Never Under Estimate the Power of Google… or the Internet.
Probably an odd subject. But let me explain my predicament and why I’m praising Google and the power of the internet. Recently I found myself in a situation where both of my automobiles were facing minor, yet annoying issues.
My wife’s 2006 Scion XB suddenly had an issue where none of the power windows worked besides the drivers window. Previously it was just the back drivers side window. (Still not sure what that is.) And this past Friday, as I left for work I found the lock was missing from my Suzuki Forenza – completely and utterly gone.
Both of the issues could’ve easily been fixed by visiting the local mechanic or dealer – and I may end up having to do that still. But why waste my hard earned money paying someone $80-150/hour to do the same thing that I could do right? So I set out on a venture with my mouse in one hand, keyboard in the other, and my favorite search engine.
The XB issue ended up being simple enough. It seems my bad habit of playing with the window lock finally caught up with me. (To my wife: Yes, it was/is my fault!) It appears the contacts into the button may have been fused together with my constant playing and perhaps the 100+ degree temperatures we often face in the desert. At any rate, Google found me an answer. Within a few minutes, I had all the previously working windows – working once again! What was the solution you might ask? I just needed to mash down on that button again and wiggle it around a bit. 
Time Spent Searching Google: 15 minutes
Time fixing windows: 10 minutes
The power of Google: Priceless…
As for my Suzuki – I quickly grew annoyed of this issue after only a weekend. My Suzuki lacks the bells and whistles, afterall it’s just my commuter. Unlocking the door always requires a key, so I spent most of the weekend climbing through from the passenger side. Yea – pretty annoying. I was beyond frustrated, even to the point where I was thinking about just trading her in for a new car. Perhaps that was the summer heat getting to me.
After talking with a buddy of mine, I began to think that my situation was a result of vandalism. It clearly looked as though someone purposely punched in my lock. So I spent a little while on the phone with my insurance company yesterday and long story shorter – they said it would probably cost me around $250 to repair. I wasn’t about to waste that kind of money to resolve a simple issue like this. Once again I consulted my good friend Google, to figure out how to remove the door panel. Google is so intelligent, it found my answer right within Yahoo Answers!. Awesome huh? Within 30 minutes I had the door panel off, found that it was just a single screw that wiggled lose (so the lock fell down into the door), and had it all put back together again.
Time searching Google: 20 minutes
Time fixing issue: 30 minutes
Power of the Internet: Priceless…
So end of the story… never, ever, ever under estimate the power of our friend Google – or the Internet.
(Dumb post I know – but felt like I should give some credit to where it’s due.)
