My Hill

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Back in the build-a-computer for Today, on My Hill.

*bleah*

At my recommendation, my friend purchased a replacement motherboard from Computer Geeks (normally, I love these guys).

The package arrived in plain box, with JUST the motherboard in bubble-wrap.  No cables, do driver-disc, no back-plate, no nothin'. 

It's an odd manufacturer, too, and I had to GOOGLE to even find it's website.  And, of COURSE, no USA presence-- Europe or "globally" only.  So, it's via satellite or underwater fibre-optic cable, at dial-up speeds.  Well, maybe really, really good dial-up:  I see the latest download is trundling along at 27 kb/second.   Still, I'm used to 10 times that or more. 

The ASRock (the brand) website is terrible-- impossible to navigate to other than the very VERY latest product.  And, obviously, this is an older 'board.... so, it's back to GOOGLE to actually navigate their site!  Idiocy!

*sigh*

It really DOES pay to research motherboard purchases.... and look for at least 10 reviews first.  Read the bad ones first, to see what issue(s) if any.  Ofttimes the "issue" is just stupidity on the part of the reviewer, but not always.   Then, I read the middle reviews-- these are usually the most thoughtful and informative.  I may scan the "glowing" reviews, but usually these are just junk-- either written by a product-rep or by a complete idiot that is clueless.  Filled with real "useful" things like, "best ever" and "wonderful!" and "It actually caused World Peace, when I installed it!" and other nonsense.

Lots of Hurry Up and Wait, on My Hill.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

ASRock is a cheap brand, still if you get the box it will have a driver CD. If you are buying hardware I recommend Newegg, the products are freely reviewed making easy to distinguish the dudes from the good products, and usually you get pictures with the contents of the box.

Lazy afternoon on my hill.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

ASRock is a cheap brand, still if you get the box it will have a driver CD. If you are buying hardware I recommend Newegg, the products are freely reviewed making easy to distinguish the dudes from the good products, and usually you get pictures with the contents of the box.

Lazy afternoon on my hill.

Yeah, I usually get stuff from Newegg.   But, my friend was looking for a cheap direct-replacement of his existing system.  Cheap was the operative word, here, and he got exactly that. 

The problem is, that my time is not cheap, and it's gonna cost him more time in both the short and long run.... and, yes, I expect to be paid for my time-- sure, at a discount, but. 

Instead of just steak or lobster-- I think I'm gonna order steak AND lobster!  (my usual price for this is a nice dinner....)

Still beating on PC's on My Hill.

But I only now just discovered a really cool thing about my HP 20" widescreen:  I'd purchased an after-market stand for it, VESA, and it rotates! 

So, I'm looking at a portrait image of the website-- the width was/is wasted in most views, but super-long height?  Too cool.

All it takes is a couplea mouse-clicks on my ATI icon....

I have 2 of these stands, super-cool.  Less than $40us and they adjust height, tilt and rotation.  The base is a "lazy susan" so they can rotate easily (a feature I never use).   Very cool.

[Alpaca]

Returning from a long absence, I think it's only fair that for a while this be my hill.

[Aphos]

Woah.  What a thunderstorm we just had.  Golf ball size hail and bigger.  Lots of it.  Ouch.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Five 'till noon on my hill. Cool and quiet, which is nice. Smoggy, though. Days like this can make me forget I live in a valley.

[Alpaca]

Floridian summer weather - hot and humid over here on my hill.

[Sibling Chatty]

Texas weather. Same as Florida.

Time for my nap on My Hill.

[Alpaca]

Ick. Cleaning my bathroom on my hill.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

*bleah*

Lightning storm blew out my nice shiny new Video card in my computer --- back on the laptop.

Double-bleah, on my hill.... I'm NEVER gonna get my main box fixed at this rate...

...fortunately, I think it's still within the warranty period, and I'll try for an RMA, from NewEgg.... gotta remember to do that, tomorrow.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Get a UPS and a high efficiency peak voltage protector. That and buy decent power supplies, that tends to be the major culprit on videocard deaths.

Reading some Naruto manga on my hill.

[Alpaca]

Power went out last night. Got woken up by my UPS beeping frantically on my hill.

Funny now that I use a laptop and the UPS only supplies power to the hard drive I have hooked up for backups. (Other stuff is just hooked up to a normal surge protector.)

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Get a UPS and a high efficiency peak voltage protector. That and buy decent power supplies, that tends to be the major culprit on videocard deaths.

Reading some Naruto manga on my hill.

My PS is high-dollar already, and it came through fine.

I suppose I ought to re-invest in a UPS.  Sadly, I've yet to see one that lasts more than a year or so-- even the high-$$ ones fail within a year.

Perhaps I ought to invest in a Brick Wall.... these are supposed to last forever.

Back on my Laptop on My Hill-- which means no E-mail for now.

[Alpaca]

Doing too many things at once on my hill.

[Sibling Chatty]

Trying to explain a "Neuron Specific Enolase" level that needs to be drawn to a lab tech that doesn't understand WHY anybody would want one...

Being frustrated with STOOPID PEOPLE on My Hill.

Where's that Rat with my sign??

Edit:  Why does this remind me of Chatty?