Sunday, July 11, 2004

I'm not sure

My friends told me to get a blog. What's a blog? A place to publish some thoughts and ideas, I guess. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say, in fact I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say anything at all. I guess it's all cool. It's something to do while I download music. Oh, I'm not supposed to say I'm doing that, downloading music that is. Apparently it has become a huge crime. Which is interesting to me. But I'll not digress further from where I was digressing from to begin with.

I like to write. I like to read. I read alot. I don't get much of an opportunity to write. So I guess I'll take this chance and write here. If noone views my blog I probably won't get depressed and psychotic over it. And of course there's no big sell here either. I think I'll use this space for my rants, my thoughts, my tiny little insectlike ideas and insights.

Ok, so a friend of mine gives me a computer. It's older, but hey it still works. I'm thinking damn what a great deal. I get a free computer. I take it home and hook it up. Wow, this is really something! Then reality hits. I cannot connect to the 'net without an ethernet card, as I have a cable modem that was leftover from my former roomie. So I go and buy one. Great now I'm all set. Wrong. Since the computer was like 5 years old (a baby in my book but an ancient wrinkled mass of obselecence in the computer field) the OS (which means operating system for those of you who, like me have no clue about computers except how to turn them on and how to unplug them when things go madly wrong) wouldn't support my new ethernet card. So what that means is that I must now purchase either a new motherboard or a new desktop. I bite the bullet and purchase a new desktop. Great! I'm all set. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I hook everything up, plug in the plugs, and hit the power button. The monitor flashes once and then blackness. What could that be? So I take the desktop back to where I purchased it and have them benchtest it to see if the video feed is screwed up. Oh that monitor lit up like the 4th of freaking July. A gigantic "e" one the monitor proudly proclaimed "GO BUY A NEW MONITOR you cheap sonuvabitch.!"

The kid behind the counter was like maybe you have problems with your monitor drivers. "Do you have an old monitor you could hook up to see if you have a driver issue?" Apparently the guy popped out of the womb within the last few days, or he was the product of a public school system.

"I have an old monitor, that is the problem." I replied to him.

I go over to the open box displays and find a monitor that doesn't look like it was dropped more than twice and try to haggle with the guy over the price. I win and get another $10 off. Oh and I got another pair of speakers in the deal too (free of charge because the monitor salesman heard my story and felt sorry for me.) I get home and VOILA! everything works like a charm. When I log onto my email, one of my techie friends has sent me a message telling me not to spend anything on a monitor because everyone sells them for next to nothing on Craigs list. A bit late don't you think?

So my free computer cost me about $600. Lesson learned.

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