Four years ago, my colleagues at BNP Paribas gave me an iPod Nano as a leaving gift.  It worked great and I use it all the time for running.  I have a big iPod Classic too, but this little 1Gb gadget is perfect for my runs (since it has the flash memory and I find it easy to navigate the music while running than I did when running with an iPhone.

The problem is that a few years ago, after running with it through the rain, the click wheel stopped working properly.  It works eventually but you have to fiddle with it.  For example, the menu button wouldn’t work until you clicked it about 5 times.  It was annoying, but I learned to live with it.  I thought about replacing it, but it hardly I couldn’t really justify the expense to myself to get a new one.

So the other day, I stumbled upon some videos on how to fix various problems with iPods, iPhones, etc.  Since my Nano was probably way outside any warranty anyway, I decided to fix it myself.  Around my house, I’m known for fixing things and making them worse (like flooding my own kitchen or making a small leaky tap to a large leaky tap), so it went against my better judgement—but I tried it anyway..

I bought a new click wheel for £3.99 from http://www.appleiphoneparts.co.uk/.  It was tiny and it came in an envelope the next day.  They have loads of parts  I also bought a iPhone toolkit from E-Cell on ebay (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/E-Cell-Global) for £2.95.

I then watched a video made by  DigiExpress in the US (http://www.digiexpress.us/) which walks through how to replace it:

 

I had to pause this video loads of times at each step, but I got it to work.  It took me about 20 minutes.  My 4-year-old Nano is just like new. When the battery goes out on it, I will be able to replace that too.  I’m chuffed about saving some money by fixing myself, but I’m more pleased that I didn’t have to add yet one more piece of technology to a landfill somewhere.

The weather here in Oxfordshire has been fantastic the past few weeks.  It’s not like English weather at all, but a lot more like the California summers I’ve grown up with.  The weather has been sunny and about 80 degrees Farrenheit.  The other day while I was driving with the windows down in the car and the music blaring, it reminded me of taking long drives in the States—except that I was sitting on what should have been the passenger seat and driving in the lane that should have had oncoming traffic.

One of the things people ask me a lot (during small talk, of course) is if I miss the California weather.   I do, but not so much.  One thing I’ve found since moving here is that English people are a lot more concerned with the weather than people who grow up in California.  The weather in San Diego was always nice, so there was never a need to chat about it.  Sometimes it rained, but not so often.  In England I can see why there is an obsession with weather.  It’s not that the weather is rainy all the time, it’s just that you get a lot of gray, bleak, days.  When the weather is nice, you feel like you need to really enjoy it.

When it’s 80 degrees, people start to complain about the heat.  It’s too hot to do anything.  I’ve lived in Texas for a few years—now that was heat.  I worked at Sea World of Texas in San Antonio through the Summer where every day reached over 100 degrees.  But after living in the UK for the past 12 years, this weather is too hot.

The past few winters have had record snowfall and it has nearly closed London.  But it’s nothing compared to the times I’ve visited Minnesota in the winter.  But the infrastructure here is not geared for extremes in weather.  Most homes don’t have air conditioning and most towns don’t have many snow ploughs.

This weather will end soon, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts.  As I write this, I’m sitting on a blanket in a part watching my kids play in park sprinklers.  Life couldn’t be better.

Yesterday I ran the Reading Half Marathon for the second year in a row.  My time was not great.  I came in at 2:03:47.  Last year I came in at 1 hour 54 mins. 

My problem was that I started at a really good pace—too good.  I couldn’t keep it up.  I was fine up until the seventh mile when I the little voice that was urging me to walk for the previous two miles finally won over.  I stopped and walked for a few minutes.  Every time I started up after that it was difficult.  It’s funny how much psychology is involved in running these distances.  If I had better music on my mp3—something that let me think about other things than running—I may have done a lot better.

Last year, I trained a lot more.  I’ve been running regularly, but usually doing only 3 or 4 miles three times a week.

It’s funny being the walker.  The guy who just gives in.  Some people patted me on the back and they ran past.  The people cheering at the side of the road were saying “come on, you can do it.”  I even started to fake a limp just so they would think I was running through an injury.  When I started running again, my legs felt awful and stiff.  My feet pounded the pavement even harder than they had just a few minutes earlier—like the cushion had disappeared from my running shoes. I had the same problem when I ran the Honolulu marathon back when I was 22.  Never stop running!

Still, I’m happy with my time.  I didn’t walk that much.  2:03 is not bad.