At 10pm last night two of my smoke detectors started chirping intermittently. Figuring the batteries needed changing since I missed doing it last time we changed the clocks, I went to get my step stool. Normally I would use my step ladder, but I didn’t want to wake the kids lugging it up the stairs and surely bashing into something. The ceiling upstairs is high enough that I could just reach the detector, but I wasn’t able to grip and remove the batteries. I could reach with a screw driver, so I loosened the screws and took it down. When I removed the batteries I saw some text embossed in the plastic of the battery compartment that said: “Detector to be replaced no later than 2003.” Usually I wouldn’t be able to see the text when changing the batteries at arms length, so it was fortunate I did it this way this time.

I haven’t found a definitive explanation of why the detectors expire. I’ve seen references to expiry ranges of 7 to 10 years and possibly less if your detectors are in hasher environments: heat, cold, humidity, dust, etc. The most common explanation that has come up is a concern over the electronics functioning properly after running constantly for so many years. I’m wondering if the radioactive component that many detectors contain has decayed after many years and doesn’t do its job any more, but that’s just speculation I haven’t found any support for yet.

Anyways, no matter why they expire, it looks like I’ll be shopping for some new detectors this weekend.

Plenty of things are keeping me busy right now. At work we’ve been using SAP since September and for an IT guy like me that means lots of things to learn to become truly productive again. At home the basement partially flooded from melting snow and rain just after Christmas and that has meant plenty of clean up, dealing with insurance, and now looking for plumbers and contractors to see what needs doing to the weeping tile. In my office I’m having fun with the PC I built; getting used to running Ubuntu Linux and configuring all the applications I want to use. At the same time I’ve setup an old PC with Edubuntu that my 3 year old is using to learn some basic computer skills and other things.

I haven’t given up on a t-shirt related site. I’ve been working on some designs and learning GIMP while trying to draw them. I’ll be setting them up in a basic CafePress store.

One of these days I’ll get back to the Thirty Day Challenge and learn a bit more about internet marketing.

Here’s “Far Cry”, one of the songs from the album: