Technology

Evening all......................what's up?
Again, I made it back in somewhat of a timely manner. I chose the topic of this post because, I have been a tech junkie since around 1994 when I got my first ever PC. It was a Packard Bell (cough, gag) and was a whopping 486DX2-66 with 4 megs of ram and a 480mb HDD. It had an astounding 4 speed CD-Rom and a 14.4 dial-up modem. This thing was top of the line when I dropped a little over a thousand for it. Minus the fact that it was a piece of shit Packard Bell, that was the start of my Tech days. After the first paid-for upgrade, I decided I was going to start doing it myself. Been all uphill since then. I know you can buy complete systems for a lot less, but I build my own so I know what is in it and how to fix it if there is a problem.
Now on to the reason for this post. My lovely wife, when we first met, never messed with computers or "techy" stuff at all. It was all new to her and she seemed to take a liking to the whole internet and computer thing. That was a little over 5 years ago. Now within that time, she has become quite the techy herself. I still have the upper hand, but she is right there with me. For instance, less than a year ago, I bought her a 4gig iPOD mini. She has used this thing almost everyday and to completely honest, she knows more about the tech and software side of it than I do. So when she asks me to do something with it on her PC, I am quite afraid I will screw something up. I am sure if I sat down for a while and looked over things and read a little on it, I could figure it out. But, because iPODS aren't my thing, I don't bother with it.
So the other day, we are at McDonalds eating b-fast and we see them on sale at (my favorite store) BEST BUY. So after going to the store to get me some DVD's (on sale as well), she decided to get a new iPOD with a 60gig HDD. She said it was my fault for making her a tech junky. I will gladly take the blame for that as it is nice to be with someone that is into electronics and tech stuff as much as I am. I really believe if I had enough money, my entire house would be wired into my PC. I think it would be really cool to do that.
Anyway, it is getting late and unfortunately I have to work tomorrow. So good night all and happy surfing to all the night owls out there...................................

Daily Driving Returns

Hey all..............what's going on these days? I managed to make it back much sooner than expected. As always, I am seeing no comments on my posts. I think this is becoming a lost cause as I don't seem to be getting many hits. I guess I will keep posting on this thing that is setting in the vast expanse of cyberspace collecting cyber cob webs.

Anyway, so another episode of "daily driving." Todays post comes to us in regards to those wonderful things that seem to cause anger and anguish in us all..............railroad tracks. Yes, they are everywhere and most of the time are empty. In my daily 13 mile quest to work, I cross 2 sets. The first ones are about 3/4 of a mile away from home and rarely is a problem. The other set, however, is about 1/2 a mile from work, and there is always something going on with this one. The tracks are relatively smooth when crossing them, however, that is my opinion of them. On my way to work, just on the other side of them, is an entrance to the industrial park and a college. Most of the time, we are crossing these tracks with about 10 minutes to spare. Almost every morning, there is someone that will drive over the tracks as if the bottom of their car is going to scape the ground if they do any kind of speed going over them. This is something that really pisses me off (as stupid people spark my road rage fast). I have seen people in 4-wheel drive trucks doing this and I can't help but wonder what the hell they are trying to accomplish.

People are trying to get to work at this time and these people are driving like they have all the time in the world. There are also the ones that drive like that and then slow down more because they are turning on the road just to the other side of the tracks. I could understand hitting the tracks that slow if they were really rough on the suspension, but they are not bad at all. Comeon people, hit those track like you've got a pair. The car will not fall apart if you do. Occasionally, we get stuck by a train. Now I personally would try and respect the people trying to get to work and not take the train through this area until after the morning rush hour. But, a few weeks ago, it came through 2 times in one week. The unfortunate part is, it counts against me if I am late, even if it was something that was not my fault.
There are other scenarios, but I am sure most of us have had these issues and then some.

Anyway, I am done for this time. Happy surfing all.................................

Back For More

Sup anyone and everyone..........how goes it? Yeah...............that sounded really lame. Won't do that one again. So how is everyone doing? GREAT, I hope. In my last post I forgot to mention that during that critical 12 weeks of pregnancy, we lost it. It was rather sad and made for a long weekend. Don't remember the exact date, but it wasn't good. It has been some time since then and we are now in the stage of re-trying. I have high hopes that things will be fine this time around. Fingers crossed!

So I finally got my new and improved system together and running. Of course, that is after I tried to install the scanner drivers. The system locked up on the installation. I reset the PC and I lost a file that would not let WinXP start. It told me to reinstall the file to fix the problem. After an hour or so of dis-assembling my PC to get the hard drive out, putting it in another pc and copying the file that it so desperately needed, re-assembling my pc and restarting it, the file copy did no good. I was flipping pissed. I had to do a Windows repair to fix the problem. That went much better than expected. I lost no file associations, I didn't have to reload any software or anything. This time, I went to the Scanner manufacturers website and got the latest drivers. It worked like a charm that time. Now I am back up and running and happy again.

My last buy was a new printer. I found one at SAMS CLUB for $89. It is an EPSON PHOTO R220. It is pretty sweet. It has 6 printer cartridges for a better translation between colors. I have printed a few pictures, but not on photo paper, and they are awesome. I am going to get some glossy photo paper and try that. I am sure it will do an impressive job.

OK, I am off to do some playing on the new system, so to all out there, happy surfing and keep your anti-virus software up to date.............................peace

Today

Hey all, for those who even bother reading this thing, what is up?! Again, it has been a bit since the last post but never fear, I am back. Well, I am still doing the running thing and after 2 months, i have lost almost 15 lbs. Can't really tell by looking at myself, but my pants are telling the story. They are getting much more loose. I am going to keep this up for a while still yet and see how it goes.

I decided this year to do a PC upgrade. I went with the AMD 64x2 Dual Core processer and m-board. I also dropped in 2 gigs of ram, an Nvidia 256 meg PCI Express video card and new 550watt power supply. This thing flies and plays DOOM3 flawlessly. I am impressed with it overall. I am in the process of putting my software back on it but for the most part it went well. I spent a bit more than I wanted to but it has been 3 years since the last time I upgraded. Other than that, things are well on this end and HELL YES...........SPRING TIME IS COMING! That means Summer is right behind it. I hate cold weather, so i am impatiently waiting for the hot season.

Later...................