Sorry for a "double up" on threads, but when stuff happens, you 'gotta document it - right? Also, an apology if you got two of the last, something happened and IE browsers couldn’t display it, so had to delete and repost – thank you Bill Gates!

So I was dead to the world this morning at 3:28 am when I was awakened by a beeping, once I was awake enough to realize what might be happening; that it wasn't a dump truck backing into the bedroom, that it wasn't the microwave telling me dindin was ready etc., it was the UPS power regulator whose job it is to protect the PC's. When the power spikes (oh yes it does big time) it clicks, telling me it's "cut off" the spike and all's well. When the power drops, or cuts off, it beeps for a short time as it supplies emergency voltage to whatever is hooked to it warning you to SHUT DOWN or suffer the consequences.

So, it's 3:28am and there I am staggering through a dark house without my glasses or good judgment, I reached for the light switch in the computer room and knocked a picture off the wall, finally found the switch and sure enough good old CFE was only sending 96 volts down the pipe and that ain't enough to satisfy the regulator.

Now when I moved in and put everything together there seemed no reason to ever interact with the regulator, so I pushed it clear back under the bottom shelf on the floor facing the wall and parked the computer table, computers and associated wiring maze in  front of it. Still not awake, I hit the shut down button on the weather computer which runs 24/7 and then pulled the plug on the regulator which really aggravated it as it seemed to BEEP even louder as it was now running on its backup battery. Finally in desperation I laid down on the floor, reaching as far as I could to get to the on/off button and cut it off, stumbled back to bed and crashed. On the way into bed I noticed the clock radio on the side table buzzing and looking flaky so pulled the plug on it.

Come wake up time I fed the cats and sloooowly made coffee at reduced power and headed upstairs to the PC world, voltage was still at 96 volts, so I didn’t bother to turn anything on, I booted the laptop and started into the day.

Because the weather computer was off I was anxious to get it restarted and the way to do that was (at first light) to chuck a 50’ extension cord out the bathroom window next to the PC’s drag it through the jungle to the pump house, it’s on a different meter and circuit. I got the weather server started and so there was officially weather today in paradise.

Later when voltage was restored I assessed the state of things and everything pretty much survived until I got to the bedroom and it seems I sacrificed the clock radio in part to the CFE gods. Back at the lake in TX we used to joke about sacrificing anchors to the lake gods when one would get hung on the bottom and you had to cut the rope.

The annoying thing here is that this clock radio projects the time on the ceiling at night so you can see it without getting up or putting on glasses. Now it seems to be showing the hour digit only? – when clocks were first invented they only had the hour hand, didn’t matter to be more exact, before it was dark or light, now you could actually tell the hour, so now I’m regressed back to that convention. You’d think at 30 cents a KWH the CFE would be happy, but I guess not. And, do you suppose they took a survey to find that 3:28am would be the most annoying time to cut the juice? - just thinking out loud.

Actually as much as I seem to grouse, it’s a good lesson and reminder of many things we took for granted NOB, we never thought much about turning on the faucet and not only having good high pressure water, but potable etc. unlike the mud I washed off the main filter after only a week. Then there’s electricity, yes during storms it did go off once in a great while, but generally there was never a concern about spikes or brownouts. So many things that are all interwoven into the lifestyle NOB that aren’t all that automatic here.

I’ve said at times it would be good for a kid to work a year as a salesman or in some performance compensated position to learn early on that just showing up for work doesn’t automatically pay, you need to excel. Also it would be great for a kid to live here for a time to really understand the blessing of life as we know it in America.