I recently purchased a refurbed Gateway LX 6810 Desktop PC on a pretty sweet deal <500.  I’m not a fan of buying a built desktop, but this one had a lot of great components and a few features I was looking for:

• Nvidia GT120 Graphics Card with 1gb video RAM.  DVI, CRT, and HDMI output.
• Intel Quad Core processor
• 8gb RAM
• HD TV Tuner Card
• 7.1 Dolby surround
• Built in memory-card reader
• Free 64-bit Windows 7 upgrade
• Expandable
• Slick looking case (living room friendly)
• Keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc..

Anyway, the one thing it is lacking are case fans.  There are 0 when you buy it.  There is a CPU fan and a fan on the video card, but thats it.  If you buy this computer, you will need to install at least one 120mm fan in the back of the case… I recommend adding an 80mm in the lower front.  It will cost you about $15 and 10 min, but it will save you all the trouble an overheated PC offers.

I can’t stop laughing though I feel so bad for this guy…     By far one of the funniest “drunk guy” videos I think I’ve ever seen!  My favorite part is watching him in front of the cooler trying to get up off of the floor..  ROFLCOPTER all the way!

Every once in a while I run across an error that cracks me up.  In this case, I’ve been trying to install updates on an HP computer, and keep receiving an “installation cancelled” error… even though I am definitely no cancelling this install.    I researched the issue, and found that HP was releasing an update to fix the problem…………….  HOWEVER… I can’t install the update to fix the problem because the problem of installing updates still exist..  Oy vey!

Enjoying the long weekend…  I’ve been trying to update Facebook –  if you want to connect,  I added a friendfeed widget to my sidebar, set-up the new stereo.. and I went to a Conservatory.

Photos below —>
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Read a cool article at the NY Times – The Case for Working With Your Hands – about education and the important role of a child’s/youth’s direct interaction with the things they are interested in pursuing.   Loved it…

I started writing this post end of May, but never finished.  I read another article today about a Professor losing his job over grades, and his lack of desire to acknowledge their value.

“Grades poison the educational environment,” he insists. “We’re training students to be obedient, and to try to read our minds, rather than being a catalyst for learning.” – University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt

I don’t necessarily agree with his opinions in all of the conflicts that Prof. Rancourt has had, I must say that I agree with him on this one.  It is extremely important that the education systems not discourage struggling students by giving them poor grades.  Encourage the students to find their own paths, question everything, be imaginative, and not be weighed down by years of psychological self-confidence issues because we have a societal judgement that we pass in the form of letter grades..

I started writing the following on 12/14/2007… in an effort to express my distaste for our education system.  I went to a private school, received great grades, learned many things.   But I saw others who did not. I discovered how much of my delusioned “superiority” was biased based upon my years of perception deprivation and lack of exposure to those who could/did challenge/beat me.  I discovered how several years of early life experience with “hands-on” training proved to have taught the most valuable lessons.  Please enjoy, crtique, add to, duplicate, share, proselytize, etc as long as you give me a link/reference  :)
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I’m getting ready for my first day back at the office in a week… Vacation was awesome. I’m so happy that Susan has met my parents and some of the family. Most importantly, we had our own time to relax.

My back is feeling a lot better. Bought some Birkenstocks from Sole Sensations in Bloomington, In.. wow, that place is awesome. Buy a pair of shoes, and they have a specialist (the place is owned by a retired MD) that checks out your weight distribution, foot size/shape, and then custom builds an insole.. for free. I’ve always known that I had funny flat feet, but its nice to know that I can accommodate them without going to a great expense.

ttfn.. gotta go to work.

So I’ve decided to take an interest in blogging on this site..  I’m even thinking about importing my myspace blog from early college days.. would be funny.  I’ve gone through the phases of write, enjoy it for a bit, get bored.  I think the biggest difference this time is that to me, my life is pretty exciting.  I truly enjoy life, the people I’m surrounded by, the Woman I love.  

