Who's Got A Night Light?

[Doc Tinker]

Yeah, I sleep with a night light.



Actually it's the computer's power panel. There are a bunch of switches on it that are lighted when they are turned on.



My computer is in a sitting room, outside my bedroom and I leave it on all the time, so my daughter can get on the internet through the network and cable modem that's hooked to my computer.



I just turn off the monitor, when I go to bed, and close the bedroom door part way, but one of the animals always shoves the door open during the night and those darn lights shine in to the bedroom.



If I wake up, I start staring at those lights and my computer starts calling out to me. "Doc"... "Doc"... "Doc"... "Come play with me!"... "Come read some more TDR stuff"... "Doc"... "Doc"... "Doc"...



I try counting sheep. I try getting up and closing the door. I try kicking the dog. I try all kinds of stuff, but I can't seem to stop this night light habit. What should I do??!



Doc

 

[Champane Flight]

Turn off the computer?

Turn off the computer,turn off the computer,turn off the computer. I have say that to myself,sometimes things around the house just have to be done.....

 

[Steve Campbell]

This reminds me of a thread from a year and a half ago. Hi, my name is Doc and I am a TDR-aholic.

 

[midnight1black]

Night Light

Hey Doc. maybe you need to count sheep to sleep and not the lights on your computor ? Remember these words WHATS UP DOC. !!!

GO TO SLEEP , GO TO SLEEP, GO TO SLEEP OUR LITTLE DOC.

 

[PHaller]

not in California

Nite lights?!? Hmm, you're not living in California. Out here, if you turn one on, it costs an additional 200$ a month and you'll get a call from the power police... not really, but I'm much more aware of power consumption now. All unnecessary stuff gets turned off like the computer power strip and broadband modem. All tvs too get unpluged when not in use to conserve... even those blasted vcrs and microwaves. They all suck power even when turned off so we unplug them.

I went down to May Madness in Vegas and there must have been 100,000 hotel rooms there each one running an ac unit 24/7. Building eveywhere and no new power plants. No wonder there is no power.

-Paul R. Haller-

 

[Ethdee]

No power?

We've got a power problem, all right - too much! That's why we're selling it at a fraction of the price we're paying for it right now.



Ironic that they're playing commercials telling us to save, and we've got more power than we know what to do with.



Rolling blackouts. Riiiiight.



Thank you, Governor Davis.



Ethdee

 

[Straight6Jeff]

I can see part of your problem already. You need to count diff bolts, or pounds of boost, or injectors. Sheep are for us single guys, not married ones.



Actually, my stereo has "standby" led's that used to light my entire room. Some electrical tape took care of that. Of course theres the neighbor with his airplane landing lights on his porch taht he never shuts off. Hey you Kalifornia guys, can you send some of those rolling blackouts my way???

 

[socal_rattler]

Doc,



You need to get a hub or router to put between the cable modem and your computer. That way you can have more than one computer hooked up to the cable modem at the same time... don't need to leave yours on. They will also assign IP addresses so you don't have to pay the cable company for additional addresses.



You are also leaving yourself open to hackers or other undesirables by leaving your computer constantly connected to the cable modem.



I would recommend you get a router, since among other things, they have built-in firewalls which will keep the bad guys out. Netgear and Linksys both make very inexpensive units that are designed to work with cable modems... you should be able to find one at Compusa or some similar outlet. Easy to setup!



Here is a link to the Netgear unit:



http://www.netgear.com/product_view.asp?xrp=4&yrp=12&zrp=82

 

[Doc Tinker]

Thanks for that tip - socal_rattler



I'm using WinPoxy which has a firewall - It allows the other computers to access the cable modem though my computer, since that's where the cable connection has been located. I'll look into the Netgear, so I can move this computer to the spare room and get it away from view of my bed



Doc

 

[Crash_AF]

Two words Doc,

Duct Tape... .



But remember, duct tape is like the force... .



It has a light side and a dark side and holds the universe together



Later,

Joe

 

[JohnE]

My <b>KIDS</b> have a night light. We also leave on a low wattage grill light in the bathroom for them, too. Makes it handy for Dad when he stumbles around in the night.

My wife, on the other hand, has to leave a light one whenever she leaves the house. I wouldn't object if it was only 10 watts of fluorescent, but it usually is 180+ plus watts of incandescent.



Illuminating, isn't it?



John

 

[EMDDIESEL]

The fish tank light is my night light. Or all the friggin little LED displays on the VCR and TV will light the whole room up.

 

[Dkevdog]

I have a number of nightlights throughout the house (4 watts ea) that are on the dedicated circuit powered by my APC 2000 watt UPS for my computers. Even during a rolling blackout or failure, they stay on (only dusk to dawn) My daughter is so afraid of the dark after the Northridge earthquake, its the only way we can get any sleep. Beside that, its a good safety factor if I need to get up in the night. I'm not worried about the power usage. As for the computers. ... ... ... . Well I have cut back some, I am a junkie and have 7 of them. All of them used to be on 24/7, now only the server and 2 or 3 workstations do that. I guess thats my idea of reducing consumption.



Kev

 

[Amianthus]

I've got a bedside frog. It keeps away the ghosties and the goulies.

Although, I've got a button in my room that I hit when I have a call and it turns on the hallway light, outside lights, and opens the garage door (all the things a good wife would do). Works good.

For real entertainment, I close either the bedroom door or the bathroom door. Or both. When the wife gets up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, thump! "Son of a @*#$^!", she'll say.