Huzzah!

I wandered into the computer room about noon today and fired that muther up only to discover a system fault on boot. My CPU cooler fan was dead. Thaaaat's great. Not one to be intimidated about performing open heart surgery on a computer, I pulled the cover off and started taking things apart. It was pretty simple really, 1 plug and 8 screws. 

I took the fan and headed to Radio Shack in Decatur in the vain hopes that they would stock one. No such luck. I decided to bite the bullet and drive to Fry's Electronics in Arlington. If they don't have it, it isn't made. It was a beautiful day for a drive and I decided to take full advantage of it cruising with the top down on the SLK. Great decision.

After fighting my way thru the North Ft. Worth construction mess (multiplied by π due to an accident) I made my way to Fry's, found the exact fan I needed and headed for the registers. Unfortunately, you can't get to the register at Fry's without finding a minimum of a half dozen things you desperately needed but never knew until you saw it on sale. I managed to get out for just under $100 after going in for a $7.99 fan.

On the way back I was passing an 18wheeler on 287 south of Rhome with the cruise set at 75 and Joe Walsh jamming away on the radio when I looked in the mirror and saw a black Volvo closing behind me at a pretty good clip. Being the nice guy I am, I gassed it a tad and got out of the way before they had to slow down. They zipped past me (I'm guessing they were going over 90) just as a DPS Trooper topped the hill. Man, those sirens are LOUD when you have the top down. Apparently the Volvo driver was a devout follower of Hunter S. Thompson's theory of Cops & Speeders... "Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop-heart. Make the bastard chase you. He will follow."

The Volvo braced for the G's and with a quick heel/toe made a hard right at high speed and headed down a dirt road in an attempt to ditch the trooper. True to form, the cop did indeed follow. I'd hate to be that guy right now. You can outrun a Crown Vic, but you can't outrun a Motorola.

I got home, slapped in the new fan (only to discover I installed it backwards and had to take it all apart and put it back together again) and Viola! Not only is the new CPU cooling fan up and running, it's a lot quieter than the old one when it was working.

 I also cleaned out about 5 pounds of dust that had accumulated inside my PC. Dust Bunny? I had a Dust Sasquatch.

Now I'm wondering just how much longer it will be before the rest of my computer starts to lay down on me. I'm backing everything up on the odd chance it craps out before I get my taxes done.