New Box in the Hizzouse.

Hey y'all,

Well, Liz and I spent all last night putting together my new computer. All the parts had come in yesterday afternoon, so we spent the evening doing computer surgery in our basement.

For the most part, it went pretty well. We took quite a but of time checking out the motherboard and all the jumper settings and conenctions. All in all, I was pretty impressed with the motherboard. Things were labeled well and, for the most part, were pretty accessible (as far as motherboards go, that is).

There was only really one hiccup to the whole assembly process. I seem to be short one cable - the one that connects the CD-ROM drive to the sound card. It's not horribly essential but, without it, I can't play audio CDs on my computer. I suppose I'll have to try to find one of these cables...I wonder if Best Buy even carries such a thing.

Upon powering the beast up, I was very happy to see that all the fans were running and there was a distinct lack of smoke. Despite 5 internal fans (power supply, case, processor, northbridge, video card), this computer is very quiet. I suppose it didn't hurt that I spent a little extra to get a nice heatsink/cooling fan for the processor. Once I closed up the case, you could barely tell the thing was running. I set my BIOS settings and rebooted to install Windows. It went remarkably well.

So, now that I've got Windows on there, my box is up and running. I installed a few goodies last night (Yahoo! Messenger, Google Toolbar, Firefox, and City of Heroes). By the time I got that stuff on there, it was already quite late. Nonetheless, I did fire up City of Heroes for a bit just to check it out. I couldn't help but laugh - it looks like a whole new game. It's so sweet. I can't wait to get some time to play on it.

Liz took some pictures of the whole assembly process but I haven't had the time to get the pictures of the camera yet. Hopefully, I'll have those up soon.

Anyway, that's my update for now. Catch y'all later.

My New Box

So, I've been contemplating getting a new computer for some time now. Mine is starting to show its age and I'm getting the itch to build a new one. For Christmas, I got a floppy drive, a CD/DVD drive, and a new case. So, why haven't I built it yet? Well, I've been waiting for the video card I wanted to be back in stock. I just received word that it is. Of course, now that it is, I'm planning on getting a different one - go figure.

Anyway, here is the box I'm planning on putting together. Feel free to take a look at it and let me know what you think. Here's a couple highlights, for anyone that cares.

3.2 GHz P4 processor (LGA775 socket)
1 GB DDR PC3200 Memory
80 GB Hard Drive (SATA)
GeForce 6800 PCI-Express x16 Video Card

You see, I wanted the GeForce 6800 video card, but I had been planning on puchasing the AGP version of the card. Now that PCI-Express is making itself more prevalent in the marketplace, I thought I'd try going that route. I doubt I'll see much difference in performance between the AGP and PCIe cards, but, as most video cards seem to be headed in the PCIe direction, going with a motherboard that supports PCIe will give me better "upgradability" in the future.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for this post. Take a look at my setup, if you're so inclined, and let me know what you think.

Bush "thinks again."

Not to say that he ever thought in the first place, and I'm not even talking about Dubya finally admitting that he sometimes says stupid things.

I'm referring to the fact that, while private contributors are preparing a $40 million inaugural gala for George, the Bush administration had asked Washington D.C. to fork over $17 million out of their own pockets for their own costs, including overtime pay for police, erecting risers for the event, etc. Apparently, Bush and Co. decided that wasn't a good idea (probably about the same time it hit newspapers across the nation) and have now decided to reimburse the city. Of course, it still makes me wonder why we're spending $17 million in taxpayer dollars on an event for the president and all those lobbyist that shower him with money. Can anyone out there think of a better way to spend $17 million in this country? I can think of a couple.

If they want to have their party, fine, just as long as they're going to pay for it themselves. Yeah, so for all you lobbyists out there contributing, dig a little deeper and pay for the extra costs. We all know you're good for it because you stick someone else with the bill any chance you get.

Yes, I'm ranting, but we've got kids half way around the world getting killed right now and the president, who put them there, plans to spend a whole butt-load of money eating caviar with his cronies. Grrrrr........

Houston, We've Hit Saturn.

It appears that we've successfully landed a probe on one of Saturn's moons. From the article:

"They hope all the data will survive transmission uncorrupted, said Bob Mitchell, program manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA."

Hmmm...they launched the thigns in 1997 - I just hope they had the foresight to include a checksum. ;)

So now that we've disturbed their eon-long slumber, I suppose we can expect aliens to descend upon the Earth and obliterate all of man-kind in the near future. But, hey, it's all "for posterity" so what the hell?

My Laziness Precedes Me...

