IT HAS BEGUN
Saturday, September 20th, 2008Behold!
The first component of my new computer: The Acer P243Waid 24" Widescreen LCD monitor! My system is pretty much set in stone now, with the exception of the power supply unit, so I'm going to be periodically purchasing parts that don't rely on anything... Stuff like monitor, speakers, CPU heat sink. Work is starting to pick up, so I'm going to take advantage of it! My deadline for a working system is October 28th, which is when Fallout 3 is being released. The ultimate in post-apocalyptic open-ended RPGs, being developed by my very favorite Bethesda Game Studios! (The masterminds behind The Elder Scrolls.) My initial deadline was for Spore, which is clearly already out, and before the World of Warcraft expansion pack, which is now slated for November 13th. Either way, I need a deadline so I can get my butt into action and get this thing made.
I've got an amazing daily routine that I plan on starting Monday: Wake up at 8am and catch up on Google Reader and miscellaneous things that will allow me to wake up enough so that by 9am, I can go to work. Which is really timely, because The Glenn Beck Program runs from 9am to Noon. From Noon to 3pm is The Rush Limbaugh Show, and then from 3pm to 5pm is The Peter Heck Show. I really haven't been eating lunch lately, but if I decide to, lunch break is 1pm to 2pm. If I do that, then I'll have to work until 6pm, which is an extra hour without any radio... But that's where my iPod comes in. I have enough Weird Al stuff to handle an hour of keeping me entertained. So that's 9 to 6 with a 1 hour lunch break to have an 8 hour work day. If I don't eat lunch, which is becoming a favorable option, since in farm country Indiana, lunch during this season consists mostly of fresh garden vegetables which will more than likely make me hungry an hour after eating anyway. (A wolf needs his meat...) It's not like I need to eat lunch anyway... I could stand to lose some weight and I'd rather get over being hungry sooner rather than later. If I don't do lunch, then my work day would be over at 5pm and finish up with Peter Heck... A brilliant arrangement, if I do say so myself, although I can see myself getting bored after the November elections. (Maybe!)
Since the monitor is no longer on my budget, the rest of the components will run me about $1800. That's about 4 to 5 weeks of 8 hour work days. That's not too bad at all, and is well before the October 28th deadline. My brother has offered to help me make up the difference if I need help, which has been so incredibly tempting, but I think it would be best for me to save up on my own... Plus, this gives me another month to wait to see if the revamped 55nm nVidia GTX280 will be released. If not, I'm not going to beat myself over it too badly if I get the 65nm nVidia GTX280 early. As we say in the computer industry: "If you always want to wait for the next latest thing, you'll be waiting forever!" So true... As soon as a new peripheral is released, there's always a new one announced right after. If you keep waiting for the next because it's better, you'll never have a computer. Best not to dwell on what you could have had, especially after you've just purchased a system... Like my laptop? Dell Inspiron 9300. It was the last of its kind, because a mere month after I got mine, they discontinued it and ran with a similarly priced dual-core laptop. I was upset, but, hey... What can you do? It's not like the new model ran for very long, either.