Crazy Neighbor-- need advice

[stehle]

Alright, I have a problem. I have a crazy neighbor upstairs who is constantly complaining about the "vibration" (no, not the noise) of my Lian Li case. I bought this computer in April 2006 and had it in the computer room which is directly under the crazy neighbor. In December the vibrations of my computer suddenly become a big issue. It is keeping her up, she is getting dizzy, heart palpatations (I kid you not, read below), etc. The thing is, I didn't change a thing to my setup--it has held constant.

I am very curteous to the crazy neighbor. She is in her mid-40s and lives alone in the apartment above us. She works at home because she is a "writer" (with no books published, evidently). She goes to bed at 8 pm EST and wakes up at 4 am EST to start writing. We live outside of Boston in a fairly populated place so it isn't exactly a paradise of isolation.

At this point, I am at a loss of what to do. I've moved the computer successively futher away from the computer room and she still complains (to the point the landlord is involved). Right now the computer can be no farther away from her without physically being outside--it is a good 30-40 feet from her bedroom (above the computer room). It is on a foam pad they use in manufacturing settings to prevent fatigue.

Can anyone suggest a way to dissipate the vibrations? I have tried a foam pad and I am getting a little stand to pick it up off the floor. I doubt they will work because I swear to god our crazy neighbor is so sensative that she could pick up an earthquake before it happened. It is a Lian Li case with a standard fan on the CPU and power supply.

h e l p

For the entertainment value.. here are the types of e-mails I get deal with constantly. Normally they are a source of great amusement, but now that the landlord is involved my Vanguard time has been cut in to.

I don't think you understand the effect of your keeping me awake, night after night after night, is having on me. For some reason, I was unable to go to sleep last night until after you and [wife] went to bed at 12:45. This morning I am dizzy, shaking and staggering, my vision is foggy, and my heart is pounding. Perhaps you are unaware of the many deleterious effects even one night of too little sleep can have on someone, not to mention the many, many nights you have treated me to. I can only imagine that you are not aware, because it seems to me that any reasonable person who was aware, would do everything in their power to not keep the other person awake. Even you admitted that lack of sleep affects quality of life.


Here is an excerpt from something I sent [landlord]. I should not have to justify nor defend my normal human need for 8 hours of sleep. But in case I must, here are some excerpts from a current article about the many ill-effects of lack of sleep. I shall follow the excerpts with a link to the entire article, should you want to vet the source:
---------------------------
Students, workaholics, hassled parents and diehard partyers listen up -- a single all-nighter or a week of four or five hours sleep a night impairs your mental and physical performance as if you had a blood alcohol level of about 0.1, over the legal limit of 0.08 for driving in B.C. Language, memory and planning skills drop. Athletic performance drops. You're looking at reduced motor function, cardiovascular performance, endurance and coordination, and delayed visual and auditory reaction times.
----
Even a few weeks of insufficient sleep increases blood pressure and stress hormones, worsens glucose control and increases appetite, says Najib Ayas, a UBC assistant professor of medicine and a sleep disorders program staffer.
----
How long does it take to recover from a sleep deficit?
No one really knows, Fleming says, but don't count on one good night to fix several days' deficit.
----------------------------
Here's the link to the entire article: The science of sleep


[Me], I have had many, many weeks and months of four and five hours of sleep. Just imagine what effects that is having on me. Please put yourself in my place, and try to imagine how you would feel if the quality of your life, the quality of *every* aspect of your life, were being destroyed because the person downstairs was keeping you awake. As I told [landlord], one morning recently I almost ran off the road and had to swerve to miss a person walking by the side of the road. And, [me], I have experienced all the other listed ill-effects, and more, since this situation began. Does this situation have to rise to the level where an accident occurs, injuring me, and possibly some other innocent bystander due to lack of sleep, or where I end up in the hospital for some other reason due to lack of sleep, before a real solution is reached? I sincerely hope not.


As I told you, I have to be out of town for a few days for a funeral. Please work with [landlord] and do everything in your power to have this situation rectified before I return.


Thank you.


crazy neighbor

It gets better...

Whole Body Vibration
• Every object (or mass) has a resonant frequency.
1
© Professor Alan Hedge,
Cornell University, January 2007
• When an object is vibrated at its resonance frequency, the maximum amplitude of its vibration will be
greater than the original amplitude (I.e. the vibration is amplified).
• Vibrations in the frequency range of 0.5 Hz to 80 Hz have significant effects on the human body.
• Individual body members and organs have their own resonant frequencies and do not vibrate as a single
mass, with its own natural frequency. This causes amplification or attenuation of input vibrations by
certain parts of the body due to their own resonant frequencies.
• The most effective resonant frequencies for vertical vibration lie between 4 and 8 Hz.
• Vibrations between 2.5 and 5 Hz generate strong resonance in the vertebra of the neck and lumbar
region with amplification of up to 240%.
• Vibrations between 4 and 6 Hz set up resonances in the trunk with amplification of up to 200%.
• Vibrations between 20 and 30 Hz set up the strongest resonance between the head and shoulders with
amplification of up to 350%.
• Whole body vibration may create chronic stresses and sometimes even permanent damage to the
affected organs or body parts.

[Cadrid]

What's her proof that the computer is doing it? If it came along suddenly, you've already moved the system, and there's a foam pad underneath it I'd say she's full of crap. I'd be willing to guess either the building's utilities are causing it, she's ill, or someone else is guilty of these "vibrations" she's suffering.

Instead of bending over backwards to accommodate her, try putting that energy into discovering what is actually wrong, otherwise you'll end up without a computer at all.

