Category Archives: life

Rear Facing Camera not working on iPhone 5S?

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Having a problem with a rear facing camera on your iPhone?

Specifically an iPhone 5S?

Should you try and replace the rear camera module?

These were all questions I was googling/asking when my wife came to me with a black screen inside of the camera app. I followed some black magic on youtube about toggling low power mode and hard resetting with some success but it was not consistent. Finally I found an apple forum post from a guy who went through the whole process below in iFixit after buying a new camera module:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+5s+Rear+Facing+Camera+Replacement/20259

He got in to replace the camera just to find that the camera module cable had disconnected. After a shy grin his girlfriend admitted her phone had dropped about the time the camera stopped working.

After reading this a lightbulb went off. Knowing that the kids use my wife’s iPhone to play games and watch video I knew this had to be a similar issue. I took out my trusty iFixIt tool kit and got to work. Low and behold the rear facing camera cable was loose.

iphone_5s_rear_facing_camera_replacement_-_ifixit

I went through the iFixIt guide and then popped off the rear camera connection to make sure no lint or dirt was under the contacts and reconnected it. I put the phone back together and poof! The camera started working again like magic.

My wife was happy and so was I. Happy wife, happy life! 🙂

The Shack – Book Review

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My wife started reading The Shack not to long ago and wanted me to read it as well so she could talk about what she was reading. My typical reading/listening is mostly filled with podcasts, self help, business and technical books. Novels work there way in my reading list but not often and not ones that are less than a year old from an unknown author. I was skeptical at best and had only heard short explanations of its contents from my father in-law and brother in-law that made the book seem less interesting. Everyone who talked about it had mentioned its controversial view of God and shock of their core belief system so when my wife asked me to read it I was reluctant. But knowing my wife she would not allow me to just put off such as request so I told her I would read it if it was on audible.com. It was. I have an audible.com account which had a couple credits queued up, so I downloaded the book to my iPhone that night. The next day I began listing to The Shack on the way to a clients two and a half hours away. I was hooked. The story was moving and captured my attention so much that I was disappointed at every interruption as I was driving in the car. The ride home was no different and I spent most of the evening at home with one or two earbuds in my ears. The book has some suspense so that evening when a transformer popped and made a bright light outside our bedroom window I was startled (you can read more about that on my wife’s blog). The day after I finished listening and all I can say is “Wow”. If this book doesn’t move you in a way to become a better person I don’t know what will. I won’t spoil the book for those who didn’t read it, but the main characters connection to God was so real it made me want to be familiar with God in that way. I can’t say it challenged my view of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as much as others, but it made me want to be a better person and to connect with God in a deep and new way. If you strive for those things you should get a copy today. You won’t be disappointed.

For more info on The Shack you can go to http://theshackbook.com/. If you want to find more info on purchasing check out amazon.com‘s reviews and more.

300k Miles!

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So this morning I hit 300k miles in my 1993 Honda Accord SE! I’ve owned my car since 1999 and I got it with 78k miles on it. So I’ve driven it an average of 22,200 miles a year. At my current miles per gallon of 25 at the current gas prices I would have spent over $1580 a year or $15,800 over the last 10 years. I could have bought a new car 🙂 I had my Flip Video MinoHD (that Carla got me for my birthday. Thanks beautiful!) with me so I captured the moment of going from 299,999 to 300,000. A momentous occasion I’m sure.

Like I mentioned in the video I’ve had a great time driving my little Honda. Maybe I’ll get another 100k our of it!

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic
Yes it is dusty 🙂 I haven’t cleaned in awhile.

P90X: Take 3

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So this is my 3rd time through P90X and I’m ashamed to say that this time around has been no better than the past two. Life gets in the way and I end up missing a week and then fizzle out. However I am determined to get back on the horse and hammer out the rest of the 60 days I have left. The hardest part is finding the time between the wife and kids to do an hour workout via DVD every day.

