iPhone repairs

I've a iPhone. It's really cool. It's an iPhone 2G - 8GB model. I bought it from my brother last Christmas. It's been a fun toy.

Since buying the phone, I've Jailbroken it, unlocked it, written a few apps for it, and gotten it wet.

Of all the evil things you can do to an iPhone, getting it wet is about the worst.

For my phone, it turns out the data port (the connector that allows syncing and software updates and charging) is on the way out. When the data port wears out, no more syncing. Also, when the phone gets wet, it's the data port that makes trouble.

So after a bit of searching, I found this video on how to take the phone apart. Very informative.

Then I bought the "Charger data sync port ribbon flex cable for iPhone 2G" on ebay. It took me 2 tries but it did actually work.

A few things to observe.

1. During the 1st try I had "dry assembled" the phone to try it out. The process of dry assembling the phone is enough to make you glue things in and then it's hard to disassemble safely. Your best bet is to just assemble the phone - don't try to test it out partially assembled. I broke the data cable and the battery cables trying to test it out partially assembled.
2. The ribbon flex cable actually requires 3 parts to work: the flex cable, the microphone, and the speaker (aka buzzer). If you decide to tackle this task, be sure to get the part called "Apple iPhone 2G connector flex cable+mic+buzzer speaker" instead. Otherwise you will find yourself soldering very small electronics and perhaps frying the microphone - as I did.

Now the phone is reassembled but the microphone is not working reliable and the data port is not fully functional. So I basically have an iPod touch. When the new data port (with mic and buzzer) arrive, I'll try it all again.

Another thing to note. The iPhone2G has a glass on the front. The glass can break. If the glass breaks, you can fix it. Don't buy the "iPhone glass" though, buy the whole assembly - the work is tricky but the result will surely be better. If you do try to "just replace the glass" you'll be spending lots of time to save about $110.

Read this blog and this posting and this discussion if you want to learn from a few different points of view. Here's another blog with another story. Searching google for "Apple iPhone 2G Glass Adhesive Glue Repair Kit" got lots of good results.

Another Marathon, Another Medal

When I was in High School and younger, I had very little interest in sports. Most of my sports time included getting hit - with the baseball, with the other socker player's foot, with the hockey puck - so sports never kept my interest for long.

Now I run. Why? Well, because I can. It's fun. It's energizing. It's even social - if you count running alongside friends and strangers for 3-4 hours at a go social.

The great news is, I get a medal! That's right, all I need to do is pay the entrance fee, show up, finish the race and I get a medal. For most races, I even get a T-Shirt whether or not I finish. Wow. Think of all those crazy sports I did in High School or earlier with no medal and no T-Shirt.

Now I'm all about the running. This posting describes my adventures at the Bay State Marathon in Lowell MA. I'd tell you the finish time but more importantly is that it really does not matter! I've set a new marathoning goal - pick a pace, stick to it, run the whole way. This, of course, implies I can pick a pace that I can run and one that I'll be OK with sharing later (no, I'm not holding back on the finish time because it's embarrassingly long).

The race went like this.

Drizzly 8am start in Lowell. Traffic was heavy but not crazy getting into the parking area. A nice group of kids grabbed my post-race bag and stowed it in a truck. Alexandar and I walked to the start, visited with some folks waiting there and stood respectfully quiet while a choir (or quartet) sang the Star Spangled Banner. Nice job too.

The gun went off - always an inspriational momement, the crowd started to move, and for the first few minutes, we were just walking along trying not to trip over people. There we about 4000 runners on the course - a 40/60 split between the 1/2 and full marathon.

The first several miles were slow and unsteady. Lots of people to contend with and no sense vying for position yet. We evened out our pace aroud 8:30/mile after mile two.

Drizzle stayed around off-and-on for most of the 1st half then it turned to steady rain with occaisonal downpours. Spectators were steadfast and very supportive. A wave is all it took to engage a "looking great" or "you can do it" cheer. Very nice. Most spectators had raingear. I would have liked some water-proof shoes.

The BayState is two loops. Conceptually, Alex and I broke it into 6 sections: 1) the first 3 where the 1/2 and full runners are together; 2) the next 5 until we cross "big bridge" (I'm sure it has a name like Fred or Steve, or even possibly Joe, but I don't know it); 3) the back loop along the river until "little bridge 1"; 4) the 2nd pass at the 2nd leg; 5) the 2nd pass on leg 3; and 6) the 6 mile leg leading up the the finish line in the baseball stadium after crossing "little bridge 2". Thinking of it like this made it much less daunting. Plus it gave me good landmarks to grab a snack. The key to a good marathon is propper food and water intake. Too much and you cramp up, too little and you run out of energy or dehydrate. Neither of these bad things happened - good fueling!

