Remorseful Waiting

Between my tax refund and my bonus at work I've come into a large amount of extra money recently.

It had been my intention to use part of that money to get a replacement for the current Hugin, my main computer, which, while still a decent machine, as it was top-of-the-line when I bought it back in 2008, is starting to show its age, and it just generally feels like it's "that time."

Originally I had planned to simply buy the components and actually put together my own system, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized what a hassle and recipe for disaster that would be.

A while back I had configured an HP system that (mostly) had the components I wanted, so I was toying with the notion of just buying that and then adding in the additional upgrades that HP didn't offer. However, after pricing the components, I found that the total cost of the HP + the extra bits was $300 more than the cost of buying all of the parts I wanted and putting them together myself.

Plus there was a particular computer case I really liked, and I had some concerns that one of the components I wanted to add wouldn't fit in the stock HP case.

Still, whenever I thought about the work involved in assembling the pieces, my inner Homer moaned, "Can't someone else do it?"

I remained on the fence about buying the HP, and then found that my decision was nearly made for me. I wanted to buy a particular Intel CPU, and was looking to save some money by ordering the CPU and Motherboard together, as you usually get a better deal when you buy them as a combo. However, I wasn't able to find any CPU/Motherboard combos that had that particular CPU.

So HP it was...until I found another site that does custom-built complete systems which offered a lot more choices than HP, including the particular case that I wanted.

Sadly, I couldn't pick out the particular graphics card that I wanted, but that seems to be the case everywhere. As a consumer, I can actually buy the card from an online retailer or a brick-and-mortar electronics store, but as part of a system build? Nope.

The other component I'm looking to add is only available from two sources, so there was no way to get that thrown into the build.

I went through and configured the system, going mostly top-of-the-line with the components, and managed to put together a system that was somewhere between the cost of building one myself with the individual components - with a slower CPU - and the cost of the HP.

I found that I could knock the price down a bit further - still above the DIY version, but, again, faster CPU - if I could exercise patience and tell them that there was "no rush." This would be an absolute lie, of course - want it nao! - but a 5% discount made up for the fact that I'd have to wait about three weeks to get it.

So I put together all of the components and added the system to my cart.

And left it there overnight as I got preemptively hit with buyer's remorse. I need (note "need") a new system, and it was an incredible amount of bang for the buck, but it was still a lot of buck.

Finally, early Sunday afternoon, and I went back to my cart and, as I knew I would all along, made the purchase.

The buyer's remorse kicked in instantly, and so did the realization that I'd lied and said that there was no rush.

So I'm stuck in a period of remorseful waiting. My order status says that the expected ship date is 3/29/11. Given that I went with the cheapest shipping option, I most likely won't actually get it until sometime in early April.

