on the subject of computers..

We've bought several computers over the years. We've owned a range of different brands.. Apple, Compaq, Toshiba, Gateway, IBM, Sony, Alienware, and one computer swiped from a now defunct ISP that Josh used to work for (and no, it is not the same company I currently work for, I wouldn't call this place defunct just yet) that was put together from parts.

The Compaq was the first desktop we owned, and we quickly grew to hate it because it was virtually impossible to upgrade it with non-Compaq parts. We owned a Toshiba laptop before the Compaq, and it was OK for its time. I think this was before CD-ROM drives became a standard feature on computers, so we were loading all software from 3.5" floppy disks.

The next desktop PC Josh bought was a Gateway, and my computer at that time was the stolen-from-the-dead-ISP model. Both worked pretty good. Gateway had pretty decent computers & service, so when we could afford it, I ordered my own new computer from them as well. We had those two computers for a while, upgrading them with new video cards, hard drives, and memory.

Well, Josh's P2 400, while working well enough, couldn't keep up with the ever changing technology of first-person shooter games, so we bought our first Sony, and along with it, a spiffy new Nvidia video card (can't recall which model). He quickly found that the Sony did not like the Nvidia card, and would lock up the system.

He looked around for other options. After a bad experience with Gateway's customer service when we ordered a laptop from them and it had bad pixels (wanted replacement with guarantee of 0 bad pixels, but they found 10% bad pixels acceptable.. so we returned the stupid thing, and went with another Sony laptop, I believe), we decided to shy away from them, and we discovered Alienware.

This is a company where you can get customized computers with colored cases. Josh chose a Martian Red case (and matching keyboard & mouse). I got the Sony, because it worked fine with my current video card. My Gateway went to (or maybe we sold it to him? I can't remember) one of Josh's friends.

So I have my Sony (the first one), and he has his red Alienware. Hardware upgrades follow as warranted.

Then my hard drive on my Sony bites the dust. We're not exactly sure what happened, as we were still able to retrieve all of my data from it, and the same hard drive is working perfectly fine in that Sony now. But at the time it looked hopeless (that dumb thing just would not boot). So, since we had the money, or the balance on a credit card, rather, we went and bought me a nice new Sony to replace it. Old Sony gets reformated after retrieving my data, and gets given to the same friend who got my Gateway. (I think the gateway fell victim to their toddler). That Sony is still working quite well as far as I am aware.

Then Alienware comes out with a new style of case, that looks, conveniently enough, like an elongated alien head. He drools. He wants. He wants bad.

So we get an alien-head-shaped case Alienware, this time in blue (with matching keyboard.. at this point he has a new mouse and doesn't feel like changing it, so does not order a mouse from AW). The red Alienware gets formatted and turned over to me. The second Sony, well, for a while it served as a network server for our printer, and for various shared files. Now, as my previous entry states, it is going to my parents for $800.

The Alienware is a P4 1.7GHz, while the Sony is 1.8, but the Alienware has at least twice as much RAM, so that's no big deal for the minor loss of processor speed.

Road trip

A mini-one, anyway.

We're taking one of our extra computers that we're selling to my parents, up to their house in Prescott to set it up for them. Their current one is around five years old I think. They've been wanting to upgrade but haven't had the money to shell out for one up front, nor do they have the credit (not anymore) to buy one on a charge card, so we're going to let them pay $50 a month (or more if they can afford to pay more) until it's paid off. I think we agreed upon $800 total.

For a P4 1.8GHz with 512MB of RAM, I think that's not too shabby a deal. It's a Sony, not some cheap PoS HP or Compaq, and we're asking about half for what we originally paid for it. I think it's been about two years since we bought it.

I was just looking at some of Sony's newer computers, and frankly, the only things one of their newer ones has over this one is the processor speed, and the fact that the new one has USB2.0 instead of the first version. Big whoop. Oh, and maybe the hard drive space. I am looking at Sony's VAIO Digital Studio RS400C, the second set up that costs $1013.99, base, before any customization.

- The new Sony has a P4 2.66GHz processor. Ours has a P4 1.8.
- The new Sony has 512MB of RAM. So does ours.
- The new Sony has 120GB hard drive. I think ours has an 80 or 100GB drive.
- The new Sony has a DVD+RW drive, and no other CD drive. Ours has DVD+RW and a CD-ROM drive.
- The new Sony comes with WinXP Home. So does ours.
- The new Sony comes with MSWorks 7.0. I'm not sure about ours, but it might. I never really installed many things off of the software disc.
- The new Sony comes with different digital media software titles. I believe ours did too, but I doubt my parents will use all of that functionality. And if they do, I can probably locate at least some of the software.
- The new Sony has some silly integrated graphics card. Ours has a GeForce Ti 4600. We bought that separately, but even the card the PC came with was not integrated, and was probably better than what the new Sony has.
- The new Sony has i.Link (firewire) and USB 2.0. Ours has i.Link and USB1.0.
- The new Sony does NOT include a multimedia slot (memory stick reader). Ours DOES. Not that my parents would probably use it. They don't own any Sony cameras.

