Given the significant role they play in my life, both personally and professionally, it really comes as no surprise that computers tend to be the biggest source of frustration and irritation for me.
Well, okay, maybe second biggest source.
In any case, as was so well-illustrated by the DVD burner mess last week, computer troubles figure prominently in events that come close to driving me over the edge.
Of course, in a sort of double-edged sword situation, it’s equally self-evident that computers tend to be the biggest source of what passes for happiness in my life.
For example, the new DVD burner has a feature known as “LightScribe,” which allows you, when using special discs, to use the burner itself to laser-etch designs directly on the disc surface.
So when I went to Wal-Mart I picked up some LightScribe CDs and DVDs and I played around a little with the labeling. I have to say that it’s pretty cool.
It’d be cooler if they could add color to the equation. If they ever do, odds are it would only take a firmware upgrade to the burner to get it to work, since the dye is actually in the media, but in the meantime it’s still a cool feature.
It is pretty damn slow, though.
The fact that my old burner died on me sort of accelerated my timeline for making new computer purchases. It’s been my intention to build myself a new system sometime next year, with some incremental purchases along the way. I bought the burner ahead of schedule, as I had planned for that to be one of the last components I purchased.
Since I have bought it, though, I’ve been thinking about stepping up the timetable a little more.
Mostly I’m thinking about buying a new case and just transferring everything over to it, and then gradually replacing the internal components. A case is a relatively low-cost component, so it’d be an easy purchase to make. Given that I already have a 250 GB external drive, the new system would be able to get buy fine with my current internal HD, leaving only a new motherboard and CPU and a graphics card. I’ll probably recycle the RAM from my current system, but be sure to get a motherboard with four slots so that I can more easily bump up the RAM.
I figure that if I buy a decent case that I like I can just keep up a process of incremental upgrades and have a top-of-the-line system for years to come.
And in the meantime, a snazzy new case should tide me over until I can make the bigger purchases.
I’ve kind of lost my enthusiasm for buying a Tablet PC. I still want one, but I’m just not willing to shell out the money at this point.
Of course, there are all kinds of other things I could be spending my money on, if I’m going to spend it at all, but, again, because of their prominence in my life, it’s hard to force myself to spend money on things that aren’t related to computers.
For example, I could really use a new bed, but I can’t bring myself to shell out the money for one. After all, it’s just a bed. And the problem isn’t just that the bed wouldn’t have any kind of cool new features like a dual-core processor. I mean, I could get one of those “sleep number” beds if I absolutely had to feed my gadget needs, but no matter how you dress it up, it will still be my bed, which is to say that it’ll never see any action.
Inasmuch as its only function would be to provide me a place to sleep, it could just as easily be a pile of dirty laundry on the floor.
Of course, there are actual gadgets that I want, but am unwilling to pony up the cash for, like an HDTV.
The main problem there is just how expensive it is, given that most HDTVs, particularly this 37” LCD I was looking at online over the weekend, can do double-duty as monster computer monitors.
That would be cool, but it’s hard to justify the expense, considering that the cheapest I was able to find that LCD for ($1,700) is enough to build a pretty kick-ass computer.
And of course the main non-computer-related item I want is going to remain totally out of reach until the housing bubble finally bursts around here, and even if/when it does, the cost of a home probably still won’t dip low enough for me to be able to afford one.
So I guess the bed, the TV, the house, and all of the other things I want will have to continue to wait. The new case, however, may be another matter entirely.
As is apparent from my mention of going out to Wal-Mart, Tuesday morning found me venturing out into the world, unlike Monday, which found me too lazy to even go for a walk.
The day started with my six-month dental check-up, which seems kind of silly, given how often I go to the dentist anyway.
In any case, the parking lot at the complex of various health-related offices where my dentist’s office is located was filled almost to overflowing. Evidently the people of Ashburn were not having a good health day.
Once inside the building I found myself walking behind a woman of indeterminate age. She looked like she could be fairly young and have a decent figure, but she was wearing old lady clothes that made it difficult to get a very good idea of her age or shape.
As she veered off to the ladies’ restroom I got a better look at her, and saw that she was young and attractive, though the caustic glare and frown she shot in my direction didn’t exactly accentuate her good looks.
While I was waiting in the dentist’s office she came in and walked past me, shooting me another dirty look, and I realized that she was the new girl with the big boobs that I had seen working at the office a while back. I noticed this time that the ring check I had performed at that time had been off by a finger, so it appears that she may be single (or at least unmarried), though based on the looks she gave me, I don’t think that improves my chances any.
The check-up itself was pretty routine. My partial hadn’t arrived yet, so I still have to wait on that.
From the dentist’s office I went to Wal-Mart, with my next stop being the grocery store, then I would be home. After leaving Wal-Mart I realized that if I didn’t got anywhere else, I would have likely been home and totally finished with my day before 12:30, and somehow that just seemed incredibly pathetic.
So, in an effort to avoid being pathetic, I did the only thing I could think of: I went to the mall.
I realized very quickly that it was a wasted trip, though, so I headed to the grocery store, and was home, my day finished, by 1.
Once I got home I engaged in the aforementioned playing around with the LightScribe thing.
And that was pretty much my day.
Apart from making the plans to go to DC on Saturday (I also opted to take Sunday off while I was at it, basically just for the sheer hell of it), not much has gone on today.
It’s actually been a pretty uneventful few days, even by my standards, so I think that will do it for this entry.
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