posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
qtip at 08:54pm on 14/01/2004
qtip at 08:54pm on 14/01/2004I was going to go back to bed. I usually don't go back to bed once Itake Kathy to work, if I'm off. I usually take my Strattera before I leave to drop her off and by the time I come back I am of the mindset that I'm up so I should *try* and be productive. Today, as I drove Kathy to work I said out loud and with great pride, "I'm going back to bed". Apparently I said it loud enough for the deities to hear and decide that I needed a good smiting.
I come home and check my email really quickly...reply to a few emails and off to bed I go is my thought. Only the house phone starts ringing incessantly! Like there are three calls back to back w/ no messages being left. Then my cell phone rings and I give in and answer it. It's one of the guys from work, I'm storing his bike in my dining room and he needs it immediately since the other delivery guy at work "broke" his bike. So I get the bike in the car and drive to work and drop it off, grabbing a cup of coffee while I'm there.
So I get home and decide to go lay down. I can't sleep now though. Too much activity. So I lay there for just a little while longer, then give up and get out of bed. As I walk up the hall I notice an odd smell, like the burning plastic. I happen to glance in the living room as I get ready to sit at my computer and much to my surprise there is smoke rising from our DVD/VCR-combo-5 speaker-surround-sound-home- theatre-system-expensive-freakin'-Xmas-gift. I don't mean a little whisp of smoke, but like a cloud of thick rolling smoke inside my entertainment center. Holy crap! So what do I do. My first thought for some reason was to get the dvd out ofthe player. My next thought was to turn off the player...problem, it was already off! So with that revelation I just sort of stand there watching in sheer horror hoping it wouldn't burst into flames. It didn't, thank goodness!
So as the smoke starts to clear, I try to decided how to break the news to Kathy about the home theatre system going up in smoke. So I sit down in front of my computer and realize that it's doing something weird. The power keeps fluctuating so my monitor is going on and off, my CPU is turning on and off. I start to get this sinking feeling and I go try and turn on the tv...and it comes on! I guess my thought was wrong, then all of a sudden the tv turns off by itself. Shit..my thought was right...power surge and a freakin' HUGE one.
I decide to call the rental company and they call the electrician right away. Then I call Kathy, she was definitely not happy. I felt like I was telling her I killed Santa. In like 40 minutes the elctrician comes over checks the circuit box and discovers that one of the connectors for the two lines into the breaker box is burned out. He dismantles the thing and runs to the hardware store and is back in less than 30 minutes, reinstalls it and puts everything back together. I am so excited this wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Then he starts testing the strength of the two lines in the circuit box, he nods like this is good. then he asks me to go inside and start turning on all the lights and electric things I can. I go back outside and he's got a frown on his face. It seems that we're still not getting enough power. I'm going to have tocall the power company. My heart sinks.
So I go inside and call the power company, tell them the problem and begin to wait for the truck and workers to arrive. Much to my surprise they show up in under an hour...yes! They test lines, voltage, etc and determine that they have to make some adjustments to the main line coming from the power pole on the roadside. So they do what they need to do which includes, taking chainsaw to tree limbs,cutting andd splicing wires together and goofing off. The finish up in an hour and move on their merry way. I start turning on things in the house when I realize that not everything is working including my computer. So I call the electrician back. He comes back test the outlets, finds one or two that don't work, fixes them and leaves.
*Did Imention that there were construction workers on my street working on the water line. They had blocked of the street, dug up all the yards in my block AND turned off the water all without any notice what so ever!*
Anyway to wrap this all up, we test all the electronics in the house to see if things are truly damaged or not. The final tally of things fried by the powersurge:
3 powerstrips/surge protectors
1 under cabinet mounted flourescent lamp
1 floor lamp
1 computer (MINE...OMG...How will I get through the week!!!)
We are still not sure what to do about the home theatre system. Right now it works, but I'm not sure for how long. There was a lot of smoke so I'm gonna guess that some of the wires are melded together. Over time that will be a problem for sure.
