Computer Problems

My desktop computer is fading into shadow. It has some serious problems, most of which I think are stemming from the video card. I think the card was new in 2001, and in 2004 when I changed the mo-bo I found that the fan on the video card was no longer working, so since then it’s had another fan haphazardly zip-tied on to try and provide some cooling effects, but I think time has caught up to my Yankee fix. The card goes through strange malfunctions stages sometimes causing the computer to crash completely, freeze up for periods of time, or reverting to minimal video settings to try and avoid crashing. On an unrelated note (maybe), sometimes my SATA drive acts funny when booting, which leads me to believe there is more than one gremlin afoot in my machine. Maybe in a year or so I’ll have a higher paying job and some assets and I’ll be able to upgrade, oooh, maybe Longhorn/Vista/whatever will be out by then. In the mean time I’ll mostly be on the lappy.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my parents' anniversary!

I've thrown some new photo galleries up. I still haven't gotten the virtual house thing to work yet, bummer. I don't really feel like putting too much time into now, especially when I could be doing cooler things, like gardening! We have big hopes for our garden: 3 types of pickling cucumbers, 4 types of tomatoes, pumpkins, strawberries, potatoes, lettuces, garlic, 2 types of hot peppers, chives, cilantro, parsley, oregano, dill, mint, and maybe some other stuff I forgot.

I took an NRA certification class for Basic Handgun Use because I though it would enhance my Wyoming experience. There was an old codger named Dusty in my class. I like to brag about how I was the best shot in the class, but I don't think there was much competition. I scored 100 on the test! w00t! The next step is procuring a firearm and joining the sportsmen's club so I can make some dangerous acquaintances.

Things at The Press are still going well. I had my 90 day review which came with insurance and a raise, but they pretty much cancel each other out. They're getting me started laying out the classified pages in Quark which is exciting because it's a bit more than just 'entry level job' stuff I guess; anyway, it's exciting for me. They also hooked me up with a nice big LCD monitor which I'm surprised the 10 year old Mac can even support the increased resolution.

In other news we want to get a different vehicle because our big truck (aka ol' Rusty) enjoys fossil fuels more so than we can afford, but car shopping isn't very fun when you don't have money to burn. Really I'm content using my bike all week and only using a car for traveling to remote places, but that's not quite feasible.