Today after ballet class, I came home and switched on my PC. Before I even got to see the Windows startup screen, I heard a loud bang and a flash coming from the PC's power supply unit (PSU in short). The PC then went dead.
My first thing that came to my mind: did the PSU blow? Then I thought: now I can't do any work. Then I realised: thankfully it didn't occur tomorrow.
Why not tomorrow? Because I have a wedding shoot and the couple ordered the Express Montage.
Actually I have a spare PC, but obviously it will run slower and therefore less efficient.
My next worry was: was the mainboard blown as well? Previously I've had bad experience with the mainboard's capacitor blew up.
I thought through and decided: what the heck, let's replace the PSU first and hope that the PC works.
Then I thought: where shall I buy a new PSU? Sim Lim? Yah I could, since I'm free.
But is it worth the trip? Why not get it at the computer shop at the nearby town central.
So I removed the PSU, put it in a plastic bag, and walked to central. After a brief chat with the shopowner, I bought the top-end Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 460W at $75. I might be able to get it cheaper at Sim Lim, but that's the price you pay for convenience.
I never knew why the PSU blew out of nowhere. But am I glad that it died on me when I least needed it. I actually have 4 wedding assignments in the next 30 days, including my sister's wedding event, so I cannot afford to miss a beat.
I have also upgraded my second harddisk in my PC after hearing some weird noises coming from the harddisk head. Harddisks are a dime a dozen - $105 to be exact for my WD SATA2. Data is priceless, so it's better safe than sorely (pun intended).
Speaking of upgrades, I went to COMEX yesterday, and strangely, there were less crowd than the PC Show in June. While I was there, I grabbed a special Anti-virus offer for existing subscribers, traded in my rechargeable batteries for a new set, and bought the Sandisk Extreme IV 8GB CF card. I really shouldn't have bought that, especially when I already have the Vosonic VP8860 to backup the files on the go. But I found that the Nikon D700 is extremely picky on slow CF cards. If the camera takes a long time to write to the CF card, it will slow down on the playback review function. I could have gotten a 16GB Transcend CF card for the same price, but there is difference in the write speed. Speed matters if I want to backup CF cards with the Vosonic, especially with large-capacity memory cards. A 120x-speed 4GB card takes about 15 minutes to backup, so imagine a sluggish 16GB. Bleah.
Yesterday was also the first time I brought my camera to snap at event girls. Actually, it's only for 2 event girls - Huirong and Zoe. What's so special?
1. They are my regular MSN buddies for years.
2. They are working together for the same company.
3. They work for Nikon, my camera brand.
Haven't met Huirong for almost 2 years. The last time I saw her in person was for the Domus photoshoot. She saw some changes in me, because she never saw me since then. But to me, she looked the same, because she's always updating her photos in her blog.
The other 2 Nikon girls, Zylia and Claire.
I was kindda awkward hanging around the 2 girls. Passers-by might think I was trying to get fresh. I really wanted to capture some journalistic images of these 2 girls at work instead of the usual pose-and-smile snaps, but I didn't bring my tele lenses and if I really did, I probably will look like I'm really trying to get fresh with these 2 girls. After 15 minutes, I decided that I have stayed long enough to receive unwanted attention, and bid the ladies adieu.
These are as far as I could get.
Labels: Life, Photo, Tech, Windows
