My Cyber Monster

For those of you who don't know, I finally bit the bullet and bought a new computer. It...is...awesome!!!

Anyway, I intended to write about the results of the fix I had done on my laptop earlier. I didn't do so, however, because I was waiting for the worst. I had my doubts that replacing the hard drive on that computer would correct the problem, but I had high hopes. Unfortunately, my doubts were more accurate than my hopes. My laptop did work much better for a little while. It was repaired in January. When it was returned to me, some of the manufacturer perks were missing, but everything else worked as it should (once I had it all loaded again). My game worked, and my computer wasn't freezing on me at all. I was content with the results.

Then, last month, the problems started again. It started slowly, but not as slowly as before. The computer would lock up after I exited my game (SWTOR, if you're trying to keep track), and only when I exited my game. It didn't happen every time, but often enough. Then, it was freezing every time I exited my game and most of the time I finished watching a video (especially a full-screen video). Finally, it locked up repeatedly while I was trying to play my game. If you know my relationship with SWTOR, you realize that was the last straw. Clearly, either the hard drive wasn't the only problem or something I'm doing to my hard drive causes significant, escalating damage because this was the same issue all over again. (This all started again after I finally reloaded my Sims 2 games, so maybe they're part of the problem--too much memory usage?)

As the problems started, I immediately started looking into new computers. I've given up on laptops for the games I play. They work well enough for me for a while, but not permanently. Thus, I was researching desk top computers, which I haven't owned since before college. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go prebuilt and do the best I could there (while avoiding Dell because my Dell laptops--3 total over the years--have not lasted as long as I needed them to) or if I wanted to try the custom-built option. I've heard from my gaming friends that custom is the way to go. Unfortunately, I know too little about computers and what I need to build one myself. So, I looked for companies that would do it for me. I found one that looked good and gave me many (too many?) options for the specs on my new device. With a ton of help from a friend (whom I met in SWTOR--this is my main social circle now, I guess), I decided on the basic specs and add-ons for my new computer and put in the order. It involved spending money I don't exactly have, but I found, oh, so many ways to justify the purchase (I'll spare you the list; I'm sure you can imagine it).

After two weeks of waiting for assembly and shipping, my computer arrived!! The friend who helped me build it called it the "monster" and was absolutely right! It's larger than I expected, and I now know what the inside of my computer looks like. There is plenty of space to add more devices, should I decide I want to and I eventually figure out what I'm doing. It plays my game beautifully. I bought a new monitor that is much larger than my laptop's screen, so I can become fully immersed in the game (whether that's healthy or not, I haven't decided...). I've set up a "work station" that is far more conducive to game play than what I did before. In theory, I shouldn't have to buy another new computer; I should just be able to buy new parts and upgrade the one I have.

God bless Squeaks for putting up with all of this process. She allowed (even helped!) me move around furniture in the living room so I could set up a space for my computer that wouldn't cause me to spend so many hours completely alone. I didn't want to abandon her completely; she may be regretting that now. We cleared out a corner for my new desk and chair, and the rearrangement works much better than either of us had expected.

I am content with how all of this has worked out. I briefly regretted spending the money to attempt to fix my laptop, but it seems to work just fine when I'm not trying to play SWTOR, so I'm hoping it will last me a while for basic tasks before dying completely. Once it does, I'll still have the "monster" and I might replace the laptop with a tablet, since those seem to be much better lately for basic computering tasks.

Smoke Detector Debacle

You know that high-pitched, ear-piercing, sanity-destroying beep that comes from a smoke detector when the battery has died? That's what my roommate and I were dealing with last week. Little did we know that one little beep would lead to a week-long odyssey to defeat the smoke detector...

Several weeks ago, I heard a few beeps. It's never happened before at this apartment. As far as I knew, the two detectors we have are hard-wired, but the beeps made me rethink that assumption. At first, I'd only hear a few beeps a day, maybe even just once, then nothing for almost a week, just long enough for me to forget about it. Then, they started up again, still sporadic but somewhat more consistent than before. On the Saturday before last, we heard them more often, and I climbed up to see what kind of battery we needed. Upon removing the cover, all I saw were a few wires leading into the ceiling...no battery in sight. Squeaks climbed up to double-check, and she couldn't see any either. That Sunday had the beeps going all day. We decided to call in maintenance.

After a night of restless sleep interrupted by periodic beeping from the smoke detector directly outside my bedroom door, I place our request for maintenance last Monday. They couldn't come until Tuesday, so we suffered another unpleasant night of torture.

On Tuesday afternoon, everything seemed to be resolved. Then, we heard it, a single beep. Then another. And another. Not again!! I immediately called our manager and told him the problem remained. He was confused because the maintenance guy had reset and tested both detectors, so everything should have been fine. It wasn't. He said he'd send them in again on Wednesday.

The manager called me on Wednesday, explaining that the head maintenance guy had spent 10 minutes in the apartment and not heard a single peep, so they didn't know what to do. What?! A WHOLE TEN MINUTES and he heard nothing?! Shock!! Of course, maintenance issues always go this way. Whatever is wrong never happens when the person who can fix it is there. After work that night, we also heard nary a single noise from either smoke detector. We told ourselves that the previous night had been an aberration, one last hurrah of beeping before the stupid thing gave in and left us alone.

We were deluding ourselves...

4:55 Thursday morning...BEEP! Off and on for the next three hours (as long as I was there before leaving for work) the beeping continued. I called the office again on my way to work and left a rambling voice mail (fueled by frustration and sleep deprivation) about the beeping and why the maintenance guy hadn't heard it the day before. When I returned home that afternoon, I heard no beeping, of course. Then, the fellow from maintenance appeared with a whole new smoke detector in a last-ditch effort to resolve our phantom issue. He said, in his two visits to our apartment last week (the first and last, his supervisor came in between), he had never heard a sound, but he did believe we were hearing it (I assume...he was nice to me, anyway).

He replaced the unit, and we haven't had a beep since. Thank God! One more night of sleep interrupted by that noise, and I just might have murdered someone. The maintenance worker did inform me how to disconnect the detector if necessary in the future, so we're covered, just in case.

There you have it, the great Smoke Detector Debacle! It was a draining week, but we survived with our sanity (mostly) in-tact. Of course, now our management and maintenance teams think we're crazy and hearing sounds that don't exist, but that's what happens sometimes.