Month: August 2009

Going Back to the Darkside

After a call from PC Max regarding my computer, I found out some financially crushing information.  My computer is officially dead.

The motherboard will not respond, I’ve had problems with it since I bought it off of eBay.  I’ll never trust ASUS products, this motherboard was a headache from the word go.  They also said that my video card was starting to show signs of going as some of the capacitors are starting to mushroom.

Their recommendations where to replace it with an “upgrade box” which essentially replaces all the internal parts.  This would have ran about $450.  I built the computer for this cost.  Plus this would be like throwing more money into a big money pit.  As I’ve written about previously, I’ve replaced the motherboard, replaced a hard drive and went through 5 power supplies on this machine alone.  I’m not sure if I work it too hard, or if I’m having some bad luck.

After making some tough choices, we decided to purchase a Dell Optiplex 760.  There are many advantages to purchasing this, but there are some disadvantages.  I will outline them below.

Advantages:

  • 3 year warranty opposed to standard Dell 1 year warranty
  • If any problems happen, I can bring it into TS for service
  • Business class machine that should hold up to whatever I throw at it

Disadvantages:

  • Can only hold 2 hard drives; I currently have 4
  • More costly than building a machine
  • Pushes back my anticipated purchase of a MacBook Pro

While the disadvantages do not outweigh the advantages, they are something to think about.  This machine also has a Intel processor, something I haven’t had since 1995 which was in my first computer, a 486DX2 running at 50mhz.  Since then I have switched to AMD for their better price points with unequaled performance.  I just hope this machine is as good as my old one was.

It’s specs are:

  • Core 2 Duo running at 3.06ghz
  • 4gb of DDR2 ram running at 800mhz
  • 320gb boot hard drive
  • 16x DVD-RW drive
  • 16 in 1 Media Card Reader (for SD/CF and other types of flash memory)
  • On-board video with a digital video adapter card – a good system that is used at IU

I am not purchasing a monitor, keyboard, mouse or any other peripherals with this to save money.  I have all of these items, and don’t really need new ones.  Dell is currently saying I should receive it by September 3rd.

My plan is to buy a new 1.5tb hard drive to replace the space I use on 4 hard drives.  This will let me have the space I need and want via an internal hard drive.  I’m going to sell 3 of those hard drives to try to recoup the cost.  I also need to buy an adapter to get the information off of those old drives.

I’m going to keep my old machine and eventually buy a new motherboard and processor.  It will be my Linux box.  This will also be an addition to all of the extra tax write-offs we will have this year.  With a new child, remodeling my business space and a new computer, we should have a nice tax refund next year.

Half a Decade

Five years ago tomorrow, I became a husband.  While I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into back then, I actually appreciate it now.  Five years really doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an accomplishment in today’s world.

Throughout these years, Rachel and I have accomplished many things together.  We bought a house, she got her master’s degree, I lost my job and now our newest adventure, our first child.

Our lives before each other were as different as night and day, but our beliefs have kept us close in many ways.  I think it’s the core reason why our bond has lasted.  It’s a case of opposites attracting.  Our bond has done nothing but grow closer over time, something I hope doesn’t end anytime soon.

We will be celebrating our 5th anniversary with a trip down to French Lick.  We’re going to spend a night at the French Lick Springs Hotel and perhaps do a little gambling.  The traditional gift of the 5 year anniversary is wood.  While the trip is our gift to each other, I have to break the rules and buy a present.  While I can’t say what it is yet, I know she will be pleasantly surprised.

I hope to get a chance to relax, as I haven’t had much time to do that in a while.  School starts back up in 11 days, and I’m back to work at TS full time right now, but that will be scaled back to 24 hours a week at the end of the month.

Today is my father’s 58th birthday as well, I called and left him a message this morning.  I hope he got it.  I love you dad.

August is a very busy month for us.  My father’s birthday on the 13th, our anniversary on the 14th and Taylor’s birthday on the 26th.

Winding Down

My summer is quickly drawing to a close.  My last class for the summer semester is tomorrow, I start working at TS again on August 10th and the birth of my second child is becoming more imminent as each day passes.

I’ve been pre-ocupied with class and remodeling the nursery.  I don’t feel like the progress is coming along like I wanted it to with the nursery.

This is the first room that will be “complete” in the house.  While we have painted, installed doors, ect.  One thing we haven’t done is change our trim from stained to painted.  This room will be.  Once little one is born, we will take a remodeling break and then change the trim, each room at a time.

I’m very happy that I was able to take a break from work this summer and focus on my studies.  While I only have one grade posted thus far, I believe I’ll have 3 A’s and a C.  The C is due to some weird quizzes that had wrong answers!  The professor would sometimes throw a few points our way, but nothing that made up for the loss.  I now have a greater appreciation of what it’s like to be a college student.  If our finances could support it, I’d like to continue going full time until I complete my degree.

My computer’s power supply died again, at least it’s still under warranty.  I took it into PC Max, but it will probably be a couple of weeks before its return due to Antec’s slow warranty claim process.

We bought a new car, well new to us.  With the impending arrival of a new member of the family, we needed a more family friendly vehicle.  I didn’t want to trade in my truck, but I did due to it’s much higher trade-in value than the Kia.  We bought a 2007 Chevrolet HHR 1LT.  We’ve rented them on two occasions and love them!  It looks small, but has a lot more room than you would think it does.

Once I get some time to coordinate my thoughts, I’ll write something with more focus.  In the meantime, if you’re my friend on twitter or facebook – I’ll keep you updated.