My Orange iphone 4 Conversion

Iphones are incredible machines. In one little box I can browse the internet, download music, take HD video and more. All with a digital touchscreen and one home button.

It blows my mind.

I am fortunate enough to be able to own an iphone 4 and can say it is the best electronic device I have ever used.

Unfortunately though, the iphone had some problems that needed remedied after a few months. I don't know if was something I did, a bad part... I don't know. What I do know is the first time I took an iphone in that had a bad home button, I was given a new one right on the spot. Apple has won my loyalty with their customer service until they do something to break that trust.

So, one problem was the LCD screen was bad (blue spots), so I needed to replace that as my warranty had expired. Biggie. 0_0

Second I needed to replace a battery. No biggie :)

Tonight I had some time to repair the iphone. I learned how to replace the LCD from a site called ifixit.com, a DIY repair site. I purchased the orange Iphone glass off ebay for $50 (front and backplate), and the battery off ebay for $5. I love eBay. :)

Alright, now to the pics...
All the tools, parts, and my Macbook Pro 13" on the table. I bought a $2 tool set online... and when I got the Orange Faceplates, it came with a set too. :)

The backplate opened up.

Yeah, this battery is so bad... the new on is on the left, and the old one on the right.

 Next are some disassembly pics...

This is a good pic to show the majority of the components. Left to right are the SIM card, the camera, A Protection Plate, and the Motherboard.

This pic here shows I had to do some fancy and delicate super gluing for the speaker mesh, I had experience in this kind of thing with my saber builds, but this was the most difficult glue project I had ever had to date.

I put everything back together and... TADA! It is so sharp looking!

Dressed up with the Element Formula Case.

So in total, I was at the table nonstop for 2 hours and 45 minutes. One of the toughest projects I have ever done, but well worth the end result and money saved.

Disclaimer; I have had extensive experience in micro electronic components due to making Custom Lightsabers. I do not recommend you attempt this kind of repair unless you are experienced with small electronic parts and are willing to potentially ruin your iphone.

Movie Review; Sherlock Holmes "Game of Shadows"

What do you get when you combine a brilliant thinker, a deadly martial artist, and one who is mentally insane?

You get Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes and Watson are back in the most deadly of mysteries and mastermind they have ever faced, Professor Moriarty. A man who has no moral ethics and will stop at nothing to bring about his plan of utter domination. Holmes decides to foil this plot, and by doing so will save all of western Civilization from war... No pressure.

Things I Liked
   There was a little dialogue back and forth between Watson and Holmes about marriage. Watson described marriage as a joining, new life, promise, etc. Holmes described it as slavery, the end, a prison. The movie portrayed Watson as the on making the right choice, and Holmes immature as selfish in this aspect.

   Another particular quote I remember was "Inside every person is an innate desire for conflict...." he goes on, but I don't want to spoil anything for you. ;) This was really cool to hear from a hollywood flick, as most movies now-days promote the "man is good" mentality. Not this one. Holmes 2 argues man is basically bad and loves strife. +1 in my book.

   I liked the character of Watson in this movie as well. Although he gets married and leaves Holmes even when the greatest case of Holmes' career is discovered... He comes back and helps Sherlock with initial malice, but eventually turns back into the loyalty and friendship Holmes had grown used to over the years. He is the rudder of Holmes' ship, and is solid as a rock. Never swaying on his values or convictions, he was an impressive character and I admired the way he was presented as a trustworthy man.
   I will say he still has a gambling problem, and got quite drunk in one part of the movie. He is by no means a person one should want to emulate.

   Some other things I liked were; the dialogue is extraordinarily rich and deep, something that is rarer among films today. The slow motion fight sequences and special effects always amaze me, as it is fascinating to see the thought behind the 3 seconds of martial arts that are usually a blur. The movie is fast paced, action packed, humorous at times, and ends well.

