Its been a while since I've built a new computer system and the situation while dormant is starting to show its ugly head. New system standards have made most of the rigs I still use completely obsolete while my latest build is now simply acceptable.
I have 5 computers in total, not including the spare computer parts which take up space in my desk drawer. I'm not sure why I keep the extra cards, I just do. Still the 5 that I do have do what they need to do and haven't given me any real issues aside from a few fan failures and a power supply. No big deal until the unexpected from my newest system. Of all the computers I expected to fail, my HD equipped powerhouse that handles my TiVo downloads, HD video editing, and High Definition video viewing on my Samsung 52" LCD is the last one in my mind. The failure is again a minor one and one that is actually somewhat desirable. When I built that particular system I did something that I usually do not do. I purchased my hard drives from an independent seller at the Market Pro Computer Show & Sale. Normally I would be hesitant to buy storage drives from an independent seller but I had yet to have a Western Digital drive fail and figured the risk was low. Of the two 500GB SATA drives my secondary (D:) hasn't quite failed but I can hear the constant sound of the armature attempting to read data. Along with that the read / write speeds have fallen and the other day it dissapeared completely from my drive list. Scandisk discovered corrupt sectors confirming my fears and as it clicks away while I watch History Channel movies over the internet I know its days are counting down.
All is not lost though! As luck would have it Western Digital just released their new 2TB drive for a mere $299! I needed more space anyway so as soon as NewEgg has them in stock the shipping will commence! The system will now be 2.5 TB in total storage capacity. Oh the amount of HD video I can store from my TiVo on that.
My other systems while running well are reaching the end of their life expectancy. I've needed to upgrade the power supplies to keep up with the increased draw as the components age and replacement components are either more expensive than they were when they were brand new, or are not even available anymore. That horrifying fact accounts for the remaining 4 systems I have. All run AGP graphics, have IDE drives and old single core Cpu's. Now those systems all have multiple hard drives which I will have to deal with as each system fails since repairing them is just not cost effective at all. This is the dilemma I will be contemplating and analyzing over the next several months as I determine the best way to start replacing and or consolidating my resources into a more efficient package.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Valentine's Day Spectacular
Another Valentine's Day done and over. Was it as successful as I hoped? You'll have to ask her that. I will give Pro-Flowers a thumbs up for finally getting the bouquets right for once. It took them 4 times to get it right but finally, FINALLY! they managed to get not one but BOTH orders correct! This is the first time if I remember correctly that I haven't had to call and complain.
Its somewhat strange but for some reason I never thought I could enjoy Valentine's Day as much as I do now. Maybe it has something to do with Naomi. Up until her, every relationship I've ever been in Valentine's Day was a horror, a dreaded day that I deemed created by women to drive men (those who care about their wives/gfs) into a frantic distraught maniac that no matter what they do, they know the person their with will have expected or wanted more. I always felt my gifts were inadequate, silly, stupid, or just flat out pathetic. Maybe it was because back then everything was done last minute. A day before or the day of Valentine's day I would be exactly what I described "oh $*!T" mode. How this woman, this amazing woman, has turned me into someone that now plans ahead with enough time to think things through and come up with something creative is beyond me. I still in my mind feel that what I do is not enough and I need to do more but perhaps that is a good thing and the way it's supposed to be.
The amazing thing is while I feel this way, and I'm sure there are others who feel strongly enough that Valentine's day is now a day you look forward to, there were numerous interactions with people on that day and the day prior that made me feel sick and sad for the state of some people and their relationships. One example at the Wawa the other morning as I began my morning run to Virginia. A man and his son were in line in front of me purchasing a few things. The clerk had just about finished ringing up his items when the man blurted out "crap I'd better get the wife a stupid rose or I'll be in deep shit" I thought to myself, a single rose from Wawa, bought at the very last minute because if he didn't there would be a fight. I just stood there and shook my head wondering how buying something for his wife could induce such disgust, anger and annoyance for him. When I see and hear people talk about their relationships like that it really shows for those of us who are in loving wonderful relationships just how lucky we are and how much we need to hold on to what we have no matter what it takes.
Happy Valentine's Day
Its somewhat strange but for some reason I never thought I could enjoy Valentine's Day as much as I do now. Maybe it has something to do with Naomi. Up until her, every relationship I've ever been in Valentine's Day was a horror, a dreaded day that I deemed created by women to drive men (those who care about their wives/gfs) into a frantic distraught maniac that no matter what they do, they know the person their with will have expected or wanted more. I always felt my gifts were inadequate, silly, stupid, or just flat out pathetic. Maybe it was because back then everything was done last minute. A day before or the day of Valentine's day I would be exactly what I described "oh $*!T" mode. How this woman, this amazing woman, has turned me into someone that now plans ahead with enough time to think things through and come up with something creative is beyond me. I still in my mind feel that what I do is not enough and I need to do more but perhaps that is a good thing and the way it's supposed to be.