*Sigh*

Oh, Hey; More Waiting

So I'm sitting - along with my sisters - in the ICU waiting room, er, waiting.
They brought my mom down to the OR a bit after 6 AM. As I type this, it's 9:36 AM, and so far we haven't gotten any of our three updates, and there's a good chance that they haven't actually started operating yet.
I readily admit that I'm pretty scared and anxious, but I do feel confident that she'll make it through. After all, she had surgery to clear out a blocked artery in her neck on Friday - which was sort of a trial run for the main event - and she made it through that with no trouble whatsoever. Granted, it's not nearly as invasive a procedure, but it's still pretty major surgery. Apart from being groggy from the anesthetic, she was fine right after it, and got better as the day wore on. I have to say that I was impressed by her resilience.
It was good to get out of the hospital over the weekend, and to sleep in a real bed. The downside was that my mom doesn't have WiFi in her apartment, and her Internet connection is actually slower than the free WiFi here at the hospital. On the other hand, my mom's Internet connection doesn't block any domains the way the hospital's does.
Saturday morning I got a text from my friend Kevin inviting me out to breakfast. We ate at the Suomi Restaurant. I can't remember the last time I ate there. Probably at least 15 years. Sadly, as I'm not the most sentimental person in the world, it's not as though I had any wistful reminiscences about the place. Still, it was good to see Kevin - while we've talked/e-mailed/chatted in the interim, it's been years since I actually saw him - and the Pannukakku I ordered was good. I wouldn't have thought that I could get tired of bacon and eggs for breakfast, but after a week of having little else in the way of options* in the hospital cafeteria, it actually happened.
Saturday evening I went to see Megamind - which is hilarious - with my brother-in-law and my niece and nephew.
Kim hit a deer on her way to bingo on Saturday night, and, to add insult to injury, she didn't even win anything once she got there. The deer did a fair amount of damage, but her car is still drivable.
Yesterday Kim and I headed back down to Marquette. She and I watched a boring video about what to expect today and after the surgery, and a bit after that my friend Gretchen came by to visit for a while. Hadn't seen her in years either.
I got put back in the same hospitality room I'd stayed in last week. The one without a bathroom (or a window).
They gave my mom some Xanax last night so that she could sleep, and this morning they gave her, in the nurse's words, " a lot of Valium" before wheeling her on out.
And that brings us to this point, in the waiting room, with the waiting.
Apparently during my stay here last week I was a big hit with the nurses, what with the whole devoted-son-who-flies-in-all-the-way-from-Virginia-and-stays-at-the-hospital-to-take-care-of-his-mom thing.
Not that it did me any good - the cutest nurses, and there were a few, were all married with kids - or like that was really what was on my mind.
One nurse that my mom had for most of last week was really good - well, they've all been very good, but she stands out because I was around her more - and frequently commented on my awesomeness. At one point when I was out of the room to eat lunch or whatever, she had asked my mom if I'd ever been married. My mom told her that I had, and gave a brief summary of how that worked out, to which the nurse responded, in reference to my ex, "That little bitch."
Hopefully once my mom gets through the surgery - which, despite my anxiety, I'm positive she will - it won't be too long before they take her off the ventilator (generally happens anywhere from 6 to 24 hours after the surgery) and she'll be able to talk before I head back to NoVA tomorrow. Of course, it might be better if she's still out of it when I leave so that she won't be sad when I go.

*They did, on odd days, have this yogurt bar that I really liked. I was thinking it had been a M-W-F thing, and was looking forward to it this morning, but unfortunately they didn't have it. They didn't even have much in the way of packaged yogurt to choose from.

A Prisoner In My Own Home (Plus: Rambling, Pointless Thoughts On Spider-Man 3!)

