The new Dataq acquisition system arrived. I had high hopes that it would work with the previous system's software, but it looks as though I'll need to install new drivers. That also means that the operating system will also have to be updated. There's no end to it all.In the mean time I've been looking much more closely at the requirements of transient measurements using accelerometers. These measurements are considerably more difficult to evaluate than a continuous vibration signal would be. Having a lot of excellent equipment doesn't mean you'll get easily acquired good results. Many of these measurements have pitfalls that are so unintuitive and convoluted that it makes you want to just throw your hands up in the air and surrender. Fortunately, I have a plentiful source locally brewed strong ale to get me back on track.What I'm finding to be perversely enjoyable right now is probing the limits of what I think I can understand about these measurements. For every hour spent doing experiments, I'm forced back into doing hours of studying the available literature just to evaluate the results of some new test. This usually yields just a glimmer of what I now need to know, but it does push me forward some to do more testing.