Recently in Tech Chatter Category

The T-1 is down in my office right now and I am bored. I’m shocked to realize how much I depend on the internet to do my job. Literally, all work has stopped for pretty much everyone because we all need the internet to do what we have to do today. We can’t send e-mail; we can’t access webpages—nothing. It totally sucks. This is a little disconcerting for me as I have recently gotten into the habit of priding myself on shaking my addiction to the internet which had plagued me for so many years.

You all remember how it started. I was 18 going on 19—a deprived child who grow up with very little TV, no video games, and an obscenely out of date computer which I used only to play Tai-pai. Then (magically) an internet capable computer appeared in our home. It seems my mother finally decided to get us out of the dark ages and buy something that was made after I was born… and so my love affair with computers and web design began. It was a budding romance full of mystery and excitement. I was timid at first, it was my first time, you know. But soon, I pushed my inhibitions aside and opened myself up to it… a Gateway desktop.

You know, now that I think about it. It wasn’t all that romantic. I mean yes, it was exciting to discover something I had heard some much about, but never experienced, but we have to remember—that Gateway was a hand-me-down with a modem connection of about 28kps, a 1.5 gig hard drive and a virus that fucked up my new computer once I upgraded (I had to reinstall windows from scratch). I mean yeah, it did what I asked it to do as far as design was concerned. It put up with the freaking irritating geocities web-builder. It stayed up with me until the wee hours of the morning, and sometimes longer, when I was violent with inspiration and couldn’t sleep, even if I tried. It was there when I immersed myself into the cryptic world of html. It stored all my beginner coding pages, as cheesy as there where… I guess in all fairness, it was a 50/50 split between the good times and the bad.

Well, needless to say, the gateway and I grew apart. We ended things amicably enough. I mean… I kept the monitor, but seriously. I think looking back on my first computer shows how much I have grown as a person. My expectations have proceeded far beyond that 18 year old girl whose first website was about Star Wars and was hosted on geocities. I own my own domain now; I dabble in PHP and CGI… I am a survivor… a knighted warrior of the technology age! Well… that might be over stating things a little bit, but shit, I’ve paid my dues; I was in it for the long haul; I put up with a fucking 1.5 gig hard drive goddamnit! I deserve some mother fucking respect.

Okay, now that I’ve got that out of the way, I can stop feeling so guilty about not putting as much time as I used to into this domain. I just don’t have the energy anymore. And, as I’ve stated before in previous posts, been there, done that with a lot of web stuff. I’m not the giddy young adult I used to be, obsessed with webrings and making the perfect Britney Spears layout (I hate her now). I’m just not in that place anymore. I want to be in that place. I miss it. It was very carefree. Then again, I didn’t have a job and rent to pay and bills to pay and a car note for a car that isn’t even worth what my mother paid for it. These things weigh you down. They zap your strength and make you realize how completely stupid you were when you were a kid and daydreamed about being an adult.

Like they say, ignorance is bliss… but only if you are sure that you’ll stay that way.

Hi *waves*. So I’ve finally got my new computer and can I just say that it is like… flippin’ incredible! It’s so fast it’s out of control. I mean, it puts my other computer to complete and utter shame. I can’t believe I was dealing with that shit as long as I was. But that’s what happens with stuff like this. You never know how bad you have it until you get something that mops the floor with its ass. Seriously, I really didn’t realize how crappy my computer really was, not even after I got the new one. It didn’t completely sink in until I booted up my Limewire (which is notoriously sloooowww) and it just popped up… in like 30 seconds. It blew my damned mind. So, yes I am a very happy girl.

So anyway, I was coming out of the nail shop I go to with my sister. I had just got my nails and toes done so I was feeling pretty good – all cute and stuff, then all of a sudden, my flip-flop got stuck in a crack in the concrete and I fell on my ass… in broad daylight… in parking lot full of cars. HOW FUCKING EMBARASSING! Luckily no one saw me, as impossible as that sounds. Now my ankle is hurting. I don’t think I sprained it or anything, but I probably bruised it pretty good. I did this “tuck and roll” thing to keep from falling on my face and my ankle had to take some of the damage. I also messed up my shoulder. It was already a little hurt form my fall, but I also slept on it really hard and now it is all fucked up. I can’t raise my arm above my head. Holding a full cup of water makes it ache. It’s ridiculous.