The most exciting part of this race was leg 6. We were both running out of gas. Not quite hitting the wall but definitely thinking better of pushing too hard.

We cruised down the tail end of leg 5 knowing there was about "5 miles and a 5k to go". Again, breaking it up like this made it so much easier to process than "8.1 miles to go".

We kept pace - better than the previously mentioned 8:30 - and pulled each other along. We also were carful to encourage each other to "take it easy". Too fast, is not a good thing this late in the race. All it really does is leave you sore and make it hard to walk to the post-race party.

One thing I loved about the Bay State is they posted the "1 mile to go" mark. With the race set at 26.2, it's not enough to just track whole miles. It's easy to judge how much energy is available for a whole mile, but who knows how much you need for 1.2 miles? I don't. It would be a guess at best. With the "1 mile to go" marker, it was really easy to say "hit it" or "hold back" or "keep it at 7:50" for the ride in. We targetted the same steady pace and stuck to it.

The last 100 yards includes a jog around LeLacheur park - a baseball field with a big stadium and concrete bleachers. Much like the PawSox stadium. We got to enter the field near 3rd base, run from 3rd to 2nd to 1st and then to the finish between 1st and home. What a thrill. There were folks in the bleachers cheering, the announcer was calling out runner's names, and we were done.

The after party was nice. For me the perfect after party is a hot shower and some simple food. Ideally a 15min leg massage. At the BayState, there were the 1st two and a bonus: a hot sauna. Sadly, no leg massage.

Ahh. Another marathon down.

After my most recent Hartford, I planned for some speed work and improvement to my PR. My suspicion is the rain and cold and wind took 5-15m off my total time today. It's possible I could have run 3:15 if the weather was more favorable but that is not how I started out so it's no surprise I didn't hit the faster pace. Alex and I finished this race in around 3 hours, 33 minutes. The final results have not posted yet, but I'm sure that's close.

Greenway Challenge - 2009

I've entered the Greenway Challenge this year. 5 of us are participating on a relay team with Biking, Running, and Kayaking. I'll be doing one of the running legs and coordinating the route.

This is my first time and it's a bit crazy.

Today the team will discuss the route plans. We have settled on a batting order though we still need to sort out a driver and what cars to put at which stations.

Today's questions:

1. What to bring in the support vehicles? (Some water, a change of shoes if running, a cell phone with numbers for all team-members, a clear execution plan, a GPS navigator pre-programmed with all the transfer stations, cash for snacks. Be sure someone is driving and someone else is making sure you stick to the action plan - the driving part can take a enough concentration to leave the execution plan starved for attention.)
2. Is it best to have one support vehicle or can you swap cars when you get to a new station? (One support vehicle that goes from start to finish. Our Kayaker brought her own car and the two people that were doing only one leg-each brought their own car too.
3. Do all team-members need to be at the starting line or can they be staggered out on the course? (Team members can be staggered though you'll want to get a team photo at some point. Either the start or the finish are good places.)
4. Do all team-members need to be at the finish line? (No, though it's a more fun if they are.)

Here's a map of the route. I'd like to put more details in but then that might give away some of the Runagades advantage!

OK, the race is done. It's now 8pm - 11 hours after the race started and I'm ready for bed. I spent a bunch of last night awake and fussy over the race details. The race went like this.

The team all met at the start at 8:45. This was about 10 minutes too late as we had to rush to get the team photo (I'll post it later).

Varoujan ran the 1st leg. Leo, Val, Gerry, and I met him at the 1st station. He ran faster than expected and arrived in 34 minutes.

Gerry rode the 2nd leg. Leo drove to the 3rd transition station. Bill and Val drove to the 2nd transition station. Varoujan drove home. (This was a busy time). Gerry finished faster than expected and arrived in about 45 minutes. We were now 17 minutes ahead of schedule.

Valarie paddled the 3rd leg. Gerry and Bill drove to the 2nd transition station. Valarie passed 24 people during her paddling adventure and finished 5 minutes ahead. We were doing great.

