I don't actually have much new news, but the long time since the last post made me think I should put something up.
My video card was acting kind of flaky, so I replaced it. A good video card is finally more expensive than a really good CPU + 1GB of memory, which is kind of amusing. Fortunately it's amusing in a good way: it's mostly because CPUs are less than $200, even for ones that are pretty much top of the line, and I expect to start finding 1GB memory sticks in my cereal boxes any day now.
I'm playing a new video game: Bioshock. It's been a surprisingly long time since a good single player computer game has come out. There are definitely a lot more console games now.
The sunroom is almost finished: it just needs the last row (where the boards need to be cut lengthwise) and some sort of baseboard/edging. It's still not leaking, which is irritating, because I'm not quite sure I trust it. I almost want to say "yeah, it's still leaking. Come have a look!" because I don't think they'll drop by if I say "it seems to be fine, can you check it?" After that, the next stop is in fix-the-roof-ville.
Still doing Wing Chun. Made spaghetti and sausage instead of spaghetti and ground beef meat sauce.
2 comments:
Hi There!
Time sure flies - it has taken me over a week to respond.
Enshie really enjoyed seeing you guys. That was very nice of you to pay for everyone. She liked your coffee, and thinks she would like a coffe maker like yours.
Our computer is getting quite flakey too. Staples had a sale on regular HP boxes without the monitor for $400. I considered buying one rather than fiddling with our 3 yr old cheapie. But I think all we need is a fresh Windows install on a new HD, not more power. The problem is that our cheapie did not include the Windows CD. Using Bart PE and the CD from our laptop, I made an installation CD, but I don't think it will pass the MS authentication test on the desktop, particularly if I change the HD. This would be a good excuse to switch to Linux, but the cost of a new box may be more palatable than the learning curve for a completely new set of programs.
I haven't seen any memory sticks in our cereal yet, bet we did get an Xbox Mutants game. We had not noticed the advertising for 4 different Xbox games that covered the entire back of the cereal box. We finished the cereal, and I was preparing the box for the recycle bag when the game fell out of the box (ex-box, hehe). Maybe the next step in advertising will be little pop-out knives if you don't pay attention to the ads.
I thought Bioshock might be from Bioware, but I guess not. Did you have a friend who worked at Bioware - the one who was getting sort of burned out? I see Bioware is launching a new game that took several years to develop.
How will you do the rip cuts - the length of the floor boards? I kept my table saw so I could do rip cuts, and sold my mitre saw. You can use my table saw if you want to, but it might be easier to talk to Uncle Dale. He has both saws. He had a hip replacement operation about a month ago, but I think he can almost walk without a cane already.
How about getting up on a ladder and drenching the roof of your sunroom to simulate a wind-driven downpour? Maybe you should get a mop and pail handy inside the sunroom before starting the downpour.
We went to a nice place for Sunday dinner. I liked the cooking there because it doesn't use a lot of rich sauces on everything. And the halibut was steamed, so it wasn't greasy. It is in a rural area, so they have lots of flowers and shrubs, and we think they grow their own veggies. We thought that you guys would like it, too. Another trip required.
I just spent $518 on the Echo for what started out as an oil change and fix a "gronk" that the Echo makes during some maneuvers. It still makes an occasional gronk, but the dealer says it is safe and is not hurting anything. To fix it will be another $300 - that is only to adjust some spring, no parts required. But we are not sure whether that will really be the end of it. I think we will hold off and see if we can live with it because it seems better now than before the $518 worth of work.
I drilled a hole through the floor from our crawl space, and learned that the roughed-out area for an access door is in a perfect location in the clothes closet. I'm building up enough nerve to cut the carpet and then cut out a 75x75 cm hole in the floor and make a trap door. Then we would not have to go outside and crawl under the deck to get to our storage area. The scary part is the carpet. If you grab a little thread, you can instantly have a run the length of the carpet. I did this already in the other closet. Fortunately, it started close to the wall, and is covered by stuff in the closet.
That's about all for now.
Cheers.
If all you really need to do is visit web sites and play small games, Linux would certainly fine, and the learning curve for a reasonably polished distribution like Ubuntu wouldn't be all that steep. If you need things like custom drivers to access your camera... I expect getting a new cheap machine is probably the safer way to go. You generally don't _need_ the new power, but it's often nice to have anyway.
ex-box? That's terrible :) I'm not getting any video games in my cereal. I guess I'm buying the wrong brand.
I know a few people at Bioware. One of them was getting kind of tired by the end of one development cycle, but they seem to be happy enough again. Not my thing, in any case.
I'm actually going to use the jigsaw. It worked for the vent cutouts, so I expect it'll be okay, if nowhere near ideal. I bought some new blades (4 for $5 or something like that) so I won't care too much if I break another blade.
The sunroom actually dripped a bit again, so I'll have to call. A heavy rain doesn't seem to be the key, so much as a long rain. In any case, I can now just bug them to fix it with a clear conscience.
Hopefully the Echo remains well, with this being an isolated problem, and the carpet doesn't run too much. Mom said something about the carpet while she was here: it sounds like kind of a silly choice.
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