Am I really the only person who’s having problems with an aluminum late-2008 MacBook and the Mini DisplayPort adapter?

Once again, unable to find a solution to a weird problem I’m having, I’m forced to write a blog entry in the feeble hope that the solution will come to me instead.

In this case, it’s an issue that is increasingly bothering me with one aspect of my new workstation set-up. That would be, as the title here suggests, the Mini DisplayPort on my late-2008 aluminum MacBook. On Monday I purchased a 20-inch LCD display to use with my MacBook. The display came with a VGA cable (seems they could have thrown a DVI cable in the box too, but that’s one of the corners that had to be cut to deliver a $159 display — another being a non-adjustable stand), so I went to the Apple Store and dropped another $29 on the Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter.

I got everything home and began plugging things in. Everything went well until I got to the step of plugging the adapter into the Mini DisplayPort on the MacBook. It was really hard. I mean, really really hard. I literally (literally!) had to push as hard as I could to force the adapter into the MacBook. As in, I propped the MacBook on its side on my lap, with the connector ports facing up, and leaned in with my body weight to force the plug into the jack. Common sense and past experience tell me that when a plug on a computer component is that hard to insert, then it’s probably the wrong one, or you’re plugging it in the wrong way (think upside-down USB plug). But that reasoning failed on both counts. It definitely is the right adapter, and I was inserting it correctly.

Eventually I was able to force it in place, and the monitor worked perfectly. I didn’t notice initially, however, that my efforts had bent the outer metal piece of the plug on the adapter. But that was what it took to get the plug inserted into the jack.

The next day I went out and dropped another $50 or so on a DVI cable for the monitor, and Apple’s Mini DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter. Once again, the same problem of inserting the adapter into the jack, but even more so. In fact, this time my efforts actually caused part of the plastic inner portion of the adapter, and the ends of two of the pins, to break off.

No, it's not supposed to look like that.

Again common sense and past experience are screaming in my ears that this is just wrong wrong wrong and the adapter must not be intended for my MacBook. Except there are two strong counterarguments: 1) if this isn’t the right adapter, then there isn’t one, because this is all Apple sells, and 2) once I get the damn thing jammed in there, it works, perfectly. Even looking like it does in the photo above.

So… I’m left at a loss here. The fact that no one else seems to be having this problem is the most baffling of all. Did I somehow get stuck with a dud, non-standard Mini DisplayPort on my MacBook? How did this get past quality control? And what should I do about it now?

I’ve considered taking the MacBook to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store to seek some resolution, but I’ve been reluctant because of the time involved, and the fact that, if it really is a problem, getting it fixed would likely require shipping my MacBook off to the repair facility in Kansas City (or wherever it really is) for a couple of weeks, and since it does work once I get the plug inserted, that seems like an unnecessary sacrifice.

Still… I don’t like this arrangement. I know I can and should just live with it, but as long as I’m using a partially-broken adapter with a not-quite-right MacBook, and having to handle the MacBook with kid gloves to ensure that the adapter doesn’t dislodge and disconnect the monitor from the MacBook’s output, it’s just going to keep nagging at me.

So… is there anyone out there who’s having this problem too? Anyone?

To conclude on a positive (though mostly unrelated) note, I am impressed that I was able to snap such a clear photo with my iPhone. Nice.

Here come the underdogs…

Twins Underdog
Last night’s stunning victory by the Twins in game 163 to clinch the AL Central Division title from the recently floundering Detroit Tigers was about as exciting a game of baseball as I’ve ever seen… and I not only watched every minute of the 1987 and 1991 playoffs, but I was also in the Metrodome in 1986 on the night when the dome deflated. (OK, that didn’t really have anything to do with the game itself, an unspectacular defeat handed to the hapless Ron Davis after proper dome inflation had been restored.)

The celebration was short-lived though: the Twins knew all along that in less than 24 hours they’d be in the Bronx, facing the best team that money can buy, the New York Yankees.

But as far as I’m concerned, the real championship has already happened. In the final weeks the AL Central was the only division in MLB that was contested. The Tigers’ surprising fall from season-long dominance of the division, and the Twins’ simultaneous, spectacular rise, was legendary. That the Twins’ season would end, for the second year in a row, in a one-game tiebreak to determine the division champ, and in such a game at that, was the ultimate conclusion to the Twins’ farewell season in the Metrodome.

What comes next is anyone’s guess. OK, who are we kidding? The Twins might eke out a victory when the series returns to Minnesota for game 3, but there’s almost no way the scrappy Twins can stand a chance against the formidable Yankees lineup.

