Month: December 2007

My new computer: initial impressions

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Merry Christmas everyone! I’ve been customizing my new computer since 10:30 pm last night. Well, I did get six hours of sleep in there too.

My computer was delivered yesterday before we left for my parents’ but I didn’t have time to turn it on until we got home. We unpacked the box and set everything up before leaving, however. I have to give Dell credit – everything is packed well and the software is extremely organized; they even mark the CDs to let you know what software is already pre-installed on the machine. It made setting everything up (hardware-wise, at least) effortless.

I have to say, the tower and matching monitor are very sleek looking; prettier than I was expecting. Everything runs fast on my new machine too. But you knew this entry was going to focus on the things I don’t like, right? Of course you did. This is in no particular order, just some annoyances I’ll either get used to eventually or rectify in some manner as I learn more about my new machine and Windows Vista in particular.

1) The CD-DVD RW drive isn’t really designed to be used vertically because I think Dell assumes people are going to set it up horizontally. I personally don’t like turning it on its side and putting the monitor on top because I don’t like looking up at my monitor. I keep mine low; probably lower than most, but that’s the way I like it.

2) The monitor height is not adjustable. I did know this beforehand, however, but figured I could manage. What’s more annoying to me is because the monitor is wide-screen, I lose vertical desktop space. Perhaps this is something that requires getting used to, but I find no reason for extra width since browsing typically requires vertical movement. I’m very tempted to go back to using my old LCD monitor which I love. It doesn’t match the tower, though, and I’m big on aesthetics, so I will have to think about it some more first since the tower is now on my desk in the back corner.

3) The fonts Vista uses are taking me time to adjust to. They don’t look as sharp as on my old machine even though I am running at the monitor’s native resolution and have tweaked all I can find to tweak. This is particularly noticeable in Firefox in the tab I’m currently working in because when the text is bold I see a purplish fringe around the letters unless I view them straight on by adjusting my position or the monitor angle. I know I’m super sensitive to stuff like this since many people, including my husband, don’t notice what I’m talking about. It still bugs the crap out of me, however.

4) I can’t use my Logitec wireless mouse and keyboard because the one connection is PS2 and my PC only accepts USB connections. Until I buy an adapter I’m forced to use the included keyboard and mouse which are very basic.

5) Windows Vista assumes you’ve never seen, let alone used, a computer before so they hide basic settings that most savvy users like to tweak. I had to visit forums and help sites just to figure out how to change some things I had no problem locating in Windows XP. I mean who needs their icons to take up so much space on their desktop? I am not blind for christ sakes. If I’m running in a super high resolution don’t keep my icons huge. That’s just retarded.

That all being said, I am really enjoying the speed of my new machine. Programs load quickly, as do websites. I can only imagine how much more awesome it’s going to be this weekend when I quadruple the RAM. And can I just say how sweet USB 2.0 is? Many of you have been enjoying its benefits for a long time but I was stuck in USB 1.0 land even though technically my old computer supported 2.0. I could just never get it to work. Transferring files to and from my iPod isn’t painful anymore.

Also, my computer came with Yahoo! Jukebox which rips CDs in the exact manner I want to. I couldn’t get iTunes or Winamp to extract songs in the format or file name I prefer but Yahoo! does it quickly and easily. Now I don’t have to download and install MusicMatch (my previous cd ripper of choice). Oh and it recognizes my iPod which for some reason Windows Media Player does not. I thought maybe on the new machine it would detect it, but nope. It tells me to connect a portable device even when it’s already connected.

FIL #7

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Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas Eve. I am [not so] patiently waiting for DHL to deliver my new computer. It’s on the truck, but where is the truck? That is the question!!!

It has come to my attention that I totally forgot about my Friday links feature. Whoops! That’s what happens when my schedule deviates from the norm. Who would have thought I’d spend the last three days shacked up with a sick husband? Luckily he’s getting better, albeit slowly and with a cough that prevents him from sleeping.

Anyway, on to the links!

This really short commercial is fun and perverted.

Lots of laughs with these true travel agent stories. Too bad there aren’t more of them.

Tired of bad news? How about good news served daily at Gimundo? It’s better than reading about another murder-suicide or car accident.

