How-to Tuesday: MacBook Hard Drive Surgery

Last week, when I finally decided that blogging would be a good outlet, the unthinkable happened. Friday afternoon, I got home for lunch to do something on my computer when it was frozen. Great, I thought. Restarted it, and got what can only be described as a nightmare for any MacBook user - the flashing folder with an exclamation point. You know what they might as well flash on the screen? 'YOUR HARD DRIVE IS DEAD, YOU'RE FUCKED'.

Once I was done hyperventilating and flipping out over how "Oh god I can't afford a new computer right now, what am I going to do?" I set to Googling and figured out that I could get a new hard drive for the price of $50, versus $1000+ for a new MacBook. After I left work, I headed to Best Buy to buy one (word to the wise, you can use basically any internal laptop hard drive that's 9.5mm tall in a MacBook), after borrowing the necessary screwdrivers from one of the mechanics at work (they have to be good for something), and almost bought a 40 on my way (to calm my nerves), but opted against it.

This is a step-by-step manual on how to replace a MacBook hard drive. I'm sure if you Google it, you can definitely find one that has better pictures and more technical advice, but screw it - I did it, I know enough!

You will need:

• MacBook (dead or not, does not matter)
• Internal hard drive that will fit (mine was a Western Digital ScorpioBlue, 250 GB)
• Torx T8 screwdriver
• Philips screwdriver, size 00 (AKA f'n small)

And last but not least, a rosary and/or a stiff drink, to pray you won't fuck up, and to drink if you do. I opted against the drink, but it's still an option.

1. Use a coin to unlock the battery from the back of your machine. Pull it out. 
2. Locate the metal memory cover and its' 3 Philips screws. Pull those out, and remove the memory cover, being careful not to bend it. 
3. Using your Torx screwdriver, remove the 4 screws on the hard drive's metal casing. Remove the old hard drive. 
4. Unwrap the new hard drive and set it into the casing. Replace the 4 screws. 
5. Slide the casing back into the laptop. I learned the hard way that the print on the drive should be facing down - if it's facing up, you're putting it in upside down and will have to gut your laptop more than once. 
6. Replace the memory cover, battery, and voila! Turn on the machine and check your work. You will need to start the computer from an OS CD and run Disk Utility. You will know if you were successful if the new drive shows up in Disk Utility. 
7. Format the new drive and reinstall your operating system. 

Below, find photos of the steps - Blogger is being awful to me and not letting me post them alongside their directions.

See? Easy as pie! I didn't need that rosary OR that drink!

This was a one-off technical post - most of my 'how-to's will be craft related. It's not every day your computer basically decides to eat shit, so I decided to commemorate it forever with a blog post! Enjoy, good luck, and godspeed.

Get pretty! - Version 1.0

I can prettymuch promise that these types of posts will be few and far between. Back in May, I started a new job in what is, for all intensive purposes, an auto shop. Five days a week, I'm in work blues and change into a t-shirt and jeans for the duration of my day. Before yesterday, I hadn't worn makeup or - eep - waxed my eyebrows in I don't know how long. I'd been shaving off my overgrowth. I don't suggest going that route, seeing as I've had what I affectionately call 'goth mistakes' including shaving off giant portions of my eyebrows. Frickin' whoops! So yeah - have the patience to take care of yourselves, ladies - don't end up a half-eyebrowed freak of nature.

Sunday, I had what I called 'Get Pretty Day #2'. 'Get Pretty Day #1' included me dying my washed-out red/orange/pink/blonde/burgundy mop an auburn color I actually really love, and re-dying the undercut (shaved) side of my hair what I like to call 'mystery purple', where I mix Punky Colour in Red Wine and N'Rage in Purple Plum and see what happens. For the first time in awhile, I felt dang cute!

When I woke up on Sunday, I decided that I was actually going to take the time to look good - for me! In that, I waxed eyebrows, put on a full face of makeup, actually wore jewelry, and all to go to the craft store and on my weekly drive to nowhere. I loved every second of it!

lookin' like a new woman!

I think I did a dang good job! Now, I don't not wear makeup because I don't like it or anything of the sort. I just don't like wasting makeup I pay pretty decent money for on doing nothing more than sweating and running around a dirty auto shop with the boys. I've been told I'm pretty good with a makeup brush on several occasions - even had some friends ask me to do theirs! What a compliment. For maybe the first, and only time in history, I actually took stock of what I used as far as makeup went. Immediately after waxing my eyebrows, so blame the redness on that, not a creepy skin disease.

don't mind my junky skin! i've learned to live with it!

