I took a new job at a software company in Palo Alto, which means an 80 mile commute every day through Bay Area combat traffic.  The first two weeks wore hard on my motorcycle - a 14 year old Ninja 500.  Last week on my ride home, the left turn signal stopped working.  Fuck.

If you thought debugging a software problem was hard, try debugging a hardware problem.  There are some salient facts about hardware problems that make them a real bitch:

  1. You need to buy a lot of tools.
  2. There's a real possibility that you will fuck something up beyond repair.
  3. There's a real possibility that you will injure yourself.
  4. If it's your primary vehicle, you need to have it up and running on Monday.
A blinker light stops working, which means electricity isn't flowing.  Sounds easy, but to get access to the wires, I needed to take the whole damn thing apart:

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You know how when you're writing software for a client, and they completely underestimate the amount of time and effort required to build something?  Yeah, the same goes for auto mechanics.  Don't bitch about a shop's $75/hr labor rate or their diagnosis fee.