Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler OT: Living in the twightlight zone

Hey so, a comment about computer addiction propted me to share this very strange experience I had on Friday... I'll give you fair warning, it's not the most terribly interesting read, just wierd.

I got home from the gym after work at about 7:00, parked my car and went into my house. When I walked in, I distinctly felt like the place was a bit dark. I mean, the lights were on, but it just felt as though they had all been replaced with 40 watt bulbs while I was at work that day. I went up to my room to change out of my gym clothes, and I saw that my clock was flashing 6:30am. Great...power went out around noon I figured. My computer (which I had left on that morning) was off, so I turned it on. Fans spin up, light goes on, hard drive starts turning... No display on the monitor. Nothing, no bios info, just black, and then the monitor switched over to the "no input signal" display. At this point, I very rapidly got annoyed. When something messes up my computer I am not a happy camper.

So, I go downstairs to make some food (being ravenous from the gym.) I had some chili that needed reheating, so I put it in a bowl, tossed it in the microwave, and set it for 2 minutes. Two minutes go by, me thinking the whole while about how I'm going to go about diagnosing my computer, and the microwave dings at me. I go over, take out my chili, and immediately notice that the bowl is as cold as it was when I put it in. So I tossed it in for 2 more minutes, but watched it this time. Bowl goes in, time set for 2 minutes, press start, light comes on, fans start spinning, timer ticks down, ding, cold food.

Fine then, looks like the microwave is all screwed up too. Lets try the old fashioned way. I get a pot and dump my chili into it, toss it on the stove, and turn the burner to "lite". Gas comes out... but no spark. I try it again... no spark. Ok, matches it is then. Fortunately for me, the matches worked, and I ate some food.

So, thinking a bit better for having my food, I went upstairs and started dismantling my computer. First thing to check was the diagnostic LED on the motherboard. It went immediately to "FF" when the power came on, which is what it normally does when it hands control from the bios to the OS, so that wasn't good, but I couldn't find the manual. So then I figured, if I have no output on my screen, I should check the video card. I replaced it with an older card I had lying around. Didn't work. Then I pulled one of the sticks of ram... still nothing. Tried only the other stick of ram to no avail as well.

So then I thought, if my pc is screwed, I wonder about my roomate's pc. He just bought a new dell, a nice one too. So I went in and checked it, and was rather unsurprised to find that it did nothing when you hit the power button. Light came on, although there were no fans, and still no video output.

So I called him up and told him the bad news. He was glad to know, but obviously anything but glad. At this point it's around 8:30, and I say to myself essentially: screw it, drink whiskey.

Hour and a half later, right around 10, a few glasses of whiskey down, the whole house suddenly gets brighter. I mean like, wake up in the morning and turn on the lights brighter. It was very strange. I thought for a moment that I had gotten so drunk I passed out, and then woke up to find that even the dim lighting now looked bright. But in fact, the house had gotten brighter. So I rechecked all the devices that were giving me problems, and they all worked.

That's pretty much it.

Have you ever lived through a sustained 4 hour brown-out? I had never experienced anything like it in my life...

Edit: I then called my roomate, only to find out that he too had decided to get very drunk upon hearing about his computer.

are you sure you wernt abducted by aliens or something? do you have any new or unexplained cuts ,scars, or bruises on your body? what you experienced might well be an implanted memory that you are trying to rationalize. not to mention, the electrical polarity of modern devices can be adversely affected by overexposure to gamma transmissions that tend to accompany extra terrestrial abductions.

just to be sure, i would have a complete body catscan, to detect any transponder or transducer that might have been left inside of you. and, a have a full body cavity search performed to detect any evidence of inner trauma.

were all here for you man.. so, let us know what you find out?

bigjohn

It takes SO MUCH less than that for me to say "screw it, drink whiskey".

Fascinating story. I've never seen anything like that. It almost makes be believe in this "electricity" thing you guys are always talking about. Almost.

In reply to:

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It takes SO MUCH less than that for me to say "screw it, drink whiskey".

