I Took A Pretty Good Picture

As many of you know, I like to take pictures. Im not a photographer, not in the least. I have only a rudimentary understanding of camera settings and very rarely am able to use them effectively (more often I just take the picture without monkeyin' with the camera).
If I ever get about $1k I could just throw at something, I'd probably purchase myself one of those nifty digital SLR cameras. They're all crazy with their manual zoom, manual focus, and no shutter delay. Basically, its a camera that makes all the pictures you take with it awesome. Its almost magical.

Here's one I took last night. I usually take about 12 at a time, and keep one or two that turn out well. Here's last night's good picture.




PS.
My computer worked for 12 hours last night, through jostling, heavy use and extreme heat. COULD ATOMSK BE HEALED (again)!?

Last Ditch

In a last-ditch effort, im opening Atomsk's pretty alu-minium shell and will swab his gentle innards with water soaked Q-Tips.

I have purchased all the necessary equipment and with the aide of this guide I'll be playing computer doctor.

Farewell, Atomsk

Atomsk, my dearly beloved laptop purchased such a short while ago in large part from my loving parents, is (effectively) dead. When taken to the Apple Store, he was declared to be at DAMAGE TIER LEVEL 4. That's apparently bad. As in, DEFCON 4 THE SOVIETS HAVE GONE TO CONDITION RED bad. The man at the desk tells me it will run at least 1300 to repair him.

Though his data is still intact, I figure it is too late for him. I am exploring some options, but Im not too hopeful.

Right now, Im preparing for the worst.

The king is dead. We must prepare for succession.

THE MACBOOK
A solid choice. Small, cute, cheap and high-powered. However, it lacks any kind of decent graphics card and has an admitably small screen. Since I use my computer as a kind of entertainment center, this could be problematic.

THE MACBOOK PRO
Highpowered and wide (not thick), this is the heavy hitter of Apple's portables. A faster chip, larger screen and a nifty graphics card are its highpoints. But its price tag brushes past the WAY WAY TOO MUCH level.

THE IMAC
Best of both worlds, but stuck to the ground. A huge screen, a graphics card with more RAM and a hard drive the size of greate Milwaukee are just some of its dandy features which come at an equally dandy price. But its not exactly going to fit into my backpack.

PS.
I become E-FAMOUS! Try to find me on this page!

PPS.
As you can tell from these pictures, all the other bands were not nearly rocking hard enough. You ain't got time for gentle melodies if you rock so hard you have to wear a tamborine on your head! Go buy Mason Proper's album, or better yet see them live.

PPPS.
Also, get the new Wilco album. And see them live too.

The Lost RAM Saga

I just found a screw driver small enough to get the RAM access port open.

Low and behold. Kris was correct (no surprises there).

Holy RAM robbers, Batman! To the Apple Store!

I Am Upset With Apple

As many of you are no doubt aware, I have been having been difficulty with my computer as of late. It all began with my screen, which had taken to a kind of artistic streak whereby it would display completely insane mish-mash of insanity, the quality of which would give any "video artist" worth their skin a run for their money.

After a week of procrastination and frustration I finally dropped off the poor dear at the Apple Store. They declared that there was something very wrong with the video card, and told me that for $320 they would replace anything that was wrong with the sucker. It would take 7-10 days, during which time my computer would be shipped off to fashionable Texas to be worked on by a fat man named Paul - the kind of man who wears a polo shirt to work.

Three days later, I was told I could come pick up my laptop! I was overjoyed, to say the least! As I wafted in through the front of the 12 Oaks Mall Apple Store (there were no doors) I passed the new MacBooks which I had so recently been coveting with a slight feeling of disdain. My computer was allegedly as good as new and it was mine again.

I should have sensed that something was up when they booted the machine after informing me that the Logic Board had been replaced. During the boot cycle, the 'Oh Crap I Lost The Operating System' icon flashed for a few seconds before it booted normally. Curious.

The long and the short of this part of the story is that I took the sucker home and was tickled pink for about a day or two. However, I noticed that everything was running rather slowly. Oddly slowly. I didn't think much of it, but while checking for some unrelated information, I noticed that the computer had somehow convinced itself that there was only 256mb of RAM onboard.

'Huh,' I thought. "It was 1.25gb when I sent it off...'

I tried a few tricks, and roamed around the support section of Apple's website and finally called Kris - who is my number one lady in most concerns. She hypothesized that when my Logic Board was removed, that the RAM went with it and may have taken up permanent residence in Texas. This is bad.

Methinks another trip to the Apple Store is in store for myself and my computer machine o' tron.

UPDATE: Ok, now the sound doesn't work. I am officially upset.