When I got the silver Challenger I was asked by a couple of people what I was going to name it. I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t even have plans to give it a name. Most of the time I don’t bother, unless it’s something that pisses me off regularly and then the name I give it isn’t something I would usually repeat in mixed company. True, the Mountaineer got the nickname, “Battle Wagon,” but that was years after going through all sorts of hell.
Last Saturday I got all crazy and picked up that computer case I wanted. It is a bit larger than I had anticipated. When I was reading reviews of the thing someone had mentioned that the box was big enough for his kid to crawl into. I thought this was some hyperbole, but it turns out a small child probably could fit in there. To put things in perspective, the box is to my cat as my apartment is to me. He wouldn’t be hosting any parties in there, but he certainly has room to move around.
The case itself is tall, heavy, and black. Instead of a plastic face it appears to be aluminum. One word immediately sprang to mind when I gazed at it in wonder: Monolith.
By now you should know, dear reader, that I don’t do anything unless I can justify it to myself. Regardless of what it is; even simple purchases requires days, maybe even weeks, of torturous self-arguing.
The Monolith is huge and expensive and, despite that, doesn’t have the gonzo wild looks of other cases. So, why did I go for it?
First: Because it’s huge. More space means more room for my ham hands to navigate and install things. Also, it’s always nice to have extra room to slap things in there.
Second: Cable management. I would say the majority of people never open up their computers. Also, with laptops and pads becoming the defacto standards there isn’t much reason to do so. I don’t care for laptops and I’m not a pad user; I like my desktops (or towers, as it were). While other people go out and buy new laptops when the old one gets crusty, or wait online for days at an Apple store to get a moderate upgrade to what they already own for twice the price, I (usually) gradually upgrade my computers. This is difficult when there’s a bunch of cables running around and getting in the way. With this case, all the cables get routed underneath the motherboard and then pop-up near where they need to be connected. Like a frolicking dolphin. And, with all those cables out of the way, it’s easy to add more hard drives or change stuff off the motherboard. And it should give less places for dust to accumulate.
Third: It’s got spots for lots of fans. I’m crazy about fans. Not because I’m a hardcore overclocker, just because I’m scared to death something is going to get way too hot and burn up.
Fourth: It’s got hot-swappable hard drive bays in the front. This means that when I decide to add more hard drives I won’t even have to go into the case. Just pop a drive into the front like a cartridge and I’m good to go. With my new found knowledge of RAID and LVM, they may really come in handy, too.
This should be the case to last me for another five, six, or more years so I’m fairly happy with that.
I was out and about last Saturday, getting things done. While I was out I had the choice of going home or doing something else. So I, get this, went to the movies. My travels led to the door of Flix Brewhouse so I figure, “Hey, I haven’t had lunch, either, so now I can have lunch and a movie!”
I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars books. I’ve read some of them. I’ve liked them, given what they are and when they were written. I’m glad to see at least one book made it to the big screen, so I got a ticket for John Carter. Originally, and better titled, John Carter of Mars, which is based on the first book, “Princess of Mars.”
Flix Brewhouse is kind of like Alamo Drafthouse in that they play movies and serve food and drinks (including alcohol). Flix Brewhouse is a bit different in that they make their own beer (and they’re a lot closer to me). I had 45 minutes to kill before seating started so I ambled over to the bar to see how their beer is.
To me, beer is like art: I don’t know anything about it, but I know what I like. I had their Satellite and found it quite pleasing. That was all I had at that point because, as I’ve pointed out numerous times before, I’m not really a bar person. Oh, silly me. Yes, there is a bar in there.
So, anyway, the point is I was sitting in a theater, ready to eat, and ready to watch a movie. There was only one bad thing: 3D. Movies in 3D used to be a big thing in the 1950s. And then it died a horrible death and hasn’t been seen until the “future” arrived. The technology is way different for viewing a movie in 3D these days. Back in ancient times movies were in black & white, today they are in color. Back then you had to wear a pair of cardboard glasses with a red lens and a blue lens, whereas now you have to wear a gigantic pair of plastic glasses with two grey lenses. I’m waiting patiently for this “technology” to die a horrible death — again.
I’m not a fan of 3D movies. The first problem is that the grey lenses act as a low-level pair of sunglasses. If the movie is dark, it’s going to be darker. This is bad news for Batman movies. Another problem is that for me, at least, watching a 3D movie is like watching a bunch of cardboard cut-outs. You know, a bunch of flat people moving in front of a flat background. Usually it would end there but I have to mention that because the 3D glasses are so big, it cuts off all peripheral vision. That makes it hard to eat in the dark and watch a movie at the same time.
