Looks like I’ve fixed up most of what was wrong with bBlog – dates are working, RSS is saner. Just need to make a few changes so the RSS validates and then try and get in touch with the authors to get my changes into the CVS. That’d so rock!
Monthly Archive for December, 2003
In an effort to provide a distraction from some recent controversy I’ve seen (I find myself more or less agreeing with Scoble btw), I’ve decided to focus on what, for most, is one of the happier parts of Christmas.
Here’s what I got (highlights only):
- Simpsons Clue from my brother and sister
- Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash from my other sister
- Leatherman Squirt, MCP750A CompactPCI computer board (hey, I asked for it) and a drill from my parents
- Mini fridge for my room from Santa
And, thanks to generous contributions to the Omigod-My-Computer-SuxX0rz! fund (I really do love my grandparents), I’ve upgraded my computer. Massively.
The old:
- Celeron 466
- Asus P299 motherboard
- 2×128MB PC100 (running at PC66 thanks to the craptacular Celery proc)
- Maxtor 120GB HD (recent upgrade)
- ATI All-In-Wonder 128 32MB (first card with the Rage Theatre chip)
- Pioneer slot-load DVD from 1999
- Lite-On 12×10×32 CD burner
- SoundBlaster Live 5.1 OEM
The new:
- Athlon XP 2500+ Barton Core
- Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard (sound, dual LAN, IEEE1394, 6x USB2, SATA on board)
- 512 MB DDR400 Corsair Value RAM
- Same HDD
- Sapphire Radeon 9200 128MB (hey, I had a budget)
- Same Optical drives
- WinTV PCI TV Tuner (IBM OEM package)
Total cost was a little over $600 – I kept the old (nicely modded) case. It absolutely SCREAMS now!
Planned upgrades / related purchases for summer:
- Flat panel display. Prices are coming down, and as nice as my Nokia 17” Trinitron FD is, it’s pretty damned big.
- New video card. New GPUs are coming out this spring, so the current high end should get cheaper Real Soon Now
- New TV tuner. The one in there is somewhat cheap, and the audio quality (mono only!) sucks.
- DVD burner. The 5-year-old Pioneer drive, bless it, is dying and needs to be retired. 8x burners should be reasonably priced this summer
- Digital Camera. Ours is basically dead (no matter what my dad thinks) so I’ll need one (at least 2MP, with optical zoon)
- New MP3 player. Maybe. My Compaq PA-1 has taken quite a beating and is still ticking, but I don’t know for how much longer. Flash player of course – with the number of times I’d drop it, I’d be lucky if an iPod or similarly HD-equipped unit lasted more than an hour after being unpacked.
- New cellphone. My Panasonic TX-210 is going through antennae rather quick, and more importantly, I’m starting to get funny looks for having what feels like the oldest, least featured phone in the faculty. This one is not likely, but possible.
That’s about it. Figure $600 for the screen, $150 for the video card, $100 for the tuner, $150 for the burner, $250 for the camera, $100 for the MP3 player… and you have me needing a job to cover $1500 in technology upgrades and tuition and possibly actually moving into a house near campus next year. I think I’ll send out a couple resumes tomorrow…
Joey deVilla aka AccordionGuy points to an article abouit a guy in Oakville who, after being elected Valedictorian at OTHS, went up and a sizeable portion of his class jerks.
Good on him. Seriously. If they’re gonna go to those lengths to embarass the guy, the least they deserve is to be called jerks.
Two sidenotes:
1. I think the principal of OT at the time of the incident is now my town councillor (Tom Adams)
2. Joey’s friend Meryle went to OT (a fellow Oakvillian!) and seems to have a dislike of New Central – a school I attended and love. This shall not stand 
Watching World Idol… about the only ones who don’t need to turn down the suck are:
- Kelly Clarkson
- Ryan Malcolm
- The Guy from Holland
- The guy from South Africa
- The Arab Idol
- The Belgian guy
- The Norwegian guy
Everyone else has soundly killed the soungs they’ve performed, IMHO. Especially the British Guy. Dude – the Polish judge was right, Jim Morrison’s estate should sue.
Simon, I knew you were an asshole before, but you amaze me. To suggest another judge is incapable of judging is slightly more than insulting to the country he represents… but you are so obviously partisan, so obviously slimy and so amazingly asshateriffic that you give me reason to support euthanasia.
“Voice like an angel but you look like a Hobbit” – LOL! Middle Earth Idol… I love it. Go Aussies.
More is still coming – I’m just up to me (body part) in exams right now. First is in a little under 5 hours, then the Threepeat of Doom starting Monday.
Much coming almost immmediately after that, though.