I know, I know, I fail.

It's pretty easy to see that my attempt at a standard format to make entries "easier" on me failed miserably. Directly after my posting of Mitch Albom's book, going back and following the format seemed like a huge chore. That, coupled with life, meant that I neglected the blog for a couple of months.

In fact, I neglected to read. Period.

Normally books are my number one escape. I smash through them at light speed and can't wait for more. But the last few months have not been easy for me, dealing with health, pets, work, and the massive changes that life has thrown at me in general.

Well, I did read. I have been reading collections of Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Cathy... comic strips that are completely mindless and the perfect tonic for an exhausted, stressed out brain. I needed pictures and immediate gratification.

But they don't count.

In the last week, though, I've been reading again. I picked up a book that's been sitting on my shelf, just waiting for a re-read. I know it's a book that I enjoy and is light, but piques my deeper interests also. And that's gotten me thinking about the blog again and the fact that, I can come back, admit that my experiment in formatting was a huge fail, and get back to what I like doing. Reading books and jotting what I liked about them.

Tonight, I came across something else. Something that has me EXCITED to read. Something to LOOK FORWARD to. I haven't been excited or looked forward to something in a long time. This feels like a bit of a tonic for me and I am ready to do this. I am stoked.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/

When Mike and I went to a resort in Cuba a few years ago, there was an informal library where guests took books, left books, etc. So I took a couple of books from that library, but left a few that I had brought with me - cheap used book store finds that I wouldn't miss. But there was a bit of a thrill, thinking about them moving on to someone else. Maybe moving on to yet a different part of the world altogether. It reminded me of when I was younger and I liked to hide little treasures for people to find. Small toys or pretty rocks or a quarter. When I was older it turned into moving the lawn ornaments around in suburban yards. I wouldn't damage them, just place them oddly for the owners to find in the morning.

That goes back even further to a talk show episode I saw when I was very young. Someone had stolen a small plastic duck lawn ornament from a yard, and then took pictures of it in different locals all over the world and mailed them back to the owners. They loved getting updates on their little duck and then one day, the duck showed up in their yard again. It was a bit more beat up, the colour had faded, but it must have had stories to tell. And someone is doing that with a rubber duck right now. I love it. http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110816/NEWS/708169979

CALLING ALL COMPUTER NERDS! Need computer buying help

In the past when I have purchased computers, the main consideration behind their specifications was Simming. So I would purchase them with the intent of having an ATI graphics card put in, if it wasn't already part of the package deal. I fought tooth and nail for the last one I bought, the guy was really pushing me for an NVIDIA. Sorry, ATI only for me, bucko. (NVIDIA cards are notorious for not working well with The Sims 2, for some reason)

So now I am possibly in the market for a new computer. Well... I pretty much am for certain, as my beast is coming up on the three year mark and it has gotten really laggy and tired, (had it custom built and had problems with it early on) and I don't want to spend money on this thing when it's a perfectly good excuse to get a new one. Plus I want Windows 7 so by the time I upgraded the system and buy the new OS, I might as well just buy a whole new machine.

The Sims 2 is my main game of choice (The Sims 3 just did not get my attention, I don't like the look of the game in general, plust it still doesn't have pets and that just doesn't roll with me) but I do like some of the shockwave games and such, plus I've been admiring Starcraft 2 from afar for a while.
(system requirements: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article. ... leId=26242 )

I don't really do any heavy gaming, though, and not usually for any real extended period of time. So I don't need a major gaming machine, or anything. But I do like to run my games on high specs and performance in that respect does matter to me.

I've been kind of scared away from http://www.TigerDirect.ca by a friend who says that most people in the industry avoid dealing with them at all costs due to a previous snafu of them refurbishing Dell PCs and selling them as new. But if anyone sees a system on there I should be seriously considering, I'd like to know.

I don't want to spend more than $700 (before taxes) on the new machine. So right now I am looking at two very different ones.

I am wondering if it is technological blasphemy to even consider getting a Dell, and I hate to admit that I've seen a system that has grabbed my interest. I have heard that the quality of their systems has improved leaps and bounds since their "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" days, but I've been carrying around a bias against them for a long time, LOL

http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-8300/pd

The 8GB of ram and the dedicated graphics card is really selling me on this one. In my price range I'm not seeing many systems with more than 4GB and because everything is being sold with Windows 7 64bit and the OS itself requires 2GB, I really do want some extra memory. Plus, it includes shipping, (will have to see if they only ship with Canada Post, hahahaha) and it has pretty good ratings.

On the downside, the graphics card is not a gaming level card, but it should take pretty much anything I'm going to throw at it, since I'm not hard core, right?

I know with hard core gamers, power supply is a big consideration. But for my casual level of gaming, is it something I really need to consider? Is a larger power supply just a good idea all around?

If so, I am looking at this computer:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=037503

It has an admirable graphics card, and a beefed up power supply, but only 2x2GB - not the 8 I would prefer. But if I don't need the power supply, then I don't want to greatly increase my electricity bill for no reason.

But, I'm pretty open to suggestions. As long as they don't include buying a mac or building my own computer.

Off topic: Bitching about Blogger

Once upon a time I was an Open Diary fan. I wrote regularly, made wonderful relationships, and generally wasted a lot of time there. They had a fun little feature where you could click "random diary" and you'd get something that was recently updated. I met some great people through randomizing, and I never knew what I would find.

I thought the "Next Blog"  feature would be something like that... an entirely random blog would come up and I could decide whether or not to read said blog. Well, it seems to me that it's not so random. I keep getting "family" blogs, mostly moms sharing pictures of their kids..... or missionary blogs, spreading "the word".

It would be one thing if  I only got these blogs occasionally in a mix of everything else, but.... WTF? I don't need to read "my problems with fertility" for 15 blogs in a row before getting thrown into the midst of LDS missionaries in Japan complaining that the new person that they met is an unbeliever and needs converting for another 10.

So what's going on here? Is this a sign that I need to procreate and go back to church? If so, I'll just quit the internet entirely. Are the blogs in "strings", where when you click "next" it has something to do with previous blogs? Did my posting "The Nanny" and "The Lost Symbol" doom me to being strung in next to soccer moms and bible thumpers? Or is there just THAT many blogs devoted to children and Jesus that I am doomed to hit "Next Blog" and surely get one?