Monday, August 29, 2011

Another off the bucket list

I almost died.

So for a couple of months now, my hair straightener has been going in and out. It won't stay on for any extended period of time. Sometimes it doesn't come on at all. It's a real pain in the butt especially since my hair is getting longer. And if you aren't familiar with my hair first thing in the morning, it's a scary, scary sight. It's been in a messy, throw-back to high school bun for the past month. I tried to do my hair the other day and it was completely unsuccessful. The thing only stayed on long enough for me to do the pieces near my face, not even long enough to touch the craziness in the back. So I logged on to amazon to buy one and saw a review about how their straightener was shorting out. That's what I thought was happening with mine. Well, the reviewer also posted steps to fixing it. Sweet. Because I had thought if I could just get the damn thing open I might be able to tighten up a wire or two and fix the problem. And save us $70 (and that's a cheap price for one of these....usually over $100. But spread that over the three+ years I've had this last one). I break out the mini screwdrivers from the drill head set and the drill and a couple of full size screw drivers just in case. I say this like I had a plan and gathered everything up but in reality it was more like 15 trips between the tool kit and the computer.

I'm humming along nicely. I get the plate off holding the cord, get the cord out, see some wires that look promising. Only they look too good. Like there's nothing wrong with them. But that's okay because I'm really after the switchboard under the switch. I pry off the covers for the hinge and de-hinge the thing. (That may have involved a drill, gigantic screwdriver, my knees, and some cuss words). Finally all that is standing between me and my faulty switchboard are two teeny tiny screws. First out pretty easy and them onto the second. STRIPPED. screw. I worked on that stupid screw for ten solid minutes with at least ten different tools. Nothing. Notta. Crap-ola. Maybe I could just pry it open. Fail. Well, maybe jiggling the wires and prying everything kind of open made it work. Like how kicking things can make it work. So I put the cord back in and go plug it in to see if it works. Nope. I pull the cord out of the straightener. Keep in mind, it is still plugged into the wall. Then I decide to put the cord back into the straightener. WIthout unplugging it from the wall. Now, I can check being electrocuted off my bucket list. After the shock wore off (pun? or just the truth?) I threw the whole stupid thing, stripped screw included, in the trash and hit purchase on amazon. A girl needs a present after almost dying you know.

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