I hate replacing things

So I try to fix things. I bought the cheapest dvd player imaginable and was thoroughly surprised when it broke. The little door/tray thing stopped opening and that was the end. So I fixed it with a vengeance. Anything that I didn't know what it was, or didn't know how it worked I took out. (thanks to a physics degree at PLU I sort of knew about quite a lot of what's going on in a dvd player) However there were parts that I felt were superfluous--out they went. Now the dvd player doesn't quite work the way it did the day I took it home from the store--there are some noises that are strange, and I broke off a lot of the plastic parts, but what do you know I got it to work again.
Now instead of pushing a button to open the plastic tray (which is no longer with us...) You have to open the casing--the entire outer shell and physically place the dvd over the laser. A little inconvenient for sure, but it works!
I'm not sure what the moral of the story is but sure was a fun project.