The amazing thing is while I feel this way, and I'm sure there are others who feel strongly enough that Valentine's day is now a day you look forward to, there were numerous interactions with people on that day and the day prior that made me feel sick and sad for the state of some people and their relationships. One example at the Wawa the other morning as I began my morning run to Virginia. A man and his son were in line in front of me purchasing a few things. The clerk had just about finished ringing up his items when the man blurted out "crap I'd better get the wife a stupid rose or I'll be in deep shit" I thought to myself, a single rose from Wawa, bought at the very last minute because if he didn't there would be a fight. I just stood there and shook my head wondering how buying something for his wife could induce such disgust, anger and annoyance for him. When I see and hear people talk about their relationships like that it really shows for those of us who are in loving wonderful relationships just how lucky we are and how much we need to hold on to what we have no matter what it takes.
Happy Valentine's Day
Monday, February 9, 2009
You think the war in Iraq is costing us too much?
Informative, and mind boggling! Read this:
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at : http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 M ILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm >
14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ..'
Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.
Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
Verify at : http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
Verify at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .
Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 M ILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National policy Institute, estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'
Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances to their countries of origin.
Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm >
14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One million sex crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ..'
Verify at: http: // www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Awaken to the sounds of winter
This morning I was woken by the lovely sounds of jack hammering a few houses down. It seems that even when I go to sleep early something manages to wake me up and destroy the gain from my rare ability to tear myself from the screen at night. Managed to get laundry done, look over some finances, update my iPhone and even make it to the bank. A very productive Monday considering I rarely leave the house these days since Naomi is in AZ completing her internship and I have embarked on a quest. A quest which oddly as it sounds requires the least amount of travel as possible. I have placed my house on financial lock down. Every possible area that I can scrap expense has been scrapped. From unplugging items to save that last little bit on my electric, cancelling my cable service and turning off my furnace till the house reaches a chilling 57 degrees and thats during the day! My ceramic space heater has become my new best friend.
Why am I doing this? Am I strapped for cash? Have I lost my job? Alas no, I have debt to clear and while Naomi is gone I intend to clear as much of it as I possibly can. Don't worry, I'm still working on those Disney videos and they should be coming in the next few weeks. I have a lot of free time after all since the cable is turned off and well, you can only watch blu-ray movies for so long.
Shivering as I type, here's snow in your eye..
Why am I doing this? Am I strapped for cash? Have I lost my job? Alas no, I have debt to clear and while Naomi is gone I intend to clear as much of it as I possibly can. Don't worry, I'm still working on those Disney videos and they should be coming in the next few weeks. I have a lot of free time after all since the cable is turned off and well, you can only watch blu-ray movies for so long.
Shivering as I type, here's snow in your eye..
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The economic stimulus frackage...
Another week to an end another week has begun. As I sit here devouring what is left of my Mario's Pizza I sit and think about what kind of dinner if any some people are sitting down to. All I keep hearing about are layoffs and closures of businesses all across the country. This economic downfall, the bursting of the housing market bubble . Sadly in my opinion this entire collapse was caused first by the control over our monetary system by the fed then accelerated and exacerbated by government programs. Programs which forced financial institutions to provide loans to those who were in the high risk category. All in the name of helping those less fortunate buy their first house and live "the american dream". The overall impression of what that dream is has been distorted and inflated by the new standard of living of which we have all become accustomed to. Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness used to mean exactly what it states. Of course the description of happiness itself and what people in this country need to be "happy" is pathetic. Slowly but surely this new ideal of need and must have has infected this country, our entire economic structure slowly turned into one of consumption and service instead of production and innovation. This unstoppable consumption fueled by a constant stream of ever expanding credit. As everyone is soon to learn the hard way a society cannot sustain itself by consuming the goods of other nations with credit given by those same nations.
In the end I have no doubt that the Bush administration will be given full blame for this collapse even though it was republicans calling for regulation of Fanny & Freddie long before the housing "Boom" while democrats on the senate finance committee declared there was nothing to worry about. I give no credit to the Bush white house for the last 8 years being somewhat positive. No, for they too enlarged government with new programs and increased spending as has been done for decades by just about every politician seeking to be re-elected.
The truth is that those pork projects and government spending does earn them re-election. So who do we have to blame but ourselves. The majority of society who no longer works to better themselves but work to just "get by" and make it to next week. They work for the next purchase, the next item they "need" in their life. Like a bunch of children waiting till they have enough in their allowance to go to the toy store and buy whatever piece of crap they feel they need to make their life complete. Thus the creation of this consumption based society and a class of voters that will vote not based on the good of the country, not for the values that made this country what it was, but which ever candidate will offer the quick fix that does not exist for the current crisis. All in the quest to hasten their ability to buy a new car, LCD tv, or whatever other item that provides no worth other than the petty short lived satisfaction when it is acquired.
