The electrical wiring in my living room was really messed up. Ever since I moved it, there was something goofy with the power outlet on the right side of the room, where I plugged in a lamp. After a few weeks, if I unplugged the lamp, the other 2 outlets in the room would go out (one had all my computer setup, the other my TV setup). Needless to say this was a pain in the butt. This morning, I was sitting on the computer taking a break from a morning full of studying really hard (haha, actually I was studying, since I had a test and fell asleep the night before), and the power goes out. Just in the living room, since the kitchen light stayed on the whole time. Only this time, I couldn’t just jiggle the lamp plug; something was even more messed up. I got it working for a while, but then just as I was leaving, the power went out again.

I came home to the power being out, but didn’t really have enough time to fix it. I called my dad when I was finishing stuff up at the office, explained the problem, and just as I figured, he knew exactly what was wrong. I think my dad knows pretty much everything, especially electrical and other fix-it type of stuff. So apparently the living room was all on a parallel circuit, and something was loose in the lamp outlet plug. Either a broken wire or a loose wire, hopefully. While Dad was telling me this, I scribbled a diagram on a scrap of paper. I got home, killed the power for the living room, and took apart the outlet. Yup, one of the 4 wires in there was a little loose. Took it all apart to make sure (and cause I was curious), put it back together, and VOILA. The outlet works fine now, I don’t need to worry about jiggling the lamp plug, and I can use my comp and TV tonight. I have to say, I feel accomplished.