• Foundation: Covergirl Clean Oil Control/MAC Studio Fix
• Brows: Dark half of the Clinique Coffee Shop eyeshadow duo
• Eyeshadow Base: LASplash Splashproof Sealer (this stuff rules!)
• Outside Corner: Kat Von D shadow in Prague
• Middle Color: MAC Hepcat
• Inner Corner: Kat Von D shadow in Rehab
• Highlight: Kat Von D shadow in Sugar Skull
• Liner: MAC Penultimate in Rapidblack
• Lashes: L'Oreal Carbon Black Double Extend
• Loose Powder: Cover Girl Professional Loose Powder

And to think - all of that to make just one look happen. A lot of things in my makeup kit I've had for a long time, but I do have a few products I live and die by. I love Kat Von D's eyeshadows and lipsticks. I like the fact that I can get a bunch of colors for $36 (or $17 like the last palette I had), and the staying power is ridiculous. Her line also boasts my favorite lipstick of all time, Hellbent Red. I like to mix up drugstore and higher end makeups to complete my looks, and it's never done me wrong!

Now a look is definitely not complete without a good nail polish job. I have one better - and a new product to fall in love with - I know I did!

Sally Hansen's Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips are officially my new jam. I've used them three different times now (pictured above), and am in love. I bought my first set ("Kitty, Kitty" - leopard print) about a month ago, and was completely surprised by how well they stayed. I didn't experience any chipping with them, they just pulled up from my nailbeds as my nails grew, and didn't look as good as they once did. Second, I tried "Glitz Blitz", a crazy gold glitter. Loved that one, too. My newest nail strip endeavor has been "Laced Up", which I applied during "Get Pretty Day #2". I think out of these three, my favorite is still "Kitty, Kitty", but I haven't tried all of them yet!

As a former Minx enthusiast and addict, this is basically the exact same thing, only it saves you about $20 and a trip to the salon (you can pick them up for about $8.50 at Wal-Mart or Walgreens). I notice that these stay much better, also. Even though I'm always washing my hands and handling auto parts, typing, and knitting - I haven't experienced so much as a chip at the tips of my nails, which is incredibly impressive. I keep them on for around 10-14 days before taking them off, and they come off best with an acetone polish remover. The difference between these and Minx is that these are actual nail polish (they smell like nail polish and everything), that's about 95% dry, and it finishes drying as soon as you apply them to your nails. Application takes around 5-10 minutes, and there's no dry time! Some people like to use a top coat, but I don't and have been just fine. It's a personal preference for sure.

Until next time I decide to wear makeup...

Book Club Mondays: "I Don't Care About Your Band"

Julie Klausner's "I Don't Care About Your Band"

This summer, I have been reading a whole lot thanks to an adult summer reading club at one of my local libraries that could lead to glamorous prizes like tickets and gift cards! If I'm going to read the books anyway, why not - maybe - get a return? In any case, I finally finished reading Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries novels (the books True Blood is based on), and picked up something an adult would read.

I Don't Care About Your Band is one of those books I happened to pick up on the new shelf of the library. I read the back, thought it would likely be funny (a glowing review from one of my favorite comedians, Patton Oswalt, definitely helped), and checked it out. It sat on my kitchen table until a few days ago, and it was such a quick read, it only took a few days to get through!

The book chronicles Klausner's funniest adventures in dating, from the total psycho who may or may not have lived in his bathrobe to the guy in a band she couldn't stand spending five minutes with. Each chapter was a story in itself, and boasted yet another story of dating hell in a cute, entertaining way. I laughed out loud several times while I read it, and I'm not typically the type to laugh at a book.

From the back jacket:

This is not a book about successful relationships. This is a book - and a very, very funny one - about the humiliations we endure to find love and the lessons that can be culled from the wreckage. 

As someone who has never been incredibly lucky in relationships, it definitely rang true for me. Now that I'm finished reading it, I'm very glad I took the time to, and hope you will as well - lucky in love or not!

Sunday, Crafty Sunday: Thrifted frame rehab!

I am typically my craftiest on Sundays. Whether that's because sometimes I'm hungover (sometimes) or because I tend to sleep in the most on Sundays, I always just want to wake up and want to knit everything in my house together, or turn on the hot glue gun and glue my cats together. That's never happened, but you know what I mean. I also enjoy eating at Cici's Pizza Buffet every Sunday for lunch. This week it didn't happen, and last week I went so late it was like a Chuck E Cheese's, but perhaps I'll keep it going next Sunday.

A couple of weeks ago, I woke up on Sunday morning and decided to go out to the thrift stores I like, since I'd taken a day off of work and gone up to my hometown of Green Bay, spending an entire day with my mother going to garage sales and church rummage sales. I had the fever! At the first shop, I found a beer glass from one of my favorite Milwaukee bars, the spy-themed Safe House. I'm sure this won't be the last time I talk about this thrift shop, but let it be known that the USA Thrift Shop on Highway 100 in Milwaukee is plastered in Barbie dolls stapled, nailed, and affixed to the wall everywhere. I know that I have a photo, just can't find it.

