26/03/2007 @18:28:19 ^19:13:04

Clock and Bulb Enumeration (2007 remix)

It's a year since the infamous Clock and Bulb Enumeration post. Let's see what's changed:

• the watch is another year older, but it almost didn't make it - see below
• the alarm clocks actually wake me up now for some reason, it was when I switched from using the buzzer alarm (a horrible noise I want to turn off as soon as possible) to some news programme on Radio 4 at 5:30am (which is quite interesting, while not being in depth enough to be annoying)
• the pink lampshade is replaced with a white uplighter which, while losing the quirky charm (i.e. blatant eccentricity) of having a bright pink and green colour scheme, has pretty much doubled the amount of light in here, which is something I've wanted to do for a while.
• I managed to replace at least one of the spotlight bulbs with a compact flourescent, but it's kind of redundant now with that new uplighter which basically makes the entire ceiling into a light source. Fewer bulbs means a lower electricity bill though. God knows I waste enough leaving the computers on all the time.

I feel inexplicably that things have improved since then?

How to give yourself heart failure changing a watch battery

While trying to take some pictures of a lunar eclipse (and failing miserably to get anything decent) I had absent-mindedly pressed the light button again, like that time at the cinema. This time the battery drain was too much and the thing was completely dead.

I wasn't really bothered initially. Fortunately I could steal a replacement out of an otherwise useless christmas present, and I've had the back off it before, I've got this absolutely miniscule screwdriver from somewhere or other that does the job nicely.

However when I put it back together I nearly had a heart attack because whenever I pressed any of the buttons the entire display scrambled itself. I thought I'd just broken one of my most precious possessions.

Feeling rather hopeless I took the back off again, but somehow realised I'd failed to sufficiently tighten some of the tiny screws inside the watch that held the battery in place. After tightening them again all was well.

This has been another of my interminable stories about apparently breaking electronics and ploughing the depths of despair but somehow managing to come out the other side. I tell you life is like a rollercoaster (sarcasm) (ironically pointing out the obvious) (brackets)