Going On in the World . . . .

I'm not missing it, but in the way of the 21st Century, I am procuring the parts to and building a new computer.

The old one, an Athlon 64, 3200 running Windows XP-SP2, home edition (HP Media Machine) has started falling apart.  First, it's video card or board has been cutting signal to my monitor, making it brown out, a condition entirely unsuitable to photography; then, also, its main heat sink pulled an anchoring pin from the motherboard and has dangled loose for a while.  I've reattached the piece with Arctic Ice Silver, a compound, not an adhesive, that keeps the heat sink in place as long as I keep the unit  on its side, which, I'm sure, will result in the misalignment of both my internal and external hard drives.

What to do?

For repair of the machine at which I'm working, Dow-Corning has promised to send a sample of thermally conductive adhesive.

I'm going to try it.

I may also replace the video card with whatever I may scrounge from Ebay.

Still: In with the new!

New Egg: ordered Monday; arrived this afternoon: an Antec P180 case, an ASUS motherboard using the latest RAM; 4 GB of that RAM; and a Western Digital "Raptor" hard drive--have I got some work to do tomorrow.

In addition, to add more gel to the deep water into which I am already swimming, Anne has moved in with her cat, Snoopy--but I think he's getting older, more catty, and we may call him "Blanco", short for "Blanco Zapatos" soon (full name: "Snoopy Elmer Staypuff Blanco Zapatos").  We believe he's a Turkish Angora, a lovely, intelligent, sweet, and gentle cat; nonetheless, he will scratch on your eyelids at 4:30 a.m. if he's hungry.  To cure him of that, we've gone to an automatic feeder, and so reduced our association with his being fed.

All in all, I am busy--with a woman around and far less cause for going dancing, I'm back to reading a lot, and will have reviews here indicating so, and have also been practicing and playing music (open mics and paid gigs) some. 

If I've been remiss regarding Pervez Musharraf's declared state of emergency for Pakistan, the UN's interest in Somalia and the interesting Ogaden territory, and all that--well, I am custom building the tools I wish to have for the next six years or so.