Things I didn't Like
   There was a pretty big todo about Holmes and Watson being gay in the first movie. Honestly, I couldn't tell anything like that from the first movie, even with an eye looking for the slightest hint of something being awry. Unfortunately, Holmes can definitely be perceived as having orientation issues in this movie. In one disguise he wears women's clothing with makeup, calls his and Watson's time together a relationship (Watson corrects him "partnership"), and continually tries to separate Watson from his wife and the idea of marriage. While there are no blatant clues, the subtleties of a possible gay mindset are included, which saddened me immensely. It wasn't needed and was included only to push an agenda on the culture.

   Speaking of unneeded scenes, there was one clip that was revolting to me, totally inappropriate, and included... I have no idea why. Watson has an extremely overweight brother and in one scene he reads a letter to watson's wife in the complete nude. She of course is embarrassed, and tries looks away, we see quite a bit of his gluteus maximus, and his fat torso. He bumbles about seeming oblivious to his state of undress. The scene elicited a few chuckles in the audience, but nothing more. I honestly have no earthly idea why they had to have a guy without clothes on while reading a letter. It was supposed to be funny I guess... to me it was not.

   The final scene that really sticks in my mind and seems a little over the top was when Holmes was tortured. I won't tell you why, but the bad guy sticks a large meat hook in Holmes' shoulder, hoists him in the air, and dances around to music. It was very intense even though it was fake, I know evil is evil, but there are some lines that don't need to be crossed to prove a point. I personally think this was one of them.

   I mentioned this a little beforehand, but at Watson's bachelor party he gets drunk and gambles quite a bit.

   Some cuss words used were d--m, b------d (many times), The Lord's name taken in vain, and some others...

   This is a violent movie. The Professor likes bombs, so we see many people blown away as the bombs go off, one person is poisoned and dies, a man shoots himself, in one escape scene some people are shot... and other bad guys are shot throughout the movie... We see blood, but no gore.

There is a card reading session.

   There are a few seconds of Watson and his new wife kissing in a train car. Holmes and Irene kiss, and the women at the bar don't wear very modest clothes.

   There is smoking of cigars and such in formal settings. Holmes also has a pipe he likes to smoke quite often...

My Thoughts

   After analyzing every movie I watch, breaking it down into its parts, and figuring out just what the movie is about, I always wind up asking myself one question.

Is it beneficial?

Beneficial can mean many things. Beneficial in the terms of entertainment.... in the terms of good messages... in the terms good guy win... the list could go on. Holmes is one of those movies where part of me wants to say "yeah! go see it! you will love it!" and the other part saying "are you kidding?!? that is not a movie you should recommend to anyone." Ultimately, this movie is among the best action movies I have seen.The care and detail to the special effects wowed me. I was entertained the entire flick.

However we, as christians, have a higher standard to uphold.

For me, this movie stepped over the line compared to the first Holmes film. The inclusion of a gay agenda, mass innocent death, intense violence, and a nudist scene... makes this movie a moral and ethical failure.

It does have its high points. Good wins in the end. But couple that with a selfish Holmes who never changes for the better or the worse...

Leaves me feeling the way I did when I walked into the theater... except a little dirtier.

Movie Review: Courageous

Sherwood has come a long way from their humble beginnings.

   Courageous is about a group of men who are struggling to be good fathers and husbands in their family. Though all have many trials in different walks of life, they band together and make a pact vowing to live their lives for God and family. However, doing good is always easier said than done. The story is very complex with multiple lives involved. I can't adequately describe much of the story because it would give away things later in the plot. I can say it is about fathers attempting to live in a way so they are not only "good" by today's standards, but due to a tragedy, strive to become "great" men of God.

Courageous gathered a PG-13 rating. It most definitely deserves it.

It is good to see the rating system does still have some use. Instead of being rated for sexual, language, or other sinful content. The movie is rated PG-13 as it contains some intense violence, many emotional moments, and some mature themes younger kids would not understand.

Things I Liked

Themes such as biblical manhood, sacrifice, compassion, accountability, perseverance, mercy, humor, truth, and more are found in abundance. To go over them all would take pages and pages of analysis. It is truly rich in depth of these traits and themes, all positively portrayed.

Many men in courageous have their family's best interests at heart. We see them work hard to provide for their homes everyday. 