This recession will last for quite some time. History shows that stimulus bills do nothing to combat depressions. Yet here we are again passing another stimulus package with money that not only do we not have, but does not exist! You say it will not be passed? That the republicans will block the bill? Mark my words, it will be passed one way or another. Also this will not be the last stimulus package to be passed. The next will come and it will exceed 1 Trillion dollars. This money does not come out of thin air as most of us are aware, nothing is really free. The treasury is now printing money at an alarming rate. Devaluing our currency without anyone really even realizing it. Every dollar printed is a "tax" on every single person that has a dollar in his or her possession though few if any realize it. As the value of the dollar decreases so does its purchasing power. Example, if the same bread you bought for $0.90 now costs you $1 you've just been taxed %10 percent by the production of money by the treasury for this so called "stimulus" package.
So, what are we to do then? How do we fix this crisis. The only way in my opinion is to take the housing bubble out of the equation since the entire expansion was basically non existent. Inflated prices way above reasonable market values are coming back to where they should be. All of the government income from taxes and fees created by the phantom income as I'm going to now call it must be negated and taken into account in new budgets. The system must be brought back into balance. More borrowing and creation of money out of thin air with stimulus packages will only make things worse as it is what helped get us into this mess. This means cuts, and huge cuts. The money is not there, it does not exist -it technically never did- and therefore like a business downsizing due to lack of orders creating less income the government MUST downsize.
We have two options staring us in the face. Socialism or Capitalism. Capitalism in its pure form without regulation is not the culprit here. A monetary system controlled by the fed combined with government controls is what caused this. Few are aware and with everyone so used to government providing everything I already find myself running into people who tell me they have no problem with Socialism. That in their opinion life would be much easier. Like children wanting the easy way out today's America is a place of "Gimme", "Do I have to", and "I'll do it later" but still expects their allowance at the end of the week. Socialism caters to that exact work ethic and I fear it more than the though of loosing my job from this recession.
In the end I have no doubt that the Bush administration will be given full blame for this collapse even though it was republicans calling for regulation of Fanny & Freddie long before the housing "Boom" while democrats on the senate finance committee declared there was nothing to worry about. I give no credit to the Bush white house for the last 8 years being somewhat positive. No, for they too enlarged government with new programs and increased spending as has been done for decades by just about every politician seeking to be re-elected.
The truth is that those pork projects and government spending does earn them re-election. So who do we have to blame but ourselves. The majority of society who no longer works to better themselves but work to just "get by" and make it to next week. They work for the next purchase, the next item they "need" in their life. Like a bunch of children waiting till they have enough in their allowance to go to the toy store and buy whatever piece of crap they feel they need to make their life complete. Thus the creation of this consumption based society and a class of voters that will vote not based on the good of the country, not for the values that made this country what it was, but which ever candidate will offer the quick fix that does not exist for the current crisis. All in the quest to hasten their ability to buy a new car, LCD tv, or whatever other item that provides no worth other than the petty short lived satisfaction when it is acquired.
This recession will last for quite some time. History shows that stimulus bills do nothing to combat depressions. Yet here we are again passing another stimulus package with money that not only do we not have, but does not exist! You say it will not be passed? That the republicans will block the bill? Mark my words, it will be passed one way or another. Also this will not be the last stimulus package to be passed. The next will come and it will exceed 1 Trillion dollars. This money does not come out of thin air as most of us are aware, nothing is really free. The treasury is now printing money at an alarming rate. Devaluing our currency without anyone really even realizing it. Every dollar printed is a "tax" on every single person that has a dollar in his or her possession though few if any realize it. As the value of the dollar decreases so does its purchasing power. Example, if the same bread you bought for $0.90 now costs you $1 you've just been taxed %10 percent by the production of money by the treasury for this so called "stimulus" package.
So, what are we to do then? How do we fix this crisis. The only way in my opinion is to take the housing bubble out of the equation since the entire expansion was basically non existent. Inflated prices way above reasonable market values are coming back to where they should be. All of the government income from taxes and fees created by the phantom income as I'm going to now call it must be negated and taken into account in new budgets. The system must be brought back into balance. More borrowing and creation of money out of thin air with stimulus packages will only make things worse as it is what helped get us into this mess. This means cuts, and huge cuts. The money is not there, it does not exist -it technically never did- and therefore like a business downsizing due to lack of orders creating less income the government MUST downsize.
We have two options staring us in the face. Socialism or Capitalism. Capitalism in its pure form without regulation is not the culprit here. A monetary system controlled by the fed combined with government controls is what caused this. Few are aware and with everyone so used to government providing everything I already find myself running into people who tell me they have no problem with Socialism. That in their opinion life would be much easier. Like children wanting the easy way out today's America is a place of "Gimme", "Do I have to", and "I'll do it later" but still expects their allowance at the end of the week. Socialism caters to that exact work ethic and I fear it more than the though of loosing my job from this recession.
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