So last night I was able to successfully disassemble and then reassemble the powerbook my sister gave me, installing a new optical drive. And i didn't even have any extra screws left over. This site was a huge help. Once I started going by a guide on that site, I was able to go straight through the steps. The bonus was that after I was finished, I popped in a DVD and then a music cd, and they both correctly played on the machine. I haven't yet tested the burning capabilities, but that isn't even the highest priority. And at this point, if the thing won't burn a disc, I'm not messing with it again, anyway.

Another activity from last night was taking part in a Nashville tradition of hot chicken and 40s. For some people this is a daily thing, but not really for me. I went with a couple of former co-workers to a northern sketchy part of town (Dickerson Rd. for those familiar). There are two main things people go up there for. Hookers and hot chicken. We went for the latter. Try the former and you will take away a lot more than you bargained for.

So we went to Prince's Hot Chicken, a nashville institution. Walking in, there are 5 or 6 big movable wooden booths with plastic tablecloths on the tables. In the back there is a long counter in front of a hole in the wall with a skinny guy hanging out taking orders. It is as if it was an outside walk-up food purveyor, except behind a counter which makes it a pain to navigate past the line and back around the counter once your order is placed. It also takes about a half hour for your skillet fried hot chicken to be prepared. (Check out this article to see a picture.) So at the end of the counter (the opposite end of where the line is - I realize you aren't following me - but bear with me) there was this huge older dude just sitting there about two feet from an old black and white TV. He is watching tv and isn't paying attention to anything else. If the description of black and white does not paint a clear enough picture, imagine an old tv with dials and both straight and round antennas off the back. Mrs. Prince, who runs the joint, was behind the wall watching a color tv, but it was, from the looks of it, about the same circa as the b&w one.

These days, Nashville can be quite pleasant. Meaning, by the time we got there at about 6:45 or so, the outside air temp was pretty comfortable and so the heat in Prince's wasn't bad at all. Especially with the fans they had going. Evidently, they have an A/C system, but someone can't seem to get it right. You see that Diesel?

So anyway, after a while waiting, we got our chicken and headed back to Hillsboro Village, picking up our 40s on the way, to enjoy our meal in the comforts of boring, stale, bleached demographics and geographics. We left the hookers on Dickerson Road. The chicken was pleasantly hot, the potato salad was pleasantly creamy, and the 40s were slightly but pleasantly intoxicating. The way my stomach felt from the hot chicken this morning when I woke up was another story.