Friday, October 20, 2006

I Need.... money!

I'm sitting here listening to Kelly Clarkson play in the background, thinking about how I'm going to get about $250 together. How can I do that? I'm not sure. I only get about $14 a week, and I want it as soon as I can. I can do all the house work for $35, but only once every two weeks. So that brings my bi-weekly total to $64. So that means that I have about 2 months before I can get this amount of money together. Then when I spend it, I'll have like $6 left.

What is it that I want to buy that costs so much? It's actually two things:

• 17" Samsung SyncMaster 731B Monitor
• nVidia GeForce 6600GT AGP Graphics Card

So which computer am I getting this all for? The only one with an AGP slot and a semi-good Celeron processor, "Phil," as it was named by Kitsune. So yes, Phil is getting a full-blown Hi-Def monitor upgrade, and going digital for the display as well.

Speaking of Phil, Ubuntu Linux confuses me. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get my wireless adapter to work with it. I know it can because people have said that I can, and have done it, and the company that makes the wireless chipset on the unit even have a linux driver, but it always comes up with errors when I try to build it. Now I'm just toying around with "wine" and ndiswrapper to see if I can get the thing to install the drivers and recognize the device. It sees the adapter, but it won't use it. I really wish I had bought a Wireless-ethernet bridge instead of this little bugger.

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Well, it's about time I do something useful, so I'm off!

EDIT: Something that I just realized: The price of the Samsung monitor is a sale price! CRAP! It's actually $220 by the time I have the money to get it!

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Experimentation.

Sorry I haven't posted lately, but you know how I am sometimes... at least, I hope you do...

The other day, I was bored and started playing Half-Life from Valve. The only issue: whenever something happens on the computer as a background task, it completely locks up. I'm to a point right after the "resonance cascade" thing. I don't even have the crowbar yet, and it keeps locking up. I may try it some more tomorrow/today. (Tuesday.) I don't even know why I decided to start playing it, but after going to their website, I want the second version. Maybe it will work correctly. I'm also going to see if there's patches for that sort of thing, since it is the original retail version of the "Game of the Year" edition.

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I was experimenting with eyes in Paint Shop Pro just a while ago. I took a digital camera and took some photos of my eyes, (because they're so awesome) but as I am, the photos were flawed. So I took out the oddball reflection and prepared to add my own when I realized that the pupil on the specific photo looked huge. So I started smudging toward the center and now I even gave them a texture! Whoo! I also tried replacing the eyes on someone that I found a picture of on my computer with a wolf's eye. It didn't work quite so well. Oh well, it's all good.

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I've had "Truly Madly Deeply" (Cascada's cover) stuck in my head lately. It's such a nice song when sung by Natalie Horler (Singer for Cascada).

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I have no clue if puctuation is supposed to come before or after parenthetical phrases...

I am eagerly awaiting an IrDA adapter I bought on eBay on Friday. It's coming through first class USPS... eventually.

I'm also still waiting for my Ubuntu Dapper Drake CDs. There's supposed to be 32 bit, 64 bit, and PowerPC discs, one for each version. They said expect 6-8 weeks... It's been about 4 at least, but things almost always come earlier than that... but apparently not this stuff! It's still not here! I think the new version came out already anyways. But I like the name of this version. Dapper Drake... a fun thing to say.

Well, i'll attempt to update the Half-Life game then probably go to bed.

...

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

As I write this

the clock is ticking along at a slow one tick per second. Of course, that's normal for a clock.

So, what did I do today? I "read" an article about how hard drives work. I already knew that because I had already read the article! Just like something else I got in A+ previously. Hilarious.

I got interested in Shared Libraries on iTunes, so I experimented with it. It's handy! You can listen to all your music on one computer on another networked computer. I have mine set up with a password. Very nifty! Now I don't have to touch the expensive black device (iPod) sitting near the mouse to listen to my iTunes music. Right now, though, iTunes seems to be performing sadly, as it is experiencing something of a CPU lag since other things are taking priority over the music processing as I hit the keyboard keys.

Today, I experienced a skip on my iPod! I was listening to this one song, and it skipped like a CD player for a short bit of time. It was unusual, but I think that it was the iPod completely freezing up for a second. It was as fast as was recognizeable. How I made it happen, I don't know, but it was quite unusual, as the hard drive reads to a buffer "cache" before it's played.

Well... I'll hang out here for a little bit so that the post appears on the next day, since that's approximately four minutes here.

Seeya!

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Sunday, October 8, 2006

Huh?!

I have no clue what's going on right now... I haven't done anything exciting since the last post, so I don't even know why I'm posting other than the fact that there is a blank textarea in front of me. So what am I going to do about it? I don't know.

It's about 10:30 and I'm not tired. I'm supposed to be going to bed, but I don't feel like it. I'm just not tired.

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I was mistaken. There was some excitement this weekend. I bought speakers! w00t! They're Creative thingies. There's two standing speakers and the floor-level subwoofer. I haven't decided their fate yet. They're either for my computer upstairs or for my iPod in my bedroom. They have excellent sound for $20 speakers. I just wish they could decide where to go, because I want the good sound quality for both places, but I can't buy another set because that would be... pointless. They're too bulky to constantly move.

