Sweet Catastrophe

I’m getting really, really excited about all the electronics that will soon be in my possession!

After dinner last night we went sort of window-shopping. We checked out the possible video cards that would work with my computer. Ryan explained to me the different options that each of them opened up and we narrowed it down to what I absolutely want to have, and then the optionals and finally the things I really don’t care about.

We didn’t look at harddrives, though I meant to. Ryan already knows what I want there.

Then after some gratuitous glances at Wii games, we looked at the GPS devices. It really hadn’t occurred to me at all that I could just wait and get one for my Birthday, but Ryan hinted (err pretty much stated) that’s the plan. There’s a really cute Garmin out that’s bright red, and aesthetically he really wants me to have, but it’s missing two of my must-have features. Now that I know it’s gonna happen, I’ve started some hardcore research into what I want–what all the different features really are and which ones I’ve gotta have.

So far I know I’ve got to have text-to-speech, which means it actually says the street names instead of vaguely announcing that you turn in X-amount of yards. Also I learned in my research tonight that some units don’t automatically re-route you if you take a wrong turn. Uh yeah, I’m gonna need that. That’s probably the most reassuring feature for me. Without that, I might as well have a talking list of directions.

So I’m excited about getting most of those by Christmas at the latest. On top of other random goodies here and there!! =)

I don’t think I mentioned it yet, but by the end of the year, I’ll have a lot of upgrades to my computer. I’m getting an extra internal hard drive for memory, a new video card and second monitor for a dual monitor setup (to watch movies and such while I’m doing other stuff), a second dvd drive and hopefully some more usb hubs. These are just the things that have actually been decided, along the way more things will inevitably get added in as well. Ryan’s done with his computer for now so he’s focused on mine and I’m just letting him go!

It’ll all take place over time since some of the upgrades are relatively expensive, so I’m not pushing for any of them; I’ll just wait until Ryan gets the whim to do them. He’s already down to really talking about the video card and hard drive and asking which one I want to do first. There’s already an extra monitor so that’s just waiting around. I think I’m gonna ask him to go ahead and bring that here so that it doesn’t find another use between now and then! I think I’m leaning towards the hard drive first. I’m getting more an more uncomfortable with using an external to house my music. It’s just a pain keeping up with them being connected to use iTunes and having iTunes revert to the default library location when it can’t find my external. I’d also like to have all of my pictures in one place and finally use my externals as simply backups, as they’re intended. I’m also planning to use some Snapfish coupons to make prints out of a good chunk of my digitals. I miss prints!

I also need to decide whether or not I’m moving my computer upstairs. It may come down to an old-fashioned Pros/Cons list. I keep wanting to get it out of the living room but I just can’t seem to make the decision to do it. So many reasons to move it, but there seem to be equal reasons for keeping it downstairs. *shrug* I’ll figure it out.

I’m awesomely excited about upgrading though! =D

My new mouse of amazing-incredible-orgasmic-awesomenes arrived today! I played a bit and then put it gently in its cradle to fully charge and now it’s ready to go! I’ll hold off on a full review since right now I’m still discovering all the awesome ways I can customize it, but yeah….if loving a computer accessory this much is wrong, I don’t wanna be right, dammit!

Just had to share my excitement that it’s here and it’s sexy and it’s more awesome than I expected it to be!

Windows Media Player keeps telling me there’s an update available. When I agree to update, it then tells me that there’s already a more current version running so it can’t update….how does this make sense? Is my Windows Media Player magic? Is it from the future? Is my computer located on a hole in the time/space continuum? Is there a flux capacitor in my case?

—-Heh, on an unrelated note, Ryan was once in charge of all the sound equipment for a summer theatre program on Jekyll Island. He tried explaining to them why they were going to have to update the bulk of their system and they just didn’t get it. When all was said and done, he told them they had to have a new flux capacitor. They allotted him the budget he needed for a new one. I shit you not.

Checking out the sale items on Buy.com’s Weekly Deals was probably not the smartest thing for me to do when I got home today, but of course I’m a glutton for punishment and couldn’t resist.

Of course this week they have something that would normally be in my immediate price range (if it weren’t for assholes in the medical field) and I seriously want it.

Geeks and…other geeks: I present to you the Logitech MX Revolution Cordless Laser Mouse. Are you drooling with me yet? No? Then check the link and watch the little intro video! This thing is awesome! It’s what every mouse will now strive to be, and I’m not even kidding! The new scroll wheel works in either the normal short click way that we’re all used to, or you can give it a spin and it’ll spin freely to scroll through long documents!

There’s more though! The button underneath the scroll wheel is for searching!! Highlight a word or phrase and then click the button to search using your favorite engine!!

My favorite part is that it comes with a charging station for its rechargeable lithium ion battery!! *head explodes*

I love having a wireless setup for my desktop. When I got my new desktop, I stuck with the default keyboard and mouse that came with it because I got tired of changing the batteries in my mouse. Problem solved!

As you can see, my mouse is currently trapped. The cord follows behind those CDs, behind my desk to the back of my tower which sits about floor level. We fight. Often.

