I finally figured out why I’ve been so edgy since lunch.
The HVAC system in my part of the building is acting up again.
It used to buzz or whine in the mornings for a couple of minutes and for much longer at night. I’ve literally been driven out of the office at 4:45 a couple of time because the niose was giving me a headache. Our facilities people finally figured out what the problem was, and fixed it. (well – “MacGyvered” it anyway…)
Right now its not whining, but it is clicking – sounds like a pc doing some heavy HD writing over in the corner. (I thought that’s what it was at first, untill I walked over and saw that the machines over there are all powered down.) I really noticed it about 30 min ago – it probably took a while for the noise to register as unusual – I bet it’s been clicking away since at least noon.
The noise is driving me batty – music doesn’t seem to mask it, and I don’t have any headphones here. 🙁
One of the reasons I don’t like the GeForce3/4 series is because the fans on them have a shockingly short lifespan (at least under the strain I was putting them through at work). After only a couple of months, they started to grind in the most horrible, annoying way.
Not a regular, constant sound, but more like a tortured, metal-slivers-shearing-off-the-blades noise. It sounded like it was desperately trying to turn, but was limping, and surging erratically – resulting in an oscillating volume of a teeth-rattling noise. It was a bit like a chainsaw being swung round on a really long rope, but the person swinging it kept changing the speed they were swinging it round at.
Can you tell I paid a lot of attention to it? In the end I had to buy a really good set of headphones to avoid going mad, and so did all of the people for several desks round about me. Quality goods.