Anyway, I’m going back to Sushi Studio tonight. Monday is Happy Hour with $5 dollar Sumo Rolls. They are so good. After that, I am going home, taking a shit load of pills ( you know I like my pills) and going to bed… after I mess with my new computer a bit.

Peace, Love, Blessed it be.

So I’ve been without my computer for two days and it’s starting to drive me a little batty. I’ve become less addicted to my computer over the years, which is a good thing. I remember when I first started this internet thing. I was on my computer 20 hours out of the day, not kidding… seriously. There was so much to discover and learn that I was hooked on the rush of exploring new territory. It was amazing. But alas, the internet is not shiny and new to me anymore. I’ve been in the game too long and it’s lost its luster. I still occasionally get a little high every now and then when I figure out html code that has been killing me slowly or I discover a service, website or php program that will downgrade my life from the 9th circle of hell to the 7th. It’s good, but that first feeling… that first taste… like heroin… you’ll never get that level of high again. Makes me kinda sad.

So yeah, my computer situation has kinda changed. Like a creepy old man with ESP, my uncle called me last night wanting to talk computer upgrades. I have plans to go over his house this weekend and get a new machine with much more speed than what I’ve got now. I’m excited, but I’ve also decided to buy a new computer from Dell. I’ve already picked out the one I want. Isn’t it gorgeous? Do you know how much damage I could do with a TV tuner and recording/clipping technology? I swear the world would implode. That is how crazy it would be. Just thinking about it makes me want to laugh like a Comic book Villain. It’s upwards of a thousand dollars but I want it… really, really bad.

I passed the idea of purchasing a New, new computer by my mother and she pitched a fucking fit. She did the same thing with my sister’s new car. “We can’t afford it; we can barely pay the bills we have.” Which is disturbingly true, but it is hard to take on the burden of three adults on two adult’s salaries. My sister and I not only share the burden of household bills; we also share the feeling of working really hard and getting nothing for it. 80 % of the reason you work is the keep a roof over your head and food in you belly, yes, but the other 20% is to purchase things that bring you joy. Yeah, we see very little of that. It’s almost like we are working for free. And the parental unit doesn’t help the situation by shaming us every time we want to buy something we’ve been dreaming about. I will go as far as to say my computer is my life. I spend more time on it doing things and connecting with people than I do in real life. That may not be healthy, but it’s true. The logical course of things would be, if my computer has become a piece of shit, to want a new one. Right? I suppose it is true that I have champagne taste on beer money and always go for the most expensive thing on the menu. I guess it’s just the Leo in me, but damn it, I know quality when I see it. I’m not going to spend my money on crap just because it’s cheaper. If I’m going to spend money at all, it’s going to do what I want it to do and be damned good at it too! I guess I’ll write a spell about it. It will come to me. I just need to find the means to get it.

Peace, love and blessed it be.

Hi *waves*. So it's back to work for me. It's not so bad though. Not as bad as I thought it would be anyway. It's not like I'm twitching on the floor in full blown withdrawl form a 4 day weekend. Don't get me wrong, I was so enjoying my little Va-ca. I got so much shit done! I put this layout up which I am loving, and I started work on new layouts for both Warrior of Darkness and Ghost Hack. I'm very please with both of them. The only downside is that I was so inspired to design yesterday that I was up until like 3 in the morning. I'm working on like 3 hours of sleep. I'm so beyond tired, I'm not tired anymore.

Speaking of computer related things, lets talk about my computer and how it is with me at work right now. I thought I'd bring it in and have AJ look at it. It is at a snails crawl right now, so I'm trying to do something about that... short of chucking it out the window. I probably need new memory (which I already know) and I want to replace my back up drive with something that can actually back things up.

See, I've had that drive for while as a way to store and back up data from my previous drvie which was like 1.5 gigs at the time. Now I have a 60 gig drive that I've barely even dented and a 2.5gig backup just doesn't seem antiquate anymore. I'd like to get a 100 gig backup so I can have a nice wide comfort zone and enough room to store my pics and video.

Speaking of video, I would love to be able to make my own clips and screencaps. Maybe I should just break down and buy a Dell. They're going for pratically nothing right now. A brand new Dell computer... sounds sweet!

Peace, love, blessed it be.