Going Green, Turning White (?), and Oozing Geek

It's basically been another uneventful week here. I'm not sick anymore and the dog hasn't had anymore seizures (or whatever that was). I did go see Jim Gaffigan, and the guy is still funny. He had all new material, other than doing his famous Hot Pockets routine. Here's a clip of his old stuff, if you're just looking to be entertained for 10 minutes.





On with the blog.....

Going Green

OK, so I'm making the plunge. I bought some plastic tubs at Target, and I'm sorting paper from glass/metal/plastics. This is the only good thing that came from a couple of dates with a girl from Cincinnati. She was surprised I threw away beer bottles. Amy, if you're reading this, that was a valid point. See ya never....

Turning White????

*WARNING - Bad movie reference upcoming* I have blown up no less than 3 computers in the last 2 weeks. I think I'm turning into that guy from the movie Powder. For those that haven't seen this lame movie, the guy from Powder was an albino with superhuman intellect and extreme magnetic fields around his body, apparently due to his mother being struck by lightning while pregnant. The only part I'm referencing is the extreme magnetic field part. My skin is the same hue, and I don't believe I've gotten appreciably smarter or dumber recently.

Two of the 3 computeres were at work. Actually I destroyed the same one twice, but that's splitting hairs. The computer at work is a significant annoyance, but in the end it's no skin off my back. HOWEVER, the other computer was my laptop. I bought that laptop last spring, and it has been a piece of junk from day 1. I highly don't recommend Windows Vista Home Basic, and the same can be said of Compaq Presario laptops. Friday I gave it to my friend that works on computers to see if he can get my pictures off of it. Hopefully he's successful, but either way I'll be pillaging it for parts when I get it back. I can't possibly survive without a laptop, so I've purchased a replacement which I can't WAIT to get in the mail.

Ooooozing Geek

I bought something that has become known as a Netbook. It's possible many of you have heard of these before, but I wouldn't bet on it. The one I bought is the Acer Aspire One. Basically it's a super-small laptop (9" screen) with smaller memory and computing capability that is really just meant to be super mobile and used for basic internet surfing. Most, including mine, come with what is called a solid-state drive (SSD). This is what you find in smaller memory iPods, cameras, etc. The bottom line is that it doesn't spin up like conventional hard-drives. Blah, blah, blah. No one reading this cares.

Here comes the really geeky part. Since it only has a 16GB hard-drive, Windows is a bit much for it. So it has a Linux operating system (Linpus Linux Lite to be exact). Using Linux may actually make me more pale and I'll need to be alot smarter to be a 'power-user', so my Powder comparison could be coming true soon. Stay tuned.....

The most relevant end-result of this purchase is that I can now create a Christmas list. Historically I have been pretty bad at giving people ideas for things I want for christmas. Even though I told Grandma on the phone that I usually don't ask for tech-y things for Christmas, I'm going to make an exception here because these are pretty cheap. Here are 3 things I would LOVE to have for my new gadget that are within reasonable price ranges for the Christmas (and birthday) seaons.

1. 16GB SD Memory Card - I'm not set on this exact card if someone wants to get creative, but I'd like 16GB and it needs to be a 'class 6' card because it will need fast read/write rates. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220254



2. External CD/DVD Drive - Netbooks are too small for internal CD drives. But it will still be super-handy to be able to copy things on and off of the machine via CD/DVD. Again, the exact drive isn't important, but the specs are what I'm shooting for. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151163



3. 6-cell battery - The biggest strike against the Acer Aspire One is that it's battery only lasts for about 2.5 hours. This upgrade will take me to closer to 6 hours, and I'll still have the smaller one it came with. AWESOME! http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/04/6-cell-battery-emerges-for-acer-aspire-one-119-99-for-a-few-mo

Again, no big deal if I don't get any of these. If I don't, I'll probably just go buy them after christmas. But I will promise to NOT buy any of these before then. And if you aren't sure how to get one of these I can offer further ordering assistance.

I need to go read for class and hit the hay in anticipation for another monday morning. (I'm kinda sore because I got back into the habit of running this weekend.....) See ya!