I miss my old, cordless friends. I miss the freedom of having intermittent chats on the comp while I’m actually sitting on the couch playing a video game–yeah, it really gets that dorky around here!

You wouldn’t believe just how badly I want this thing. I must’ve read over the specs five times now! Of course it’s Logitech which I thoroughly trust and enjoy when it comes to my accessories and it has a 3-year warranty! It’s $68.33 with a $30 rebate making it only $38.33!!! With free shipping, of course! I could’ve bought it if I hadn’t tried to be so responsible by going to the stupid doctor!

Haha how crazy is it that I feel my money would’ve been better spent on a frickin’ amazing mouse as opposed to my health?

I hope this deal is still around when I get paid this week. It may be time for a not-so-responsible impulse buy…

EDIT: You’re not gonna believe this! I picked Ryan up tonight and he told me he got his computer fixed–the cooling unit was just loose. He also got a new keyboard and mouse…to which of course I brought up finding a mouse that I’m obsessed with getting now……yeah you see where this is going. He got the Logitech MX Revolution!!! I’m really jealous right now. I think before it’s all over with, he’s gonna end up giving me the money to buy this one—they paid just over $100 for his so I definitely found the better deal!

EDIT 6/4: I bought it today! It’s on its way!!!

Experiencing such a catastrophe with my computer put me into survival mode, thinking of things to do to prevent something like this in the future, and since there are no guarantees in life, what could I do in the event that something like this happens again…

As per usual, I was browsing what they had on sale in Buy.com’s Weekly Deals, and they gave me an answer!

I’ve never been huge on laptops, I’d just never want one as my default computer, but I’ve always entertained the idea of having one for classes, trips, and hey!—When my computer is incapacitated for one reason or another

This week they’ve got an awesome little HP Pavilion Notebook for only $699, and of course, free shipping! Talk about a price cut. It’s just right for me as far as notebooks go; it has the scroll section on the touch pad (which I’d to have) and a sexy 17″ monitor =) Makes my geek-heart happy.

And of course, they’re keeping things rolling for me–they’ve got another great deal on a 500GB External, and a ridiculously awesome deal on Double Layer DVD+R! Double layer dvds hold 8.5GB as opposed to the normal 4.7GB, and they’re selling 50 (two 25packs) for under $40.

It’s almost like they’re taunting me with just how easy it would’ve been for me to save everything before my tragic file loss! My list of things to save for just keeps growing!

So when it came to it, Ryan couldn’t fix it, and the computer guy we were planning on taking it to owns his own little business and he’s out this week. So it was time for the dreaded reformat.

I had already taken off everything I just had to have, so I sat and thought about it and just told Ryan to go ahead and do it without me double-checking. I figured, if it was important enough, I got it the first time and if I looked again, I’d just be reminded of everything I was about to wipe out.

Now I’m back, enjoying the challenge of re-organizing and checking for any major losses that I need to recoup. Things look a little different; I explained to Ryan that I keep my Windows set up with Classic Menus so he set it to Performance Mode (forgive me if I’m remembering that wrong) so everything pretty much has the classic look already and it takes less RAM….or something to that effect–anyway so visually some of my fonts and graphics and stuff look a little different, but it won’t take long to get used to them.

All in all, I’m okay with it. I lost some things I’ll probably never even remember I had, and some things I know I’ll have to work to get back, and I already am, but I’m cool with a fresh start. I had a lot of stuff I was ready to wipe out anyway, so this way I had no choice.

One of my biggest annoyances has actually been with Firefox. They’ve done away with some of the plugins I frequently used (or at least hidden them in another dimension…) and also changed their setup for the search engine manager (if you have it, it probably sits in your top right corner, defaulted to Google) so I can’t add back some of the ones I used more frequently. Changes, changes.

Soon we’re gonna add another hard drive to my computer. The system and any installed programs will run off one hard drive,  all of my files and everything will be on another. This way, in about 99% of possible situations, if I get a virus I can just reformat the hard drive containing the operating system.

It’s something BJ’s in the process of doing (or maybe just finished…) for Brittany’s computer and I think it’s a perfect idea. Once Ryan’s computer guy is back in town, Ryan will be taking his in to fix a heat sensor and I’ll probably have him go ahead and look into what kind of deals we can get on that extra hard drive.

Barring that, I’m getting an external with a TeraByte…I can’t stop drooling over the idea of that!

This is the most godawful thing ever. Of course this virus is new and there aren’t any actual fixes around yet.

If you get anything on your computer regarding XP Security Center and you have not specifically downloaded XP Security Center, you may now panic and have a mental and emotional breakdown.

Of course, I’ve done well in my life. This is my first actual virus issue. It’s pissing me off that obviously it’s my fault, but in my defense, Thursday night I ran the updates for my comp, which included a number of security updates, so seeing the Security Center didn’t send up any red flags at the time.

Running any sort of antivirus, spyware, or adware programs automatically restarts the system. I can’t save any new files whatsoever. I’m talking, I can’t even right-click and save a picture! Even more lovely, it has removed the option from EVERY possible place on the computer to view hidden files. In the Control Panel, I don’t even have a Folder Options icon anymore!!