Next, contacting the power company about replacing all the damaged items. I really think I'm gonna cry!
Help me..Hold me. ~whimpers~
xoxo
Angie
I come home and check my email really quickly...reply to a few emails and off to bed I go is my thought. Only the house phone starts ringing incessantly! Like there are three calls back to back w/ no messages being left. Then my cell phone rings and I give in and answer it. It's one of the guys from work, I'm storing his bike in my dining room and he needs it immediately since the other delivery guy at work "broke" his bike. So I get the bike in the car and drive to work and drop it off, grabbing a cup of coffee while I'm there.
So I get home and decide to go lay down. I can't sleep now though. Too much activity. So I lay there for just a little while longer, then give up and get out of bed. As I walk up the hall I notice an odd smell, like the burning plastic. I happen to glance in the living room as I get ready to sit at my computer and much to my surprise there is smoke rising from our DVD/VCR-combo-5 speaker-surround-sound-home- theatre-system-expensive-freakin'-Xmas-gift. I don't mean a little whisp of smoke, but like a cloud of thick rolling smoke inside my entertainment center. Holy crap! So what do I do. My first thought for some reason was to get the dvd out ofthe player. My next thought was to turn off the player...problem, it was already off! So with that revelation I just sort of stand there watching in sheer horror hoping it wouldn't burst into flames. It didn't, thank goodness!
So as the smoke starts to clear, I try to decided how to break the news to Kathy about the home theatre system going up in smoke. So I sit down in front of my computer and realize that it's doing something weird. The power keeps fluctuating so my monitor is going on and off, my CPU is turning on and off. I start to get this sinking feeling and I go try and turn on the tv...and it comes on! I guess my thought was wrong, then all of a sudden the tv turns off by itself. Shit..my thought was right...power surge and a freakin' HUGE one.
I decide to call the rental company and they call the electrician right away. Then I call Kathy, she was definitely not happy. I felt like I was telling her I killed Santa. In like 40 minutes the elctrician comes over checks the circuit box and discovers that one of the connectors for the two lines into the breaker box is burned out. He dismantles the thing and runs to the hardware store and is back in less than 30 minutes, reinstalls it and puts everything back together. I am so excited this wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Then he starts testing the strength of the two lines in the circuit box, he nods like this is good. then he asks me to go inside and start turning on all the lights and electric things I can. I go back outside and he's got a frown on his face. It seems that we're still not getting enough power. I'm going to have tocall the power company. My heart sinks.
So I go inside and call the power company, tell them the problem and begin to wait for the truck and workers to arrive. Much to my surprise they show up in under an hour...yes! They test lines, voltage, etc and determine that they have to make some adjustments to the main line coming from the power pole on the roadside. So they do what they need to do which includes, taking chainsaw to tree limbs,cutting andd splicing wires together and goofing off. The finish up in an hour and move on their merry way. I start turning on things in the house when I realize that not everything is working including my computer. So I call the electrician back. He comes back test the outlets, finds one or two that don't work, fixes them and leaves.
*Did Imention that there were construction workers on my street working on the water line. They had blocked of the street, dug up all the yards in my block AND turned off the water all without any notice what so ever!*
Anyway to wrap this all up, we test all the electronics in the house to see if things are truly damaged or not. The final tally of things fried by the powersurge:
3 powerstrips/surge protectors
1 under cabinet mounted flourescent lamp
1 floor lamp
1 computer (MINE...OMG...How will I get through the week!!!)
We are still not sure what to do about the home theatre system. Right now it works, but I'm not sure for how long. There was a lot of smoke so I'm gonna guess that some of the wires are melded together. Over time that will be a problem for sure.
Next, contacting the power company about replacing all the damaged items. I really think I'm gonna cry!
Help me..Hold me. ~whimpers~
xoxo
Angie
There are 4 comments on this entry. (Reply.)