It’s so easy to sit down and reflect on the day. Certainly I have my stuggling moments.. like today for instance, it’s my last day in the office for a week.   Busted my ass to try and get everything done.. FAIL. So tomorrow I go in extra-early so I can get a few things wrapped up before my Dr. appt with the Osteopath…

So, I fell through my buddy’s ceiling on Sat.  OUCH!  Caught myself before I fell completely through, but did not avoid sizeable damage.  How do you fall through a ceiling.. well.. Monday, I went to a  6am cycling class, and aftwards, my right leg was numb from the mid-thigh down.. feel slowly trickled down until now only my foot remains “asleep”.. (original reason for Dr. appt.).  Now my everything minus my face is in pain.

And then Susan comes home…

I picked up a Bose Acoustimass surround sound system off of ebay for a good deal. Now I’m hooking everything up, and I’ve run into 2 1 problems.

1. Pre-wired from old system.  I can run the same standard speaker wire into the jewel double-cube speakers, but I have to plug them into the floor module with an RCA plug.  Can I connect speaker wire to the Bose Acoustimass surround sound system by attaching RCA plug to speaker wires?  I have no idea.. so I need to find these.. Radio Shack?  But I don’t want to buy a huge cable.. and then have to rewire the existing speakers.  I want to buy just the plug, and ideally it be sold for its future purpose… took me forever, but I found it - http://www.iec-usa.com/cgi-bin/iec/L7422-01 it’s a 1 foot speaker wire with RCA on the end.. .just get some wire nuts.. BAM!
2. Old receiver.. not gonna happen.  The old receiver was a Panasonic DVD theater system, with a custom wire harness that went to the panasonic sub.. and panasonic speakers. New system has bare speaker wire, wanting to go into what I can only assume would be a real stereo receiver.  What I don’t know is whether I need to buy a Bose stereo receiver?… Powered stereo receiver?… no idea.

Seriously though, I have no idea.. wtf?

Update

Okay… so I thought it would be a good idea to give you an update on what I have done to solve these problems.

1. I bought a Bose Speaker Wire Adapter Kit… all my speaker wire hooks into one unit.  A wire plugs into the wall unit, and easily plugs into the bass unit.  I bought mine from the Bose store for around $50..
2. I bought the Onkyo HT-RC160… found it on sale at NewEgg.com for $400.  Love the receiver, it is awesome.  Set-up was easy, as it auto adjusts the speakers for you.  The best part is that I only have an HDMI cable running to the TV, so I don’t have to worry about input, yada yada.  Xbox, Blu-Ray, etc.. all plug into the receiver (video and audio) via HDMI/Component/AV cable and the receiver sends the video to the TV.   The only downside is that the model I bought doesn’t have an RGB input, so I was stuck with either plugging the media center PC into the TV, or buying a video card with HDMI so I could go through the receiver.

UPDATE 6/4/09

I have been advised to make some changes/updates to this post.  I will be editing any/all instances where one could construe my opinion for fact, and placing the word alleged, or allegedly in a very clear manner.

Furthermore, I do apologize if anyone in the course of reading this article took my opinion as fact.. Please note that the only fact is that after watching the video, my first instinct was to do a google search for Bob Reina Scam or Talk Fusion Scam which turned up enough results for me to be concerned for my friend who paid for this service and was trying to get me to join.

Here is a list of things you should consider checking into before purchasing/joining the Talk Fusion solution/team.  In no way am I insinuating that these questions are representative of fact… you should ask yourself these types of questions before making a decision to purchase any type product, or becoming a business “partner” with any company!

1. Do they accurately represent their product in their selling points?
2. Does their refund policy provide me with any protection if I do not like the service?
3. Does the Patriot Act require me to give out my Mother’s maiden name?
4. Does this company have a solid reputation?
5. Can I really make a million dollars if I do this?
6. What would Jesus do?

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This is a video embedded from youtube.  This particular video is of a cat stalking the camera guy… I found this to be quite hilarious.. I hope you enjoy.