A knack for solving problems?
First a little background into the story.
So, I had this TITAN sport watch that I loved wearing. It was gifted to me by my dad on a special occasion two years ago. It has a lot of sentimental value and moreover its one of the most comfortable watches I've ever used.
Over the past summer, the battery died and since I was shopping for something at Wal Mart, I noticed their watch center and gave my watch in to have its battery replaced. The person at the counter went like "Wow, its a foreign watch! We dont get to see many of these here." Or something like that. I didnt know that it would eventually mean "Aaah I dont know how to change its battery and I may screw your watch up." So she changed the battery and handed it back to me and it seemed to work. A little later I realized that although it showed time, the buttons on the side were busted. They no longer worked. I took it back and they tried to fix it and when they returned it, neither the buttons could be pushed in, nor did it show the time anymore. They had made it worse than it was and they basically gave it back to me because they didnt know how to fix what they screwed up. I was furious, but didnt say anything out of politeness. I even paid the bill for the battery.
Then I went ahead and bought a new Columbia Sportswear watch for myself, which I liked, but later I found myself not wearing it since it was too bulky (and not as comfy as my old one). So basically I was going watchless for the last few months, using my cell phone as my time keeper.
So coming to the main point now, I was missing wearing my old watch a lot today. I had been waiting until I go to India next summer and get it fixed. But I could wait no longer. So I sat down on my computer desk with two screw drivers and opened it up very carefully taking out six tiny screws. It took a few moments to take the mechanism out of the plastic casing, examine it and then I realized that the Wal Mart watch lady had broken one of the four contacts. Then the next 10 minutes were used to fix it and I finally got the time to show up on the screen. I put the digital mechanism back into the casing and found that the buttons still didnt work. It took a few times of inserting and removing the mechanism from the casing to figure out a flaw in the design of the button system. It now required me to take all the buttons out from the casing as well and then put the watch mechanism into the casing and then put the buttons at the end.
Eventually, an hour spent, but I got the job done! And no, I am not an electronic engineer and dont know jack about watches. Looking back I realize this knack of solving problems is what drew me to engineering and computer science in the first place.
So, I had this TITAN sport watch that I loved wearing. It was gifted to me by my dad on a special occasion two years ago. It has a lot of sentimental value and moreover its one of the most comfortable watches I've ever used.
Over the past summer, the battery died and since I was shopping for something at Wal Mart, I noticed their watch center and gave my watch in to have its battery replaced. The person at the counter went like "Wow, its a foreign watch! We dont get to see many of these here." Or something like that. I didnt know that it would eventually mean "Aaah I dont know how to change its battery and I may screw your watch up." So she changed the battery and handed it back to me and it seemed to work. A little later I realized that although it showed time, the buttons on the side were busted. They no longer worked. I took it back and they tried to fix it and when they returned it, neither the buttons could be pushed in, nor did it show the time anymore. They had made it worse than it was and they basically gave it back to me because they didnt know how to fix what they screwed up. I was furious, but didnt say anything out of politeness. I even paid the bill for the battery.
Then I went ahead and bought a new Columbia Sportswear watch for myself, which I liked, but later I found myself not wearing it since it was too bulky (and not as comfy as my old one). So basically I was going watchless for the last few months, using my cell phone as my time keeper.
So coming to the main point now, I was missing wearing my old watch a lot today. I had been waiting until I go to India next summer and get it fixed. But I could wait no longer. So I sat down on my computer desk with two screw drivers and opened it up very carefully taking out six tiny screws. It took a few moments to take the mechanism out of the plastic casing, examine it and then I realized that the Wal Mart watch lady had broken one of the four contacts. Then the next 10 minutes were used to fix it and I finally got the time to show up on the screen. I put the digital mechanism back into the casing and found that the buttons still didnt work. It took a few times of inserting and removing the mechanism from the casing to figure out a flaw in the design of the button system. It now required me to take all the buttons out from the casing as well and then put the watch mechanism into the casing and then put the buttons at the end.
Eventually, an hour spent, but I got the job done! And no, I am not an electronic engineer and dont know jack about watches. Looking back I realize this knack of solving problems is what drew me to engineering and computer science in the first place.
