My Hill

[Alpaca]

That is brilliant. I want a sign like that on my hill.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Perhaps I ought to invest in a Brick Wall.... these are supposed to last forever.

Holy cow! Those things are expensive!
---
About to play some classic Doom with upgraded graphics on My Hill

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Perhaps I ought to invest in a Brick Wall.... these are supposed to last forever.

Holy cow! Those things are expensive!
---
About to play some classic Doom with upgraded graphics on My Hill

Cheaper than paying for a new video card.  If you consider the cost of down-time, it's even as cheap or cheaper than a premium power supply.

I suppose I'll order one, when I get some mad-$$.

Missing my main computer on My Hill.

[Alpaca]

I have some form of the many identical-looking ones here, and it's served me well for a pretty long time now - can't remember precisely, so long enough for me to have forgotten.

Power doesn't turn off for long whiles very often here, but it does tend to flicker frequently, and it's saved me during those flickers many times. On my hill.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I have some form of the many identical-looking ones here, and it's served me well for a pretty long time now - can't remember precisely, so long enough for me to have forgotten.

Power doesn't turn off for long whiles very often here, but it does tend to flicker frequently, and it's saved me during those flickers many times. On my hill.

I've used those. If they are more than a year old, regardless of the initial cost, they are pretty much a power-strip.  No longer actively suppressing any surges....

ANY sacrificial "surge" suppressor is only good for roughly a year or so...

I used to religiously replace mine, every 6 months.  I've got out of the habit.

But, the video card was brand new, and covered under DOA rules, so I'm likely to only be out postage...

...on my hill.

[Alpaca]

The great thing is that the Verizon box in the garage isn't surge-protected at all, and it supplies both internet and television to the house.

I know next to nothing about power-related issues. Is there any reason to suspect that my Belkin Box will ever cease to function as at least an effective battery backup?

On my hill?

[Darlica]

I want one of these signs my self, sans rat, I can do the smashing myself...

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

My UPS' tend to last 2 or 3 years. I suspect the quality of the main electric power in Bob's area is far worse than ours (and that's saying something).

Actually waiting for a cheap new UPS on My Hill.

[Alpaca]

I don't know what power will be like in a few months when I move into a dorm on my hill.

And what it'll be like when a fellow resident decides that he can power something that draws the same as the Large Hadron Collider from a wall socket.

[pieces o nine]

And what it'll be like when a fellow resident decides that he can power something that draws the same as the Large Hadron Collider from a wall socket.

If memory serves, that's quite OK.

The Dorm Police are only interested in nabbing those cooking Ramen noodles on a little hot plate...



[EDIT] Not using excessive energy, on my hill.  [/EDIT]

[Sibling Chatty]

True. I brought in power tools and lumber to build a 'storage loft' above my dorm room bed...saws, drills, a sander, etc.

No problem.

An old fashioned pre-microwave popcorn popper?? HORRORS!!

You could iron clothes for hours on end, but use that iron to make a grilled cheese sandwich, and you were in the dorm director's office in no time flat... THAT one they couldn't make stick.

[Alpaca]

That's stupid.

I'm already angry that Freshmen are required to have University housing and, even worse, a University meal plan. Together, those are $10K or so, which is absolutely ridiculous. It's understandable that I live on campus the first year, make friends, take a look around, figure out a better way to live. But $4000 worth of food for two school semesters? What!? (And I'm sure the cuisine will be sub-par.) If my parents gave me $4000 in cash for food, I could probably buy myself a very nice computer at the end of the year and still have a much healthier diet than my meal plan will allow me to.

[Aggie]

I'm already angry that Freshmen are required to have University housing and, even worse, a University meal plan. Together, those are $10K or so, which is absolutely ridiculous. It's understandable that I live on campus the first year, make friends, take a look around, figure out a better way to live. But $4000 worth of food for two school semesters? What!? (And I'm sure the cuisine will be sub-par.) If my parents gave me $4000 in cash for food, I could probably buy myself a very nice computer at the end of the year and still have a much healthier diet than my meal plan will allow me to.

I never had that issue - I lived at home for the three years I went to OUC, and had a kitchen the year I lived in residence at SAIT (rez was a tiny self-contained 4-bedroom apartment, I think your dorms there are something different).

I don't think I could put up with a meal plan - I'd be inventing some extreme dietary restrictions that they could NOT work around I think. 

And heck yeah, $4000 a year will buy plenty of healthy food for a starving student.

You could iron clothes for hours on end, but use that iron to make a grilled cheese sandwich, and you were in the dorm director's office in no time flat... THAT one they couldn't make stick.

How about waxing skis?

I had the opposite issue in rez - no iron (unlike one of my roommates, I didn't ask to borrow another roomie's clothes iron for waxing).  Instead of cooking with an iron, I managed to wax with the bottom of a cast-iron pan.

Are you allowed coffeemakers?  You can cook quite a few things in a coffeemaker - I've done it on a few occasions in hotels.  A rice cooker is even more versatile, but it's not 'dual use'.

[Alpaca]

Are you allowed coffeemakers?  You can cook quite a few things in a coffeemaker - I've done it on a few occasions in hotels.  A rice cooker is even more versatile, but it's not 'dual use'.

Very proud moment - last spring break, school-sponsored trip to Italy. The food was "Italian" American tourist food, and entirely inedible. So my friend and I went out, bought a cheap coffee percolator (old-timey kind, not modern drip coffee maker), took it apart as best we could to get rid of extraneous elements, bought some pasta, some tomatoes, and some cheese. Cooked pasta, in it, made tomato sauce in it, had the most awesome dinner ever inside our hotel room.

[Aggie]

Haven't used a percolator for cooking, but it would perfect for pasta I suspect.

What was with the bad food?  Were you trapped at the hotel for meal times?  That'd be a real bummer in Italy.

When I went to Japan on a school trip in my senior year, we did homestays - my homestay mom ran her own cooking school, so needless to say, I ate well.  ^^

On the Thailand leg of the trip (5 days) we stayed mostly in a small-scale beach 'hotel' (on Koh Samui), and the food was pretty good/authentic. But I think we could have eaten elsewhere if we wanted.