I have a small set of Sony speakers up by my iPod that takes the Line Out of the dock to play my iPod before I fall asleep and whenever else I feel like listening to my iPod in my bedroom. My computer just plays a few games here and there and sometimes a little bit of music. Can anyone help me figure out where to put the new speakers at?

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My McAfee firewall is weirding out. Whenever it is enabled, it throws a "500 Internal Server Error" on all internet or network connections. I can't figure out why. I'm going to clear out all the possible conflicting rules and try it over and over. There's got to be something that the program did that won't let it get out. It drives me crazy. But it's not even that big of a deal, because my sister thinks that the firewall is stupid. She thinks that one firewall is enough, but I always try to go with two now if I can.

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I need an xbox controller, xbox memory module, xbox controller extension cable, a USB extension cable, and a USB device cable. I love the controllers on xbox's but I don't want to ruin it, so I'll make it so that it can still work normally with an xbox but also with a cable, work with a computer. Now I get to scrounge up the money to do that, which won't be easy since I'm keeping no more than $5 out of each check I get for myself.

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I shall make a statement: I don't care what anyone says, I want a Mac! (*insert gasp here*) Yes, you read/heard me right. I want a Mac. I know I used to say I hated them, but now I don't! They're just as awesome as this computer I'm on now is. (\\BOB) Since Macs are pretty much a PC running their OS and you can run Windows, nothing is to say that I'm always going to use Mac OS. But the instant I get the money to buy the Macbook I've been looking at, I will. No ifs, ands, ot buts. I will own a Mac!

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Well, the clock is telling me to go to bed... I think I should actually do it. Even the mouse agrees! It's light is off!

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Saturday, September 30, 2006

Ubuntu Linux

I was just remembering that Kye (Sits next to me in A+) said he installed Ubuntu linux on one of this machines. So I thought, Hmm... Ubuntu. I'll look into it. Well, after about two hours of waiting for the .ISO file to download and then burning it to a CD, I now have viewed the excellence that is Ubuntu. It's a very simple, clean looking linux. It's very similar looking to a Mac without a dock. I've been trying to install it on \\MAIN, but it won't take because the installer needs more RAM and CPU it can provide. The LiveCD is a very nice concept, and it runs very smoothly on \\BOB. Bleh. \\MAIN locked up in setup!

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Nothing to do and it's only just past midnight.

Today's pointless link: The God of Graphics Cards That graphics processor costs more than 20 of my computers! OMG!

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Friday, September 29, 2006

I have a song stuck in my head. If you can't guess it, google that line in quotes, it'll come up.

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Anywhoo, anyone who's been to my site should hopefully notice the update thing on it. It very much describes the state I'm in now: busy. I seem to always have something I have to do these days. Help mom out, do homework, go to school, the everyday tasks... It's a wonder I have more than five minutes to think sometimes. I have just been so busy, but unfortunately, none of it productive to my website. I have to get my butt in gear and get that site updated!

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I need an organizational aid with this computer. The C: drive is overcluttered and the D: drive is too spacious for me to use. There's only two folders in the root of D: : Private, and Program Files. I've been trying to make sure I don't save things to the C: drive, but it's so hard for me to remember that I have a folder in the Private file specifically for that. Oh well.

But then I also need a cart or something to put this computer on. Right now, it sits on our dining room table. We aren't using it now, but we will be in the future. The table becomes empty after this computer is gone!

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I had to make a logic puzzle in geometry today. That link is my one. I copied it into Excel and then that's an image representation of it. Feel free to print it out and do it, if logic puzzles are your thing. It is possible to complete, even easy.

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Well, as I write this closing line, it is 22:41, but I shall hold off the pressing the magic Add Post button. So then I'm going to re-lock this computer and go use \\BOB. :)

Seeyas!

P.S. OMG! I submitted this from \\BOB, but I wrote it on \\HSRESQ!!! OMG!!! Remote Desktop Connection is awesome!

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

MEH!!

I hate Tuesdays... I had to do a lot of work for A+ today, but it wasn't hard. I just had to read the "book" and fill out something of a questionaire. Meh.

Then I had to do all my papers and the history assignment... which reminds me...

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My history teacher gave me a double zero today! I didn't draw a picture on one part (Making me draw is like making a mute sing), and I didn't fill out the vocabulary on the other part, even though I know what it all means except maybe one word... Then we had a "candy quiz" (Everyone stands up, she chooses someone to answer it, if right, she throws a candy at you), and I raised my hand EVERY SINGLE TIME, but she didn't EVER call on me! GRRR! The only clases I can stand anymore is Spanish and A+... my only interests in the school at all, really.

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And I'm conflicted about going to the Justo Lamas concert this year. I don't want to miss A+, and I went last year and it was fun, but what's going to be different this year? The price went up, and I don't have the money to go anyways. I think I'm not going to go, but I have to make a choice soon.