But anyway, for $200 more, the new Sony has fewer options than ours, and a faster processor. Compared to what my parents currently have (an AMD K6-2 or something like that, compares to a P2 400 I think), ours will be lightning fast to them, so what's a measely .86MHz of speed? And without internet, they would be hard pressed to even fill up their current 15GB hard drive, so I think an 80GB will do them just fine. And two CD drives are always better than one. And if they ever decide to buy a Sony camera, well, the memory stick reader is already built right in, so they won't have to shell out $50 or more on an external reader.

So frankly, I think they're getting a better deal buying our computer. To get something that is truely comparable to ours (at least with a Sony.. I think I'd have to advise them to stay away from HP/Compaq, and probably Dell, too), they'd have to spend almost $1600 (that is without a monitor, of course, but our Sony is going to them without one, too, since they already have a monitor).

Sure, one can get an HP/Compaq or Dell for about the same price they're paying for our Sony, but I've heard horror stories about the customer service from Dell and HP/Compaq. My parents' current computer is a Compaq, and I don't know about them, but I've always thought (even when it was new), that that thing was a piece of shit. They bought it because it was a package deal, they got the computer, a monitor, a scanner, and a printer all for less than $1K, I believe.

Personally I prefer Sony's computers, although the Alienware I currently have is pretty decent too. Hopefully the Sony won't give them any grief, it was a pretty good little trooper for me.

Card collecting

I get e-mail from eBay every now and then, because I asked for them. (just specific news letters). Recently, I got one that was a "Toys, Hobbies, Dolls & Bears Seller Newsletter". In it was a list of "Hot Selling Items". In that list was a link for Magic: The Gathering.

I clicked that link.
Found a few cards that were selling for a couple hundred dollars.

Holy schnykies!

whoops

I must retract something I said earlier about the Hershey's sugar free peanut butter cups.

They do have the warning on the back of the package that says the same thing as the Russell Stover's version. It was so small I missed it. The primary sweetner in the Hershey's sugar free candies is Lactitol, and sucralose is listed in the ingredients, although it is the very last thing listed, so they use very little of it.

In Russell Stover's version, they use maltitol as their sugar substitute.

Since the "laxative effect" didn't hit until yesterday (nearly two days after eating the Russell Stover's peanut butter cups), I could presume it was the Hershey's sugar free PB cups afterall, since I ate those more recently.

Only way to find out for sure will be to experiment on one of my weekends.

Yeah, that should be real fun.

Bite me, Cox.net

I just thought I'd say, our internet is really sucking ass this week.

I mean, is it too much to ask to not have to reload a page three or four times just to get it to, you know, actually load the page it is supposed to?

Three out of our attempts, we get "page not found".
Ping times are laughable. (hovering around 15% packet loss)
As a result, we cannot play any online games if we wanted to.

A Cox tech is supposed to be coming out to our house tomorrow to examine the problem. Let's see if they can fix it. I really doubt it is our cable modem. It better not be. 'Cause you know what they do if they find it is your equipment's problem? They charge you for having to come out.

The thing is, I think this problem got worse after they "fixed" the problem from the other day, where our internet was down hard for about an hour or so.

But, supposedly, there is no one else in our area experiencing similar problems. If I see our next door neighbors I'll have to ask them if they're having problems loading pages.. That is, if they have their computer back yet. The day our internet was down hard they were taking it in to get worked on, which is why I only half believed them when they said they were not having problems that day, especially when Cox called me back and told me that the problem was at the head end. I think our neighbors looked at their cable modem and saw lights, but didn't look closely enough to see whether the cable light was actually on or not. They said their cable t.v. was working, but somehow I don't think that the problem that affected the cable internet would have also affected the t.v.

But anyway.. we'll see how tomorrow goes. This shoddy internet service is starting to really annoy me.

Note to self: read package labels before consuming

On the back of the Russell Stover's Peanut Butter Cups:

Excessive consumption may cause a laxative effect.

Indeed.

Dammit, I knew there was a downside to those. Hershey's version didn't mention anything about that on the back of its packaging, so I'm guessing theirs does not have a similar effect. I guess then, I will have to stick to the Hershey's version for my peanut butter cup enjoyment. Or I could have Atkins' version, but those are only so-so. And more expensive (only three cups, 1 serving, instead of around 2 servings).

Ah well. I guess if I ever need a "laxative effect" in the future, I'll go get some Russell Stover's sugar free candies. Bah.

Peanut butter-chocolatey goodness

Having been on Atkins for about three weeks now, I'm always on the lookout for foods that I can eat where I can "sneak" in carbs because they're fiber or sugar alcohols (i.e. sugar substitutes).

I found Russell Stover's Peanut Butter Cups (sugar free) as we were strolling through one of our neigbhorhood grocery stores the other day.

