Out With the Old...

One too many times with the Compaq screwing up on me and its aging hardware (though only 4 years old) it finally croaked on me. I fixed it not too shortly after with a spare HD and a recovery disk but now it is going to just be used for a server and the occasional second PC for LAN parties.



Went to Microcenter and bought a HP Pavilion Elite to replace it. Was going to build one but this had better specs for less money than anything I could build myself. Is a refurbished model which saved $250 off the new price because of it and I know why it was refurbed. The vid card was loud in some models. May still have but can easily be fixed if mine does that. Video card is a little weak but comparable to the 8600 cards which were not to bad for a cheaper GPU. I plan on putting Windows 7 on ASAP and probably a better Vid card around the same time. But for now...

Q8200 quad-core processor 2.33Ghz
Nvidea 9500GS, up to 2558MB graphics memory.
8GB DDR2
750GB HDD
HD Audio/HDMI Output

I can play Crysis pretty good on it and every other game I own at full settings. Not tried the older Call of Duty on it yet but I don't see any problems with full settings either.

Refreshing Double Entendre

I think Bawls has a new rival...
Too bad they are not real....for now, but maybe someday. Nothing is sacred in the drink naming world anymore. Now back to my Tentacle Grape.

Took Long Enough

As many may know I have been looking for a small 4 cylinder car to save some gas and drive everywhere as the Pinemobile is days from dieing. Well I finally found one. I was going to go to Matthew's dealers in Marion as they had advertised in my step-dad's work newsletter that there was a huge discount for employees on used cars. After going however the "sale" was just a ruse and they had nothing. On the way home my mom had to stop in Prospect and seen a 1997 Nissan Sentra with 115k miles in decent shape for $2500. Much less than anything Matthew'd had asked for a car in the same shape and miles. So we sent them a thank-you email, Not been for them false advertising we never would have found this car today and spent half of what I was going to.

So we tested it out and it is does have some flaws like a painted quarter panel a bit different color and need a key made for trunk (ok since there is a latch inside for it). and few other minor annoyances that can easily be fixed. NOT perfect by any means but runs well, low miles for the year, and cheap for a Japanese car.

Now just to get it a name to fit in with Goldie, Chewbacca Defence, and Pinemobile. Cant really name the wrecked one, only had a week. The Escort and truck only had names like come on you stupid piece of ....

Hey Pete, I Found It!

Well it's a little bit outside of Bellefontaine (only about 45 minute drive out, not TOO bad) but I finally found General Tso's House of Chicken.

Kinda of an in joke with the old high school group. We had a friend that was convinced of an awesome Chinese food shop called General Tso's in town and even I was caught up in trying to find it for a few weeks. Anyways I was driving down Brice Rd. in Dublin and HOLY CRAP!!!!! IS THAT!!?? and yes I had finally foun it and just had to take a picture of this one and freak out all the people inside as I snapped of picture of the sign with my cell phone.

G-day X

Not only a great LAN this time but the best one yet. The large amount of targets, er....players made every map more interesting, especially the domination maps. The new map was great looking though we need to cap the spawn snipers. My pc and the laptop seemed to handle it flawlessly with the new upgrades though I may need to retire my mouse after this one (used since Gday III). Food was awsome again and this time did not have to camp out to get a piece of subway, plenty for all.

Thanks again to all the made it happen hopefully we'll draw the same croud for Gday XI.

Still had the most deaths but now sixth in kill ratio, which is good. Stats are here. I did have more play time than anyone else and charging in spraying areas with a bolt action is a bit suicidal in the first place. Ashton was not so lucky in the kill ratio or stats but he had loads of fun, got listed on a few of the awards, and did pretty good for someone who plays little to no FPS games. So he is happy and we should be able to count on him again as long as his insane schedule allows it. Next time my sis wants to come and she does play FPS games, I just don't have a third pc for her. Will worry about that when the time comes though.

Lan and Beanie-Weenie

Think I got everything ready to go. Got some new ram and a coolpad for the laptop for brother to use, upped my ram 2gb, formatting the new 2.5 drive enclosure, and getting everything packed.