[Wowbagger]

All I know is I want a youtube video (with sound) of this case or room with the computer. Stat!

Seriously, to protect yourself go to your landlord and say "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to resolve this problem within reason." Compliance will gain a pound of sympathy, and make her look more crazy. It's not giving in to anything, it's just willingness to hear the argument and to be helpful, rather than an obstacle.

Above all, stay calm. It could be worse (and I've had worse -- I've actually gotten legal aid to help with bad apartment neighbors). The more rational and calm you are, the better your argument.

[stehle]

We looked into the utilities and everything else along those lines. I am fairly positive it is the computer because she calls on the nights I have it on--no calls happen on the nights I'm not using it.

She is the human equivalent of a seismograph...

[Heylel Teomim]

Leave it off for a week or so. Use someone's laptop or something. Wait for her to complain on a night when you don't have it on.

Or try running something else that produces minimal vibration, like a box fan. Unless your PSU is running on deisel fuel I just can't see a PC *ever* making enough vibration to bother someone a full story above you. If it was, then you should be having even worse effects from being so near it all the time, right?

Other utilities make much more noise and vibration. Dish washers, dryers, etc. will all be easier for a neighbor to spot when they're in use. If these aren't bothering her, but your computer somehow is, then it's entirely in her head.

- H

[Lejina Bloodbath]

That is some of the weirdest shit I've seen in a few days (thanks internet).

Anyway, here something that may help :
I bought a new car a few months ago and I found the trunk was acting like a reasonance box, the sheet metal it is made of was effectively vibrating and increasing significantly all the road noizes coming from from the back wheels.

I bought some tubing insulation material and put it on all that sheet metal and it killed all those vibrations, making the cabin that much more confortable.

If by some god damned weird way this woman is attuned to the vibration of you computer, you probably could tone it down significantly by putting that kind of stuff inside the body pannels of your computer. That would have the side effet of making it quieter for yourself.

The stuff I talk about comes in rolls of about 8" wide by 10 feet long, it's a 1/8" foam with a sticky side and an aluminum foil side. You just unroll the thing and stick it wherever it is needed. Cost like 10 bucks. You can buy it in most home hardware stores.

[Tuco]

Duct tape a vibrator to the ceiling beneath her.

[krozman]

The best way to diffuse a situation like that is to put the ball in her court. Ask her, is there a way to diffuse computer case vibrations? Have her do the footwork, and when she comes up with a reasonable solution, follow it, and if it doesn't work, then remind her that you were more than reasonable following her solutions, and she should possibly do something on her end to reduce her sensitivity, i.e. start a drinking habit, or medications.

[Celebrindal]

What inside the case is causing the vibrations?

The shit might be as simple as changing one of your case fans. I have owned 3 Lian Li cases, and the only thing that caused vibrations was the DVD drive, which was fixed by tightening a screw.

[EmpireF4i]

I dont see how your computer can make that much vibration. Is it the noise or the actual vibrations that cause her problems?

Maybe look into some of the material they use in cars called Dynamat (sp?). You can line either the outside or inside of your comp with that stuff to try and help with the noise/vibrations.

[Talen241]

Stupid question, but have you, or your LL gone up to see how severe these vibrations?

[Moontayle]

Agree with Wowbagger, make sure you're openly telling both the landlord and the crazy neighbor that you're willing to work out a solution "Within Reason". Basically, anything which would cause you to interrupt a portion of your normal lifestyle in order to accomodate her crazy mutation isn't reasonable.

One solution is to turn off the computer at a set time every night. Then you can say, "Look, I turn off the computer at 10pm every single night. You know this and still go to bed at 8pm. I've done everything in my power to minimize the effects on my end, now it's your turn. Go to bed at 10."

You could also call bullshit and ask to see a signed doctor's report that says it's your fault.

[thunderbunny]

That woman is a lunatic. That said, you making a change will do nothing in the long run for her. She needs to go out and determine what is actually wrong with her because chances are that if your computer is capable of keeping her up at night, then a fridge, microwave or other devices will do the same thing as they are very likely capable of causing vibrations within the same frequency range. This is her problem - not yours. She assumes the responsibility for her sound sleep lies with you which is frankly not true in this case. You are not disturbing the peace by playing loud music at 2AM. You are using a relatively quiet computer. As a matter of fact, just as she could make a claim that this sleep deprivation which she claims is caused by your computer impairs her quality of life, so could you argue that being able to use your computer is vital for work purposes at odd hours for you.

The bottom line is, she is probably able to determine if you use the computer through some other means, such as spying outside of the window to see the glow of your monitors. Once she sees that she attributes her inability to sleep to that and starts working herself up into a frenzy. If she does not see it, likely she pops a few pills and drinks some wine and then falls asleep.

To resolve the situation it would be best for humanity if you killed her so that she never has a chance to reproduce. Alternatively, make her prove scientifically that the vibrations from your computer can be felt in her apartment. She will not be able to do that and the case is closed. Finally, get the hell out of there. If your landlord sides with an insane tenant like that there will be no end to the kind of nonsense they will put you through.

[miguex]

8 hours sleep is standard per night? I havent had that in 10 years.

[Lejina Bloodbath]

If she can actually hear it (and it isn't one of her organ or her spine somehow vibrating with your computer) and it's that low humming in the night that keeps her awake, then just have the bitch use hearplugs.

I've slept soundly while laying within feet of a diesel power generator in the past. Regardless if it's true that she can hear or feel the vibration of your computer, she's definitly a certified nut case for being bothered by it this much.