ARGHHH!!!!!

[unclevlad]

You probably know the sound.

 

BEEP!!!! 

 

Just one.  This time.

 

Yeah, stupid smoke alarm batteries.

 

UGH.  Must've missed one earlier.  And I have no spare 9V's.

 

Worse...that's just telling me it's time to replace all of them.  They're 12 years old.  Almost did it over the summer, well...now's the time.  And this time, it'll be the 10 year lithium battery types.  

 

So...here I am, planning a quick late night trip to Wal Mart, they'll have em, and still be open...only 8:30.  

 

And the car won't start.  

 

I accidentally left the interior light on for a few hours, but not, I didn't think, THAT long...but it's still dead.  That said, the battery may be pretty old anyway.  

 

<sigh>  So I'm going to have a just LOVELY morning tomorrow..................................

[Old Man]

How on earth do you get smoke alarm batteries to last 12 years?  Mine last, like, two.

 

Sorry about your battery issues.  I'd offer to give you a jump if I were on the same landmass as you, but...

[unclevlad]

The old smoke alarms are hardwired...yeah, they've had the batteries replaced a couple times.  Nowadays, tho, they build em with custom lithium battery packs.  They're not replaceable...but they're claimed good for about 10 years.  And you're supposed to replace the entire detector every 10 years.  

 

I'm looking at about $15-18 each, for the 10 year lithium battery units.  You can get 9v lithium batteries rated for a 10 year shelf life...but brands you've heard of?  They're about $12 each anyway.  The backup batteries sold in a typical hardwired smoke detector is NOT gonna last more than 2-3 years...so pretty clearly, the overall net cost is gonna be higher.  

 

And who keeps those spare 9Vs around?  And you KNOW you can't ignore the beep...

 

Yeah...get a jump, as I don't have the stuff, then head out and get the whole battery and charge system checked.  Among other things.  

[Cancer]

Another advantage to the old alarms is that they would shut up if you took them off the wall and pulled the battery out entirely.

 

If you can't silence them any other way, fill the bathtub, take the alarms off the wall, and drown them.  At one point a few decades back I came within a minute of doing that at 3AM once, in a semiconscious state before I tried the pull-the-battery thing.

[Old Man]

I wound up investing in internet-connected smoke alarms which, while ridiculous, does mean I get a nice text alert on my phone when batteries are at death's door, as opposed to the midnight chirps.

 

I suppose it would also tell me if my house was burning down when I wasn't there.  I'm not sure how useful that is.

 

Although come to think of it I should set it to send those messages to my kids' phones, they might not notice the house is on fire otherwise.

[Starlord]

When something is frustrating you there's always something you can try.  Take any small object, like a pen or a spoon.  Hold the object in your hand, and concentrate.  Manifest all your irritation, anger and frustration into the object.  And then:

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Starlord

[Cancer]

I believe you just described something called a scapegrenade.

[Rich McGee]

2 hours ago, Starlord said:

When something is frustrating you there's always something you can try. 

I really prefer to use old-fashioned feline stress capacitors for that purpose.  We're not feeding those furbags for the fun of it.  Plus, even after all these years it's still kind of impressive how their biochemistry transforms human aggravation directly into enormous volumes of hair.  If I could manage that I'd look like a like hardcore hippy from the Summer of Love instead of the balding wreck I actually am.  Heck, I'd need a trim just from watching the evening news.  

[unclevlad]

4 minutes ago, Rich McGee said:

I really prefer to use old-fashioned feline stress capacitors for that purpose.  We're not feeding those furbags for the fun of it.  Plus, even after all these years it's still kind of impressive how their biochemistry transforms human aggravation directly into enormous volumes of hair.  If I could manage that I'd look like a like hardcore hippy from the Summer of Love instead of the balding wreck I actually am.  Heck, I'd need a trim just from watching the evening news.  

 

You're feeding them because they're your masters, of course.

 

I'm somewhat allergic to cat fur, so that's not an option.

 

MOSTLY destressed now....and demonetized.....  The jump was a minor cost.  The car service, OTOH........let's just say a laundry list of things got done.  Then got 5 new smoke detectors, altho I've yet to install any of em.  And a new kitchen fire extinguisher while I was thinking about it.

[unclevlad]

Well, the new smoke detectors go in *trivially*.  Twist to seat them...they fit in the existing brackets...and they're active.