Anywho, I went to my second shop - a Bethesda Thrift Shop, run by a local church - and struck gold! I am always on the hunt for two things: religious iconography (usually wall hangings depicting Jesus, Mary, or anything of that sort), and ornate frames to use for my finished cross stitch projects. I even had a couple of them finished at home that were just aching for an awesome frame. Even better, the shop was running a special with everything 50% off, so what should have been a $17 total wound up being closer to $9. Struck oil! In total, I got 7 frames for cross stitch projects, and 1 Last Supper image in a cool oval frame. When I found them, I of course headed straight to the craft store for acrylic paint, and the hardware store for spray paint.

my thrift and craft store finds!

My first order of business was to remove the random photos and dried flowers from the frames, as well as clean the glass. It seemed a lot more difficult than it actually wound up being!

After this step came my combined most/least favorite part of this entire project, and that was COMPLETELY violating my lease by turning my bathroom into a spray paint booth. Don't do it. I just do it because I don't have anywhere outside to spray, and I do wear a respirator when I remember. This, of course, being so I don't wind up passed out dead with my cats eating what's left of my muscles and skin from my bones when they run out of food. So, Russian landlords, if you're reading this, please don't evict and/or chop any of my fingers off. It's all for the love of crafting!

For primer, I used a gray spray primer that's good for wood, metal, or plastic. I picked it up at Menards, but I'm sure a Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware or something similar would have it as well. Once that part was done, I was finished with most of the frames, spare two of them, which I had finished pieces for. Those two, I decided to paint using acrylic craft paints from Jo Ann's. It took about a million coats, and it wasn't much fun. Once that paint dried completely, I sprayed a clear coat over them and called 'em done.

Danzig skull and PBR stitches, ready to go!

Since I was ready to frame finished stitch projects, I got out my craft iron (AKA my mom's old iron from the 70s/80s), ironed both pieces flat, and took to putting them in their new frames.

And there they are! Come back next Sunday and see what else I've got up my sleeve!

Conquering My Aversion to Blogging...

or: "Saying 'Fuck You' to Margaret White."

On a daily basis, I read the blogs and Tumblrs of people I've never met. I have always been interested in, and completely enthralled by, life stories, and reading blogs have been a great way for me to get my fix in that department. I've even gotten around to talking to a few bloggers in order to get myself some confidence, bloggers who I idolize in a way (the lovely Erin Dawn has been helpful in ways I can never put into words or thank her enough for).

You may ask why I haven't been able to do it myself. About seventy percent of me sees an ability to do the same, to share the story of my life, the things I love, and what I like to do. Ideas float through my head every day. The other thirty percent has held me back, and has been holding me back, for years. I call that thirty percent 'Margaret White'. You may know her as the mother of Sissy Spacek's "Carrie" in 1976. Hold please, an explanation is coming!

As a heavily tattooed woman, people see me and automatically think that I'm a fearless broad who'd punch you for looking at her sideways. Sometimes, I'm confident enough to feel that way, but most of the time I find myself keeping my feelings so deeply hidden that nobody gets in. Don't try it - it's a really shitty defense mechanism. I have been crippled by my own mind, my own 'what if's' for far too long. I'm ready to get back into life, get out of the dark, and lose the obnoxious fear that has been holding me back for the better part of the last four years, at least.

My fear has a name, and that name is 'Margaret White'. In the original film "Carrie", her mother was a super-Christian, abusive and atrocious woman. In one of the most memorable quotes of the film, she states - "They're all going to laugh at you." Instead of having a positive voice in my head pushing me to do things when I have an idea, or even just to get through the every day, I have had that. My own 'they're all going to laugh at you'. I have had nothing but misgivings about both people I know and strangers, thinking that if I write down what I feel, that I'll be chastised. I'll be made a fool of. That has put a stop to me writing on a more regular basis for at least the past three years.

Another part of it is that about ten years ago, a person I used to hold particularly close to me violated my trust and read very personal writings without permission. Since then, I have been crazy vigilant about being private with my feelings, especially with my writing. Nobody reads it unless I want them to, nobody knows about it unless I want them to, etc. I think it's about time to put that one to bed, too.

It's time for it all to stop. If I think about it, I have nothing to lose. I can't hold myself back or be dishonest about who I am and what I love anymore. It is no way to live, and my heart has been too heavy for too long because of it.

Breathing in, breathing out. I feel better already. Prepare for the entertainment to follow.

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