I just threw out five years of my childhood. I kept the box, though.

A very special birthday wish goes out to my sister, Erica, on her 21st birthday. Congratulations and have an excellent day, sis. Hope you make good tips at work and make it home to celebrate sometime soon.

Spent another night at David's and we watched Shrek 2, Black Hawk Down, and Dodgeball. None of which were particularly good, but it was fun hanging out with David regardless.

Shrek 2 was exactly like the original in terms of style, humor, and pacing, so I was entertained- just don't make me watch it again anytime soon. Black Hawk Down reminded me of Windtalkers, and it was a typical I'mJerryBruckheimerAndILoveExplosions movie, so I didn't get too bored. Dodgeball was probably the worst of the three, where Stiller's antics hardly pass as evil (funny or serious), Vaughn's "good guy" portrayal/acting consisted of him doing nothing, and seeing grown men (including Milton from Office Space) being pegged in the crotch and face with dodgeballs got boring after the third shot.

I also ended up ordering my new college computer online from Dell.

Specs:
Intel Pentium 4 Processor
MS Windows XP OS
512 MB memory
Dell keyboard
17 inch monitor
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 graphics card
80 GB hard drive
3.5 floppy and dual DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives
Dell optical USB mouse
56K modem and Ethernet card
5.1 Dolby Digital sound card and two A425 speakers w/subwoofer

plus
Norton Anitvirus and MusicMatch trials
limited three year warranty
Belkin SurgeMaster Gold Protector
Del A920 All in One Printer
and 2 Day shipping

all my software can be purchased at Purdue for $5

which means the computer will be here by the end of the week
all for a few dollars past $1,300
which leaves me with a little spending money left over (graduation money)
*wrings hands*

Thanks David, for the help, and thanks Dan, even though I didn't go to Best Buy or build my computer custom. You'll be the man for cheap upgrades.

Down the road I probably will want to upgrade the computer (of course). This computer, however, puts me in a position so that later down the road, I get to spend money upgrading the computer or components (like Eric and David) rather than having to buy a whole new one. I'm very excited to have my own computer, finally, so I can customize and mess around with it all I want. Me. Mine. Just my computer.

Future upgrades:
*if any performance issues arise, first upgrade is more memory
*perhaps beef up the disk drives
*purchase a flatscreen monitor
*if I end up with time and money for some hardcore gaming, I need a better graphics card and a heavier optical mouse
*once free of dorm decibel restrictions, I'd like some kickass speakers and the accompanying sound card