A Power Cut, a Siren, and Finals Week
The timing could hardly have been worse. A brief power outage knocked out the electricity last night, and when I got home, my computer was off. A note from my roommate explained why: "Your computer was making beeping noises so I turned it off."
Booting it back up confirms the diagnosis: an awful siren-like wail, the kind of sound that, after years in IT, I associate with imminent hardware failure and the dread of an expensive replacement order. This is surprising, given the surge protector and a decent power supply in the machine. Something has clearly given out, but I don't yet know what component failed or where I can source a replacement in time. Did I mention this is the start of finals week? I'm taking the machine to the SCIC as soon as I can get a cart.
Until it's fixed, I'll be off IM and checking email only infrequently.