There is no profanity, and no inappropriate sexual content. It is extremely clean in this regard.

Things I didn't Like
This is a highly emotional movie. You will laugh, cry, be angry, have fear... everything. This isn't light. It is deep, and you should prepare yourself as such. I personally didn't like having my emotions manipulated with such highs and lows. I left the theater very tired because of the emotional roller-coaster on which they put you.

Also, many of the main characters are officers, so there are some highly intense fight scenes, fist fights, gun fights, etc. we see some blood, a few people get shot.

One scene shows a guy in the middle of many Huge guys kicking him while he is on the ground. There is a purpose, but is there.

Closing Thoughts   If ever a movie was needed about biblical manhood, now would be the time. I believe this movie is for everyone who is approaching, or has approached an adult age. It shows What young men should strive to be, what men should be, how wives should act in times of adversity, what young women should look for in a young man. The list goes on.

No, it doesn't have tons of special effects.

No, it isn't Grammy winning acting.

And No, it isn't fun to watch in the sense of entertainment.

   Whoever sees this movie will start to appreciate the daunting task of being a father and a man. They will see the power of God in one's life and what it is like without him. They will see what a true man of God should act like.
They will see a movie, that is Courageous.

Quick n' Tasty Guacamole

Cooking is something I usually enjoy doing. It is relaxing, creative, and quite rewarding to see others enjoy what I made.

Eating it myself doesn't hurt the enjoyment factor either.

For all you snack lovers and chip dippers out there, I think I have developed an excellent Guacamole recipe for anyone who loves something to go with their chips.

I have never written up a cooking tutorial... so bear with me. ;)

So, to begin, you are going to need four avocados.

The key to a great guacamole is, of course, the avocados. The avocados need to be soft to minimal finger pressure. If they hard hard, they don't have as much flavor and are tough to chew. A soft avocado is a good avocado. A few dark spots isn't bad either.

Don't use it if it has mold though... Just sayin'

Next, take one of these fruits, and cut it in half lengthwise. Twist both sides opposite to each other and something like this should result....

Now to get the pit out. Some recipes say to use a spoon, but one can loose a lot of the good flesh doing so. Instead, take a knife and carefully but firmly whack the blade into the pit. Make sure to get it nice and deep. It might take a couple tries.

Once the blade is nicely embedded in the pit, simply twist the knife and the pit out of the fruit.

To remove the pit, I usually just cut it all the way in half on the board by pressing the knife through it.

Repeat those steps with all the avocados...

Now it is time to break out a spoon! I don't like to waste food when I am cooking, and although they make avocado tools... A spoon still works best in terms of getting the meat out of the avocado. Inserting the spoon at the top of the fruit works best for me, then just working it down with a wiggling/scraping motion.

Your hands will get messy.

As you scoop the meat out, drop it into a medium mixing bowl. A bigger bowl will be easier to work with as opposed to a smaller one...

Now, take a favorite masher of choice, and mash up the avocados to the desired level of chunkiness or smoothness. 

You can set the avocados aside for now, as we are going to move onto the fillers. :)

Grab a medium red onion. A white onion will do as well, but I prefer red onions as they have a sweeter taste and contrast nicely against the green of the avocados. Peel it, prep it, and then cut it in half...

Use a knife to chop the onion up into smaller pieces. I recommend you don't use a food processor or chopper. Using those won't keep the nice sections, but rather mush up the onion, making the whole guacamole mix taste like like said vegetable.

Add the onion into the mashed avocados.

Add some Sea Salt to taste. Regular salt works, but doesn't taste as good.

Also add about 2 teaspoons of cumin. I don't measure it normally, as it is again, a preference on taste.

Mix all those ingredients together. I occasionally add 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic if I want en extra kick, but was in a mild mood when I made this batch... so I didn't. ;)

Now get a lemon...

Cut it in half, then take one half and squeeze out all the juice you can with your hand. This give the guacamole a nice fresh tang, and will also keep the avocados from turning brown for a time.

Mix the juice into the guacamole, and it is ready to serve.

