Back to thinking about the new computer I want to build -

• a motherboard with RAID built in - 925X Neo Platinum-54g
• 1GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM - from Kingston
• A mirror drive - 120 Gb from Western Digital
• Up to date graphics - RADEON X800 Pro Sapphire
• Intel Penium 4 processor - at least 3 GHz
• And, where would the machine be without a case supporting some neon?

Question is, will that cut it with the new breeds of games and software coming in the next few years? I know too that it’s missing a sound card but I think that’s covered on the motherboard itself. Prices from New Egg coming on that list soon.

Edit to add prices

….and the ability to run games at a decent pace … PRICELESS

I just spotted this news story over on TV.com:

Firefly lands on the Sci Fi Channel

Firefly, a science fiction series that was canceled midway through its first season on Fox, has found a new home on the Sci Fi Channel.

Fans of the cult-hit series Firefly will be pleased to learn that the show has been picked up by the Sci Fi Channel–just two months before the release of Serenity, a Universal Pictures film based on the series

Now I know I have to get cable! There wouldnt be much I would watch but it’s dominated by the science fiction genre:

• Stargate SG-1
• Battlestar Galactica
• Stargate Atlantis
• Firefly

Oh, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central would also be important.

I want a new computer. My “old” one came from Best Buy a few years ago - a Compaq 5004 US machine, 256Mb of RAM and 1.1 GHz Athlon processor. Since that time the hard-drive failed and we added a new 120 Gb Western Digital drive. Graphics are provided by a All-in-Wonder Radeon 7500 card (officially listed as “discontinued” on the ATI website).

We’ve looked at Apple computers - I like the Mac Mini and the Powerbook line of laptops - but I have PC games that I still want to play at a reasonable speed. I can see owning an Apple in the near(ish) future in fact, but I still think the next computer will be a PC. The big question in my mind is whether to build my own or to buy something off the shelf.

I still feel the pain of the hard-drive failure - we lost data as our backups werent perfect - and it was a pain in the proverbial ____ to have to install and reconfigure the system because of a failed component. A new machine that supports RAID would be fantastic! We could move the existing 120 Gb Western Digital drive across and add a second (mirrored) drive to it. I dont know of any packaged desktop machines that support RAID level 1 out of the box, so I lean toward the “build it” route.

So, what do I want?

• a motherboard with RAID built in - 925X Neo Platinum-54g
• 1GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM - from Kingston
• A mirror drive - 120 Gb from Western Digital
• Up to date graphics - RADEON X800 Pro Sapphire
• And, where would the machine be without a case supporting some neon?

Thing is, that’s only my current thinking. Prices change as do the specifications. Suggestions are gratefully recieved if any of these components should be swapped out for better options!

From the urban dictionary:

Senioritis
noun. A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.

Q: Why didn’t study for your math test Kuhns?

A: Oh, who studies for a math test anyways. I got senioritis.

All I can say is: Friday 10^th of June at 7:00pm. Oh yeah!

Just for those of you, who like me looked up all the “rude words” in the dictionary when you were a kid - take a look at Wikipedia’s list of fictional curse words.

OK, so i just Googled for “last ever vli intensive” and it didnt come up with any hits for the phrase. Come on people - isnt this time to begin celebrating? Surely VLI students (and wives / husbands of students especially) should be looking at one another and starting the music playing … putting on their dancing shoes … and dancing around happily singing and raising hands …

last ever vli intensive weekend

last ever vli intensive weekend

last ever vli intensive weekend

After this weekend, guess what? There will be no more vli intensive weekends! No more sitting through 9-12 hours of teaching in a single weekend. No more. Ever. While they have been good and all, Im sure you can guess that I’ll not be sorry to see them gone.