If you like black olives like I do, this simple recipes for hors d’oeuvres will be right up your alley. I’m making these today for our Christmas Eve celebration at my parents’ tonight. I also made these sweet potatoes which are super yummy. Even if you normally don’t care for sweet potatoes (like me), I promise you will like this dish. Unless you don’t like sugar and butter, and if so, I weep for your soul.

The weather outside is frightful

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We’re spending another day inside because it was so windy overnight that we couldn’t sleep due to the wind blowing the rain against the window loudly. So when the alarm went off I was too tired to get up. Plus it’s still crazy windy out and I didn’t feel like dealing with that on top of the last minute shoppers. Of course now I’m questioning that since I’m going out of my mind from being inside so long doing nothing.

Anyway, it only took me close to four hours to get through the backlog of People magazine my friend gave me and I didn’t even read half the articles! In light of my extreme boredom, I’m going to celebrity-dish, which I rarely do. Probably because my response to most of the gossip I read is “who cares?” I don’t give two shits about Britney Spears or her pregnant 16 year old sister.

I’m more inclined to read the “true life” articles of people who have triumphed over disease or murder-mystery stuff because the fact that People magazine thinks the women currently dating George Clooney and Matthew McConaughey are lucky is enough to make me want to vomit. How is it lucky that they are dating womanizers? They are just a temporary stop on the way to the next woman. That’s not luck, that’s stupidity.

Ew, and don’t get me started on how John Mayer seems to have a new woman every week because I just don’t get it. He’s a big dork, and not in a cute Zachary Levi way either.

But here’s where I became disgusted over something I read. It was an article in Parade on Katie Holmes. In it, she’s talking about what a great father and husband Tom Cruise is, and then goes on to say, “His first two children are incredible, really smart and kind. They call me “Mom””. Now you tell me, was that really necessary? I personally don’t care whether or not it’s true, I just know it’s extremely disrespectful to their actual mother*, Nicole Kidman. Being a step-parent myself I think it’s wrong to expect a child to call you mom, particularly when they already have one. Someone should slap Katie across her face for such a remark. It literally makes me sick to read that. She has a lot of nerve. Was it a passive-aggressive attempt to hurt Nicole, or is she really that naive? In any case, the little respect I have for her is completely gone after that remark. Yea, I’m sure she’s going to cry over that one.

* For all intents and purposes, she’s their mom even if they are adopted.

Bored

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Damn, no one is updating their blog today. Where are you guys? Last minute shopping? We hit Target after the doctor’s office this afternoon and it was pretty crazy. The lines weren’t completely insane, thank god, so we managed to get out of there with our sanity. Just been watching tv all evening since Joe is still sick. He’s got antibiotics now so hopefully he’ll be up to a little shopping tomorrow morning before my cabin fever gets the best of me. I don’t know how agoraphobics do it.

Joey doesn’t feel good

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We didn’t end up going shopping today because Joe seems to be coming down with the flu. I hate seeing him like this. He rarely gets sick except this year for some reason. At least three times now he’s felt a little under the weather but it only lasted a day or two. This time he seems worse. I am making him go to the doctor tomorrow since his throat is really hurting. If it’s strep or the flu she should be able to help make him feel better faster.

I can’t help but think this is related to the stress of him not knowing whether he was going to have a job come January 1st. Now that he’s found a new job and able to relax, his immune system is taking a beating after being on edge for so long.

On the flip side of things, my bottom left eyelid had been twitching from August until just recently. I think it was the stress of Joe’s possible unemployment too since it went away shortly after he got notice of his new job. Either that or a strange coincidence. I just can’t believe it lasted that long! Even my eye doctor couldn’t understand why it hadn’t gone away after a month. I sure hope it doesn’t return again but I’m willing to bet it will.

I can’t believe I did absolutely nothing all day, unless you count making meals and doing a little laundry. I slept until 10 am and watched tv most of the day. I also got caught up on my blog reading. Why is it that I’m the only person who updates and reads blogs more on the weekends than during the week? I guess you guys all have time to surf at work but I don’t so during the week my feed reader gets clogged and then on the weekends it’s practically empty. It’s like I live in opposite world from the rest of you.

I ordered 4GB of RAM for my new computer too (it only comes with 1 GB). I found it for only $80 at Outpost.com. Not bad, eh? My machine is going to be blazing fast. I am so psyched!

Unless Joe miraculously feels better tomorrow morning, it will be another day inside. Good thing my friend just gave me a backlog of People magazine dating back to September 17th.