A few weeks ago, I was in Gainseville Florida for training on some of my companies products. I expected it to be the middle of nowhere but my hotel was actually right across the street from University of Florida. Still it was summer so all the colege girls were gone and it was humid as hell.
While there, I basically live for free, work picks up food and car and such, I just buy beer. I also got my bonus at work. So I decided to spend it all on sillicon! (And there was no one named Bambi involved.) I decided when I got back I was going to have Christmass in June, and here is the result.
Thats a new wireless router (Linksys WRV200V which has tons of features but I am currently RMAing because the second I launch torrents I loose any reliable connection to the internet. (and I am wired into it...)) A netgear gigabit router, 4 gigabit network cards, a new bluetooth adapter, the battery backup for my raid card, a 120 gb hd giving me 6 total to raid together, a couple japanese books that I will read who knows when, an asus micro-atx motherboard to replace my broken tv comp one (building sff case, ill take pics when I do it) and the sound blaster xfi platinum that started all this because it was on sale on amazon for almost $100 off. Not pictured is the Nintendo DS which I preordered and got the day after it came out in the mail. (It came out on a Sunday.)
The Linksys WRV200 has really great features, its basically a business class router and was cheap. Sadly I have to RMA it because it doesnt handle loads very well, I am truly hopeful its replacement wont exhibit the same problems.
The Xfi platinum... just rocks. I am amazed at how well it can turn an mp3 into surround sound. I previously had an Audigy 1, so it is a big upgrade. Very nice.
The Nintendo DS is just amazing. They fixed the one big problem the old one had- it looked like some 80s kids toy crap. I already beat The New Mario Brothers, Brain Age and Big Brain Academy are great, and so is Metroid Prime Hunters. I discovered this week I can use the ports on the front of my computer the Xfi gives to put the DS into surround sound, and that just rocks.
In other news, while I was in Gainesville I started my online math class. College algebra. Ya, sounds easy, and kinda is, ecept its been ages since I have done this kind of math and it is 17 WEEKS OF MATH IN 6 WEEKS. It is a crushing pace. I bascially go to work all day then come home, take a nap and do math till midnite. Final is this Thursday, and I have to do the chapter test for ch11 then all of chapter 12 and study before that. But if I can get a B on the ch11 test tomorrow, and find time to do the rest of the homework, I can get a 42% on the final and get a C.
My mom had surgery the middle of last month to replace her ailing knee. It was quite nerve racking but 6 weeks later she is doing quite well. Her knee still doesnt extend fully, a hold over from the compensating her body did with her old knee for years. Right now she has to wear this brace that stretches the knee 4 hrs a nite, and it is pretty painful for her. She is doing well though and we are all pulling for her.
I havent mentioned this previously, but I have become very good friends with a woman from work named Beverly, it is strange how well we get along in just a few months time. She bought herself a motorcycle today mostly on impulse, (starting yesterday) and she had a lot of second thoughts about it especially because her mother gave her such a hard time begging her not to. Sometimes you just gotta do things for you tho, even if there are risks involved.
My other friend Chrissie's 25th birthday is tomorrow. She is having dinner then going out drinking. Sadly I can only go to dinner because of evil math. It is so worth it if I pass tho. I plan to take the math placement test the week after the final so I can hopefully test out of my last math class. Anyway I think she will love her gift, about a month ago she mentioned to me in passing how much she wanted a nice jewlry box.... ^_~
Till next time, whenever that might be.
Links of the day!
A good wifi security guide
Duke Nukem jokes are old but still funny
The Tron Guy Truly scary
