It’s been a while, blah blah I’ve been busy, so sue me! What have I been busy doing? Buying *stuff*. Yeah, stuff. For some reason, when money comes in, it all comes in at once. Not sure why that happens, but it does. As per usual, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on in my life, but it’s been changing for the good I feel.

Getting Healthy

Bought a home gym, and have actually been using it Man I’m so weak, I feel like a ‘girly-man’! It’s a free-weights set, none of those bowflex-type deals. Pure, unadulterated iron. Haven’t needed much yet (not even up to 45’s yet, sigh) but working on it. I have a lot of mass still, so the strength is building pretty quickly. Brandy’s also working out with me, as part of our “get healthy” plan. It’s cool to have someone to work out with, so that there’s no excuse not to do it – you’ve got someone there as your built-in support structure.

Photography

I’ve been interested in photography for a while, but never had the camera to be able to do much. I’ve had my eye on a Nikon D40, and bought one a couple of weeks ago. It’s not perfect — there’s stuff that would be nice to have, but for me, right now, it’s fine. I don’t plan on going pro, I would just like to be able to take some good shots. I have put some up on our Flickr page if you feel like taking a look. Nothing major yet — need to actually leave the house sometime

Computers

So, the time had come to replace my computer (actually, it was Brandy’s that was messing up) and this time I wanted to do something a little different. Usually I just buy parts and either build my own, or upgrade an existing computer. This time, I didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle, so I started looking for online companies that build boxes with configurator-type tools. I started looking at Dells, but there were two issues — 1. They don’t ship with Windows XP any longer, and 2. A bit too pricey. I looked around, and finally settled on Cyperpowerpc.com – they seemed to have the most options and the best deal. From what I could tell, they have a good reputation as well. I’ve had 0 problems with them, and would highly recommend! I also decided to join the 21st century and switched to an LCD monitor (well, actually 2 I’ve thought about switching for a while, but since I tend to do stuff that normal people don’t (run stuff at weird resolutions, etc.) I’ve held off. Well, BestBuy was having a really good deal on LG 19in 2ms 3000:1 monitors (standard width, not widescreen), and I bought 3 — 2 for me, and 1 for Brandy. I’ve wanted this setup for a long time, and finally have it. The next thing to get was a KVM switch to be able to use 2 monitors on my work laptop as well. I bought a Belkin dual head KVM (on eBay, natch) for cheap, and now am just waiting for my request at work for a docking station so I can actually use the second monitor on my laptop. Oh yeah, I also bought a new bitchin’ keyboard, a Saitek Eclipse II. Not only does it light up, it has a wonderful feel to it, and not a ton of those special keys that I don’t ever use. I’m in computing heaven! But wait, there’s more! Since I got the new machine, the next thing to do was to do the trade down thing – Brandy got my old computer, Amelia got Brandy’s (I’m still working on fixing it up for her) and Amelia’s old computer is now a replacement linux server for the Brandy’s Dandies database backend, and to serve media files (music, photos, etc.) for the house.

Video Games

So, since I now have an up to date computer, I decided I’d try out Oblivion. It’s amazingly good. The graphics are incredible, and the gameplay makes it so addictive, I have to really try to limit how much I play (and usually fail) I wish that it was made into an MMORPG – it has a lot of the qualities of an MMO that it could probably be adapted into one. Another game I’ve been playing is Guitar Hero II on the PS2. Man, I see why this is one of the most popular games right now. It’s like DDR, but with a guitar. The game starts out pretty easy, but gets hard pretty quickly. I can get to the Hard level, but I suck so bad, it kinda discouraged me from playing much any more.

I guess that’s it for now. I really should get into the habit of posting more.

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