Leo rode the 4th leg. Gerry, Bill, and Val reloaded Val's boat and checked the schedule for the next move. Unfortunately, Bill mis-read the schedule and forgot to drop Gerry at transition station 4. Instead, Gerry and Bill had a long drive through the country, meandering from station to station and having a nice conversation while Leo was working his heart out getting through to station 4. At some point, Gerry started getting suspicious about our schedule. We rechecked the schedule and saw the error in our ways. A few phone calls to Val and from Leo (who was now waiting patiently at station 4) and we were back on track. A total time loss of about 7 minutes was incurred. Leo rode a fantastic pace and finished 5 minutes ahead of schedule. With the 7 minute loss and the current 22 + 5 minute lead, we had a net lead of 20 minutes. Overall, doing quite well - despite the excessive country touring.

Gerry ran the 5th leg. Leo rode to his car then drove home to clean up. Bill and Val drove to the 5th transition station. We lined the cars up for a quick departure and waited for Gerry. We have every intent of not losing any more of our lead. Gerry finished his leg about 6 minutes sooner than expected and gave us a nice buffer in our lead.

Val paddled the 6th leg. Gerry and Bill drove separately to station 6. Bill warmed up by talking on his cell phone and doing a short jog around the park. We ran into some folks from the previous stations and shot the breeze about who is ahead and why. Mostly suggesting that we were ahead of them and they the other way around. The reality was they were only slightly ahead and our escapades through the countryside defined the size of that margin. Sigh. Val paddled at her expected pace and we kept our lead over the schedule.

Bill ran the 7th leg. Gerry and Val drove separately to the finish. Leo called Bill mid-way through Bill's run and agreed to meet at the finish in few minutes. Since I am, in fact, Bill, I will embellish a bit here. I started out with the intent to shave some minutes off my expected time and had my mind made up to do just that. The 1st two miles were strong at a 7m/mile pace. Then came the hill. The mile(ish) long hill. The pace dropped to about 8:30m/mile. The good news about the hill is that is did, in fact, go down on the other side. Pace improved to about 6m/mile for a while and I made up some time. Then came the kid. OK, maybe he was a 20 something but he was definitely not pushing 40 and definitely faster than me. He may even have been wearing a jet-pack. As I was pushing 7m/mile average and he was gaining on me, he must have been doing less than 7m/mile. Good observation, no? Anywho, I put on the steam. I decided not to let him have this win too easily. I got the pace back down near 6m/mile and held it for about 400 yards. I felt I had a good chance of breaking his stride. Then came the hamstring issue. Slowly at 1st, then with a bit more presence and volume. I ignored it, as any good racer would, and kept the heat on. The kid slowed and dropped back. I took a deep breath. Later he tried to pass me again. I told him he should show more respect for his elders. He laughed and said "keep up the good work" as he passed me. He finished 9 seconds before me and that was not too bad.

The after-race party was fun. Leo brought some beers and we all ate the burgers and potato salad and chips. Yum.

Nice race, I think I'll do it again.

My training.

9-06-09 - Regular running schedule shifted from 5 runs and 3 and one run at 6 to 4 0r 5 runs at 5 and 1 or 2 runs at 6 or more. Targeting a pair of 40 mile weeks leading up to Bay State.

9-13-09 - Ran 18 miles today in preparation for the Bay State Marathon in Lowell, October 18th. Took it easy for the 1st 6. Sped up for the next 6. Somewhere in the middle for the last 6. Overall pace was 8:30 and when I hit 18 miles I was quite through thank you very much. Still a good run - too bad about the blisters. Total mileage this week: 35

26331

26331 runners signed up for the 113th Boston Marathon. I, of course, was one of those runners.  Runner 25326 to be exact. The number of people needed to support the logistics for 26331 people is astounding and the Boston Athletic Association does an excellent job keeping things moving smoothly. Boston is a great Marathon, though there are plenty of potential gotchas, the crowd is always a treat.

Special thanks for this Marathon go to Robyn and the girls, the nice folks at Enter Stage Left Theater in Hopkinton - especially Kelly Grill and Susan Bushe, and, of course, the very organized folks at the Boston Athletic Association.

The day started out foggy. The forecast called for late afternoon rain. It was expected to hit 50 degrees and a westerly wind of 5-10 mph was in store.

I wore shorts and a T-shirt and was cold for the 1st 7 miles. Ugh. 

