Dell Inspiron Duo

Odds are this will be my next toy. It's perfect for what I want to do. I like a keyboard for one, but I like the idea of a tablet too. Price will definitely be a consideration for me. I have a netbook that works great. I have a full-sized gaming laptop, and a super gaming desktop rig. I don't NEED another toy. I just want it. So the price needs to be comparative to other tablets, and frankly, the 7" tablets for around $200 are more tempting. So hopefully the price will not be too far above that. They would have an advantage as well if they priced lower than the iPad and new Blackberry Playbook when it's released.

New toy: Nook

OK, I didn't think I'd pay this much for an eReader. Since I have convinced myself that I have a laptop, desktop and netbook that all can do the same thing. But when I saw this little gadget, I was impressed. It hooks up to my internet, so I can read online magazines and newspapers, or download new content. If I wanted to go and sit at my local Barnes & Noble, I can read any of their eBooks for free.

Especially nice is the portability, long battery life, and the ability to increase your font size. When reading in bed, I often don't have my contacts in, nor do I want to put on my glasses. So I can switch between font sizes easily, depending on what I can see with. I haven't played with the web portion too much yet. I should, but so far I've just enjoyed having an eReader. With so many options and things it can do, I'm sure I'll eventually learn more about it as I use it. So far, it's a gadget I use daily, and I like that.

New toy: Sony Dash

I ordered one today. It looked like it was just too cool. I have a horrible feeling I may want another one in my PC room, since I want this in my bathroom to listen to NPR or other internet radio sites. I'll give more info once I get it in hand, which should be next Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Stoning of Soraya M.

Powerful, that's all I can say. And it makes you realize that men can be horrible all over the world.

New True Blood Trailer for Season 3

Movie: Ninja Assasin

I know this movie has been out awhile, I think the DVD is now on sale. But I have to say I really liked it. I didn't expect to. It's not just that the guy is sinfully handsome, LOL, it's the story and the twists to it. I'll definitely be watching for a sequel.

Links to new PC system

This mostly so I can see everything that's going into the system. Some of this I've never heard of before. Naturally. But the idea is to get a great gaming rig that will last me awhile, yet not the newest tech either since money is a concern. I didn't want to sink another $3000 into yet another PC right now. Give me 5 years out of this one.....please.

Motherboard
http://www.evga.com/articles/00502/sli/

Video Cards - Two of these to take advantage of the SLI technology for 1gb video RAM (I think thats what it's called)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9800gt_us.html

You gotta have a cool case. There were alot to choose from, but when going over these with the guys, we picked a full tower that had great user reviews. So maybe not as flashy as some, but I think it's pretty. :)
http://www.xclio.com/products/case-windtunnel.htm

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
4gb RAM (I can always add more later if needed, so this was fine for what I do with the PC)

Replacement PC

My PC died over the weekend. I can't say I didn't see it coming exactly. I did get messages saying there were "hardware failures". If the PC could tell me that, it would have been nice to know in advance maybe what exactly was failing. I didn't get that message. So I hoped the problem was just in it's mind, and there was no failure. But no, it wouldn't boot up, turn on the monitors, and gave me a yellow light where I don't remember ever seeing one before.

I hauled all 70 lbs of it to the PC Doctor (yes, it's a place). I've been going to them for 10 years and they never let me down. Turns out the motherboard is gone. I found out that this is a common problem with these PCs, and Dell demands only a Dell replacement for it which is around $400 - $500 for the part alone. I've already replaced the hard drive and the DVD drive within the 3 years I've had the PC. I'm not going to bad mouth Dell, because I do like their products. I own a laptop and a netbook both by Dell. But my gaming desktop has been an XPS for the last 5 years, and I've had to take both in fairly often (ok, every 1.5 years which isn't too bad I suppose). The first XPS just had settings on it that often prevented me from reinstalling the operating system. I would try for days before finally giving up and taking it in to be wiped clean, and the OS reinstalled.

Anyway, this latest XPS having 2 hardware failures in the first year and half, and now the motherboard fried, I've decided to take another road. Now, I don't know what exactly happened to the motherboard. Maybe there was an electrical spike that my surge protector didn't help with. There have been ice storms last week, with the power going on and off many times. However, I was having the hardware failure messages for at least a month, so I don't know. I just decided that maybe it was time to do what other gamers have been doing rather buying an intact system. They custom build their own.

Aaron at the PC Doctor place, walked me through what they could do for me. Turns out I can have a great system built for me for about half of what a new Dell XPS would cost me. OK, maybe not half, but if I wanted their top of the line model, probably it would be close. So we'll see. If I hadn't been going to them for 10 years, I would have either not done it at all, or at least thought about it. But they were really good at answering all my questions. They assured me that they built systems that were designed to all work together, which is key to a custom built system. That was probably the first mistake of those early years at piecing together parts to get a working PC. The parts just weren't made to work together in the first place.

I can't get too excited over all of this though. It's still a replacement to me. I had hoped my old system (all of 3 years) would last at least another two years. I paid too much money for it. My first XPS is working great for my Dad. Maybe I just use the crap out them, and that's why they don't last as long?

PC Doctor is giving me a 2 year parts and labor warranty, so I think that's great. It's a year longer than Dell. Sorry Dell.

The Fourth Kind

I saw this movie the other night. It was interesting. I'm not sure what to make of it. It seems like every abduction story that I ever heard. And there isn't any more evidence, in my opinion, than there ever was. It is interesting how many people claim this has happened to them. But really, it's pretty far fetched. It's not that I don't believe there can be life on other planets, in other solar systems. I'm hopeful for that, so usually believe the existence of "aliens" in the first place. However, I just don't see a reason why aliens would abduct humans, perform horrible tests on them, and then just release them back to where they came from. You'd think that after a few decades of doing this, they'd have learned everything they needed and would stop it. It just doesn't seem plausible to me that you have these sadistic aliens just torturing poor humans randomly without a reason. Just saying.

High School Classmates

I had a Facebook account from very early on. Some group I was in at the time wanted all of us to join and make a profile. I had those 11 people as "friends" for several years, and basically went to Facebook as often as I went to Myspace, which was rarely.

All of a sudden about 6 months ago, it just exploded. I had one high school classmate find me on Facebook. From that one contact, my little lonely profile suddenly grew mostly with classmates (or rather, people who claimed to have graduated with me that I have no recollection of). What I have learned so far is, there is a good reason I never stayed in touch with these people. I didn't like them then, and they haven't changed. I learned pretty quick that I was probably the only Independent among 100% Republican nut jobs.

Long story short, I have a lot of friends on Facebook now, and hide the comments of about 80% of them.

I have, however, discovered what Facebook is really all about.....GAMING. Now I'm addicted to it, and log into Facebook more than 10 times a day for Farmville and CafeWorld. I certainly don't go there to catch up on the "good ole days of High School".