Well, it's been a long time since I've blogged anything. I'm still doing a little better than Nate, who has blogged one line since the 4th, but, unlike Tron, I'm not nearly as busy - just overly lazy. Anyway, I will attempt to make amends with what may be the longest blog post of all time (or not...either way).

First of all, a bit of an update on Scott's condition. The e-mails are a little long so I'll just try to recap. Scott was moved to Germany for a brief stay and has since been flown back state-side to D.C. - he's at Walter Reed for care. The extent of his injuries include two wounds in right right side (one 3"x3" and another 6" in diameter), a 6" long wound in his back, his pelvic bone is damaged (but I don't know the extent), and he has multiple fractures to his left arm. It sounds like he's in pretty rough shape, but there was no organ damage so he should make a full recovery - at least I hope so.

As of Monday, we was becoming more aware of what was going on and could recall what happened to him, so that's a good sign. Barb and Dennis, Scott's parents, are staying with him for the time being and it sounds like it's pretty rough going out there. Walter Reed is an Army hospital so they're surrounded by kids that are in awfully rough shape.

Here's a picture of Scott (he's the one on the left - yes, he's adopted):

Just keep him in your prayers that everything will be alright.

Well, enough about that. Life around here has been pretty ho-hum lately. We had friends over last weekend to try out the mcglone-a-plex so we had to get the basement "prepared." We picked up "director chair" barstools for the bar and got those in place. The party went over well, but we never actually watched a movie. Instead, we all just sat around playing video games on the ginormous screen. Dance, Dance Revolution was actually a pretty popular game. Fun was had by all, whether by dancing or by laughing at those trying to do so.

That's pretty much been it for excitement around here. Lizzy and I ordered some movie posters for the basement. They arrived this week - now we just need to see about getting them framed and hung. Once that's done, the basement should be pretty much complete.

Last night, Lizzy and I went to get our hair cuts from some new lady. A haircut isn't exactly an epic ordeal for me. Rather, I just sit there, watch my hair fall to the floor and, when my head feels lighter than it did when I came in, I leave. Just as every stylist I've ever had (except perhaps for the barber my dad took me to when I was 8), this one started off by using the trimmer to cut off a chunk of hair and then said, "Whoops!" to see if I'd react. I just smiled pleasantly (or maybe she took it as an indulging smile that you'd make to a child that thinks he's done something great even though you're really not excited). I suppose there are two ways she could have read into that. First, she could have thought, "Gee, this guy is really quick - he didn't even fall for my ingenious trick!" Or, secondly, and more likely, she thought, "Boy, this guy doesn't care what I do to his hair. I could just shave him bald and I'd still get my twenty bucks." In the end, I got what I wanted - my hair is shorter, my head is lighter, I use less gel in the morning. The world is now officially a better place.

As I was chatting with Nate this morning, I had a need to look up a long lost poster on ThinkGeek (I found another that follows the same line). As such, I quickly found myself perusing the site for geeky goodies that all the world could enjoy. Here are some of my favorite shirts (the geekier you are, the funnier these become - and don't forget to read the descriptions provided - those are usually as funny as the shirts):

Practice Safe Hex
There are 10 Types of people in the world...
Einstein a la France?
No Place
Obey Gravity

Here's one for Nate: 1 Up

And one that I believe was made specifically for Dave - I'm surprised it didn't have his name on it: For Dave

And here's my personal favorite. I don't entirely understand the fundamental quantum physics argument, but I understand it enough to realize it's funny: Schrödinger's Cat. And, yes, sadly, these are the people that wear shirts like that. Someone please explain to me how I found a hottie like Liz in a physics class? Now that's a paradox (not to be confused with a pair of ducks).

Yeah, so that was fun. Sorry if you didn't enjoy it as much as I did, but I take refuge in my geekiness from time to time.

Anyway, that's enough of my blabbering and gratuitous geekiness. Have a good (albeit dang cold) weekend, everyone.

What's a Guy To Do?

So it just hit me, while I was perusing ESPN.com for the latest news...football season is nearly over. With only a handful of teams still playing, there isn't much news to read - just a bunch of stories about crummy teams firing their coaches and sportswriters making up stories about how many times "regular season rematches" occur in the playoffs because they have absolutely nothing better to talk about.