So I’m waiting for the person(s) from the condo developer to come and inspect my place, but have no idea when that’s going to happen.
I hate having to be on someone else’s schedule, and I wish I’d been given a specific time.
I hate the whole “be home between now and September” kind of thing. Tell me when you’re going to be here, then be here at that time. It really shouldn’t be all that difficult.
At the very least, give a timeframe, not this be home all day crap.
And sure, normally it wouldn’t be an issue, but there are actually a few things that I need to do out in the world today, so it would be nice to know when it’s safe to leave.
Admittedly, I could have just left a key at the office with my authorization to enter, but I want to be here for it.
*Sigh*
I guess I should say a little more about Spider-Man 3.
The biggest problem I had with it was the amount of time he spent without his mask. It was even worse this time around than it was in the last movie.
This was made even more irritating by the amount of time Venom spent without his mask.
The other big problem was the rather ambitious nature of the movie. Three villains? Even in a 2+ hour movie, that means giving short shrift to each villain, particularly given all of the other plot threads that the story was woven together from (pun sort of intended).
The Venom story didn’t get nearly enough time to develop properly, and the Sandman storyline just sort of dropped off for a while before reappearing at the end.
I’m sure a lot of people were put off by how much time was devoted to Spidey’s personal life and all of the teary-eyed moments, but the angst of his personal life has pretty much always been a trademark of Spider-Man since his creation, so there’s not much validity to that complaint.
My final complaint is that there weren’t really enough “incidental” Spider-Man scenes, the random thwarted muggings and various rescues that happen in the course of a regular day and in between major super-villain battles, though that’s a complaint I have about most super hero movies.
But that does bring us to the action, which was all very good. No complaints at all on that front, though the fights just weren’t as cool as the fights in 2. I mean, Spidey and Doc Ock fighting on the side of a building? Easily beats out the high speed aerial chase through narrow alleys (which was still very cool).
As for the performances, Tobey Maguire, as per usual, seemed to be sort of sleepwalking through the role, but still managed to do a decent job.
Kirsten Dunst, in my mind, has only been playing someone with red hair who happens to be named Mary Jane Watson; she hasn’t ever been Mary Jane. She just lacks the spark. Still, it’s never been a deal-breaker. I will say that her wardrobe this time around was rather frumpy. She actually looked her best in her waitress uniform.
Thomas Haden Church did a great job as the Sandman (The whole “birth of Sandman” sequence in which he struggles to reassemble himself after the accident that transformed him into living sand was one of my favorites in the movie. I will say that the people conducting the experiment that caused the transformation was probably the best-looking group of scientists ever assembled. I really doubt that in all the world there are that many good looking scientists.), and the Sandman effects were very well done.
Topher Grace did his best work as Eddie Brock, though he was also a serviceable Venom. Of course, Venom was mostly effects (hence the constant need to remove the mask in order to give Grace something to do), but he did get in some good lines.
Naturally I loved the Bruce Campbell cameo, though I still think his cameo in 2 beats this one by a very slim margin.
Not much needs to be said about J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson beyond mentioning that he was pitch-perfect as always. The man was born to play that part.
Bryce Dallas Howard made an amazing Gwen Stacy. She was, as I mentioned to Scott, a total Dodson, which is to say that she looked like a character illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson brought to life. In fact, she looked exactly like Gwen Stacy as illustrated by the Dodsons in a Spider-Man story that had been the first place I’d ever taken note of their work.
Of course, I will say that she had some padding added either to her clothes or to herself to make her look so buxom, as I’ve seen her sans clothes and at that time she was decidedly less zaftig.
One thing I found sort of interesting about the casting is that Kirsten Dunst, a blonde, plays a redhead, while Bryce Dallas Howard, a redhead, plays a blonde.
Bringing Gwen into the franchise at all at this late date was kind of interesting choice, though, as in the comics world Gwen was Peter’s first love, and, like Mary Jane in the first movie, she was thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin, though unlike MJ, Gwen didn’t survive.
I can’t say I really approved of Gwen’s treatment in the movie. Not in how she was handled as a character – that was fine, and Ms. Howard played her well – but in how she was treated by the other characters. She really wasn’t much more than an object to be coveted or used by the people around her.
Which leads me to the effect that the black suit had on Peter as it destroyed his inhibitions and turned him into a creature of nearly pure Id.
For the most part it led to throwaway moments of Sam Raimi silliness (a la Hercules or Xena), but in some cases it led to some very interesting moments.
Basically, what’s fun about having a hero under the influence of something that weakens his inhibitions is that you get to see him do and say things that you always wished he would do or say but knew that he couldn’t because, well, he’s the hero, and heroes just don’t (or at least shouldn’t) act that way.
In that spirit, the best line of the movie came with Peter standing over a defeated (in more ways than one) Harry Osborn and taunting him by saying, “Oh, look at little Goblin Jr. Are you gonna cry?”
Anyway, that’s my considerably lengthier take on the movie. I could go on even more, but I’ll spare us all and stop here.
Ugh, I really hate sitting here waiting, wondering if I could make it to the comic book store, Best Buy, and Super Target and still get back here in time, or thinking about leaving a note saying, “Back at X.”
*Sigh*