Missouri City Power Sucks

I've had all sorts of weird computer problems, and the power here blinks A LOT. Yesterday it did to because the alarm clock was flashing 12:00 at one point.

The A/C guy who came out says he's replaced a lot of circuit boards and parts on home air conditioning units since they de-regulated the power here. Great. Cheaper ain't always better. (*Cough* PC vs. *Cough* Apple)

BUY A UPS. (Uninterruptible power supply.) My Dell 4550 PC will run off a 325VA with a monitor off it for a while, at least through the blips. 325VA is a rating, higher is better. 300VA is about the smallest you can buy. Conext has the 325VA ones for $24.99 at Fry's. Cheap. A good surge strip will cost you a third of that, and the UPS has two outlets with battery backup, and two with just surge protection.

My 1.8Ghz Dual G5 will not run off this size of UPS. You need to be able to run a monitor and a PC off it so you can shut down safely.

You should also plug anything that accesses data like a network storage device, game systems, etc. IMHO.

The Wii, Xbox, and Dreamcast are plugged into one. The TV is not, but that would take a large one.

Get one today!! (As I typed that, I heard thunder.)

If you don't have a Fry's, there's a little better one at Amazon.com for a few bucks more.

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