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An eleven year old boy walks up to his family’s computer and sits in the chair. After pressing the power button, the familiar Windows 98 splash screen pops up on the monitor. “Once this computer finishes loading, I am going to play Starsiege. I have the disc ready and everything.” Windows displays the password screen. The boy never knew what the password was – but that never mattered because all you have to do is click the cancel button to get passed the login screen. Knowing this, the boy clicks cancel and the Windows desktop begins to load. He smiles at how easy it is to get passed the login screen. “Finally, Windows is done loading!” The boy double clicks Starsiege to start loading the game. He clicks the single player option and it then prompts him to insert the CD to continue. The boy presses the button to open up the CD-ROM drive. “Hey, what gives?” It will not open. He presses the button again. It makes a noise like it is going to open but nothing follows. Frustrated, the boy presses the button over and over again, but his button mashing is in vain. It is broken. “Well now what am I going to do?” The boy sits in front of the TV until his mother wakes up. “Mom, the computer is broken! The CD drive won’t open, so I can’t play any games!” Mom walks over to the computer and pushes the CD eject button. Sure enough, nothing happens. Later on in the day, mother calls her friend and he tells her to go out and buy a new CD-ROM drive. She goes out to Best Buy and buys a brand new Philips CD-ROM drive. The only thing is, her friend won’t be able to come install it for about a week. “I can’t play any of my games for a week!? That is way longer than I want to wait. I bet I can do it myself.” The eleven year old boy loads up AOL and asks his mom if she can type in the password for him. The 56k modem initializes and begins to make a horrible noise as it dials into the internet. Connected. Welcome! You’ve got mail! Blah blah that’s nice. “I must search for ‘how to install CD-ROM drive.’ Bingo! I found it! Hmm… that doesn’t look too difficult. All you have to do is take out a couple of screws and pop out the old one. Then you put the new one in and tighten the screws. Plug in the IDE cable and the power cable. That’s it? Wow, that seems really easy. Oh wait… what is this about electro-static discharge? Hmm… it is possible for me to shock and ruin the computer’s components. Well I don’t want to do that. Let’s see here. To discharge static electricity from your body and reduce the risk of ESD, just touch the chassis of the computer for a couple of seconds and make sure you are working on a non-conductive surface. Sweet! I am going to do this.” “Mom, can I install that new CD-ROM drive into the computer?” No. “Pleeeaaassseee!!!” No. “Please, I know how to do it. I did a lot of research about it on the Internet.” Mom looks up from the newspaper and says, “You know it’s not that easy, you can destroy the computer just by touching the wrong part.” “You are talking about electro-static discharged and I read all about it and I know what it does! I also know how to make sure there is none built up in your body. You just touch a metal part of the computer and it will discharge it!” Mom paused for a second. “Fine, but if you break it I am not going to buy a new one.” Confident, the little boy responds, “It’s okay, I won’t break it. And if I do – I will buy a new one.” That was the story of my first computer repair. I replaced the CD-ROM drive on that old IBM Aptiva computer. Nine years later I am still on the same path. I am currently studying to achieve a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Computer Network Management at Westwood College of Technology. I currently work part time at Staples as a sales associate selling business machines and I also do a little bit of computer repair work while I am there. In my spare time I run GJ Diaz Computer Repair, work on websites, and hang out with my girlfriend. I used to be addicted to an online game called World of Warcraft. I lead a large and successful raiding guild there. But the game and the guild took up way more time than I was happy to put in. Through a class called Success Strategies at Westwood College, I have learned how to overcome my World of Warcraft addiction, improve myself as a student, and improve myself as a person. This website has been inactive for some time. But I’ve now found something to fill it up with: A log of computer repairs that I do. Each entry will list the problem, any steps taken while troubleshooting, and the fix.
Tips on improving yourself as a student and as a person.
Any other random intellectual thoughts I come up with throughout my life. Enjoy.
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