LuxFX / They Think They’re Newsworthy

I have more static electricity than anybody I have ever met. Sometimes I’m scared to touch my computer. Here’s an example, from about a year ago (this time of year is always the worst). I’m washing dishes in our old KC apartment, and I remember I have a glass in the office. I figure I’ll only be gone about ten seconds, so I leave the water running. When I come back with the glass, I immediately shove it under the running water — and it shocks me. Now water is a good conductor, of course, but most static shocks are small enough that even the very low resistance of water — especially running water — is more than enough to stop it. With most people.

This year has been several times worse. You don’t even have to be in the same room as I am to hear the pop when I get shocked. But just now was pretty much the worst. I just hope my scanner is ok….

I just printed off a sheet for a project I’m working on, so I walk over to pick it up from the printer. As I reach up for the paper, the trajectory of my arm brings my hand within a few inches of my scanner. Disaster. I’ve never had a shock like this before. It was one of moments where everything slows down. Not slow enough that you can stop what is about to happen, but plenty slow for you to take in the signals, deduct what is about to happen, and think to yourself, “Oh Shit!”

I was lucky to have had several signals. It was very clear I was about to be hurting.

1 - All of my hair stood up on one side of my head, opposite the hand that was reaching out.
2 - I heard a low humming sound in the ear on that side of my head.
3 - My arm that was reaching out went numb up to about the elbow and all the hair stood up on my arm there too.

POW!!

As I’m typing this, probably fifteen minutes later, my finger is still a bit numb, although not as bad as it was ten minutes ago. For the first five minutes my index finger was numb up to about the second knuckle.

So…if you have to touch me at all this time of year, don’t be afraid to ask me to ground myself first.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 29th, 2004 at 11:46 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.