I like "On the border" Chips best, as they have a nice full taste and are large. But any corn chip should work. :)

So that's how I make guacamole. This is a great quick and easy thing to bring to a party, or enjoy when you want a healthy fresh snack.

Enjoy!

Movie Review; Captian America

Captain America is a scrawny young kid who lost both parents in WWII. He desperately wants to join the army, but is to weak to be accepted. However, due to his incredible integrity, loyalty, and honesty, He is chosen to become a incredible superhuman thanks to the extreme amounts of technological brilliance from one man... After he becomes Captain America... He starts fighting to defeat Germany and win the war.

Things I liked
   The character of Captain America himself. A true hero we can root for with all our might is a rare thing nowadays, especially coming from Hollywood. Marvel does an incredible job of showing how a true hero acts in the lowest of circumstances, to having the most power on earth. Captain America is a rare figure who exhibits Honor, Truth, Perseverance, Honesty, Sacrifice, and Humility. All biblical qualities that are very well expressed in this flick. 

  The aspect of relationships with women. Steve (Captain America) is not your typical ladies man. Actually he is one ladies man. Throughout the entire movie we see him over and over again choosing to wait for "the right partner". There is one time a girl forces herself on him, but he is immediately ashamed. When he finds "his partner" it is a very pure relationship, and I really appreciated that from Marvel. Not once did the words "I love you" appear. They were never needed, and it was a weird thing not to hear those words from a movie, but weird in a good way. 

   There is an underlying theme of perseverance in this movie. Over and over Steve is given an opportunity to give up, yet he never does. Twice he is asked "you just don't quit do you?" to which he replies with a simple, yet stubborn "Nope". Whether it is chasing an enemy through new york, or maneuvering a a futuristic machine, Steve never gives up or gives in. This something from which we can all learn.

   Finally, I liked how evil was portrayed. Evil was evil, no if, ands, or buts. The bad guys were bad guys and you never wanted to root for em. That alone got a big thumbs up for me.

Things I Didn't Like
  There is a lot of violence in this movie, I'll bet I saw more that a hundred people get killed. Captain America has a shield, and he knows how to use it. He bashes heads, breaks necks, and pounds bodies in every which way. Tons of people gunned down. One shot we see it exit out the victim's back, and blue guns vaporize enemies. A particular scene that made me flinch was watching a guy getting sliced with aircraft blades. Men fall to their deaths. It was less bloody than LOTR, but it had the *punch* or something from like Batman Begins. Not pretty, not fun, this is war. With war come losses. Plenty were had and shown in this movie.

   There is an underlying theme of man's goodness. I hated that message. one quote in particular *you know what separates us from them? We are good. A good man know the value of weakness, and compassion" The idea that some people are good and others isn't is quite flawed, all men are bad, not matter how "good" they may seem. It is only through Christ we can do good. 

   Another thing wrong was the amount of language in this film, I know I know, it is a war/military movie... but still, it is fake and would have appreciated a lot less.

Closing Thoughts
With all that being said, do I recommend this movie? Yes, I do. 

   It is no surprise to me this movie is getting bad reviews from "professional" critics. A movie that had an honorable hero? Evil shown as... Evil? AND a almost biblical view on relationships... Big red flag in their book.
   So while the language and worldview are clearly unacceptable and sinful in this movie. The other themes are refreshing to see in a world of trash and junk.
   I walked out of this movie feeling... filled. Filled with an appreciation to what sacrifice and perseverance can do, even in the light of the loss and tragedy that comes with it.

To me, Captain America is the hero movie of the year. I think it will be yours too.

Matador Restoration; The Decklid

In case you are wondering, a decklid is the "hood" for the trunk. I have no idea why that is the term, but neither do I understand why a pair of wire cutters are called "dikes"....

Anyway, let's get to the pics. :)

Here it is, in incredible condition on top, with some rust on the seams underneath...

Now it is stripped... Took me about an hour to do the top, and another hour to do the bottom if I remember correctly.

This is a pic of the underside after it has been primed and blocked.

 Top Primed. :)

 Blocking process...

A better close up of what the primer has to look like to be acceptable for paint. The far right is... the far left is yet to get there.

