iPod Battery Replacement Number Two

It’s been 7½ years since this happened:

A few days ago, Aaron took a look at my old iPod Classic sitting on the speaker dock in the living room and noticed that its battery had swelled up so much as to bust the plastic clips on the case.

Yikes.

Luckily, replacement batteries are still available on Amazon — at about half the cost of seven years ago. I ordered a battery on Sunday evening (entirely paid for with Rewards Points from my Amazon Visa), and it arrived in the mail today.

Even though I should be in bed trying to fall asleep right now, I decided not only to try installing it — hey, Aaron did the hard part of getting the original battery unstuck from the case years ago — but I also decided to document the process, just because.

The battery had helpfully popped the case open for me, so I barely used the prying tools that came with the battery. That old battery is poofed up like a pillow. Eww.

Swollen battery

Just to make sure I was doing it right, I pulled up a YouTube video on ye olde laptop to refresh my memory on the innards of my iPod. The only slightly tricky part this time around was getting the tiny ribbon cable in place and then locking it there.

But, hot damn, I did it!

iPod booting up

The clips holding the front piece to the back piece really are busted, so we’ll have to be gentle with it from now on… but it works!

Working 30GB iPod Classic

I’ve been meaning to refresh the music on this bad boy for literally years, so I guess now’s as good a time as any.

–Well, I mean, not RIGHT now. Right now, I need to get my ass up to bed. But I will do so with a righteous sense of accomplishment.

Cardio Kickboxing: Level Up

Fitbit heart rate graph I’ve decided to back down to one Krav Maga class per week, since the classes can run past my son’s regular bedtime. Since the Fitness Center at my work had a Kickboxing class on the schedule for today, I decided to do that today and Krav on Wednesday.

I didn’t expect this class to kick my ass so hard. I used it as an opportunity to practice proper form — mostly pivoting on my back foot on crosses and hooks — but I hadn’t taken into account how FAST the moves happen. The cardio sections the instructor put in between drills and combos were my chance to lower my heart rate.

I was pleased to note how many of my Krav habits are automatic now: keeping my hands up by my face, pivoting on crosses and hooks, remembering to exhale (even if I don’t kiai), turning my foot sideways on a side kick, and managing to turn on the intensity when warranted — even if I’m beat and in danger of overheating.

I spent a good amount of time in a cold shower after class, cooling down my core.

I feel good right now, on several levels.