Wow. I’m surprised I haven’t actually posted here… I suppose I will!
Warning! Length alert! Read at your own risk!
My name is Robert Alexander Aslin, but I usually go by Alex. There’s a reason for that but it involves family members, multiple Roberts at school, et cetera.
I’m interested in computers, music, video games (mostly retro consoles), and life safety.
My fire alarm obsession/hobby/interest started in Pre-K, contrary to what I said on “the forum that shall remain unnamed.” The system had a System Sensor MASSADA and Spectralert Classics all over the place. I remember when we had a fire drill, and I freaked out, crying. I belive the MASS was on 800hz while the Spectralerts were on Electromechanical. Either way, they were on Continuous, and they scared the living daylights out of me!
Luckily, I had only that one fire drill in Pre-K, and the rest of the year remained silent for me.
It wasn’t until I entered elementary school that my real fear would kick in. My elementary school had an older Edwards system, complete with Integrities (groan) and 270-SPO’s. In hindsight, I think the panel was an EST 3. I remember the cabinet design when I visited during the summer.
My first fire drill of my 12-year career was luckily a fairly quiet one. The PA system that my school had would play a hi-lo tone most of the time, and there was a 50-50 shot of the Integrities going off. It’s strange that I think of that now, but back then, it seemed the norm to me. However, my next fire drill was not so happy-happy-joy-joy. The PA system did NOT go off, and it was just the Integrities, in Continuous! I soon developed an irrational fear and hatred for anything that even resembled a fire alarm device, terrified to come to school on some days. One day as I was exiting the bus, I heard the Integrities sounding a touch louder than usual. I walked in, and to my surprise, they were even louder than usual! And they weren’t on Continuous, but some odd coding. I’m not sure what it was to this day, but it sounded like a cross between California Code and Simple Coding. One of the teachers that greeted me knew I hated fire alarms, and she wanted to show me the detector that had activated (I guess they were either doing a smoke test, or something had actually caught fire and they knew about it). I told her that I wanted nothing to do with it, and I plugged my ears the whole day.
This irrational fear continued all throughout elementary school, even when I was in a portable with a 278B-1110 and a 7002T, strangely. The 7002T’s were apperantly not tied to the school’s alarm system, because they would never go off. The only way you could possibly know a fire drill was taking place was the PA’s hi-lo.
At this point I wasn’t too confident with middle school fire drills. While I hated them then, I’ve grown to like the system now, as they had 4903-9101+2901-9838’s in the old wing and 4903-921x’s in the newer wing. The pulls were 4251-20’s, 4251-30’s, conventional 2099’s, and upon later visits to the school (the PSAT prep class I took a few months ago was held there), I noticed a RSG SP-series pull. Interesting. What’s even more interesting, I later found out, was the panel. It was not a Simplex panel like I originally thought, but an EST3! I guess whatever panel was there died.
In 7th grade, a new middle school was built closer to me, and I had to go to that one. It was built in 2009, I belive, and had an addressable Gamewell-FCI E3 system, complete with Gamewell/System Sensor smokes, Gamewell MS-46L’s, and Wheelock ZNS’s. Whoever conducted the fire drills there must not have known how to reset pull stations, because half of the time after a fire drill, we would have “unplanned” subsequents. In 8th grade (my last fire drill of the year), I noticed two custodians huddling over an MS-46L trying to reset it. At that point, I knew a bit about fire alarm systems, as my interest had sort of sparked, and I wanted to help them reset it but I needed to evacuate at the same time.
And now, even in high school, I still can’t get away from ZNS’s! My high school’s MXL system has Siemens-rebranded ZNS’s, Siemens smokes, and Siemens MSX pulls everywhere. It’s much easier going in after a fire drill in high school, because I know that they actually reset the system, and the VP in charge of them even knows of my interest!
I suppose that’s about it for my fire alarm interest.
I’m also a band geek, having played the trumpet since 6th grade (as of this posting, I’m a junior in high school). I plan to learn other instruments, like the euphonium, trombone, and guitar, but I need to focus on trumpet playing in high school.
As long as I’ve remembered, I’ve been interested in computers. Not the hardware part, mind you, but the different kinds of software, including malware. I think malware is my biggest computer-related interest (which is also why I run on Linux!)
And as for video games, anything older than the PS2 is fair game for me. Except the CD-i. That thing is a hunk of junk.
TL;DR, I’m just a crazy kid trying to make his mark on the world.