Okay, let's see if I can teach myself XML and Lua while I'm at work.

I have to say, I was expecting the transition from 1024x768 to 1280x1024 to be rougher, but I adapted really quickly. On the other hand, I thought the same about going from 800x600 to 1024x768, so maybe it's just all in the head.

Bizarrely, the Microsoft website refuses to let me download Outlook Express, because it only permits downloads to a person using IE. Or rather, the bizarre part is that the website adamantly insists IE7 is not IE.

I suppose I *could* try to configue Outlook 97 to get my mail from my Verizon address but that's really more grief than it's worth.

The last pieces of my computer have pretty much come together.

Memory is running properly in dual-channel mode, something I had worried about.

Got the SATA cable for the DVD-R/W drive and yoinked the VLC Media Player to watch DVDs.

Dual monitor mode will be enabled as soon as I have better positioning for my CRT, but I know it works without a substantial framerate drop for most applications I've seen.

Sweet.

I have worked my butt off this week. Or I should say "I am working my butt off this week" since I still have 19 hours of work to go before my day off on Sunday. After which I work -- surprisingly, only 48 hours the next week, which results in two days off rather than one. Sunday is one of those.

I am worn out! Already, making today and especially tomorrow some pretty substantial hurdles for me to vault. Like climbing a mountain. Ironically, even when I have a day off, I don't have the money to DO anything on it but sit at home and play video games...

What aggravates me is that I can't keep my schedule straight. Mostly because I keep forgetting to put my full written-out schedule in my bag, but it's also true that I can no longer just check my schedule in the book here at work. That's a nagging frustration to me. I worry irrationally about showing up to work at Braddock some day when I'm not scheduled to be there... Oh well. I'll pick apart the schedule book later on the 2nd, which is a day I'm sure I'm there. It's written very strangely.

This is just a period of time when I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.

I really need to sit down and dig through agents to query, but my free time is so rare and precious right now I usually spend it in de-stress. My new computer can actually play games, after all, and I'm enjoying taking advantage of that. Dual-core IS better for multitasking.

Though Neverwinter Nights blew a gasket royally when I tried to play it. Apparently it relies heavily on time data from the CPU, and two cores results in teleporting characters and flickering graphics! Luckily there's a simple config fix that made it better. I haven't played it much though.

Been dabbling a lot in RO. That's fun, I wish I could round up more people I knew for the server we play on. Not that I have much time, but it's simple and lighthearted enough that it can be picked up and dropped pretty easily. It'd be nice to have more friends doing it.

...takers?

I don't know what I wanted to accomplish by posting this, except to vent. I just need a break from my life, right now.

I have successfully built a computer. Thus far, with complete functionality and only minimal problems in construction!

If anyone wants techincal details, I can post 'em... I just wanted to spread the good word. I built a computer. And named it BAFL, both because it is baffling that I managed to build it successfully, and because having done so, I can successfully claim to be one BadAss Freakin' overLord. Hyaaaa haa ha ha ha ha!

Over the past few days I have been cramming my head full of computer hardware information. Good lord! I know now more than I ever knew before, about technology past and future.

I'm feeling more and more capable of handling this by the day.

So because I'm apparently extremely anal-retentive about these things, I've decided to build my own computer.

I've mucked about in the guts to the extent of card swapping and power supply and all that stuff, the only parts I haven't worked with before are the motherboard and the processor. So I'm fairly confident I can do this. I hope!

...SVGA connections are obsolete now? Crap.

Having decided that I have no real choice to upgrade, I put the question out:

Does anyone have any good recommendations for graphics cards under $150, or hard drives under $100?

So, digging deep into the workings of my computer and the internet revealed that I might be able to solve my win32k.sys BSOD errors by changing my memory frequency from AUTO to SYNC. I note, with some concern, that while the motherboard manual lists SYNC as the default and best setting, it also claims I'll have the option to pick from specific settings -- which the actual BIOS doesn't bear out. The only two options in the actual setup are AUTO and SYNC, with AUTO being listed as the best choice. Well, what the hell, now I don't even know what I'm doing. The practical upshot is that my memory frequency has gone from 133 to 200. What THAT means, well, I'm not entirely certain, except that the memory has not yet melted or fried. Yet.

So I test this little tweak by hauling up RO and running it through its paces. Normally I can get about ten, twenty minutes out of the game before I get a win32k.sys BSOD out of it. I pushed it for about twenty today, post-change, and got: an IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error instead.

Dammit.