So, pretty simple once you get the hang of it and get the process down... It took me three half days to finish the decklid....

Next up...

The doors. All four of the banged up, beaten in, and rust free doors. ;)

Austin

Matador Restoration; The Hood

One of the very first parts I started working on this restoration was the hood and the decklid. This post will cover the hood, and the next will cover the decklid.

After I got the hood off the car, I placed it on two padded sawhorses like so;

There was very little damage to the hood for it being 40 years old. The clear-coat had faded and some of the paint underneath had started "spiderwebbing". 

I took a "DA" to the hood with 180 grit sandpaper. A DA is a air powered rotary sander about 6 inches in diameter. It makes dust. In our case... white dust. 

This is what the hood looked like after going over the entire hood with the DA. I didn't have to strip all the paint because most of it was still good.

DAing the top of the hood took me about 2 hours if I remember correctly. Time to flip it over...

The bottom of the hood was a lot worse than the top. There was surface rust, oil splatter, dirt, and the old fiberglass insulation (which had mold on the inside of it). 

4 hours later.... once the dirt, oil, and rust was removed... it didn't look that bad. :)

Yup, that's the same hood. After it is primed. ;)

I flipped the hood back over, and primed the top too.

Now, the next part of the paint prep process is the most difficult and time consuming. This step is called "Blocking". Blocking consists of take 400 grit wet sandpaper, a sanding block, and going over the primer until it is smooth to the fingers. 

Usually it take 2-3 coats of primer and sanding to get the surface just right and ready for paint. 

The left side is all done, and the right has yet to be sanded. It is blackish because I sprayed some guide-coat on the primer to detect an micro spots.

So, as of now, the hood is done and leaning against the wall ready for paint.

That's it for the hood. :)

Movie Review; Source Code

What if you could relive a moment in time, where you had a chance to make a different choice, create a different outcome, and experience a new reality?

With source code, you can.

Intro Captain Stevens, a soldier in the Iraq war who has been forced to enter this "Source Code". His mission? He has eight minutes to find and disable a bomb in a train. Here's the catch; the bomb has already exploded.  Confused?
   Good.

You want an explanation?

Keep reading. ;)
   Through source code a doctor was able to capture eight minutes of a person's life before the train exploded. Stevens is sent into that memory to find and destroy the bomb, so they can predict where the next one is going to be...

Eight minutes, one man, two realities, and and infinite number of possible outcomes...

Things I liked 
Stevens is a true soldier, upon waking from the source code his first question is "where are my men?" There are times throughout the movie where he thinks about himself, but ultimately, he sacrifices many comforts (and dies many times) in order to find the bomb.

   It is made clear throughout the movie his relationship with his father has been a hard one, while in the source code he goes out of his way to remedy the relationship with a very heartfelt phone call. It was quite moving.

   The man who created source code is not honorable. The woman who talks to Stevens is quite honorable and fulfills Stevens last requests. She knew she would be fired because of it, but does what he asks willingly.

  I loved the story. This is an action film, but also makes you think. a lot. Your brain will be churning after watching the movie, and is no mindless blow up film. It will leave you thinking.

Things I didn't like
   Stevens is pretty violent towards the passengers on the train, because talking to one; "you aren't real". It pained me to see him carelessly punching, throwing, and attacking seemingly innocent civilians to fufill his mission. There is a lot of punching, smacking, and gun pointing in the movie. People "Die" every time the eight minutes is up, and it is quite vivid at times. Two people get shot and die in one source code. blood is minimal, showing up around the mouth when punched. It is definitely not a light violence at all.  It also was painful to watch how many times one could be destroyed in a train explosion.

   There is a girl on the train, and she is the first person he sees coming into the source code. While he seems to have a genuine care for her, it is always with the fact that she isn't real and is just a stimulation of the program. While later it does change into something more, it begins in way I didn't like and he made advances that were inappropriate. Stevens and the girl (catherine I think) talk inappropriately once implying something that isn't. They kiss multiple times. (once a zoom in and still frame). There is a comedian who jokes about a girl inappropriately.

