Funk Babblings

Late last night I was relaxing comfortably in bed, listening to the storm, when the power went out. And unlike most such times, it didn't come right back. So the house was quiet.... except for the incessant beeping of two uninterruptible power supplies that were still ready to power computers. (A third remained silent for reasons I have not yet cared to investigate.) I figured it would probably be a good idea to turn off the computers and then turn off the UPSs. I did so and went back to bed.

I got up today and saw that the power had come back after being out for about four and a half hours. Definitely longer than the UPS would have been able to keep a computer running. The main computer I turned off last night was my primary desktop computer that I almost never turn off (the last time was probably sometime last fall), so I started that up.

After about 20 minutes catching up on the day's news, I suddenly heard a loud two-tone beeping alarm. But this time it wasn't the UPS yelling at me; I'd never heard this sound before, and I soon realized it was the computer itself. Why? Heat was the only explanation. I glanced at the CPU temperature display on my screen - 58 degrees C, about 6-8 higher than usual, though the house air conditioning was keeping the room cool enough.

As I started to pull the side cover off the machine to investigate, I noticed that the power supply and the case around it were quite hot. So this was the culprit. The power supply I'd bought with a special extra-large fan to be quieter about keeping things cool was now no longer fanning at all. I shut down the machine again, blew some dust off the inside, and decided I was not feeling like taking out the power supply yet. I hope I have a spare lying around somewhere.

Lesson: Don't turn off the computer. It only breaks when you turn it off.

Luckily the laptop and the network still work.

The other day I was trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. We were out of most of the usual standbys, and I didn't feel like going to the store. Though nontacitare had just been on her own trip to the store, which helped matters a little.

As I stared at the cabinet trying to figure out what to make, the main thing that struck me was the two bags of tortilla chips left over from my recent takeout excursions to a local Mexican restaurant. What will I ever do with all these chips, I wondered.

Then I remembered a recipe in one of my cookbooks, "double corn tortilla casserole," which is based on two layers of torn corn tortillas. The chips would work nicely in that role. I pulled out the book and found that I only had one other exactly listed ingredient (out of seven), but I could substitute.....

( the resulting recipe )

Pretty tasty for something completely unplanned!