CatCow’s Computer Dungeon

So I finally went in to one of the local Apple stores(Washington Square to be specific) and talked to someone at the Genius Bar. Showed them the busted iPhone, he took it in the back for a while. He comes back out, goes back again, comes back again a few times… And finally hands me a brand new iPhone. Sitting around for a few minutes while they get everything sorted out sure beats spending $250 on repairs! It seems they are just replacing iPhones that break, at least some of the time, but they said that it will stop soon and everything will have to go back to Apple.

I also installed iTunes 7.4 and reinstalled my old custom ringtones without the annoying hack part. OK, so I still don’t have the Apple logo instead of AT&T in the corner, and no FieldTest application sitting there, but it’s a start.

I’m also looking forward to this $100 Apple store discount mentioned in this iPhone open letter from Steve Jobs. Time to get one of those new 160GB iPods! I just wish they still had Firewire.

OK, spending all night at the SLC airport was pretty lame. I bought a book and read halfway through it, ate some food, sat around half-asleep for most of the night. Finally got onto the next flight at 10am, with a stop in Boise on the way. Finally land in Portland, get out of the terminal, hop in the car, and close the door. *CRUNCH* Hmm, the door didn’t close. What’s in the way? I look down, and there’s my iPhone on the ground next to the car.

Yep, the glass is nearly completely shattered. The LCD and digitizer still work, if you don’t mind slicing your fingers up in the process. I’m trying to figure out a way to keep from killing myself while using it until I get around to calling a few places to see what it will cost to repair. Looks like the glass/digitizer/LCD assembly runs about $250. You would think they could just replace the glass front if nothing else was damaged.

One thing is for certain, though. The rubber case from speck that I’ve been using is going in the garbage. The rubber case kept it from getting scuffed up, but the belt clip part really sucks. The phone is held in by a small shelf that sticks out under the bottom(blocking the dock connecter), and is held in place by two small rubber knobs that fit into slots on the clip. I guess the rubber knobs are wearing down? It just doesn’t hold it in place anymore.

Wow, why am I doing this. I never wanted to fly a commercial airline. But facing an 18 hour bus ride, it seemed to make sense. Stripped of my usual gear that the TSA is afraid of, I enter the Salt Lake City airport and head for the gate. Just my luck, it took longer to get here than I expected. I get to gate B16, at the end of the concourse of course, out of breath just in time to see that ugly Southwest plane backing out of the gate 6 minutes before it was supposed to depart. Bastards. So what am I going to do while waiting for the next flight which is tommorow morning? Beats the hell out of me. I guess I’ll just try to figure out ways to harass the Southwest employees without getting thrown out of the airport. Oh, my lucky day. My iPhone is slightly low on power and I have no AC adapter. I’d better turn this thing off now…