I’ve backed up what I can, but of course, I have to open EVERY folder and click each individual file to copy it–It’s the closest I can get to being sure I’m not just copying corrupt files, so of course, I can’t save everything.

Brandell recently dealt with a virus of the same family, so Ryan’s taking from him the program they used to get rid of it. If that doesn’t work, Ryan has a computer guy who should be able to take care of it and still keep my files intact.

I hope that works. I really don’t want to start from scratch, but if I have to, I’ve somewhat come to terms with it.

It’s honestly pushed me to the point of tears. What a way to spend my semi-weekend off.

I’m on Ryan’s computer right now. It’s just luck that he brought it home Thursday night to get some files from me. So excuse any typos please; there’s no spellcheck on his browser and I’m just too distracted to notice, really.

I just wanna scream. A lot.

Tonight I really finalized everything for selling my Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. There had been some complicated things I needed to do to get everything in order and I finally broke down and did it. I have no idea what motivated me, but it’s done! Now I’ve just got to wait until I’ve got a little extra cash to buy a few proper card boxes for shipping and listing fees and I’ll be on my way! Between now and then I’m gonna do a little more research on what the cards are really selling for right now so I can decide on a price. I’ve decided to sell the whole lot in one go. It’s looking like I’ll have better luck that way. I may change my mind before then though, who knows!

Of course now I’m thinking of what I’ll buy with the money I make off the cards. It should be a pretty nice payoff if everything goes well! Of course, I don’t expect to have any problems finding a new toy with Buy.com’s Weekly Deals beckoning to me.

Like this week, they’re tempting me with the Calgary 500GB External Hard Drive. I think it’s pretty well-known by now that I’m really weary of my current external. I’ve never really used it as a ‘backup.’ All of my music and a large portion of pictures and other files live solely on my fidgety external. I’ve even been told by the manufacturer that they recommend I replace it before everything goes *poof*–Scary thought! I’ve also got a smaller external that I used to backup some of my more important stuff and it’s also the sole home for some media files. (See, my love of storage spills into my love for technology too….it’s sickening ) This Calgary external has three times the storage space my current has, so I could stop worrying about putting everything on DVDs to free up room! Do you have any idea what a painstaking process that can be? And mind numbing…

My favorite part–according to the customer reviews Buy.com provides, it’s quiet! That’s the big headache with my current external; it gives off some really rough white noise that just kills me.

Bottom line price is $84.99 plus free shipping! Eek! I can afford that!

Of course, I could always spring for a little extra and get the Western Digital they have up this week. It’s, hold on, you probably wanna sit down for this one–1TB–as in Terabyte. You okay? Yeah that’s pretty much amazing! And at $199 with free shipping, it’s still cheaper than what I paid for my current. That one might be a little dangerous though. All the drool would just be asking for trouble…

I gotta stop, man. They’ve got a 7-Port USB 2.0 Hub, and oh! They’ve got another Garmin deal this week! I can’t wait to get my GPS this summer! I wonder which one they’ll have on sale when I finally reach my goal and get ready to buy? My geek cup runneth over!

Now that I’ve backed out of Milwaukee, I’ve decided I can afford to start saving up for a good GPS system for my car. Milwaukee not included, I’ve talked myself out of the most simple trips just because of the driving anxiety I experience when taking trips even as short as two hours. The bulk of it really and truly stems from my fear of getting lost. Why does it plague me so much? I haven’t the slightest idea.

I learned a lot about GPS systems back when I was shopping around for one for Ryan. Of course, learning about it all just made me want one even more. I’ve figured out all the features I have to have and the ones I can live without. I’ve seen what brands have the best reviews, and which ones don’t live up to their promises. I also know what kinds of prices are fair.

As I tend to do when I’m broke and bored, I’ve fallen into online shopping and oh how I wish I had a little money to spare right now! I’m absolutely salivating over some of the deals I’ve come across. I’m particularly smitten with the Garmin StreetPilot c550 that Buy.com has for $179!!

The Garmin StreetPilot line is at the top of my GPS wishlist. The c550 comes standard with the feature most important to me–It speaks the street names, so you don’t have to constantly stare at the screen and then squint to see the upcoming street signs to see that you’re in the right place. The timing on the StreetPilots I’ve had experience with is perfect. They give you just the right amount of heads up that a turn is coming so you know you’re in the right lane. And I love how quickly they recalculate and give you a new route if you somehow hit the wrong turn or if you need to take a detour. It makes me so comfortable to know that I won’t be lost.

I’m so over missing out on trips that could be SO much fun, only because I’m scared to make the drive. I end up with anxiety over not going, and in some cases, I’ve lost money I’ve paid in advanced. It’s a pretty irrational fear that I’ve got to work towards getting over, and this is my first step!

I have been, and will continue to keep up with the incredible weekly deals over at Buy.com while I keep saving money. I’m really excited now that I know a really great deal isn’t out of reach, as I previously thought! I should have a great GPS system by the end of the summer!!