Cracked plastic hinge (Nintendo DS Lite) part 2

Nintendo honoured their promise and repaired my son’s console free of charge!

Well, not entirely free because to post it to Nintendo as registered mail it has costed me AUD$9.35. But still, it is a lot less than what it has costed my friend.

The envelope, the service report, the bubble wrap, the cardboard for extra protection and of course, the repaired console.

Have a look at the photo. It’s not very clear but if you look closely Nintendo actually repaired it the same day they received it. It took them about a week to check, repair and mail it back to me. That’s pretty good customer service!

Thanks Nintendo! Hopefully this one won’t crack again. If it does, I hope it happens before the warranty is up to avoid any more hassles.

Football (soccer) club

My family was never really into sports. Although my dad would probably argue that we are, as he was very much into game hunting. I, personally, do not classify that as a sport. I mean, not in the same league as football, basketball or baseball (if you get my drift). But since we now live in Australia, where sports seem to be everyone’s "religion", we are “forced” to take up some sort of sport. Don’t get me wrong. I am not at all saying that sport is a “bad” thing. On the contrary, I actually think it is very good. Living in an “obese” world, playing a sport is the best thing anyone can take up to combat what we now call an “obesity epidemic.” I actually encourage my children to engage in a lot of physical activities so as not to suffer from this so called epidemic. Me and my wife do our part by regular exercise. This is in the form of extended walks, running, swimming and Pilates (I'll write another post regarding my "running" in the very near future). Sport is something new to me. Something I am not used too. Therefore, it requires a lot of effort on my part to be into it. I have to train myself to like it.


For the third year in a row now my son has been a member of the Grange Thistle Football Club in Brisbane. He practices every Thursday nights. Games are held every Saturday.

My wife has graciously given me the task to be the “soccer dad”. My youngest daughter tags along every practice. Thursday night has become some sort of a bonding session between me, my son and my youngest daughter. I’ve got 3 children. My older daughter though chooses to stay at home with mom. She seems to be quite exhausted tuwing uuwi after school. Pagsakay pa lang sa kotse she immediately falls asleep. Once she gets home she couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere else.

The practice is only for an hour or so. My task is to find some sort of a fun activity that both me and my daughter would enjoy while waiting for “Kuya”. Who could refuse a movie and some junk food? I always bring my laptop with me and play some DVDs. It was Sherk the Third last night. We had some crackers and cheese to enjoy the movie more. To top it all up we had some apple juice.

I hope this doesn’t turn out to be an “obesity” leading activity. I should prepare more and bring healthier snacks!

Cracked plastic hinge (Nintendo DS Lite)

I bought my son a Nintendo DS Lite on his last birthday. Actually, I should correct that. His grandad gave him the money to buy anything he likes for his birthday. His heart was already set on getting a Nintendo DS Lite. I just went to the shops with him to help him buy one. That was about seven months ago.

Looks normal enough, doesn't it? Look closely at the top right hand corner and you'll notice a missing piece.

Yesterday I posted the console to the sole Nintendo service centre in Australia located in Scoresby, Victoria. Why, you might ask, would it require to be serviced being less than a year old? Well, the plastic hinge that is holding the top screen has cracked. It came off eventually together with the “indicator” light.

This photo shows the cracked piece and the "indicator" light that has also fallen off.

The exact same thing happened to my friend’s son’s console. But instead of sending the console back to Nintendo for repair my friend tried fixing it himself. He bought on eBay a new plastic casing. Including postage it had costed him close to $50. And to that, I suppose, you would have to add the hours my friend had spent trying to fix the thing. After putting it all back together he realised he had to start from scratch as the thing did not work! But eventually he managed to get all working like new.

Anyway, after doing a quick search on Google I have found out that the “cracked hinge” problem is a common one. Nintendo, apparently, is aware that this problem occurs in a small percentage of consoles produced and is willing to cover the cost of repair. Hopefully this is true! I’ll find out in approximately two weeks what the real deal is.

Because of this cracked hinge the console is virtually unusable. The top screen wouldn't stay up.

Have you had the same problem? Please feel free to leave comments and share your experience getting it fixed!

Closer

Sunset at Fannie Bay, Darwin NT

I’ve travelled recently to the Philippines to attend my Grandad’s funeral. He was in his 80’s. I sort of expected it and was gearing my self up for it but you are just never prepared. It still seemed too sudden.

And just before I left another sad news hit us. One of my wife’s closest friends was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. We’ve always heard of people getting cancer. But no one we know. No one close to our hearts. And no one young like our friend.

She just turned 40. She’s got two young boys, one is 8 and the other is 4. She’s got husband who is very supportive and lots and lots of friends who’ve tried to help in whatever way possible.

She’s three scraping procedures done. Mastectomy is not the only option one has nowadays. She had to have three procedures as the first two were not successful in getting rid of all the cancer cells.

