DIY Screwdrivers

(Finally, a decent blog post!)

AHEM.

As far back as I could remember, I've always enjoyed the thought of playing with tools and using them for one thing or another. A lot of the time I enjoyed being the one to use the screwdrivers to change the batteries of toys and radios and stuff, and even looked forward to help my Dad set up his tool board in his little "Batcave" workshop.

Just a few minutes ago, I came home from work (alone) to our maid expressing her concern that my brother's door was somehow locked and couldn't be opened. She pointed out the keys to all the rooms in the house, most of which were attached to nostalgic key tags from the company where my Dad works. Most had markers labeling what key went where, and she mentioned that the one that was supposedly for my brother's room wasn't working. After sifting through the keys, I noted that it must have been ages since they were labeled, and so assumed that rooms belonged to different people.

I took two keys up with me to check on the situation - the one that was labeled as my brother's room, and one that was labeled simply as "Boy's Room". My room was actually my brother's a few years back, so I nonchalantly checked it. Lo and behold, it worked, so that mean the second key was the culprit.

When I went to check on the lock, however, turning it I noticed that it showed no signs of it being locked, but tried the key anyway. It fit like a glove but it still wouldn't budge. Eventually, I saw that it was a bit off its center when I saw the mechanism inside. After a bit of fiddling, I spotted the problem - the knob got unhinged from the latch, hence the seemingly locked door. And so I busted out the screwdriver (I thank my Grampa everyday whenever I use my barrel of screwdrivers) and started shimmying things around. It took a while 'cause pulling back on the latch turned out to be more difficult than I envisioned it to be. But thanks to a little perseverance, I finally got it to open!

These are the times I wished my Sonic Screwdriver worked. But hey, at least the actual counterpart of it did the trick!

Devices and Job Promotions

Last Valentine's Day, my Dad surprised my Mom with a nifty new gadget - a new iPad Mini. He gave her an iPad 2 a couple of years back, and she was hinting at wanting something smaller. That being said, it left the iPad 2 in some neglect, when I nonchalantly quipped what she would do with it.

Of course I didn't expect much. After all, I never hinted at wanting one, though it has been on my wishlist to get myself my own device. But one Sunday morning when I was feeling ill they asked if I wanted to have it. Despite my illness I nodded a yes. Of course, that meant having to transfer out my Mom's amassed photo gallery before I could reformat it but I'm grateful to have a little tablet to play with.

Nowadays I'm finding it to be a nifty companion to help me play games FOR RESEARCH. I never thought I'd see the day really. Our focus on games gears towards mobile devices, particularly iOS and Android devices. Since my iPod Touch got snatched, I never had a personal device to take home and destroy play the build with when it came to the iOS platform. So this was ultimately a pleasant surprise. That and playing other games to find trends and monetization models that work - yes that's part of my job description now too.

Just last month, I (officially) took on a new role as Quality and Community Manager, which included much of the responsibilities I mentioned in this post two months back. Sometime soon I'll be getting more work and possibly a new title too, meaning better compensation! Just as long as I don't royally screw things up, I'm good.