What I remember of the movie it was pretty good, if taken for what it is: a 1930s-style pulp sword & sorcery sci-fi story. Unfortunately, it was a dark movie and I was interrupted trying to shove a Cuban sandwich into my face. But, once I can see it at home in crappy old 2D I think I’ll like it quite a bit.
When normal people want a new computer/laptop/tablet or whatever they think, “I want a new whatever!” Then they start comparison shopping, figure out what they want, and then, eventually, figure what they can spend and buy one.
Not me. Nope. For starters, I’ve never bought a new, complete, computer since the early 1990s. That was the Atari Mega 2 ST and I didn’t have a choice since you couldn’t purchase the parts and then put it together. I build my computers from parts. Once upon a time it was the cheaper way of doing things. Not anymore, though. I don’t get the discounts and stuff like Dell, HP, or whoever do.
When I comparison shop it’s not just for a tower system, it’s for: computer case, processor, memory, power supply, and hard drive — at a minimum. Some things I’ll re-use if they’re still viable, like a video card or lower capacity hard drives.
I make a spreadsheet with the items I’m looking for and prices from, currently, Newegg and Amazon. Then I plug in the prices and tally them up and see where it would be cheaper to get things. Generally, prices are all the same these days and people have sales at the same time so things are similar in price, if not exact. But then I have to tally in shipping from Newegg, since I have Amazon Prime (which has paid for itself) and don’t pay for shipping from Amazon.
When I finally see a total, which is usually over $1,000, I go, “Whoa!” Because there’s no way I’m going to spend that much in one chunk. I’m still in the mindset that I’m poor and to spend that much at one time gives me the pips. So I figure I’ll break it down and buy one or two things this payday and additional items every payday thereafter.
I try and decide if I should get the higher priced items now or the lower priced ones. When I can’t decide I try and base it on what’s least likely to change, which is nearly impossible. I mean, who would have thought hard drive prices would skyrocket when a natural calamity hit Taiwan? Finally, I think what if I need that money for something else?
Week after week I track the prices of everything and think, “Okay, this is the week I get whatever!” But the prices have dropped a dollar or two. If I wait until next week maybe the prices will be even lower. What if I buy the hard drives now and tomorrow Newegg sends me an email saying the processor is on sale? What if I don’t buy the memory now and another disaster hits Taiwan and memory prices shoot up? Worse, what if I buy a solid state hard drive now and the price plummets? What if I buy an 8-core processor today and they come out with a 12-core tomorrow? What if? What if?! That’s the problem with buying parts piecemeal: I’ll never even buy one thing because something else may change.
The other problem with buying parts in drips and drabs is that you have new stuff lying around doing nothing. Nothing! So, once I start I usually end up getting everything else in one big flood, anyway.
In the end, I do nothing. I justify it to myself because I really don’t need another computer. I don’t even have a good reason for upgrading the one I have. It’s just something I like to do.
People ask me if I have a hobby and I usually tell them I don’t. When asked why I say it’s because hobbies are expensive. But I guess I do have a hobby and it’s building computers. And it is expensive. Yet, so are any other hobbies, such as RC cars, planes, helicopters, and… whatever else people do. Even scrap booking can be expensive if you use machines like a Cricket.
Now that I think about it, $1400.00 isn’t that much to spend on a new computer, especially given the components I’ve selected. I’m keeping costs down by re-using some bits from the old computer, and that’s good.
But it really all comes down to justifying it to myself. What other things could I use the money for? Totaling it up and then putting it aside? Buying a piece of exercise equipment? What would happen if I spent the money and I needed that same amount for some kind of emergency?
It’s not about the computer. It’s not about spending money. It’s all about justification.
For instance, the case I want is a monster of a case. It costs more than any other individual part. It’s not exactly pretty; certainly it’s not as ‘wow’ as my current case, but it is huge and it’s made with the idea in mind that you can route all the cables underneath the motherboard. With this case I probably wouldn’t need a new one for generations. It could, quite possibly, be the last computer case I would ever need.
A case so big and black, people would be afraid I would start hitting them with leftover chicken bones.
