an assistant to the operator. That job title is 'Oiler'. As oiler you help direct the cranes operation because of the operators occasional obscured view, do ALL the maintenance (oiling) and learn everything there is to know about running a crane. One of the things to learn is how to splice an 'eye' in the end of a cable, and I got to watch this young guy doing just that. There is a core strand of cable that he is looping back into the standing part of the cable. Very nice, uniform job.
I got a note from my wood carver pal that he and his very talented wife were taking off to visit their daughter in Florida. I just so happen to have gotten a chance to close those lovely carved doors at the Hotel Alhambra for another picture.
After the picture, I was opening the doors back up and they asked if I'd like to see the view from the roof.
Wow.
In '03 I took a picture of PDC, looking West down 10th on CZ, Here is a picture of CZ on the horizion taken looking East down 4th in PDC. They are about 9 miles apart and the view is best on a low humidity day. I'm going to try to get over to CZ for a little walking tour in the next few days.
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