altoidbox.com is A W E S O M E - O

The new LCD is in the...

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:47:00 -0400

The new LCD is in the states (and has been since Tuesday). It is apparently sitting in NYC, presumably waiting for customs processing.

I've been turning on my phone every couple days hoping that the LCD will spontaneously start working again. Well, yesterday when I turned it on I noticed that the LCD is in fact working. The back light, however, is not. So, if I hold the phone up to the light at just the right angle, I can make out what's on (a small portion) of the screen. It is at least mildly usable. Probably for like a music player or something where I don't have to obverse the screen much.

I decided to get the Galaxy Nexus GSM (which I had been eyeing for a while, especially after the prices started plummeting in March). I will hopefully sell the Amaze 4G for not too much of a loss after hopefully successfully repairing it.

Well, the display is completely dead...

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:05:00 -0400

Well, the display is completely dead now. The innards appear to work though (it connects to my WiFi network and appears to receive cellular calls), or so says the debug log output from ADB. I can't tell that the digitizer is working either. Maybe if something in the display itself is holding water it would screw with the capacitive screen? In any case, I'll try to see what a ~$45 LCD screen from China will do.

I dropped my phone in the...

Sat, 05 May 2012 23:41:00 -0400

I dropped my phone in the toilet a couple days ago. Am attempting to dry it out. After ricing it and fanning it for a day, when I turn it on, it just shows the HTC boot screen for a moment, then flickers and goes black. I have disassembled it now and might try soaking the motherboard in some isopropyl alcohol for a little while (I've heard that this can help, though it might simply be a display issue at this point...). Ung. :(

It's been a while, but I...

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:53:00 -0500

It's been a while, but I got a new laptop so I thought I'd post about it. It's not a better or faster laptop than the one I already have, but it is a free laptop. Google is giving out a bunch of cr-48 Google Chrome OS laptops to test out the software before they try to sell something similar. They're still taking applications until December 21st (I think) and you can apply for the pilot program here. I guess it is really more of a netbook considering it doesn't keep anything but the operating system and required dependencies (perhaps a bit more) on the local machine and it pretty much is just a web browser. But it supports chrome extensions, which work kind of like apps on other embedded devices.

Quite a lot has been done...

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:27:00 -0500

Quite a lot has been done since our last visit. We came after dark, so we don't have any exterior photos. Not a lot is different on the outside anyways. They've finished drywalling and the "resilient" flooring is in. All the light fixtures are in, along with all of the electrical outlets and light switches. The water heater is installed, and the electric has been turned on. The heater was running and the house was a warm 74 degrees. The kitchen cabinets have been installed, but not the counter tops or any of the appliances. All the bathrooms seemed to be done, or nearly so. The basement had quite a bit of water on the floor, but I think it had something to do with the fact that the yard grading hasn't been done yet and water was building up around the sides of the basement walls.

I haven't been inside in a...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:54:00 -0500

I haven't been inside in a couple weeks, but they should be done with the dry-walling, and as you can see with the latest photo, they are finishing up the siding. Last I heard they were working on the kitchen. I don't have a whole lot to say about it since I haven't been inside in a while. I might try stopping by after work sometime and see how things have progressed internally.

We had our pre-drywall builder conference...

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:35:00 -0500

We had our pre-drywall builder conference today. In addition to what was finished last week, they have now completed wiring, wall insulation, and there's a front door. I believe they were having some municipal inspections today and they will be drywalling most of next week. We've been given March 25th as our New Homeowner Orientation and a few days later we should close on the house and be able to move in.

Not a whole lot has been...

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:59:00 -0500

Not a whole lot has been done in the last couple weeks. They put on all the windows and the sliding doors on the back of the house. The garage floor has been poured, and they built the stairs. Also, the plumbing is in, the furnace is in, and some of the electric wiring has been done. The phone and cable still need to be installed as well as the security system wiring and the insulation before they can begin dry-walling.

This week they finished the outside...

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:27:00 -0500

This week they finished the outside walls and got the roof put on. We went into the garage and took a few photos of the inside. They still need to build the stairs, but it looks like they're a lot closer to starting on all of the cosmetic stuff.

We drove by last week but...

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

We drove by last week but didn't take any pictures. They had the first floor framing almost done. This week they were will working again when we went by, so we only took one photo from the entry of the street. We haven't charged our camera in a while, so this was taken with Ally's phone. They've almost got both floors framed. I imagine they'll begin working on the roof soon.

And here's the week three photos....

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:59:00 -0500

And here's the week three photos. Not a whole lot has happened since it was Christmas this week. The space around the basement walls have been filled in and the garage floor has been poured. Also support beams have been placed in the basement.

Week 2 of constructionAnd here are...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:22:00 -0500

Week 2 of construction

And here are some more photos of the basement. As you can see, the walls are up and a small amount of basement plumbing is in. The area around the outside of the walls was dug out, so I couldn't get real close.

Construction has started on our new...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:22:00 -0500

Construction has started on our new home this past week. Right now there's just a hole in the ground with some cement in there. Here's the lot before construction:
And Here it is after the first week:

We bought a new home! Well,...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:08:00 -0500

We bought a new home! Well, to be more accurate, we are contractually obligated to purchase a home when its construction is completed. It will be in Hamilton Twp, Ohio, near Maineville. We have a nearly half acre cul-de-sac lot. The house has 4 bedrooms with 2140 sq ft and will have a full unfinished basement. Construction is expected to complete in March 2010.

Trogdor pumpkin!I screwed it up, but...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:37:00 -0400

Trogdor pumpkin!

I screwed it up, but I think it turned out alright. Trogdor was supposed to be cut out, rather than being the part that was left.