Starbucks baristas look at me funny when I ask for an empty cup, then come back a few seconds later and ask for a coffee in the cup they just gave me. Far be it for me to break the mold they expect of their customers. Lately I cart around my thermos, fill it with milk and sweetener before standing in line, and then ask them to top me off with a tall coffee. Granted I’ll occasionally have my plans foiled by a barista rinsing out my thermos beforehand, but usually they’re nice enough to ask first.

Other places will have those assembly lines with multiple tanks of brewed coffee laid out, where they expect you to go cup → coffee → condiment bar → cashier, or more often cup → coffee → cashier → condiment bar. I hop between stations while the cashier gives me suspicious glares. I hate to break up an assembly line, but its not my fault if their system isn’t efficient enough… is it?

Update 09/2011

Will wonders never cease, I’ve learned to drink coffee without sweetener. Really good coffee, a step or two above Starbucks, though I do let them cut it with a little cream.

At this moment I have half a dozen posts written, waiting in the wings for me to press the publish button. I haven’t posted them for many reasons. One discusses a subject I’m not sure is appropriate, another needs more research to back it up, and a third just muddles around without making much of a point. The only posts I’ve put up so far are semi-useful pieces on programming and technology, but that isn’t all I want to write about. I want to express my opinions, discuss my thoughts, and just rant for a page or two about random things that bug me.

I’ve become too concerned with how visitors will take what I write here. I could blog anonymously and let my thoughts run wild, but its another layer of effort. As it stands, everything I put up will be preserved for eternity in the ether, and anybody with a web browser will be able to track it all down. I’ve decided that I just don’t care anymore. I’d rather put something up that interests me than nothing at all.

Before

I’ve been dealing with a failing LCD in the instrument cluster of my Audi for years.  At first a horizontal line or two would just disappear on me, and come back after an hour with the engine running.  Over time the number of missing lines increased, and they stayed missing permanently. It finally reached the point seen here, where it is difficult and sometimes impossible to read the information displayed. The longer I tried to ignore the problem, the worse it became.

I’d been searching various enthusiast forums on and off for years, keeping tabs on possible solutions to the problem.  For a long time, the only fix was to take the car to a dealer and have the entire instrument cluster replaced, at an excessive cost (I was quoted $1400 parts and labor). If you were lucky, the defect would happen while you were still under warranty, but mine started failing mere weeks after the warranty ended. Several people had taken their instrument clusters apart and tried various fixes to the LCD, but nothing seemed to work.

Recently a few repair shops started getting mentioned on the forums, and they were offering a rebuild service for the instrument cluster. They would take it apart and replace your failing LCD with a new one of better quality.  Most of these shops would handle the fix in-shop only, but I found one place in Florida, DNASpeedometers, that would handle the rebuild through the mail.  They seemed reputable, had a few decent reviews, and gave me an estimate that was reasonable.

The process of removing the instrument cluster is well documented, and not terribly difficult; It took me 10 minutes to remove it.  With proper padding, the instrument cluster is a bulky package, but is light enough to keep the shipping costs down.  I recommend springing for insurance, as it could get pricy if your cluster gets damaged in transit.

After

The guys at DNASpeedometers received my instrument cluster and replaced the LCD within hours, and had the return shipment on its way the same day.  I shipped my cluster out on Monday, and received it back on Friday. The LCD is flawless, and I’m very pleased with the quality of the rebuild.  Its nice being able to read what the car is telling me again.

Update (04/08/2009):  The LCD is still performing perfectly. I’ve did a little digging and found another shop that will handle this rebuild through the mail, Circuit Solutions.  They only have an eBay storefront, they have no website, and I’m unable to find any solid feedback or word of mouth about them on the forums.  Despite this, they do have some good eBay feedback, and their price is cheaper than what I paid.

I’ve been meaning to set up a blog for a few years now. What held me back was mostly a feeling that nobody out there would really care what I have to say. I’ve since decided that I just don’t care. I’m writing this blog because I can, and its immaterial if nobody finds it useful. If they do, all the better.

What to expect

I’m not entirely sure where this thing will lead. To start the ball rolling, I’ve come up with a few topics that I’d like to write about.

Topics

• Programming
  Coding, scripting, config files, its all good.
• Technology
  My thoughts on technology.
• Philosophy
  A broad topic, but I have a broad interest in it.
• Design
  I can’t draw, but I can design!
• Reviews
  If I own it or have used it, I’m going to talk about it here.
• Gaming
  I’m not exactly a hardcore gamer at the moment, but I’ve been there.
• Miscellaneous
  Everything else.