Upgrading components inside would be easy as pie without cables routed all over the place. And dust? I’m a dust magnet and this would make it easier to keep clean. And it’s got air filters. And it’s got hot-swappable hard drive bays in the front so I could upgrade or change hard drives without opening the thing up. It’s perfect.
But as long as we’re going dust-free, what about the fan and heatsink for the processor? Those are always getting gunked up with smoke,dust, and cat hair. If only there was a way to keep the processor from getting gunked up.
Liquid cooling: it's not just for dorks anymore.
Oh, wait. There’s a liquid cooling system. See? That round bit sits on the brain and the fans are big and easier to clean. Plus, there’s no heatsink fins that need to be scrudged out. It’s perfect!
And I could go on all day telling you exactly why part X would be perfect and is needed. Then I would go over my spreadsheet and wish some of those numbers will go down so I’ll look around for alternatives. I managed to get my list down from a total price of $1,350.00 or so to $1,430.00 that way.
I’ll fantasize about it, too. I will. I’ll sit there and look at all this stuff and think, yeah, I’ll get the case first. Then I’ll buy bits and add them into the case. I wouldn’t have all the parts, so there’d be no reason to rush. Just get things together slowly and perfectly. Yeah… That’s totally unrealistic, though. It would kill me to have a case, motherboard, processor, memory, hard drives and no power supply just sitting there.
On the other hand, this is the first time I’ve been able to spec out a computer using pieces I want rather than having to settle for. If I went ahead and did this it would be the first computer I put together that wouldn’t be dictated by what I had to leave behind or replace for something cheaper. Something I didn’t really want but “it’s OK, I guess. ”
What I’m waiting for is someone to tell me not to do it. And I don’t think anyone will. Even my boss told me that it was my “professional duty as an employee to a tech company” to go ahead and be ridiculous.
There you have it. A little trip through my brain and how I make life so much more difficult for myself for no apparent reason. I hope you enjoyed it.
It’s been a tough week. As I write this on Friday I still have a full day to go and my weekend will be sort of busy again. That’s better, though, than not being busy at all I guess. I’ll run a few errands and maybe, just maybe, drop in at Frys and take a look at this big monolithic case I’m interested in. Perhaps I’ll even lose my mind and get it because I really want that case. Even if it means transferring all my old stuff into it.
Or, maybe… Maybe I’ll put myself on a reward system. Get something done that I’ve been putting off (like cleaning off my kitchen bar-counter-thing, or cleaning off that one chair that’s been accumulating junk, or straightening up my bedroom as best I can with what little space I have or getting a shelf to put all my computer crap on to free up some space to make it easier to clean up). Then, I could buy another piece every time I strike something off my to-do list. Or exercise! A dollar for every mile. Or something. That might work if I feel like I’ve earned it.
When I decide to go looking for a recipe, AllRecipes.com is usually the place I end up at. I like the site; it’s been a mainstay for many years. I find it best to ignore the reviews, though. I don’t know what gets into people’s minds, but they tend to review something based on how they made it, not how the original recipe went.
If you see a recipe for, oh, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich you may see that it got one star. If you read the review it usually goes something likes this:
I really needed a PB&J today and I saw this recipe and decided to try it. I didn’t have white bread, though, so I used pumpernickel that’s been in my pantry for two months. I also didn’t have any peanut butter so I substituted mustard. I wasn’t in the mood for jelly so I went ahead and used corned beef. I was disappointed when I bit into my sandwich and realized it didn’t taste like peanut butter and jelly at all!
That’s not much of an exaggeration, either. Go ahead and read a few of the reviews. Some meals really do turn into something very different yet people still leave a review on the original recipe, anyway.
I decided to make a breakfast sausage, cheese, and potato casserole. In the spirit of doing what I complain about, I made a few changes. One, because the store didn’t have the sausage meat I was supposed to use and the other because I was far too lazy to shred potatoes. So I got frozen hash browns. I also scored a $30 food processor, even though I totally thought about putting it back on the shelf.
I made it, and it looked like this:
So I made a casserole. Usually I make a casserole in a 9×13 glass dish or the old Dutch oven. I don’t have a “proper” casserole dish. One thing I like to do is go around to different sites to see what stores offer what and if they have any in stock. I don’t think many of the big stores are really savvy to using their web sites for this. For example, WalMart’s site told me that they didn’t have any casserole dishes. At all. That’s not good for old WM if Target’s site lets me know that they do, because I’m far more likely to run over there than WM.
