The Connections Between Chris Lacy, Muggles and Flashing ROMs like My Wife Drives.

It may be hard to see how Chris Lacy is connected to my wife’s driving skills.  I can understand if you are confused, Chris comes from the land down under while my wife’s driving takes place in the Great White North.  Geographically Australia and Canada are rather far apart but if you throw in Muggles and some ROMs to flash it all starts to connect.  Let me explain.

For those that have read my posts before, know that I am a big fan of the RootJunky website.  I guess that is obvious as I always post on his site.  I also visit other tech site that interest me and I enjoy podcasts. One of my favourite podcasts is the blerg, from Chris Lacey .  I have been listening to his podcast for a few months now and I really enjoy it.  He does seem a little harsh toward OEMs, from time to time, but he does it without bias towards any operation system or equipment manufacturer.  I would call him “tech agnostic”, not sure what he would say about that but that is how he comes across to me.  He is an accomplished developer and if anyone is allowed to dish out some harsh criticisms from time to time, it is an accomplished developer.  

Anyway, I have heard him use the term Muggles when referring to people like me, newbs or the uninitiated.  As many of you may know the term Muggle comes from the Harry Potter book series, a Muggle is a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born into the magical world. Muggles also do not have any magical blood. That’s a quote from Google.  Chris uses it to reference those who lack any sort of programing ability and were not born into the computer world or do not have any magical programming blood.  In the Harry Potter books it is a derogatory term, that the privileged few have for their lesser.  I don’t think that Chris uses it in that negative way. I actually like the way he uses it and I think it fits.

I remember the feeling of magic that fell upon me when I followed that first XDA thread, allowing me to flash slimROM on my aging Samsung tablet.  Installing Odin on my PC was done during a new moon.  The recovery was flashed while I danced naked with the witches of Salem.  Booting up the new ROM for the first time I sprinkled the blood of a Unicorn across the screen for good measure.  Just like magic or maybe because of it…….. my tablet booted up and ran like a dream.  It still runs to this day and runs really well on slimROM.  This whole process is very magical to me, so the term Muggle fits.

Chris Lacy can call me a Muggle anytime and I am OK with that.  I have magical friends like RootJunky to help me out when things go wrong.  Youtube is filled with great videos and XDA is always there.  If you have a problem chances are RootJunky has a video about it or the solution is waiting for you at XDA.  If you follow their magical directions you will be able to work miracles.  This bring me to my wife’s driving.

My wife is a great driver.  She is confident behind the wheel and has a good sense of the road.  A few years back when we were looking for a new vehicle, it was obvious that she would have preferred a high end sports car; too bad that was not in our budget, I would have preferred that too.  Sadly the Corvette in the photo is not ours.  Cars that had stronger engines, stiffer suspension and steering that let you feel the road was where her choices gravitated.  It was really interesting to watch her go through the process of testing cars because I happen to be a mechanical wizard.  To me she is an automobile Muggle.  Someone that is unaware of the magic that lies under the hood. Now just because my wife is a automobile Muggle please don’t think she can’t drive.  She may not understand the difference between 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines or understand what is taking place when you shift gears, but put her behind the wheel and she more than competent, perhaps even talented.  That is exactly how a thought I flashed ROMs, more than competent, perhaps even talented.  That is what I thought but I am not so sure now.

To me, guys like the RootJunky are wizards, Chris Lacey is like a level 20 Magic user and Chainfire is from another dimension. It is funny how many people there are like me.  We flash a few ROMS and then think that we can take down governments with our hacking abilities.  I really have no idea of what I am doing half the time and this became apparent a few weeks back.  When modding my phone, I follow the road as my wife does when she drives but I don’t instinctively hit my apex in the corners.  I would love to tell you how I have become one of the few, someone capable of magic but really I am just good at following directions.  In that respect I guess my wife’s driving is much better than my flashing.  She at least has an inborn talent for understanding space and the car’s place in it.  I am just good at following directions.

My ability to follow direction and my lack of any really Android knowledge became very apparent about two weeks ago.  I wanted to give Cyanogen 13.0 a try but I wanted to try out the CAF variant.  This took a little bit of magic and I…….I am just a Muggle.  I did get CM 13.0 CAF running on my phone but my actual phone app was crashing on me all the time.  Not much of a smartphone if you can’t make phone calls.   After a number of wipes and reinstall things were not getting any better.  So I did what I do best, I followed directions on XDA.  I started from scratch and got my phone back to stock Android. Oh the defeat and shame that I felt.  

It was at this time of defeat that I listened to Chris Lacey’s podcast and heard him used the term muggles again.  That is when all the connections hit me: Chris Lacy, Muggles, flashing ROMs, my wife’s driving and this post was born.

My phone is currently running well with CM13.0, but not the CAF variant.  I have decided to stay away from that.   It was a tough week for this muggle as I struggled through my phone issues. It was a little disappointing realizing  that after a year or two of flashing ROMS I am still driving without really knowing what is happening under the hood. I may never be at the level of a developer but as I have fun in the world that XDA has shown me I will improve day by day.  

Who knows, one day I may be able to flash ROMs like my wife drives!

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