Overheating, again...

I've been using the VAIO for terminology during the sim (a good thing, too, as my medical vocabulary is relatively limited), and happened to adjust the position of the machine a few minutes ago. The corner where the CPU sits was hot.

It was too hard to hear whether the fan was running (between the background noise of about a dozen other pieces of nearby equipment and my earphones), but placing my lips near the outlet of the fan confirmed no air flow. I blew into the little duct and the fan started working.

Between this and the keyboard failure from a couple of days ago (the replacement cost of which is around $120), it looks like the VAIO is falling apart. Frankly I didn't expect the fan to give up the ghost here in the MCC, where the air is scads cleaner than it is in Pagosa (aka Dust City). In between the cursing, I'm trying to figure out whether my attempts to blow out the keyboard the other day somehow negatively affected the fan.

I should also probably start to price a new machine, preferably with Windows 2000 on it (instead of the dreaded XP). Or look for a maintenance spare on eBay, or something.

I don't need this right now.

Cheers...

Sorry for the boredom...

I get the feeling that this past week's worth (if not more) of LJ posts have set some kind of record for sustained lack of inspiration. I find myself talking about work and only work, in some apparent mad dash to avoid talking about Real Life, a subject that seems to have become increasingly remote and painful to talk about, relatively speaking.

I don't know that this will improve in the near future, but I will try to look a bit past the blinders that have grown up around my eyes.

* * *Natalie and I ate at the Outback near the AMC-30 complex near the intersection of Beltway 8 and I-45. After dinner, we went over to the theater and got tickets to see the new Lara Croft epic.

Angelina Jolie is certainly easy enough on the eyes, but the film seemed schizophrenic in the haphazard way the story developed. I eventually got the idea that I was watching a remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but without Nazis and with less attention on the part of the filmmakers to having plot points make sense.

Ah, well... there's always Seabiscuit.

* * *I am going to keep a very close eye on the VAIO. I seem to recall, earlier in the day, perceiving the smell of hot electronics during the sim. I suspect it was my laptop. And dust may not be the culprit... it may be the ants that are not all that uncommon at the Pearland house (I suspect them in the demise of my keyboard, too).

Time to get ready to sleep. I'm due at the A/G position tomorrow at 8 am.

Cheers...