As it turned out, WalMart did have a casserole dish. “A” as in one. And it was an expensive Paula Deen one, which I wasn’t at all interested in. So, there you go. Brick and mortar stores really should pay more attention to what they have on the website and make sure the inventories are accurate. I don’t use web sites just to shop online and there are some things that I prefer to go to the store to pick up rather than have delivered.
I was all excited that I started getting my un-asked for horoscopes and now they’ve stopped again. I have to admit that it makes me a little sad.
It has been a very rough week for me. Work has been keeping me busy and tired, plus I’ve had a rough few days due to personal circumstances and forgotten memories popping to the forefront. I’ve been neglecting Facebook and Google+, along with my emails. Essentially, I’ve been working, eating (I stretched that casserole a long way), and going to bed. This weekend should be pretty busy if I can get remove my buttocks from the chair it’s planted in. Oh, and happy St. Patrick’s Day.
[Make Social Media banner – I didn’t do this yet, so just pretend it’s here]
Some people may have noticed that I’m not as active on the “social media” front as I have been. There’s a good reason for this, although I’m not sure how many other people would consider it a good reason. I’d like to say it’s because I’m busy. Or travelling a lot. Or abducted by aliens. It’s much simpler than that, though.
Way back when, I signed up with MySpace to keep in contact with people I didn’t see any more. Then I did the same with Facebook. I signed up with Google+ just because it was new and different. Since then, I’ve forgotten my password and email account for MySpace so I don’t think I’ll be going back there. Not any time soon. So I’ll just concentrate on Facebook and Google+ for now.
So, I signed up for Facebook to keep up with folks. Fair enough. I found it interesting to know when someone was going to the store, or brushing their teeth, or having a new child, or getting a new job. I also enjoyed seeing little tidbits of information they would throw out to the world, just for the hell of it. See, it’s the little things that make you feel like you’re more involved in someone’s life than you really are.
And then the games started getting more popular. And more people started showing up and then playing more games. It got to the point where the game updates had a higher presence, and priority, than the status updates. But I managed to cull those down and get back to status and picture updates and all was mostly fine.
Not too long ago, I couldn’t say exactly when because it’s been a gradual process, there’s this new thing where people share a picture. But it’s not really a picture because it’s words; just in a graphic form. Usually it’s some kind of “funny” saying (I put that in quotes because, to me, they are rarely amusing) or inspirational claptrap. But other people like them, so it gets shared. Or someone else finds the original and shares it again. Over and over and over until all I can see is a stream of crap that I have no interest in.
Administratively, it’s worse than the games. I can mute game posts by the game itself. What I can’t do is mute all shares from ‘www.stupidasscrap.com.’ I have to mute the person to do that. I’m getting really close to the point of doing that. The thing is, I understand that other people might enjoy them. They might actually like seeing the same stupid “My Parents Think I… My Boss Thinks I…” things over and over, and I don’t begrudge them for that. I just don’t want to see it.
I miss the days when I could see what people were actually doing. Maybe it wasn’t as ‘exciting’ or busy, but it was a lot more personal.
How does Google+ fit into this? Because that’s all it is. Google+ is nothing more than sharing pictures and sites. Mostly pictures. Almost all pictures that are actually just Dr. Seuss quotes saved as a GIF. Photographers will share their pictures, sure, but go down the “What’s Hot” and the majority of what you see is… crap. Shared by everyone.
I get followed by people. And I would love to return the favor and follow them, too, but I check out profiles and what they tend to share before I do. Almost all of them are just ‘resellers’ for the garbage that already gets passed around.
So, is there another ‘social networking’ site out there that actually concentrates on social networking, or are we stuck living in a time when all you do is pass around pictures? Frankly, if I could find another site that was kind of like Facebook and kind of like Google+, but didn’t have games and concentrated more on what people were doing I’d sign up in a heartbeat.
In my email, I was surprised to find my unasked for horoscope appearing again.
Woe betide anyone who wants to start something with you now — especially if it even remotely resembles a verbal battle. Each and every word you utter will be precise, meticulous and pretty darned intimidating.
So don’t give me any crap today or I’ll wound you with my carefully crafted sentences. Yeah.
Using the same email addresses since the dawn of the Internet means I tend to collect a lot of spam. Between the various services doing their own filtering and Thunderbird culling things out I tend to not see them unless I desire to do so. Every once in a while I do go through my spam folders just to make sure something is getting tossed in there that shouldn’t.