Only 2 net carbs per serving (4 pieces), and damn they were good!

Now, Hershey's has also come out with their version, sugar free Reese's peanut butter cups. They use a different sweetner than Russell Stover, and I can taste the difference. The Hershey's version has 3 net carbs per serving (5 pieces).

The next time I went to the store where I found the Russell Stover version, I looked for them again. They were nowhere to be found. We looked up and down the candy isle, and in the diet foods isle. No luck. WTF? Did some candy freak come in and buy up all the packages of this stuff? Since that store no longer had any of the RS version available, I decided to try the Hershey's version. Like I said above, I can tell the difference between the two. I prefer the Russell Stover's PB Cups over the Reese's. There is some weird aftertaste in the Reese's PB cups. But I will still eat them all. (there is about two servings worth in these little bags).

I went shopping this afternoon for dinner food at the grocery store nearest to our house (not the one where I found RS's PB cups), and looked for them there. This store had neither the RS or the Reese's sugar free PB cups. Oh well. I will keep my eye out whenever we shop at the various stores around here. I need to know where I can go to get my peanut-butter cup fix. Heh. :o)

On a side note, so far I'm down almost 13 pounds from when I started this Atkins thing. Not too shabby, considering I even seriously relapsed for one night this past week and had spaghetti. ;o) But it was just one night, and that has been the only relapse so far. I even lost a pound since that night, so it's all good.

Tonight, it's cajun pork chops and broccoli & cauliflower with cheese sauce. Yum!

Git OUT you freaking cat!!

Okay, so I'm not quite completely done with my office yet, but my desk is reorganized and clean. I just have a few things cluttering the floor now as a result. I think I'll get to those sometime... maybe next weekend. I want to take a break from all this cleaning crap before I have to go back to work on Wednesday.

Yup, my two weeks off is nearly overwith. :o( Time flew by pretty quickly. I hate that. Oh well.

As witness to how much unnecessary crap I had in my office (around the room, and from various boxes I was condensing down into bankers boxes), I now have to haul out three large garbage bags (you know, the big black trash bags) of trash to the garbage dumpster. Two of them are quite heavy (lots of miscellaneous paper, probably would equal a couple of reams), so hopefully the bags won't break open on the way to the dumpster. That would suck.

So now that my floor is nearly clean, both of my cats see this as "new territory" and make a point to sneak in and flop their fat asses on the floor, like they think they own the place. We try to keep them out of our offices because they seem to want to crawl behind our desks, and that is the last thing we want, not only because of all of the power cables there, but because we both have 5.1 speaker systems for our computers, and the subwoofer sits on the floor behind our desks... and being that the subwoofers tend to be warm, that is, of course, a prime spot for a cat to want to lay. Um, no. I don't think so. I'd like my subwoofer to not be fried, thanks. I fry enough sound cards myself, I don't need help with the speakers.

So, I am constantly chasing them (Fawkes, in particular, because he's stubborn and stupid) out of my office. Fawkes is only slightly afraid of the water pistol, he mostly tolerates being squirted, and runs half-assed out of the room. Only to return a few minutes later. Like I said, he's stupid.

Hobbes is easy, he hates water and runs like a bat out of hell when even the tiniest drop of water lands on him. He'll sometimes come back in but usually all I have to do is pick up the water pistol and he runs. He knows what comes out of that. Water! Oh god, the horror! Hehe.

anyway.. i'm done with cleaning for now. I think later tonight I may actually get to start working on those new dragons I keep saying I want to work on. heh.

almost done

I didn't get my office done Friday like I had hoped, but it's nearly there.

As I was going through my various boxes of things, I came across some old letters from a few pen pals I had in high school and into college.. I left the last ones that I received from each of them out, and when I have time, I plan on trying to see if I can find any of them online, maybe drop them a note to say hi, to find out how they've been and what they've been up to over the last, oh, seven or eight years.

In order to get this room finished tomorrow, I think one of the things I will have to do (I am pretty much at the point where I will be working on my cluttered desk area), is get a shoe box and dump all of the old bills and stuff that are just piled up, and set those aside to work on sorting another day. My goal is to have my desk reorganized and cleaned up so that I can sit down and start working on some new dragons.

Yeah, I keep saying that but somehow it doesn't seem to come to fruition. I hope to change that on Saturday.

test post from a PDA

I feel like I'm regressing in cleaning my office instead of making any progress... I decided to go thru some of the boxes in my closet & try to condense some of those into bankers boxes to make most of the stuff in there somewhat uniform in size. But, to do that, I usually end up make a bigger mess... And so, my office floor has once again become an obstacle course, and it is almost easier to post from this PDA than it would be to navigate thru my office to my computer..

Hopefully I will get closer to being done with that room by the end of today so I can actually sit at my desk again, and maybe even be able to work on some new ideas I have for some new dragon sculptures. That would be fun.

Gotta get movin' if I'm going to get anywhere near that goal, however. tahtah for now.

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