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I've been having fun with NCH Swift Sound's ToneGenerator. I used it to make a 17KHTz sine wave, that "mosquito tone" ring tone. I can hear it, so I feel special. Then I went about playing with different frequencies for the fun of it. It's a very fun program, and the useful part is free, in my case. It gives you the option to save the tones as WAVE files and as theitr format too. Very fun.

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Well, I have finished my homework, so I need to go to bed so I can take my test tomorrow.

Seeya!

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EDIT: In Geometry today, we played a review game, and I was on a team of all guys and the team was named "Susan." Why?, I have no clue, but we lost anyways, even though all it was was properties and using them in two-column proofs. Not terribly difficult... Easy as pie if you know the properties!!

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EDIT, again: I decided to throw a tip in here today for the Windows people. (Many, many, many, many of you...) If you install a program the is breaking your computer, restart the machine and press the F8 key when the loading screen appears, and load the machine into "Safe Mode." Log in as the administrator, and delete/uninstall the offending program. If this doesn't work and you have a floppy drive, format a floppy disk to be a MSDOS boot disk and google for DOS Utilities, and put the basics on there: xcopy, del, deltree, and anything else useful. (I have a BIOS ID program on mine. These little things could save your data and your computer's life, if you tend to get violent with it when it doesn't work.

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EDIT, yet again: Why don't CPUs freeze when liqid nitrogen is poured into a heatsink on top of a really overclocked CPU when the internal temp probe in the CPU says -115 degrees celsius? That is FAR below the normal operation or even storage temerature!

Okay, I'm done for sure now. :)

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Monday, September 25, 2006

dork

Whee! I'm weird! I don't have time to post much, but here's what I can:

I think iTunes is cool and all, but it sucks that you can only download things once...

I want books on electronics, since the ones that I have seem to think that vacuum tubes are current technology.

fkljsklfgsjfglskfjgfksl

P.S. to KitsuneTsuki, I did get the "little box" in the mail. The same day as I read the comment that told me to expect it. Now I have to find a place to put the contents, then I can take a picture of it's new home. :)

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Being Different...

This post is going to be a little different for me, but you may recognize it as what Adam uses on most of this posts now. Bullet points.

• I need money to buy a cheap monitor for this machine. (HSRESQ) The monitor I'm using with it is from a machine that considered Windows 3.1 to be new. The electronics inside are worn out, and if you wiggle the cords, it freaks out and fades off. It also does it randomly.

• I need to stop listening to LaunchCAST radio...

• I can't seem to remember the IRQs and DMAs like I'm supposed to. I REALLY can't remember the I/O addresses and their odd HEX values.

Well, I gotsta go so I can go to school tomorrow... :(

22:08 Central

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Wasting money left and right.

Possibly my latest waste of money was buying a new 80GB hard drive for HSRESQ here. It came with a small hard drive, and with a second one of those, I could have been just fine. But you can't buy small ones at a store anymore. So I burned $60 to get a new 80GB hard drive by Western Digital. I should have liked to have had a small hard drive. Then it would actually be ready to go by now. It's formatting itself. (It's about a quarter of the way done.) My next adventure will be to make the case have a working CD burner. If I install one, I'll have to remove one of the knockoff plates that covers the drive bays, in addition to the blanking plate.

Installing the hard drive was a major pain. I had to remove the entire FDD/HDD cage to install the drive into the cage, then I had to work smart and unplug the ATX connector and the FDD cable. Luckily I was smart enough to set the jumpers BEFORE I installed the cage into the case again. The case is surprisingly cramped for how big it is. I like the cases we're working with at school. The hard drive bays are rotated 90 degrees... SO much nicer for swapping/installing hard drives. I'm suprised at how easy it was to find an IDE hard drive. With almost all the new PC's phasing towards SATA, I'm suprised that they had some just sitting out. Of course, it's always best to stay behind the cutting edge technology, because the SATA drives of the same size cost more than their IDE counterparts.

Also suprising: DIT out by Target near my house closed! We were going there to get the drive and there was no sign above the door and a "For Lease" sign in the window. Disappointing.

I forgot my A+ homework on the table here on Thursday. I had to do a new one. It had the same clues but the teacher rearranged the words. It was fun tring to remember the IRQ questions. And yes, I'm learning the IRQs and DMAs, even though IRQs are becoming more and more shared by the PCI devices, and the DMAs are just plain confusing to me. I've got the first chunk of the IRQs down.

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Yay! The formatting is about 50% done! Whoohoo!

The T key on my keyboard tends to stick now. It's weird, because whenever the receiver unit for the keyboard gets power, it seems to like to keep its light flashing until i push the T button. It's very odd, because there has been no trauma to the T key. That's obvious because the T key is working now. Now if the F1 key stopped working, I wouldn't be surprised. The F1 key has been hacked upon. I was using it to make a remote coin switch type thing for when I was that obssessed about StepMania, which I still am, but not to that extreme.

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Whoo.

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