Wen, Agent of Chaos; "Oh, if I just had [fitb]"

So I'm in the other room, trying to get the cranky and unreliable G3 Mac to boot, a process which involves lifting the monitor off and removing the case cover because the last time I had it open, Wen broke the case-front power switch.  Shortly after removing and reseating everything removable and reseatable, which fixed it last time it did this non-booting schtick, I hear sounds of dismay from the office, and stick my head around the corner to find that Wen has gotten onto my chair and logged me out by randomly banging on the keyboard.  (She has a great future in QA if she continues to display this ability to just inexplicably break things.)

[Sigh.]

The broken switch is, technically, a broken plunger-that-actuates-the-switch, and it's an example of one of the reasons I have always disliked Macs.  Having almost everything able to snap in and out of the case without tools is great, sure, but you can take it too far, you know . . . and hey!  Guess what, Steve Jobs!  Polystyrene plastic is NOT A SUITABLE MATERIAL FOR SPRINGS!  If this little plastic plunger had a nickel's cents worth of spring steel instead of a bloody PLASTIC SPRING, it most likely wouldn't have broken.

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Speaking of spring steel . . . if I had just such a little tiny sliver of spring steel, I could fix this switch.  I'm trying to think right now where I could lay my hands on such a thing.  How many times have you been in the position of having something broken, or maybe you're trying to build something, and you think, "You know, I could fix/complete this in five minutes, if I could just lay my hands on [FITB]," where the blank is a little strip of spring steel, or a foot and a half of .40"-ID .025"-wall stainless steel tube, or a square foot of .05" T8080 alloy sheet, or a chunk of 2" Delrin rod, or . . . . ?

Annoying, isn't it?

It almost makes me wonder if, in a place with enough geeks, one couldn't make a living just running a warehouse full of all kinds of these assorted Bits Of Vital Stuff that you can never find at hardware stores.  Maybe with a small machine shop to custom-machine one-off bits for people, or let'em rent the shop for an hour and machine their own.  But maybe I'm just more inclined than most people to whip out tools and fabricate custom parts on the spot from available materials.

Well, my train of thought just ran down, so . . . .

Today is a good day to ride

And make sure you read that in the properly stern Klingon tone of voice.  Imagine it's LtCmdr Worf saying it.

Got the CBR929RR out today . . . found that I'm OK as long as I'm on the bike, but can't walk much in my boots.  On the other hand, I was able to do a reasonably respectable job of shifting, so maybe I won't be needing that Translogic power shifter after all (which is a good thing, since we don't have $1200 to buy it).  It ran a little rough for the first minute or so, but 25-30 miles of riding seems to have pretty much blown the cobwebs out.  The low fuel light came on about five miles from home, so the next time I take it out I need to put fuel in it.  My riding skills are understandably rusty, but seemed to be coming back quickly.  (It may be a while before I'm hanging off the bike in corners again though.)