Coggle

So.
I got stood up for a date tonight.

But, you know, I'm not at the date now. Since I didn't feel like sticking around the bar. Alone.

At least Cinders is happy to see me.

I think the circumstances here are sufficiently absurd as to warrant a second attempt. But not tonight.

Tonight, I am desperate need of a new laptop. The warranty on this machine runs out next Monday, and I received a note in the mail from H-P telling me that I can extend it for "as low as $249!" Which is emphatically not worth it. Should I buy one off the shelf from Office Depot, or try to build my own from a manufacturer, as I've done with both of my previous machines (both of which, it's worth pointing, had chronic problems, though this one is much better than the earlier Dell). I need, oh, about 30G hard drive space, a 14+" screen (NOT a widescreen), 802.11b/g wireless connectivity and a modem and ethernet card, a PCMCIA slot, a 3.5" floppy slot, CD burner (DVD would be nice, but not necessary), and I need it to be CHEAP! VERY VERY CHEAP! BECAUSE I AM A CHEAP BASTARD!!!

Ahem. Sorry about that. The thing is, if it's sufficiently cheap I can afford the warranty where they come to your house to fix the computer, instead of having to sit on the phone for three hours with Bangladeshis and then mailing the machine off to some warehouse in Guatemala where two illiterate old men poke at it with cigars and say, "Lookit all them wires in there," except in Spanish, and then when you get the computer back half the parts have been replaced but none of the broken ones.
Also, I want an external hard drive, which is just additional expense and more reason to get a cheaper box.

Oh, and it has to fit in my current laptop carrier, because that's just another $40 scam they have and I already own two of the things.

Cinders is awake now. He looks extremely vexed. Ooh! The picture I just took of him, above, I downloaded some other photos off the camera at the same time. I went home for Thanksgiving, and we went to the annual boat parade in downtown. I took a couple pictures of the boats, but none of them turned out especially well. However, some of the fireworks photos are tres cool.

Check out this cool pic of the Main Street Bridge with the blue underlight.


Okay, these next two are just good fireworks pictures.


Okay, now, the cool thing is, downtown is between two bridges, and they set off fireworks from both of them. The nearer one, the Acosta, looks like a waterfall. It's incredible, but none of my pictures turned out. But here's a photo of the waterfall of sparks off the Main Street Bridge, and the streamers from the barge. Yeehaw.

And those other two posts I talked about earlier are on their way, too, maybe tomorrow. After I get that William & Mary letter written.