Bagels. Panera bagels!

Every year IPFW's Child Care Center has a fund raising auction. Last year we won season tickets for the Philharmonic's Masterworks series for about a tenth of the normal price. We've enjoyed those tickets immensely (and I got to hear "Powerhouse" [see the Cartoon Music post]). We also bid on a Panera Bagel Pack (1 dozen bagels a month for a year), but lost that bid. We did win a similar deal from another place in town, but their bagels weren't nearly as good and half the certificate was left unused.

This year there were two Panera Bagel Packs (which include two "tubs" of spread) and we won one for $85. I just went this morning to use it before the end of the month. A bagel pack actually includes 13 bagels. I was thinking the "tubs" of spread were the little individual packs, but they are nice and big (1/2 pound each?). Plenty of spread for all the bagels. It's quite a deal!

So if you are at our place and want a snack, don't be surprised if we offer you a bagel. We may be sick of them by this time next year.


-- C.
I mean, they are great and all, but "The Year of the Bagel" may get old all too quickly.

New computer hardware

The fan on my power supply is going bad, so that got me thinking about new computer equipment. I'd like a whole new system (this one is about four years old -- ick). EverQuest is choppy at times (especially on raids when you have 50-70 people standing close to each other) and a new system would be a lot of fun.

But the one I priced out is a little too expensive:
from Monarch.com
Asus PCI-E motherboard
Athlon 64 3700+
2 GB RAM
nVidia 7600 GT w/256 MB RAM
Western Digital 74 GB 10,000 RPM hard drive
Creative Labs X-FI XtremeMusic
Windows XP Media
450 watt power supply
17" flat panel monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
Maybe a TV tuner for a PVR
Network card
Media reader / floppy drive

That comes to around $1900. And I just noticed that's without and CD or DVD drives.

Instead, I came to decision I should just get some more memory and a new video card. That should make a big improvement at about a tenth of the cost.

I didn't know what kind of memory or video card I have. Someone suggested going to Crucial.com for memory. They have a nice scanner utility that will tell you what make and model of motherboard you have, then tell you what memory will fit in it. They are also doing video cards, but only ATI ones. I wanted nVidia.

I ordered 512 MB for $55, which will bring my system up to 1 GB, and I ordered an ASUS video card (6600 w/256 MB RAM) for $113 from Newegg.com.

I'll let you know how installation goes, and how the system runs afterward.


-- C.

Favorite Quotes (long list)

I've been collecting quotes off the Interet for quite a while now. Some of them are from famous people and some of them are from random users. Here's some of my favorites, in no particular order:

"Engineers are the center of the Universe. They get to pick the coordinate system."


"Television: a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done."
-- Ernie Kovacs


"I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There's a knob called 'brightness', but it doesn't seem to work."
-- Gallagher


"When life gives you crap...make craponade"


"We do not inherit the world from our parents; we borrow it from our children."
-- American Indian Proverb


"Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency."


"Whenever you talk, I think of fishing lures until the noise stops."
-- Dilbert's Pointy-haired Boss


"No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you? "


"'Outlook not so good.' That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next"


"I suppose the best way to determine the most random number is to poll people to pick a random number and see what the most common choice is." -- Slashdot user


"Which is why the next Warner Bros. movie will be Batman Vs. Catwoman. Only when they go for the epic battle they will get really attracted to each other and have a love child named ManWoman. Which will be the central character of a future Hollywood blockbuster starring Janet Reno." -- Slashdot user


"I play [poker] with chips worth 5, 7, 13, and 23. It sure makes making change fun."

"Wisdom is perishable. Unlike information or knowledge, it cannot be stored in a computer or recorded in a book. It expires with each passing generation."
-- Sid Taylor



[In a discussion about who would win a fight]
Lemmings?! Smurfs?!
Need I remind everyone that your average Teletubby is probably 100x the size of these creatures, and contains cybernetic implants to boot?

Hell, Tinky Winky alone could crush an entire battlefield full of Smurfs and Lemmings, with a single flop-and-roll maneuver.

Not forgetting, of course, that the ravenous Noo-Noo would be right behind to clean up the mess, and dispatch any stragglers.
-- Slashdot poster


"Sometimes this board needs a Crazy to English translator :/"
-- Vynadie on TheRunes.net


And a couple from Bash.org:

#120296 +(3199)- [X]
once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.


#6562 +(3199)- [X]
[skrike] I think the people above me are having sex
[skrike] either that or they're sleeping restlessly and agreeing with each other a lot.