This was perhaps one of my best marathons from a pace management standpoint. I started out slow and got progressively faster all the way to the end. The first mile took about 11 minutes. The last one took about 7:30. My average pace was around 8m 30s. Not my fastest marathon, coming at 3:45, but definitely my strongest.

Miles 1-5 were slow and easy and cold. Most energy was spent breaking out of the crowd. I visited with a 60 year old guy who had run 123 marathons. That's right 123. He will run up 14 marathons in a year and 5 marathons in 6 weeks. Wow.

Miles 6-13 were faster and chilly - the wind started to pick up. I saw some co-workers while passing through Natick and had a quick visit with friends Rick, Peg, and Dominic Spada.

Miles 13-21 were highlighted by a brief visit with wife Robyn and daughters Kathryn and Emma. We exchanged hugs and kisses and they gave me lots of cheer. Fun "go Dad" and "you can do it" signs were flying high. The last four miles of this segment were spent on the infamous Heartbreak Hill. Wow - what a run. I ran steadily on each each uphill and ran even faster on each downhill.  The announcer at the top of the hill said "you just finished Heartbreak Hill". I cheered. Loud.

Miles 22-26.2 were fast and faster. I had my doubts around mile 25 but managed to keep up a steady pace and ran clear through to the finish. A nice bit during this segment was the college crowd through the BC area. As I got into one segment of the crowds were a wee bit subdued. I waved and shouted "show me the love!" and the crowd went wild. What fun. A free buzz from all the spectators.

Mile 26.2 was the bomb. I ran a steady pace right to the finish. On careful consideration I determined that a sprint to the end would not be prudent and chose slow-and-steady instead. Crossing the finish, I had a ton of cheer and just enough energy to be jubilant with the volunteers at the finish.

Overall, an excellent race. The heavy head-wind was a severe impediment though the overall impact was small. Each race presents new challenges, the key to a good marathon - like so many other things - is setting reasonable goals before you start, and making every reasonable attempt to meet them.

A peaceful heart

This past Tuesday - a week ago today. I got a phone call from my dad informing me that his brother suddenly died. At first I was aghast. He must be joking, right? I soon realized he was not joking. My uncle died of a massive heart attack while watching TV on Tuesday March 31st.

My first reaction was "that could be me!" I quickly checked my thoughts and decided that my current diet and exercise plan are well in line with a healthy lifestyle. Then, to the extent I could I went back to work.

Over the next few days, my wife and I talked about it more and it began to consume our days. The consumption showed up in strange ways. We argued about this and that. We felt hurried and struggled to finish things. We spent extra time reading to the kids at night.

Now dad and his wife and my sister and my other uncle and his family have all come to visit and the funeral has come and gone, we are starting to reset our lives.

Looking back, I see my thoughts fall into three groups.

1) What about my aunt and cousins? These three are the most closely affected and how will they make things work? My uncle was the main guy in their lives. How will they fit it all together without him? And how can I help? This last question is perhaps the hardest one.

2) What about my relationship to them? It is sadly too late to make changes to my relationship with my uncle, but what about my aunt and cousins? How can I improve that?

3) What about my life? What changes have I been putting off? Are there other relationships I'd like to mend or start? What about my health?

Over the past few days these questions showed up initially as demands. I need to do this. I should do that. Since I've been so regular with my exercise, it's easier for me to regain my footing and see things more rationally.

Exercise has not fixed everything for me but it's the penny I keep putting in the jar. The simple thing I keep up with that pays me back on rainy days.

I'll surely miss my uncle and it may be a few more days of pondering these questions.

Monkey Mind

I've a long history of a wandering mind. Recently I heard this described as Monkey Mind. Nice description. I can imagine all the squeeking little monkeys running around in my head deciding what to focus on next.

Running shuts down the monkeys. Today I ran 19 miles in preparation for Boston. Somewhere around mile 12 I got really focused. What a feeling. It took almost 2 hours of continuous exercise but my mind did settle down into a single groove. 

Most days it only takes about 15 minutes of exercise to find that groove - today was a bit extereme. I attribute this to the 3 days I took off from running in preps for this 19 mile run.

Ahhh... The things I commit to and how they occupy my mind.

Anywho, I'll be running Boston again this year and am rasing money for the Enter Stage Left theater in Hopkinton.  If you want to make a donation, email me or contact them directly! They have a great theater with many very involved kids What a fine way to get kids started in life - a healthy sense of community.