Now, she’s undergoing chemotherapy. This process she has found to be much more difficult.

Am I at that age now when death and disease seem to be a lot closer? Now that I am in my 30’s my elders are much older as well.

In Psalm 90:10a it says:

The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength;

My Grandad was 82.

Breakfast today

Main: Mushroom Omelette served with bacon, hash brown and grilled tomatoes
Drinks: 400 mL Berri Pineapple juice, Jasmine green tea


The breakfast I had today was exactly the same as what I had yesterday. I ordered it again for the obvious reason that I enjoyed it the first time and it seemed to be the most appetising item on the menu. All the others one would be able to scoop from the buffet. The omelette would have to be prepared from scratch (I think?!?!?).

Today’s omelette was a bit “watery”. You could see the slightly dark liquid seeping out of the omelette. Mushroom juice, if you like. This fact made the meal look less inviting.

But actually, it tasted quite fine. It’s quite a big serving early in the morning. I could only finish about half of the omelette and less than one rasher of bacon.

The jasmine tea was courtesy of Qantas club. I grabbed a few while waiting for my flight to Newcastle. The Berri juice was as expected.

I would give this morning's breakfast a 6.

Whatever it is...

I have been subscribing to Pastor Greg Laurie's daily devotion for quite some time now. In this blog I will be expressing my thoughts regarding the devotions. It is not meant to preach to other people but more preaching to myself as I try to understand and make sense of what I have read and how it applies to my personal life.

Title: "A Work In Progress"
Key Verse: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end" Eccl 4:1

Below is a direct quote from Pastor Laurie:
You, too, are a work in progress. God is doing a work in your life. When it is done, He will show you. If it is not done yet, be patient. God sees the end from the beginning. We can't see what it is, but God can. That is important to remember....
For us, what it means specifically to us on a day-to-day basis, time will tell. Whatever it is, it is good, because God is in control of it.

I think man's aim should be to be more godly as days pass by. I do not think we will ever reach perfection in this life. Pero ang dapat hinahangad ng bawat isa is to be better people. To be godly people. To be people that is doing God's work. Not necessarily "working in the church" but more being godly in whatever role God has given one.

I go out everyday not to work in a church but rather go to a "normal" office like most people. My challenge is, on a daily basis, how to do God's will in the environment God has put me in.

And I do fail. A LOT! It is encouraging to read today's devotion and understand that I am a work in progress. God is not done with me yet. This does not give me a licence to sin. NO WAY! But more to encourage me to keep pressing forward. Not to throw in the towel and accept that i am a failure.

God is not done with me yet.

Here's a question for anyone who might happen to read this blog:

What does "He has put eternity in their hearts" mean?

Last Night's Dinner

Entrée: Sydney Rock Oysters Natural
Main: Angus Fillet with Half Lobster in Shell
Drinks: Iced Lemon Tea (no sugar)
Dessert: None

The oysters were presented nicely enough. The six of them were arranged in a circle on a bed of rock sea salt. It was served with a wedge of lemon and some sort of seafood dressing at the centre of the plate. The oysters were good but didn’t taste that fresh. Had them with a few drops of lemon. The “seafood” dressing that came with it did not pack enough punch. It tasted too much like bottled mayonnaise with a bit of tomato sauce (to add colour i think, rather than taste).

I was really looking forward to having the main course. This is how it was described on the menu:

"250gm char-grilled angus fillet, with ½ lobster in the shell, lemon & thyme risotto and garlic butter sauce"

The steak was done just as I ordered (medium rare). The lobster was cooked just right. The risotto that came with it was alright. It was supposed to have lemon and thyme but I tasted neither the lemon nor the thyme. The garlic in the garlic butter sauce tasted too much like garlic from a bottle. I have a particular dislike for this. I love garlic! It just bothers me how some restaurants have this preference to bottled garlic? How hard is it to use fresh garlic???? You can really taste the difference!

The most disappointing part of the meal was the Iced tea. I ordered the same drink s I was quite pleased when i hd it the night before last night. It was made from scratch. Fresh lemon was used and no sugar was added. It was cool and refreshing. But what i was served last night was far from that. It was iced tea WITH NO ICE! You can't call it iced tea! THERE WAS NO ICE! It was warm and totally disappointing.

For what the hotel charges for the entire meal they could have done better!

Last day of visit

I wasn't expecting to start my own blog during this trip kaya i purposely left my camera at home. Buti na lang i've got a phone that's got a pretty good camera. Comparable naman to most digital cameras.

Kaso, i forgot to bring the cable to download the photos. I could have done it via infrared or bluetooth but i couldn't get it to work. Urgh! I think i need to update my computer skills some more!

As a consequence, I couldn't post any photos yet relating to this trip. The photos would have to wait until i get back home tonight.

I thank God that i was able to accomplish things during this trip. I'm leaving the site today at around 2pm to catch my late afternoon flight back to Brisbane.