ouch x 2

Okay, I've found something that gives nastier splinters than 100-year-old dry studs: sisal rope. I just re-wrapped the cat's scratching post, and I've been plucking splinters out of my hands ever since... including a couple of micro-surgeries with sharpened tweezers (it's always the tiniest, hardest-to-grasp ones that hurt the most too...)

Get bent!

So I bought a CPU on eBay (an Alpha CPU to replace the one that died in one of my systems). The price was right, but when it arrived it was obvious this guy didn't know how to pack this sort of thing for shipment. At least it was in an anti-static bag, but he basically threw it in the bag with no protection for the pins. This bagged CPU then went into a shipping box packed with newspaper. Evidently as it got tossed around various Post Offices, the CPU bounced around but good and arrived with bent pins. I'm going to have to spend a good half hour with fine needlenose pliers before I can even think of smoke-testing this thing....