Cabo 2010

Just back from a fantastic trip in in Los Cabos, Mexico. Pictures are up on Flickr.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Greetings from Michelle

Michelle's JibJab Christmas Card is here.

Amazing Christmas Light Display

This is amazing! You can see the displays from previous years by visiting his site here.

Amazing Grace Techno - Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

I spoke to soon

It snowed this morning. I think the accumulation of less than an inch streak continues.

"As of this past Sunday, it had been 278 days since an inch of fallen snow had been recorded at Syracuse Hancock Airport by the National Weather Service, breaking the old record of 276 days, set in 1946. The snowless streak in Syracuse, which is usually the snowiest major city in the nation, reached the equivalent of nine months and five days, or about 76 percent of a calendar year." (from the Post Standard)

That puts us at 280 days with less than an inch of accumulation.

No Snow Yet

I'm pretty sure that we broke a record here in Syracuse. November is coming to a close and we still have not had any snow. No complaints from me. It is a bit colder tonight and the rain on the car has turned to ice. I'm guessing it would be a safe bet to predict snow in December.

Compaq Laptop Screen Replacement

Thanks to Jenn, I had an opportunity to try my hand at replacing a laptop screen. She came to me just over a week ago and let me know that her laptop, on the way from her table, to her bed, came in contact with the floor, aggressively. Not her exact words but close.

I've always heard that replacing the screen is as costly as buying a new laptop. Though the screen was expensive, it was not nearly as expensive as I imagined and it was a relatively easy project.

I found a brand new laptop screen on eBay for about $100. It would have been nice to find a how-to video on YouTube specific to the Compaq CQ50-215NR which is the model we own but I didn't. I did find one for a Dell. Not exactly the same (the Dell looked easier) but close enough.

How-To Video here.

Watching the video gave me the courage to dive in. On a Compaq, you need to remove the hinges. To do this, remove the battery. There are a couple of screws that hold the keyboard in. You remove these screws and pop the keyboard off. This gives you access to the hinges. From here on, it's similar to the video. You remove two more screws and pop the bezel off. Replace the screen and put it all back together.

I held my breath as I pushed the power button and unlike most projects, the laptop screen came to life perfectly. Jenn's happy and I can now say that I know how to replace a laptop screen.