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OH MAN! Mouthful of chocolate chip cookie and milk all over everything. You're SO easy, TT.

Ummm, Jack?
Weren't you ever old that it's impolite to eat unless you have enough for all of us?

OK, here i am at work, trying to tough it out the last hour, and i am struggling.. so i go get a cup of luke-warm coffee, thanks to someone turning off the warmer about 30 minutes ago.. then rummage thru my desk for a quick bite.. and what do i find, VIOLA!! a snack size back of flammin' hot cheetos.

just let me say this is an interesting combo. i think i would rather have milk and cookies!!

bigjohn

luke-warm coffee and hot cheetos.

My throat just closed up... I can't even drink my own coffee right now. :-)

jr

Wow, that's really foul. I mean, Cheetos. Is there a more disgusting snack food (commonly eatin in the US, that is...)

Oh come on Ken. Don't tell me you'd rather eat pickled herring snacks than cheetos.

Oh, you said commonly eaten.

I am a proud, voracious carnivore. And Pork rinds give me the willies.

I understand that some low carb dieters succumb because you can't find many crunchy things to eat other than lettuce.

Much nastier than Cheetos, IMO.

How this thread degenerated into commentary on junk food is beyond me. But, since it's there, I personally don't like any sort of "cheesy poof" snack food.

For the most part I'd agree with you Ringmir. As far as I'm concerned, it seems that every once in a while, I get a huge hunger on for some Hawkins Cheezies. I end up having a mouthful or two and I'm sick of them again. It's the weirdest thing, almost like I have to remind myself every so often why I don't like them.

I thnk that Cheetos are the best of the cheese flavored snacks. So crunchy and oily and fakey cheesy. That's it, I'm gonna get some tonight.

I don't eat much of that type of snack food. My preferences tend to run towards plain corn or potato chips. Sometimes I'll go for the Cape Cod Salt/Pepper chips. However, once in a great while I get a major hankering for crunchy cheetos (not the puffy ones) and ice cold coke. I think I just like the way I have to scrape fake cheese dust of my fingers when I am done. Then I don't eat them again for a year.

jr

Ick. I hate processed cheese food snacks, other than Trader Joe's white cheddar popcorn. On the other hand, I do rather like Kraft Mac & Cheese, so there you are...

Yes, pickedled herring bits and pork rinds are more disgusting. Which is why I said "commonly eaten." Perhaps I should have said, "when averaged across the entire US."

OK, wait a minute now.. i can let this happen. cause i do love me some pork skins!!

but they gotta be done right.. the greasy ones you get at the county fair are sick. they should be light, and fluffy, with that great crusty edge. with just a little dab of hot sauce.. good stuff man. great with cold beer!!

bigjohn

pork rinds:snack food::Budweiser:beer

OK, thats hard...

here's my take on it...

pork rinds:snack food::chimay:beer
pork rinds:snack food::hummer:truck
pork rinds:snack food::butterfinger:candy
pork rinds:snack food::axiom:speakers



bigjohn

Hmmmm,

pork rinds:snack food::hummer:truck

Hummer 1 or Hummer 2? One is actually a "real SUV". The other is a horribly ugly abomination on wheels.

Yes, please pay $50K extra for a horrid, ugly body slapped on a Tahoe chassis!

i actually prefer the Hummer 1.

if you want a truck to put big shiny rims on and pack 3000 watts of stereo equip in. or, a land yacht to take the kids to soccer practice, while they spill french fries between the seats. or, one with a shiny paint job and pretty leather seats that will never get dirty, then go with the Hummer 2.

if you want one that will climb a straight wall, and not skip a beat in 3 feet of water, then get the Hummer 1. it just reminds me of the 'real' hummers that i used to drive while in the military. they certainly wernt the most comfortable things in the world, but their 4x4, off road capabilities were the best i had ever seen in a factory vehicle. hands down, the best back woods vehicle i have ever driven..

bigjohn

Ever tried the Lamborghini version?

honestly my definition of a hummer is totally diferent