Anti-germ spray; Norton Nicht; T-Day; What is that smell?

At work this week, far too many people were sniffing and sneezing. Everytime I moved around the building, I wanted to whip out my anti-germ spray and wash down anyone that I encountered.

If that were not enough of a problem, the weather was up and down. Today was windy and chilly. Yesterday was overcast and almost warm. Wednesday was breezy and warm. Tuesday was also warm. Monday I don't remember. And most of the time when it does that I begin to feel lousy. However, here it is Friday, and I don't think I've come down with anything.

Somewhere I've read that the antivirus can get a little overactive, and when it does, it corrupts or deletes some dll's. I don't know for certain if that is true, but it does have a certain logic to it. In checking comments and reviews on the web about Norton, I noticed more negative responses than in the past.

This time around I thought I'd try something different. First thing I did was to download XP Service Pack 1.a. My thought was that maybe somewhere in the updates, there was something that addressed this situation.

Second, I decided to try a different firewall/antivirus. I hesitate to mention a name for fear that someone may have figured out to bypass some of the features.

I left momsy with the book about Liz Taylor and her jewels. A truly sumptious book that you can look at in a number of different ways. One is as a catalog of magnificent stones. Or as a review of one of the finest collections in the world. Or you can be amazed at Dame Liz's very shrewd "feel" for the jewelry market. Or as a mini-history of a legendary performer. Someone who many have called the last of the Hollywood royalty.

I've mentioned before that I have motion-detector lights at the front and side of my house. And on the inside, there are units that chime when the dectector beams are triggered. The units are plugged into any electrical outlet on the same circuit.

This morning, the smell was very noticable, and as I glanced around, I noticed that the electrical outlet with the chime unit had overheated. To the point that the plastic had melted. Which explained the weird odor.

I turned off the power and removed the outlet. But when I turned the power back on, I noticed several overhead lights and lamps were not working. As I riffled through the phone book looking for an electrician, I realized what had happened. By not replacing the outlet, I'd cut the circuit. When I went out later, I bought a new outlet. When I got back home, I tried to replace it. But now it was late in the day, and without power, I couldn't see what I was doing. So tomorrow morning, I'm hoping I'll be able to solve the problem without electrocuting myself.

PAX!