Unfortunately my el cheapo video card was not quite the steal I thought it would be. Seems the Nvidia GForce 7300 is actually faster than the 8400. Ususally the higher the number the better the card. Had put it in my computer and first clue was the Vista rating dropped by ALOT. But then noticed some frame problems in games so jerked it out and gave to my mom (was running onboard graphics). So we are both happy now and the 7300 can run everything out there I am interested in though lower settings for CoD4 (CoD5 is crap btw). Now just got to hope that someone remembers to bring a monitor for em tomorrow.

Yes, it was beanie weenie night tonight. Sorry in advance, it is not gonna be pretty tomorrow. But SOOOOOOOO tasty and hard to refuse.

Microcenter Upgradin'

I love Tiger Direct but with electronics always a bit leary of ordering online. But after remembering we had a Microcenter here decided to check them out since online they have the same prices and stuff. Like a nerd candy store. Cheap parts everywhere. Upped the ram for every pc in the house. Laptop now has 1.25gb, mom's has 1.5gb, and mine has 2gb. Got a new 512mb Nvidia 8500. Cool mat for the laptop. A Targus laser mouse for $12. Micorsoft curve keyboard for $14. If you ever in the area this is a definate stop on Bethel road. Yes, they are a Mac store too >< . But everyone cant be perfect I suppose j/k.

Come Gameday I think all the little glitches I had with CoD should be gone and can play the higher end games I have like HL2 and Quake4 a little better too.

They even have Bawls for a buck =)

Still May Have Some Life

The old red Pinemobile may still have some life yet. Think it may just be a bad grounding for the electrical. No clue about the sputtering loss of power yet, but step-dad is going to take it to a mechanic friend tomorrow to look at. We were planning on throwing the engine from the red van in a gray one we picked up and that we thought had a better body. No such luck. We went to tow it to the shop and the "good" gray van's front axle fell off.

Still on the hunt for a new car even if it still works. Looking for small 4 cylinder, a bit sporty if possible, and decent paint on the outside. Problem is I am looking for it around $2000 or less at the moment. Have seen 1997-2000 Ford Escort ZX2's for around that and would be interested but keep disappearing the second they are put on Craigslist. Seen a really nice one for $2100 that sat in Walmart's parking lot for 3 days, but everytime we tried to call no one would answer.

So lets all hope for the Pinemobile to work for G-DAY X but if not hope for a new car to replace it. Unless that "new" car would happens to be Chewbacca Defence. It IS back on the road, luckely we do not own it anymore.

(Pic not my van, but same color and looks the same. Well minus my huge dent on the side and dirt.)

3 months

3 Months later the blog shows some life again. Christmas, New Year, parties, dentists, exploding vans, frozen wastelands, and complete computer overhauls. Yeh been a wild winter so far way too much to fit here. Thanks to everyone that invited me, kidnapped me, probed me, and put up with me. You know who you are. Finally think I may get back with this thing and *gasp* may update my myspace/facebook soon as well.


In other useless new both Phil and Chuck seen their shadows today. Six more weeks of freakin winter. God, my bones ache. Someone remind me not to swerve for the next groundhog I see on the road.

RCA crap, Sony GOOOOOOD!

Happy Black Friday and a post-Thanksgiving (too stuffed to write yesterday).


About three weeks ago I ordered the newer model RCA Opal 8GB for $60 and seen it is $50 today for a doorbuster at Walmart. Just thought I'd throw a warning to not buy it. I had mine less thana week before having to take it back. The battery would not charge at all. Everytime I plugged it in the player read "full battery" after 3 days of use it ran out of juice. I may just have got a fluke bad battery but it had other problems I am glad to be rid of. The playter itself was made of cheap plastic and seemed like it would break easy, not like many of the aluminum cases of the higher tier players. The video was very fuzzy and the sound was average at best. The shuffle feature was not very useful either, sure it played random songs, but if I hit the back button it would again play a random song instead of going back.

All is fine now in my little world of MP3. For $99 got the 8GB Sony Walkman E series. Middle tier player but puts more expensive flash players to shame. Very easy to manuver the files, video crisp, 40 hour battery life, good placement of album arts, very high quality sound. and smaller than the higher tier Sony Walkman. The only performance difference on the higher player is the imbedded bluetooth and double the price tag. Originally thought Sony would be full of crippleware or limitations as Ipod or Zune have but so far I am very impressed, Sansa Rhapsody was good but the Sony is just alot better.


I do have a few gripes on it though, video files work great but have to convert to mpeg4 like an ipod, propietary usb jack, and does not have the microSD slot the Sansa had.