All that said I love P90X! It has to be the best workout program I have ever done. Click on the image to see all the reviews at amazon as that helped me in determining which program to go with.

One of the best parts of P90X is the music and Tony talking you through every step. It makes the workout fly by and you don;t have to focus as much on how bad it hurts. Just power through and X it.

I have a found a few resources to help out with making it easier to keep track of things. Here is a P90X Spreadsheet to keep track of progress which has has all the pre/post test info you can put in as well. My good friend Matt has a blog post about P90X that outlines all of the extras he bought for using the program. I ended up just purchasing basic dumbbells from Wal-mart and a yoga block (needed because I’m not flexible at all!). If you have any questions about what I use or getting started leave a comment and I’ll respond back to you. Good luck with getting in shape and not fizzling out like me 🙂

My Wife Thinks I’m Stealing My Blog Posts!!

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My wife likes me

I wrote a blog post yesterday about daylight savings. Check it out if you haven’t read it yet. So my wife reads the posts laughs at a few of the items in the list (especially the spending time with the special someone since she knows I’m referring to her) and then proceeds to ask me (for the second time mind you) if I came up with this list myself! Preposterous I tell you!!! Well I guess I should be flattered since she meant well and it was supposed to be a compliment. So I’ll take it as such, but it was funny that she did it almost twice in a row (She didn’t think I wrote this one either). I love you wife!

When is Daylight Savings? and 10 Things To Do With that Extra Hour

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Chris Harrison twittered about a site called When is Daylight Savings? I thought I would pass along the info since we all forget at some time about when the new daylight savings time is. (In case you don’t want to go the site it is this Sun Nov. 2nd, 2008 at 3am in the morning you set your clock back to 2am). Fall back spring forward is an easy way to remember how to set the clock.

Just for fun here a few things to do with your extra hour this year or just because:

  1. Check the batteries in your smoke detectors or replace them
  2. Read about daylight savings Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time or Daylight saving time – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. Replace a regular light bulb with a new CFL light bulb
  4. Make special time with that special someone
  5. Maybe backup your computer data with mozy or jungle disk
  6. Suggest something for me to write about (in the sidebar or here)
  7. Catch up on google reader, unread blog list or a good book (reading is good for the brain!)
  8. Put the summer clothes away and pull out that winter jacket. It’s cold out there! (currently 39 degrees here)
  9. Learn about GTD and get the book
  10. Prepare a Christmas wishlist so your family will have something to get you

And finally have a good nights sleep!

High gas prices and the financial crisis? Get cash back!

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Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an easy way to get a few extra dollars in your pocket each month to help with high gas prices for your car, truck or suv? Well if you haven’t yet gotten a Discover Card now is the time to do so.

Just this month I have gotten over $60 cash back from just using it for our everyday family purchases (diapers and formula are expensive!)

Now the most important part when getting a cash back credit card is not to spend the cash back! They try and get you to purchase more things which means you spend more money instead of just getting the cash back. Now if those items you purchase are necessary items then by all means go for it, but most of the retailers that they list you could do without.

So if I can’t spend it what do I do with it? Redeem the cash back into your discover account and now you have those extra few dollars for those high gas prices!

You can also get a Discover card called the Open Road card that gives you more cash back for gas and auto purchases than the other Discover cards.

So if you spend money (and who doesn’t) or your a small business owner and want to get a few dollars back for doing what you would do anyway click on one of the links above to get your very own card today.

Small Business Owner Tax Tip (ie how to avoid paying back taxes)

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dollar, Bill.

Getting a letter from the IRS is never fun, getting a letter from the IRS saying you owe money is even less fun. Over a week ago I received a letter stating that I owed thousands of dollars in back taxes, fees and interest from over a year ago. I must say that I was in shock since this was the first year we had used an accountant for our taxes and I had not done my own. I guess I was so happy I didn’t have to do them that I didn’t even bother looking over them at all.
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