Not A Fan

I think all my projects/ideas are jinxed by whats called 'The Phil Factor' or TPF.

I have a few friends that contact me from time to time and the first thing they say is "So WHAT are you trying to do now?". It has stemmed from a string of partially insane ideas I seem to come up with and the 50% of them that become a reality carry an invisible feature that cannot be described with anything other than TPF.

Is it the 400 DVD player off ebay that only plays R1 (even though it said multi on the ad) discs? the stubbie cooler holder that I couldn't hang on the wall as I was only a tenant? the Moke? TAF? the budget patio that can now suffice as a tornado bunker? motorcycle licence? the arcade machines? centurion? the bucks drive to Broome? I think you get the idea.......

The new house has brought a few more humdingers to that list and the icing on the cake was last night. We installed a computer network in the house to stream movies and tv shows around the place and I needed a way of joining them all in the roof cavity. Not an issue as it should be relatively easy to install a network hub for that however hubs need power don't they.

From my escapades in the roof of the Balcatta joint, mums place and now our place I have noted that all ceiling fans are connected using a normal power outlet - BINGO. If I just plug a double adapter into one and run an extension cord to where I want the hub - Ding Dang Do - Sorted! So last night I did just that, got everything ready, jumped up in there, ran the cable - all too easy - oh apart from the fact that the hub doesn't turn on?!?

The brain started griding and couldn't explain it. I tried the fan, it worked, so if there is power there then why why WHY doesn't it work!!!!!! (can you guess the punchline yet?) In the hope absence from the problem brought clarity, I finished terminating a few cables, connected them all to the hub and it came on!

W T F

Tried a few things on the network - most worked, 1 didn't. I realised that the cable on the 1 was the fault so I repaired it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand......... nothing. Check the cable again and it was fine, went up in the roof and the hub was off again! GRRRRRRRRR. (can you guess it yet????). I rechecked all the power and it came on again! Result. I started cleaning up and did 1 last check.... it was off..... *insert swear words here*.

The problem? I hadn't allowed for TPF. While working on the problem, what was Kylie doing? She was tending to Cameron, showering, pampering herself, tidying etc etc. An integral part of all those things was turning the fan on and off in the bathroom which ( i know you know now!) activated the electrical outlet in the roof and turned the hub on!!!!!!!!!!

So long story short if you want to use the network @ our place, stroll into the bathroom and flick on the fan first! It could only happen in our place.

What can I say TPF sneaks up and gets me everytime.

Have a great long weekend freestylers
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