Why do I tinker?

Two years ago I bought one of those solar patio lights. You know...one of those you see in Walmart for $4-$5 that you can line a path with.

http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Set-of-4-Crackled-Glass-Solar-LED-Outdoor-Path-Lights__R1326.html

Granted this place has them at about $15 each but Walmart had one that was similar with the glass globe but not as well made as these are.

Well it died recently. So I decided to take it apart and see what was wrong.

Popped in a new battery and it was working again. So I took out the battery and put in a new Rechargeable NiMH battery (replacing the old and busted NiCad one). I also disassembled the unit and cleaned out the globe (full of bugs) and the solar panel (covered in dried crud). Put the whole thing back together and it is working like a charm.

A lot of people would ask "Why?"

"Why would you spend the better part of an hour digging out the tools, taking the unit apart, cleaning everything up and putting in a battery that costs about half of what the light fixture itself cost? Between the battery and your time you could have just bought a new one and had done."

Yes those people would be correct. The 2-pack of rechargeable batteries costs more than the light. And with my skills I could charge $10 per hour for my time. More even. But that's not the point.

There are two main points. The first one is that it gave me ideas.

While taking it apart and seeing how it is made and how it ticks...it gave me ideas. Ideas like mounting it onto a wooden staff and making it into a wizard's staff for Halloween, Cons, Cosplay, or even better making a bunch of them and selling them on Etsy. Keeping one or more for myself of course.

Then even more ideas. Get the translucent glass paints (for making the faux stained glass) and paint it different colors. You get the nifty crackle but in whatever color you want ranging from a dignified blue for manly wizards to a sinister red for dark lords of the arcane to "Pretty pretty princess" pink for...

Well I'd say for girls who want one but I've seen too many Anime Convention pictures where the rather large, obese, and only slightly less hairy than your average Wookie men try pulling off Sailor Moon.


[shudder]

Even more ideas involve getting a different LED and replacing the one in the unit. Get one of the color changing ones and frost the inside of the glass either with etching compound or with the Glass Frosting Paints that Krylon has.

But that hour of tinkering gave me so many ideas and fed my imagination. That's got to be worth something right?

The other reason I tinkered was for a more profound reason. There are so many things that are out of our control in our world. Unemployment, Global warming (or cooling...I lost track of which one it is this week), World Hunger, Disease, Politics, The Economy, Rampant Corruption, Crime, Drugs, the Ice Capades...

Sorry...had to throw that one in in honor of George Carlin. If you get it you know what I mean.

But the news loves to bash you in the head about how horrible things are. About how we the viewers are as private parts to the powers that be. They play with us for their sport and there's sod all we can do about it.

This was a challenge. Could I resurrect this device? It's not up there with coming up with a cure for HIV or the common cold, it's not as history changing as discovering the Higgs Boson. But it was a challenge. It was something that I had the power to influence. It was a goal that was potentially within my reach. I tried and had a victory.

And what if I failed? What if I couldn't get it working? Well then I had a nifty glass globe a nice battery holder and an LED...

Add a stick from the forest across the road...I'm sure I could think of something.