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2007-04-03 - 10:30 p.m.

Tech Wreck

After spending too much time and energy trying to find the most perfect system in the universe for my gaming & Second Life adventures without spending too much money, I finally gave up.

Enough! I've got plenty of knitting projects, movies and books to keep me busy until I'm forced to get my neck squished by THE MAN.

Do I really need to stumble around in a virtual world wearing 4" heels and black leather pants?

HELL YES.

You don't really think that after all the research I've been doing I'd simply walk (stumble) away from Second Life, do you?

Yesterday afternoon, I signed up for DSL with my local phone company. They talked me into switching to their (unlimited) long distance. Here's why I agreed: With local & long distance bundled together, it will actually be cheaper than what I was paying for local service alone. How is that possible? I don't know, but it's fucking COOL. Plus, AT&T with their continually escalating "unlimited plus" (cha-ching) plan has been dumped, so there's $35 in savings a month.

Of course, I still need to fork over $29 for DSL a month now, but once AOL gets kicked to the curb, I'll have more shit for less money. And the gal (Theresa) at the phone company was SO NICE and SO AMERICAN. She threw in 2 free months of DSL, and gave me her extension if I have any questions or problems.

DSL won't be activated till Thursday night at "7 pm on the dot." I already have a modem, and Theresa's gonna send me a new setup CD. Chilly beans of awesomeness, I tell you.

So last night, I knew I had to get on the ball about getting a new system and monitor ASAP. While researching computer vendors, deals, rebates, advice, reviews, suggestions and recommendations, I went through 5 diet cokes and two pots of coffee. I had so many goddamn browser windows minimized it was hard to keep them all straight.

I finally began to hone in on Velocity Micro, which is known for their gaming systems and customization. Alienware, another choice I ran across, is VERY NEATO looking but unbelievably expensive. I started toying around with some Velocity quotes (their basic Gamer's Edge system is $1,000 which I thought was pretty damn good), but once I made a few changes (Windows XP instead of Vista, i.e.) the price began creeping up to $1,300. Not including tax, shipping...or a monitor. Plus, there was a 10-14 day build time. I'm not a very patient person. Perhaps you've noticed?

Best Buy carried a few VM systems on their website, but they were too expensive/uncustomizable/loaded with Vista and not available in Kentucky stores yet. Well, I shouldn't be too surprised since we only got indoor plumbing here last week.

One thing led to another, and I hopped onto eBay to see what folks were selling. To my surprise, there was a Best Buy Outlet store (97.4% satisfaction rating out of 12,000+ reviews) and not only did they have VM systems, they were selling 3 *NEW* factory-sealed units. They were all the same model ("Velocity Micro A64 3800+ Desktop 1GB 250GB DVDRW"), selling at different times, and bids were hovering in the $200-$300 range.

Now, I was hoping for 2GB of memory, but this is expandable up to 4GB. The processor speed was right in the range I was eyeballing, and the video card (one of the most important aspects for 3D gaming) was one of the nVidia (GeForce 9000) types recommended by Second Life. And of course, I can always upgrade that too later if I so desire. (Lots of folks have had trouble with ATI Radeon video cards, so I wanted to steer clear of that brand). The other deciding factor was that it was loaded with Windows XP...and would be shipped from nearby Indiana. Less transit time = me happy.

I didn't want to jump in with a bid until near the end of the auction (this afternoon). I wasn't even sure if I was going to bid yet. Mull it over, I thought. In the meantime, I found a pretty nifty Mag widescreen 22" flat panel LCD monitor on sale ($269) and in stock at local Best Buy for possible consideration as well.

I finally curled up in bed around 3 am. I tried to sleep, but I was so jittery/excited/nervous I stayed up and watched 2 "Six Feet Under" episodes that I'd missed. Managed to fall asleep around 6:30 am. I KNOW. Crazy me. I hate getting my schedule all wonked, but being unemployed and taking naps whenever I feel like it wonks me up anyway, so whatevs. It was fun. I felt naughty for staying up till after dawn. And happy that I'm able to do nutty stuff like this and not worry about going to work.

To my disbelief, I roused before noon. I was anxious to get stuff done, even though I was still somewhat groggified. It was a GORGEOUS day outside, spring in bloom, blue skies with puffy clouds, warm breeze. The dogs and I had a nice walk. I'd somewhat forgotten about the eBay auctions...figured I probably already missed the first one and the price had probably skyrocketed anyway.

I sat down to check my email, remembered the eBay auctions, and not only hadn't I missed the first auction, there were nearly 45 minutes left. And the price was only at $407. I pepped up. Should I go for it? You've got time, just wait a bit. I bebopped around online, doing more research, checking the status every few minutes. I got busy doing something else, and checked back, only to realize there were only 4 minutes left! And it was still at $407.