  There is a lot of swearing in this movie. They are even able to squeeze in a full F word. the H---, S---, and God's name is taken in vain many many times. 

Closing thoughts 
There are definite moral, ethical, and spiritual questions raised in this movie... and none of which are answered.

   While the ending to this movie is one of the best I have seen in a long time, the lack of any moral resolution leaves a puzzled feeling inside. This movie is a brain bender, and honestly, I do recommend it.

    Yes, the violence is intense, and I dislike the unacceptable amount of language in the movie. But I also can appreciate seeing a soldier shown in glory again, and the pure joy of wondering "What if?". What if I had done this? What if I had done that?

This movie will really make you think about your actions, and how they will not only affect this life, but also the next. It shows each choice you make has sweeping effects on not only your life, but also on those around you. 

And unlike Mr. Stevens who has many lives to get things right, we only have one life...

It was good to be reminded we need to make the most of this life in bringing God glory.

Movie Review; "Gnomeo and Juliet"

Do you have yard decorations? A plastic flamingo here... and Yard gnome there... that funny frog fountain you got a few years back... Well if you do, there could be a huge inter-color war going on between your yard and the neighbors...

Well, maybe not. But in this movie, that is definitely the case.

There is one rule. If you are a blue gnome- you fight the reds. If you are a red gnome, you fight the blues. That is the way it is.
In this movie Disney takes a tragedy by William Shakespeare and turns it into a Toy Story like tale of the reds Vs the blues.

Including of course; Gnomeo and Juliet.

Things I Liked

This story is about love and getting along. Albeit in a rather than unusual way... but the message is there. One of my favorite parts about the movie was a depiction of how divorce not only hurts the people married, but everyone around them. Many films nowadays show divorce a normal and acceptable way of life. This movie shows how much this action can hurt and what remains after the act.

Although gnomeo and Juliet just met, they continually risk smashing (death) to save one another.

If you have watched alot of disney movies, you will catch many quotes and references from older animated Disney films. It was a very funny and enjoyable addition to the movie.

Things I didn't like.

The whole story of Romeo and Juliet was written with the premise they must hide from their families if they wanted to be together. This movie is no different. Several times we see both lovers lie about where they were, what they were doing etc. Juliet continually rebels against her father, and her father is shown as an overprotective worrygnome. Gnomeo is no better. He continually sneaks away from his mother, then lies about what he did or didn't do. All of this is excused in the viewers eyes for the cause of "love".

When Gnomeo and Juliet meet, it is portrayed as love at first sight. Of all the things Hollywood comes out with, this idea sickens me most. The idea that "Love" is an uncontrollable emotion we are to be whisked away in a dreamland wind... is just as flawed as saying the moon is purple. We see throughout the whole movie they have a conscious choice to be loyal to their color. They plan to do so, until they see each other. Then everything goes dreamy and they can't help themselves.

The majority of humor presented in this movie disappointed me quite a bit. There were lots of crude and toilet humor references... Which coming from Disney surprised me as that is more in Dreamworks' department. 

As far as violence goes there are plenty of near miss moments of smashing in the movie. Gnomes are made of cement, so there is plenty of clinking, chipping, and other threatening words... one gnome is smashed, quite dramatically too. There is also an intense push-mower race.

Some other negatives include a  guy gnome in a thong type thing. There is a country girl gnome with tight clothes and revealing gnomish cleavage. Slang such as "junk in the trunk" and other innuendo references are used. A reference to infidelity was mentioned in a comeback line.

Gnomeo and Juliet clink lips.

As far as swearing, the only thing I noticed was a poor pun attempt "Let's go kick some grass!".

Closing Thoughts

It is no doubt that William Shakespeare's classic "Romeo and Juliet" was created without a biblical mindset, so is it any surprise that this movie falls to greater depths?

We do see an honorable viewing on how fighting and relationships can damage others. There are some very funny one-liners. And there is something to note on giving one's life for people you love.

But couple that with the Dreamworks like toilet humor , the considerable amount of unneeded sexual jargon, and overall unnecessary adult humor...

Avoiding this movie is no misgnomer to me.