The sad truth, though, is that there’s little sport in how the Yankees got to where they are. Unlike the NFL, Major League Baseball doesn’t have revenue sharing, ensuring that each team has the necessary resources (in theory… and leaving aside last year’s Detroit Lions for now) to field a solid team. The Yankees are in a league of their own, calling the country’s largest advertising market city home, charging four figures for some seats at Yankee Stadium, and in general bringing in quantities of cash that most other teams couldn’t even dream of, resulting in salaries for some individual players that are comparable to that of the entire roster of some smaller market teams. It’s as if the rest of the league is really AAA, and the Yankees are the only true “majors.”

Which, I suppose, is their right. I personally think revenue sharing is a smart idea, and it would keep the game a lot more interesting. Woo-hoo. The Yankees and the Red Sox and the Angels are all in the playoffs again. What a surprise. Maybe the feeble AL Central really does belong in AAA, but at least there’s some real competition, some real sport in it all. If the Yankees go on to sweep the Twins (likely), beat the Red Sox or Angels for the league championship (probably), and ultimately win the World Series (quite possibly), what does it really prove? Little more than that money is all that really matters in a game towards which the majority of the country is increasingly indifferent, for fairly obvious reasons.

Then again, as long as the Yankees can keep charging $2500 for seats, I doubt the decision-makers will really care. But for me, last night was what the game is all about.

Congratulations, Minnesota Twins, champion underdogs!

Update (October 11, 2010): OK, apparently MLB does have revenue sharing, but it might as well not.

My new workstation set-up

Working mostly from home (save for the occasional coffeehouse “office” day) for the last year and a half as a freelancer, my workstation set-up has been a slowly evolving arrangement. First I was in a bedroom on the main floor; now I’m in a dormer upstairs. I’ve been working exclusively with my MacBook for most of that time, but with increasing frequency I’ve had to work on large-layout web pages for clients with no access to a screen larger than 1280×800. Yesterday I finally decided it was time to make a change. I wasn’t up for the $899 outlay for a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display, so after a little (OK, very little) research, I settled on an LG 20-inch LCD that supports 1600×900 resolution, for $159 at Best Buy.

I quickly found that using the keyboard on my MacBook while looking at the LG display was not a satisfactory arrangement, so I also added an Apple Bluetooth wireless mouse. I also found that my desk surface was too low for the new monitor, so I solved that problem with a $6.99 wall shelf from IKEA. That shelf also works well for elevating my computer speakers — a change that makes a surprising difference to the sound. While I was at IKEA I also picked up a solar powered LED desk lamp. Anything to help reduce the number of cords on my desk.

The only problem I’ve encountered so far is the Mini DisplayPort jack on my MacBook. There’s… something… wrong with it. Not sure what, but the Mini DisplayPort adapter doesn’t fit properly. In fact, it requires a tremendous amount of force to insert the plug into the jack. So much so, that I was convinced at first that it was the wrong adapter. But it’s not. It works. But I’ve confirmed that forcing the plug into the jack has actually damaged the plug. But it still works, so for now I’m living with it.

Overall, I’m happy with the arrangement, even if some of the details (the intense brightness of the LCD display, the need to put the solar cell in the window to charge it during the day, along with a few other quirks) are imperfect. But my improved posture itself is enough to justify the effort.

And now, a crappy picture:

New workstation set-up

Added bonus: I hadn’t even thought about the awesomeness of dual displays when I set out to get the LCD. Also, it’s nice to put my Mighty Mouse to use again after it’s been sitting in the desk drawer for months. But the biggest unexpected change — I figured out that the vintage optometrist’s chair I use (along with the vintage optometrist’s desk you see in the picture) actually can be raised… so I cranked it all the way up.

Mall of America Field

Tonight the Vikings play their first home game of the season. But the big talk isn’t about Brett Favre going up against his former Green Bay teammates (assuming any of them are left… I have no idea). It’s about the “new” Vikings stadium.

The Vikings don’t really have a new stadium. But after tomorrow (or whenever the Twins’ season finally fizzles out ends with a World Series victory), the Vikings will be the only remaining sports team calling the Metrodome home: the Twins are moving to the new Target Field on the other side of downtown next spring, and the Gophers have gone back to campus and the new TCF Bank Stadium.

Well, the Vikings surely couldn’t be left out of the stadium naming rights trend, and so they have rechristened the Metrodome — or at least its field — “Mall of America Field.” Or as I like to call it, MOAF.

As you can see in the aerial photo below, the new branding has already begun in a big way. It’s not the name that bothers me, so much as the font.

MOAF

Addendum: It seems just about every made-up sounding word is already a slang term, often a regrettable one, that can be found in the Urban Dictionary. And this is no exception. Just makes the whole thing even more regrettable.