Car has been throwing a check engine for a little while now. I thought it might be the glow plugs again, and I was right.
Nothing I can do about it now.
The only thing I want to have fixed is the starter, only because it makes a noise.
That, and it’s hard to start.
I can explain to a dealership that the glow plugs need changing(normal wear and tear), but a bum starter is a little more irritating.

Other than that, nothing new.

Tara and I go new car shopping on Saturday. I think we’ll try three:
Matrix
Fit
Versa

While I would like something a little bigger(like a proper station wagon) there’s just no room in the budget for something like that.
Oh well, maybe next go around 🙂

You have to be asian.

I never stood a chance…

12 year old on Ellen.

Look for 37 seconds left…now he’s just rubbing it in.

So my 300gig sata drive lost it’s File Allocation Table.
Yea, just decided that it didn’t want to be there anymore.
Wish I could loose fat that quickly.

So I recovered all the important bits. All but 4 pictures. Not so bad.
Then formatted the drive, rebooted, and it sorta kinda wanted to work.
Then it stopped working, and no longer saw the drive.
Now, at this point it could be a few things:
1. Windows no longer wants to talk to the drive
2. The drive died
3. The cable is pooched
4. The sata connector is pooched

But even after disconnecting the drive, the system is still slow in some areas.
Not all, and that’s annoying.
I mean, if it was slow everywhere, then that’s one thing.
But it’s fastish at opening apps. Slow at opening pictures.
Slow at opening the windows explorer(but faster now that the other drive is disconnected).

Since I had a really good review from my boss, I decided to order a new system.
It’s been something I’ve been grumbling about for a little while(just ask Tara), so I finally did it.

And to be fair, my hardware is reaching the 4-5 year mark, so it’s time really.
Well, parts are 4, parts are 5, and maybe that’s a problem as well 🙂
Almost better to start from scratch.

I admit that the system is geared towards gaming, as that’s what I mostly do with it.
So why not just buy an xbox or something?
Well, I do use this for other things.
Things that(I don’t think) you can do on an xbox(yet).
And it’s easier for me to justify a PC than a console.

Why not put that money towards the new car?
Well, if I add the $1000 to the down payment, it reduces the overall payments by $1200. And minus the $1000 I already spent, that’s $200.
Over 5 years.
Not worth it to me.

So yes, I’ve actually thought about this.
Hummed and hawed about it.
This is something I’ve been trying to do more often. Less impulse and more thinking.
But I think today was just the breaking point.

And I actually shopped around for it.
I saw the system that I wanted on Tigerdirect, and was about to buy.
Then I looked local.
While not everything was cheaper, it was cheaper overall as there’s no shipping.
That, and it’s local. If something doesn’t work, I don’t have to ship it back, wait, and have them tell me it’s out of stock, etc.
So I like local.

So in awhile, I’ll have a fast new gaming rig.
Not top of the line, but I don’t feel like spending top of the line money.
I did that once. For a video card. Not again.

When one thing breaks, they all break.
First the car starts to go south, and now the PC.
Yar!
Now, one is considerably cheaper than the other. I’ll let you guess which.

With the comp, it could just be a HD cable, or a bad HD(of which I really hope not).

Buuuut, it does make for a good argument to get a new one 😉

My bonus should cover it.

But I’ll go under the hood tomorrow and see what’s what.

Bought new shoes yesterday. Actually, they’re almost boots, so that’s what I’m gonna use them for.
And had really late chinese food(overslept in the afternoon).

Also watched some anime as I was late for doing my show.
I think I’ll just watch the rest tonight and then post Friday as usual and forget the fact that I missed a week.

Anyway, this was a little awkward for me.
I have to get used to being in the same house as Tara without actually being with Tara.
I hope you all know what that means.
The problem I have is that I still consider her a guest, and therefore must keep them entertained to a certain degree. Even if that means just being in the same room.
It’s something I have to work on. It’s a thing.

Anyway, we have to figure out what to do with all the extra beds.
We’ll have 4 when Tara moves in. We’re gonna ditch one, and put one in the basement.
Now WHERE in the basement will be a good question.
I think I know what to do, but I’m not 100% on it.
Oh well, I have time 😉

The week hasn’t been particularly hard or anything, but I think I’m thankful it’s Friday.
I have two days where I don’t have to do a damn thing.
Which is good, because for a few hours this Friday, it was, dumb.
But it’s done, and there’s no more work or anything else.

Tomorrow I watch some anime.
I have a peaceful day with Tara, all will be good 🙂

I’m at home, minding my own business, when the phone rings.
Being 5:30 or so, I naturally think it’s Tara and answer “HEEEllloooooo”.
It wasn’t Tara.
It was a customer.

SideNote:Because I’m at home so often, I have the work number forwarded to my home number.
In general, I don’t unforward because people never call.

So I chat with them for a little while, and realize that they want me to do work.
The nerve of them!
I run down, grab the laptop, and start working.
Tara does call, and I explain that I have to delay everything because someone actually tracked me down.
She’s cool with it.
I then do work and call the customer, explaining to them that because it’s a sev2, it’s only business hours, and their day ends at 5(8 for me :().
I do some more work, and at 7:59, unforward the phone(VOIP is awesome that way).
Then I run away.

I almost feel sad because I checked my email a little later, and at 8:08, there was a voicemail from the customer.
Oh well 😛

Holy Poop it’s tall!
Comes up to my waist.

But it’s delivered and setup, so I’ll be sleeping well tonight(I better be!).

Woke up rather late today, played the ‘5 more minutes’ game and made it past 8am 😦

I’m really leaning towards getting a Matrix.
Going by their website, I should really be able to afford one even without a trade.
Which is good, because I just don’t know how much I’d get 😦

And it appears to be better getting a brand new one other than a 2007 model. It appears that they’re offering better financing.
Odd. You’d think it would be the other way around.
Oh well.

Now to send out emails asking for pricing 🙂

Drove Tara to the doctors again this morning, seems the old sickness has returned.
And fun things can happen when you self diagnose.
You could end up with ‘beaver diarrhea‘.
You know you want to click it….

Getting my new bed tomorrow!
Woo!

Playing Eve, got my butt handed to me twice.
Both times loosing my ship.
Damn drones.
Then gave me 5mil and I felt better 🙂

Finally did the family photo thing with my family…which makes sense.
It was a good time, and we all had fun trying to make Simon smile.
Mostly worked.
I looked like a dork.
I have to work on my smile.
It’s all fine and dandy when I know I’m not getting my picture taken.
I mean, this is natural right?
Then Pizza.

Now bed!

I’m starting to think that both The A Daily Show and The Colbert Report are better now that the writers are on strike.
They don’t do a lot of those little side skits, which is fine by me as I almost never find those funny.
It’s just them, doing what they do best.

I say, let the writers stay on strike!

Granted, that’ll kill all the other TV, but it could be worth it in the long run.
That, and maybe they’ll stay out long enough for people to get totally sick of reality TV, so that when they finally go back to work, there will no longer be reality TV!
Think of the awesomness of it all!

Tired….