So today was eventful (and a little pricey).
My original plan had been to catch a matinee of Elektra, but that didn’t pan out, as I ended up going to IKEA with Brian and Kathleen instead.
We had gone there last Thursday but ended up not buying anything (though Kathleen did buy a pink pillow, and today she bought a companion pillow for it) and resolving to head back sometime this week.
Sometime, as mentioned, ended up being today.
The main reason I wanted to go to IKEA - and let me just say that the place is absolutely overwhelming, both in terms of its size and its content – was to pick up a new computer desk.
My old desk had been rather shoddily put together, and after two years I basically just didn’t want it anymore.
As for the “shoddily put together” thing, in fairness to myself, I did, initially, put it together fairly well, but in the process of moving it into place it fell over, causing some structural defects to crop up.
Even so, it had been my intention to try to keep the old desk after assembling the new one, minus the damaged hutch component at least, for use with my old computer.
On Friday I purchased a wireless router online (which is, according to the tracking information, currently just a few miles away, so I should be getting it tomorrow), so I’m going to finally create a network and make use of my still useful old computer. Having a desk to put the old computer on would have been a plus (currently I have it on the bar/counter between my kitchen and dining room), but alas, the desk just couldn’t hold it together.
Based on the experience I had two years ago putting the old desk together, I had expected putting this one together to drive me to the brink of insanity. It turns out the desk was a cakewalk, especially in contrast to another project I tackled today.
On the way back from IKEA, we stopped at Best Buy so that I could pick up some RAM for my computer. I figured that, since I was going to have to disassemble everything anyway I might as well take the opportunity to crack open the computer and upgrade the memory (from 512 MB to 1 GB).
I got a hell of a deal on the memory, on sale for $80 with a $30 mail-in rebate.
So after Brian and Kathleen brought me home and helped me haul my new desk up to my apartment (which I’m sure was a real blast for Brian, who’s been having trouble with his leg), I cracked open the computer and uttered an oath.
No, I don’t mean that I made a vow, I mean that I swore. A lot.
The layout of my computer’s innards was about as far from being conducive to making RAM upgrades easy as is possible. There were all sorts of wires and cables in the way, and given that my overall dexterity isn’t exactly anything to write home about when there isn’t a bunch of shit in my way, this made snapping the DIMM into place quite a challenge.
And by “challenge” I mean it sucked ass.
Ultimately I got the DIMM in place, and so I turned the computer on to ensure that everything was working properly.
Or rather, I tried to turn the computer on. Hitting the power button caused the light to flicker, but little else.
I went back to work on the DIMM, taking it out, testing to see if the computer turned on once it was removed (it did), then trying to put it back in once again.
This time, though I was reluctant to do so, I removed some of the power cables, to make it slightly easier to access the DIMM slot. I thought I could remember where the cables plugged in.
I was mistaken.
Still, the computer turned on despite the fact that I didn’t have all of the cables hooked up properly.
However, my computer was still only showing 512 MB of RAM installed, and my CD-ROM drive wasn’t showing up in the list of drives.
Sighing, I decided to just give up and bring it in to Best Buy to have them make sure the RAM was seated right and to reconnect any and all necessary cables.
They did (To the tune of $59. So much for the savings from the sale and the rebate.), and I returned home and tackled the desk.
As mentioned, putting the desk together was pretty easy, despite the fact that IKEA provides the worst instructions ever.
Essentially, the instructions only provide visual cues without any kind of labels for the parts, and the illustrations were less than stellar.
So it was a bit of a puzzle, but ultimately I finished it.
Afterwards it took a while to figure out just how I wanted to have it set up. I’m not entirely happy with the decision I ultimately made, though I do like the fact that it provides me with easy access to the mess of cables and wires sticking out the back of my computer. The desire to have said easy access was actually one of the reasons I wanted a new desk.
In any case, that was pretty much my day in a nutshell.
Ideally I’ll be able to get back into the swing of making more typical (and regular) updates this week (as well as take in a matinee of Elektra), but that’s it for now.
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