Even more bizarrely, though I set Windows to automatically reboot on a stop error, I STILL got the BSOD and had to reboot. Which is okay, I guess, since I learned it was a different error.

Not sure what to make of this, I returned to the collective consciousness of the Internet and determined that this particular problem was frequently observed in more advanced GeForce chipsets (6's and higher, mine is a 440MX) due to the arrival of SP2 and its use of software DEP. Turning off the DEP supposedly resolves the problem. Supposedly the error was fixed in higher driver version for those chipsets -- but I note that my drivers don't actually go that high. My working speculation is that nVidia hasn't actually updated many of the driver functions for its older chipsets, even though they're officially supported, and thus I may be encountering the DEP problem as well. So the simplest thing to do is disable the DEP and see if it helps -- and what problems come out of THAT.

Anyone with actual, useful computer knowledge is free to tell me what the holy hell I did and am doing wrong. And anyone rich is welcome to buy me a graphics card for my birthday. Can I sell my novel now and have a free grand for a top of the line model?

Yesterday I managed to fix a doctor's laptop computer by using the Windows Recovery Console to disable a corrupted motherboard graphics driver.

Sure, it's not impressive for those computer people on my list, but I'm proud of it, especially since it took me exactly one viewing of a Safe mode bootup and two web-searches to find the information I needed, and it worked on the first try. I doubt that most people in the world could manage THAT -- especially since one of the nurses had been working on it overnight and had no success. Mwa ha!

And there's a Chipotle in Oakland now. I got my free grand-opening burrito from them for lunch. YES! DELICIOUS!

Son of a bitch, I left myself logged on all day today!

Is it sad I didn't get a single IM?

Uragh.

tigerphoenix is on her way home, safely we hope, despite the snow. I'll miss her. This week has been absolute hell, but is starting to improve ever-so-slightly. At the least, I have a new monitor to replace my old dead one. I need to remember to send in for the $30 rebate, which I desperately need.

More as I feel saner.

Unfortunately, correcting my name and SSN on my tax return did nothing to address the fact that I still owe money. Evidently the problem is that I was working in PA and filing in MD. Apparently now I need to file an amended tax return to account for that.

On the upside, that may solve the problem right there. Gonna have to ask my mother what's going on, as she's the one who helped prepare my taxes.

My monitor is behaving quite normally, after I slapped the hell out of it yesterday. I'm sincerely hoping that it lasts long enough for me to purchase a Computer Of The Gods.

Looking on the Dell website, a computer built to my (fantastic) standards will cost something like $3000, but if I get credit it'll be around $100 a month. That I can afford. And I desperately need a new computer. Mmmmm, 3GHz processor.

Glad to have a day off of work...

My Stepdad: ::MY NAME IN ALL CAPITALS::
SteelGreyW: GAH!
My Stepdad: HOW ARE YOU?
My Stepdad: i'VE GOT A MESSAGE FOR YOU
SteelGreyW: I am going DEAF.
My Stepdad: JOIN THE CLUB
SteelGreyW: It would HELP if you would not TYPE in all CAPITALS.

And so then he continued on as if nothing weird had happened.

Of course, the message was that someone from somewhere I've never heard of had called, and I was supposed to call back... My stepdad is a card.

Hmm. Dental woes are over, and I don't need anything more for another six months!

On the other hand, Civ III preorders are out and I can't get one. And the new Pool of Radiance game won't run on my ancient PII 333. Good lord, I've fallen behind.

All in all, a reasonable cosmic balance, methinks. I'm going for breakfast.

Okay.... I spend too much.

But at least this time it was justified. I raked in a huge bonus from work (since the office lost my timecard, my boss just made up a ton of hours for me). $1400 for the past few weeks. One of which I took off. Not bad, I say.

I started off to the mall, but it began horribly. I couldn't get my playstation to work, then the bus was some 20 minutes late. It was cold and windy... not that I mind. But my CD player was not working properly. It tends to forget it's playing stuff and shut itself off for absolutely no reason... frequently.

The bus finally arrived and it was standing room only (for a 45 minute journey). AAARGH!

But I got to the mall. My first stop was Suncoast. DBZ ANDROID SAGA! UNCUT! ::poing poing poing::

#18 is SOOOOO COOOL!

Then to the bookstore, to pick up a present for a friend of mine... then, the real reason I went... Best Buy.

A new printer -- an new stlye of HP DeskJet with awesome capabilities. A new CD player -- finally! Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption. I hope it works right.

This rules. ::poing!::