Lately I’ve been getting a few “dating” emails, which are really just porn things, I guess. I don’t click on the links or spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it really is. What I find unusual is that instead of garbled English they’re written quite clearly, but they still don’t make a lot of sense.
Several identical women with different names have sent me this line: “You can get my phone number there if you want to go on a date with me. Make sure you rent a room at a nice hotel with a queen-size bed! “
Why a queen-sized bed? I mean, I think I’d be pretty smart and not get a room with two twin beds, but why not go for a king-size bed? I think there are hotels that have those. Would I really be clueless enough to get a room with two single beds, though? I don’t live in a 1950s sitcom. And besides that, if we were “dating” I think I’d have my own place to go to.
Even better than that, though, is this one: “I’m not too picky about guys so just message me and lets have some fun!”
That’s exactly what a fat, balding, glasses-wearing guy wants to hear. It’s nefarious. I think I should add that to my dating profiles. You: Must not be too picky about the guys you go out with.
Anyway. Today marks the first year anniversary of my dad’s passing away. So, forgive me if this weeks (which, now, is actually last week’s) is a bit down sounding. It’s just one of those days, you know?
Despite everything I wrote last week about writing up this blog, I’m actually starting it on Friday. So now I will rush, rush, rush through it until it’s finished. When I get home. I’m at work now and it’s my lunch hour. See how dedicated I am? Using up my lunch hour to write this? I hope you’re all impressed.
I have finished A Confederacy of Dunces and have moved on to Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. I’m up to page fourteen so far and have a little ways to go until I’m done. If I ever get done.
But you don’t care about that, do you? You’re wondering why I waited until Friday to start writing a blog that should be ready to go Saturday morning. You’re wondering what has taken up so much of my time. Well, I will tell you.
It’s all about pain. A toothache. It’s one of those pains that hurts like a flaming bastard but you don’t want to complain about it because it’s a toothache. Because when you don’t have a toothache nothing seems more trivial than that. And when you do have one it still sounds kind of trivial. It’s not like getting shot, losing a hand, having an arrow in the knee, or bumping your head on concrete. But it sure doesn’t feel trivial.
Before moving to the Austin, TX area my teeth were near perfect. After I moved here my teeth have gone to Hell in a hand basket. I blame the water here because it’s mostly rock. I can prove it. I have one of those netty-not-spongy-loufa-bath-puff things hanging in my shower. When it was new, it was a bright blue. I never use it because I prefer using bar soap so it just hangs in the shower under the shower head. Slightly less than half of it is now white, after two years of doing nothing but collect water dripping off the shower head. Not bleached white, but calcium deposit white. Or whatever it is. It’s like brushing your teeth with sandpaper is what I’m getting at.
So, I have a toothache. Before I had someone that would take care of these things for me. You know, call up the insurance and search around for a dentist and make the appointment and all that. It’s a lot harder now. Especially when you’re at work. Especially when you’re at work using your lunch hour to write a blog about not being able to take the time to call insurance and dentists.
This time I was more proactive. I remembered that I never did get my health insurance card so I asked about that. It turns out that I was never “entered into the system.” Then I was. But I really wasn’t. So that took a couple of more days to get figured out. I’m not even sure it’s figured out now, but I’m at the point where that doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve found a dentist to go to and will be getting there as soon as possible.
Because nothing feels quite the same as pain stopping. That glorious moment when the throbbing ceases and the pain goes away. Your whole body is washed in that feeling and there are no good words to describe it. Even if it means the loss of something prominent, like a tooth.
As it turns out, this particular pain was caused by a wisdom tooth drilling into another molar. There wasn’t much that could have been done to prevent it. At some point I will need a root canal and then have the wisdom tooth extracted. I can’t say I’m looking forward to that.
And that, really, was my entire week. It wasn’t very exciting, just very painful.
I will make one note about last weeks trip to San Antonio, though. It isn’t something I say very often but here it goes. The Alamo. A mission badly converted to a fort, which was defended by a small amount of people against a very large army. People died there. Many people died there. Many people actually, really, lost their lives defending the place. You can honor these people, remember their sacrifice, by buying a nutcracker dressed up as Jim Bowie or a shot glass in the shape of a shotgun shell. I realize they need to make money in order to afford to keep the place from falling apart, but it seems really strange to me that you can buy chintzy crap (probably made in China) on a site where blood was shed and lives were lost.
Garden of Entropy 