Alrighty. I'm in. This was everything I was looking for, at half the price I was expecting to pay. I put in a maximum bid on the lower end of what I would've been willing to pay. Just to test the waters. I was still the high bidder a few refreshes later. Then someone else jumped back in the game, inching towards my max. I was trying to adjust my maximum bid to the $500 range with 45 seconds left. Thanks to my crappy dial-up, the auction ended before it went through. For half a minute I thought maybe I'd won, but after a refresh, I discovered I'd been outbid. DAMMIT. It went for $476 plus tax and shipping. But that person's max was probably over $500 and I would've lost out anyway in slo-mo ville.

There is a feeling of "catching a tiger by the tail" when there's intense competition. So I'm not an idiot for wanting this thing, at this price range? Excellent!

The next auction was coming up within the hour. Oooooh, baby. This one is MINE. The price at that time was under $300. While waiting to put in a bid in the final minutes, I threw in some laundry, finished some unpacking, bundled up the trash, checked my bank balance and generally noodled around. Ten minutes before the end, I clicked on the "bid" button and entered a max bid of a little over $500. A few minutes later my competition chimed in and ratcheted up the bid in smaller, then larger, increments, but still less than my max. With five minutes left, I hiked my max up to the high $500's. I was still the high bidder, by a decent margin, but if that person increased their max by $50 or more as a last shot effort, I could get screwed. In the final minute, I jacked up my max to over $600...

And when I refreshed the screen, I had WON! With a high bid of $527.99. With tax, shipping and freight insurance (why take a chance on that?), my final price was around $615.

SQUUUEEEEEE!

I was going to take the money out of my checking account, but decided to put it on my credit card (with nice rewards). I don't want to blow through my bill money, ya know. I'm getting my debt paid down, but I've got a ways to go. Another $600 isn't going to kill me. That's what smoking is for.

Feeling pretty damn proud of my efforts (and yes, a bit scared), I quickly got ready to run to the grocery store for needed nibs.

But first: Best Buy. As somewhat expected, the monitor I was interested in wasn't in stock (not even a shelf model!) and after an hour of looking over the various brands, sizes, resolutions, contrast, etc, I was wavering between a 19" and a 22" widescreen. There was an older man on his cell phone, pacing the monitor aisle and generally annoying me with his work conversation and in-the-way-ness. Are you gonna chat, or are you gonna browse? Make up your mind, fucker!

When I realized the 19" I'd almost settled on ($150 less) wasn't in stock, and knowing that I'd kick myself for not getting the bigger screen as desired, I finally went with my original plan to purchase a 22" flat widescreen. It's by LG, with 3000:1 contrast, which blew all the others like it out of the water. It was $379, but hell, ya know? Might as well. And after a brief chat with a Best Buy guy ("LG's are good, great contrast, blah blah"), I was astonished to discover he'd never heard of Second Life. I'm a bigger geek than the guy who walks around wearing a headpiece for a living at Best Buy? Yet, how cool. I told him a bit about SL, including the fact that prostitution's legal there. He was kinda cute. I suppose I'm gearing up for SLeek sex.

ANYHOO, I put the monitor on my credit card as well, toted it out of the store and realized that all told, I'd only spent a little over $1000. Which, after all the research I'd been doing, trying to find THE RIGHT SYSTEM, is hundreds less than what I thought I'd pay.

Now, if my DSL works...and the new PC...and the monitor...and Second Life...ALL TOGETHER, I'll be in heaven. And possibly, business, if no one sells the kinda 4" heels I have in mind. If you build it, they will come. Damn straight! By the way, if I built a field of dreams in Second Life, would you visit me? In the corn? In "New Iowa"? I'll give you a free pass to see what's behind those stalks of corn, baby. But it'll cost your friend there $25 Lindens.

*smirk*

Listening to: Robin Thicke's "When I Get You Alone"

P.S. At the store I found -- OMG! -- Blue Bell ice cream. From the little creamery in Brenham, Texas! I actually saw a billboard advertising it on the way back from Best Buy, and had to shake my head to remember which state I was in. Noooooo way! Kentucky has Blue Bell now? When I found it in the frozen section at Kroger, the homemade 'nilla ice cream around my chocolate chip cookie dough heart melted. There IS A GOD. Of course, I bought some. And Hershey's hot fudge sauce (just like being back in Houston with mom!). And even more strange, the cashier and bagger lady (looks like a bag lady, I'm tellin' you) were all chatty and friendly. We talked about the weather, and the bird seed and wildlife mix I was buying for the squirrels and bunnies. They seemed so OPEN and INTO ME. You know that feeling? When people seem unusually drawn to you? I can be chatty and whatnot, but this was weird. Maybe it was because I was in such a sunny mood and they picked up on it. Or maybe it was the weather. Or that they sense I know the way beyond the corn....