#10739 +(2192)- [X]
* Spoon casts Wall of Silence
*** Spoon sets mode: +m
[Goku] why?
[Spoon] Because exo went insane
[Goku] no, he just brought his insanity up to another level
* Sentinel checks..
*** Sentinel sets mode: -m
[exogen] THERE'S BUTTER ON MY FACE!
*** Sentinel sets mode: +m



"The reviewer in Wheeling gave it three thumbs up, and ever since then Hollywood’s tried to get movies reviewed in West Virginia."
-- Fred Reed @ FredOnEverything.net

"First, forget that her lips are sweet as honeydew melon (though not, of course, green). It doesn't last. One of nature's more disagreeable tricks is that while men are far uglier than women, they age better. Remember this. It is useful to reflect in moments of unguided passion that, beneath the skin, we are all wet bags of unpleasant organs."
-- Fred Reed @ FredOnEverything.net


"If Watchmen the movie is "based on" Watchmen the graphic novel in the same way, I suggest installing seat belts in all the theaters to prevent the audience from being pulled from their seats by the suction of the movie."
-- Slashdot user


"Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, which is why engineers sometimes smell really bad."


"If my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN"


"A good friend will come to bail you out of jail after you did something stupid, a true friend will be sitting in the cell next to you saying, 'That was Awesome!'."


"The most you can hope for in a relationship is to find someone whose flaws are the sort you don't mind. It is futile to look for someone who has no flaws, or someone who is capable of significant change; that sort of person exists only in our imaginations."
-- Scott Adams in "God's Debris"


Lord of the Rings Book 2:
"Wizards ought to know better: they do know better. There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men bad enough for such treachery. Down with Saruman!"
-- Treebeard


And several Star Wars quotes regarding the prequels:
Star Wars III: Just Fork It Over, Fanboy

Star Wars: Episode III: A Big Pile of Sith
At least that's what dyslexic people will call it ...

Episode III Title: The Passion of Jar Jar
(Its just two hours of Jar Jar being beaten.)

Episode III: Return of the Profit

Episode III: I Believe That Horse is Still Moving

Episode III: I Wipe My Ass With Your Money.

"Luke..."
"Luke there ... is ... ano..ther...dir...ect..tors...cut."

Will Episode III end with a big awards ceremony with the Emperor handing out medals to Vader and other Sith Lords?

"Apparently, in the next new version, Alderaan shoots first..."

"...as if 1 million voices screamed out "Don't do it, George!" and were suddenly silenced by the quest for money."



-- C.

Interesting news article; police jumping to conclusions?

"A man who spent five hours naked and stuck in the chimney of his stepmother's home was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, police said."

Naked. Stuck in chimney.

Drugs?

Ya think???


-- C.
Ok, maybe it could be changed to "...arrested on suspicion of being STOOOPID."

You going to do anything today?

The other day, at work, I was leaving the mens' room as a co-worker was entering. Another co-worker was already in there and greeted the man just entering, "Hey Gary, are you actually going to do something today?"

As Gary stepped up to the urinal he replied, "I'm doin' something now!"


-- C.

Sticky ball

My nephew is a big fan of the PS2 game "Katamari Damacy." I mentioned it in a previous post. Well, his parents bought the sequel and he still talks about the games quite often. Instead of trying to make him say "Katamari Damacy" though, he just calls it "sticky ball" -- 'cause that's pretty much what the game is about. You roll a ball around and things stick to it. As things stick to it, your ball (the katamari) gets bigger. As the ball gets bigger you can pick up bigger objects. Eventually you're picking up people, cars, buildings, and snatching clouds and planes out of the sky.

The other day was his turn to bring in snacks for his pre-school class. You know what he made?



Sticky balls.

With the help of his parents (who also enjoy the game), he made popcorn balls. Then they rolled the popcorn balls in little pieces of candy (shaped like cars and airplanes) which of course...stuck to the ball.

I don't think his classmates got the reference though.


-- C.

Thai food

I had Thai food for dinner again last week (I know I shouldn't have -- oh wait, wrong quote). It's good stuff. They also have an iced tea drink that's very good. We were at the counter getting our order to go and asked for a Thai Iced Tea. The waitress made a hand-written note on our receipt -- just the abreviation (use your imagination). I wonder what they'd think if I ordered it like that, instead of by the full name.




-- C.
PS: Are warriors in Thailand called "Thai Fighters?"

My finger is cold

I forgot my wedding ring the other day (I usually take it off while I'm getting ready in the morning). I haven't forgotten it in several months. My finger felt cold.


-- C.