As I noticed this, I realized that it's only going to go downhill from here. Soon, football will be over and there will be absolutely no news on that front. And the hockey season is all but cancelled at this point. That leaves me with basketball. Uurgh. I'm not impressed. It's as if the long season of summer baseball has extended into my once coveted land of NHL playoffs. *Sigh*

On a side note, what gives with people walking up to a crosswalk, pressing the "Push this to cross" button, and then proceeding to cross the street immediately, without waiting for the lights to change and get a "Walk" signal? Does it make them feel better about crossing when they shouldn't? If you press the button, does that give them more of a right-of-way? If someone has to slam on his brakes because they were crossing the road when they shouldn't have been, can they then yell at the driver, "Hey A$$HOLE! I pushed the G$#-D@#% button!"? If you're going to cross the road, just bloody cross the road and be sure to look both ways like your momma taught ya.

Yeah, so, ummm...those two topics were related...really.

Close to Home

Well, the "war" in Iraq hit a little close to home today. I got this e-mail regarding Liz's cousin, Scott, who is/was posted in Mosul.

"At approximately 9:30 AM 5 Jan 05, Mosul time, 12, 330th Soldiers were traveling through the city of Mosul, in a 3 vehicle convoy when Anti Iraqi Forces detonated an Improvided Explosive Device as it passed by a certain location. One of our vehicles was badly damaged but was able to be driven back to our base camp.

SGT Smith was very seriously injured in this attack and is currently in Intensive Care here at the Combat Support Hospital in Mosul. He is expected to be flown to Germany tongiht for further treatments. I have spoken with the doctors here and they have a positive outlook on his recovery.

The 11 other 330th SOldiers were shaken up but none injured other than cuts and scrapes. Alot of them have ringing in their ears from the blast. One of my main concerns at this point is their mental well being. TLC will be a huge factor to help them deal with this event."

It sounds like Scott should be okay, but it's still awfully scary. Here's hoping the troops get home safe soon.

A little update to this story - I just got this e-mail, as well:

"This note is from Sgt Jeff Scott in Mosel

Sorry for keeping you waiting....

I was just at Scott's bedside at the Combat Hospital here in Mosul, Iraq. The doctors have him sedated and on a ventilator. This is mainly to keep him still and comfortable until he can be flown to Germany alter tonight or early in the morning. The doctors say NO internal organs were damaged from what they can tell so far, which is a good thing.

I'm getting you a phone number for the hospital he will be flown to...As soon as I get it, I'll e-mail you back. I may try to call again, but with it raining here, the connection may not be the best.

Jeff"

A Veritable Winter Wonderland

Well, it's the start of a new year and I hope everyone is off to a fine beginning. For Liz and I, our new year started off pretty low-key. As I had mentioned, we had big plans to head up to the cities to join in on Lagatta-Bash 2005. Unfortunately, those plans fell through when Lizzy got sick last week. Come Friday night, she still wasn't feeling very well, so we didn't make it up to the cities.

Not all was lost, or so I thought. We were still planning on heading up in the morning, assuming Lizzy was feeling better. It just so happens that, the next morning, Lizzy was, indeed, feeling better. (The same could not be said for Lagatta and crew, who were now busy recovering from the night before.) However, before we could make the trip up to the cities, we were halted in our tracks by a very nasty ice storm.

See that ice layer on my deck? Yeah, that's all over everything right now in Rochester. A couple days later and we're still recovering, to some degree. Most of the roads are open again, but parking lots and driveways and rather treacherous. I even stopped off at Home Depot to pick up some more salt and sand (I used up well over half a bag of salt on my driveway already) only to find that they're sold out. Figures.

So, unfortunately, Liz and I didn't make it up to the cities at all this weekend. It's quite unfortunate, because I really wanted to get there, but it just didn't work out.

Instead of heading to the cities, I finished off the work in the basement on the McGlone-A-Plex. In general, it's done now. We ordered some movie posters tonight that we'll use for decoration and we got a new lamp to help brighten it up a bit, but it's pretty much done. You can flip a movie on and watch it on the big screen with full surround sound, so I guess the important stuff is in place. :) I've even got a few pictures to tantalize you all into coming. I'm sorry that the pictures look horrible, it's still pretty dark down there and I'm a crummy photographer. Nonetheless, you can bask in the glory of our basement here.

While getting those pictures ready to go online, I found pictures from Christmas that I had forgotten I had, entirely. I've got some of the ladies (Liz, Mardi, and 'lil Red) making Christmas cookies at our place and some more of X-Mas at my mom's place. Yeah, so the pictures at my mom's are mostly just Gavin and his obsession with Post-it notes and Dora the Explorer, but you get what you get. You can check those out here.

So that's pretty much what I wanted to get done - get those pics out on the Net and, since I've been working on it for some time now and have finally accomplished it, I'm going to sign off now. Have a good one, everyone.

Corey