lol, brenda. i know! radiation signs!!! ooo, i like your idea chicka and i am of course very partial to andrea's idea :) i could get my hands on some crime scene tape and after the nails set in, it would be proper. no trespassing wouldn't work since the ones who did this were supposed to be there :( some of them work there, also. just oblivious jerks who think nothing of the little people, even of their existence. i can find lots of cones, too. but too late :( i will try to remember these ideas for next year.

Reading all your messages has been like hearing the latest updates on my three sisters. That's a compliment and sincere thank you. Crohn's disease, Graves disease, fibromyalgia and arthritis (Rheumatoid/Osteo)have reared their ugly heads among my 3 sisters but left me inexplicably unscathed. The family is an autoimmune minefield...LOL. After the ONE night I went home to get some sleep I came back to my father's house to find 2 cars and no father. When your 82 year old father is MIA without explanation you naturally worry. Turns out he had a second serious bout of Atrial Fibrillation and went to the hospital without telling me. Ask me if I wasn't feeling guilty for leaving him and upset with him for not calling me. He didn't want to interfere with me taking my best friend to a colonoscopy appointment Monday AM. I didn't sleep again Monday or Tuesday nights but got a couple hours sleep earlier tonight when I landed back at my father's with Pop in tow from hospital/cardiology office. No Coumadin yet until results of 3 week montoring device show if he's having small episodes of A-Fib when he gets chest tightness on treadmill at gym. Coumadin and exercised induced symptoms are the worst for him. He's extrememly active physically (so he doesn't fall asleep!) although we're having memory issues. Well, I've whined again but it feels better to get it out. I went outside yesterday at first light to rake and do a little garden clean up. It was glorious and relaxing. If all stays well for next week or so I'll have cooked my 5th Thanksgiving dinner and actually gotten somewhat used to it. Part of family will be here and Dad can have his turkey dinner without dietary restrictions of blood thinner. He's all about his food but luckily for me not picky...LOL. All in all, I'm a pretty lucky chickadee tonight. :) Good wishes for all of your health challenges as well. I think I'm going to get some Lavender heat wraps to relax me when I'm exhausted but can't sleep.

Quote "it powered on fine" So it is fair to say you heard the POST beep? I see on that board you have a 24 pin power connector but up in the top rear corner of the motherboard behind the 9 pin DIN and USB hubs there is also a 4 pin power connector. Check this is seated correctly. He seems to be tucked in between the cooling fins and a black item, is it possible you missed it? Not doubting you by any means but at times even the silliest thing can cause frustrations. Is the Corair RAM on the Asus QVL compatibility list? Asus boards need very specific models of RAM to work properly. Beautiful machine, I drooled all down my shirt while writing this.

No, no no. Assuming your panel will have 8 zones, you will end up with either one expander, leaving you one zone short of your 17 zones, so I guess they're proposing TWO zone EXPANDERS which will give you a total of 24, so there will be 'spares.' A zone expander is about the size of a small paperback novel so you are not going to get 17 of them, or one per room (although if a room had a lot of devices - remember - 1 window or door switch = 1 device, one motion sensor or smoke detector = 1 device) That many zone expanders would also require a lot of power, more than the panel could supply. 17 zone expanders would give you 136 zones! (17 x 8) The installer has probably determined you will have 17 devices - how many doors or windows do you have? This will also include the motion sensors and any other gadgets you'll have. As a trainee/assistant, I'm not that knowledgeable but I guess motion sensors CAN share a zone- but it's not desirable. More common, doors and windows can share a zone, less desirable but common and ok if they're preferably close together - say, two adjacent windows, or, more commonly, french doors - I'd probably put the two doors - which would both have a switch, on the same zone. Like I said, just look at the quote - it will say "1 x xyz control panel @ $ x 2 x brand x zone expanders @ $ dollars. Anyway, it's not something to get too concerned about unless you really like technical stuff. You want your house protected, and a good price. Does the proposal meet your needs? Of course, getting a couple of competing quotes is a good idea. You may find the big 3 letter company quotes cheap but you may not find their coverage as good, and you may not like their service as much. You get what you pay for. On the other hand, you might find it totally adequate. Personally, if/when I get my setup, (plumbers and their own leaky taps, you know) - my wife wants me to finish a few jobs first - I would not have a system without: 1) an external siren and strobe, so the neighbours can see it, 2) fire/smoke montoring, 3) low temperature warning (since we get below freezing winters) 4) flood alerts in case of burst pipes. Now this is a purely personal choice - I will probably NOT opt for a monitored system, ie one that calls a staffed monitoring centre, but will opt for a setup where the panel will email and/or call my cell phone (despite what they may tell you, the latter is certainly possible but it will have to be set up in "pager mode") - just because I don't want to be saddled with a monthly fee, I live in a smaller city and have an excellent support network of neighbours and relatives. That's not for everyone. If you want to get the insurance discount, you probably need the fully monitored system. I'll do the math on that one when it comes time, anyway.