It’s always an amazing experience to get a new desktop or laptop, open it, and admire it. The way it looks… the way it feels… the way the keys click nicely under your fingers.
…
And then you start setting it up as you want it, and it’s really quite disappointing. It happened with my last computer (this Dell). It’s happening with my new one.

Finally opened the HP laptop I bought today (decided to keep it) and started setting it up. First thing I noticed was the abundance of useless programs installed. Easy right? Just do a clean OS install and then start building it. Well, this laptop didn’t come with any OS or driver CDs… they’ve been replaced by a “System recovery” feature that eats up some of the hard drive (about ~12 GB) and allows for “complete or partial reinstllation of the system to factory specifications,” so that option is out.
Meh, fine, whatever. I’ll just uninstall stuff I don’t want.
I go to install Microsoft Office with the CD I have. Looks good. Go and start it.
It wants a CD key.
I already gave it a CD key.
*tries the key from the software again*
*doesn’t work*
Hm…
*continues to try*
Long story short, the trial version of Office that came preinstalled was conflicting with my installation, and I couldn’t remedy it by doing a complete uninstall and reinstall of Office. Ended up having to register and activate the trial version, THEN uninstall it, and then install my full version. Here’s hoping it worked.
Besides that, the max screen resolution is also lower than this computer (my old broken Dell) despite it having a bigger screen.
Meh, oh well. It’s still a very nice laptop, and it’s light as hell for the power that it packs. Gonna install more stuff on it tomorrow and start switching over to it.

Dad’s coming home from the hospital tomorrow. Yay.

Yesterday was Vicki’s last weekend here (before she heads off to Rice University), so I spent the afternoon/evening with her, David, Jennie, Laura, and Margaret. Was good. We played some ITG (on my laptop with pads) and Time Crisis 3, then watched Fantastic 4 and Rent and went to get coffee.

Today I saw Katie. We went to lunch and talked. Whee.

Um… yeah. My life is boring.

Went to visit my dad in the hospital today. He seems to be doing well, I think. I honestly didn’t spend that much time in the room. Hospitals kinda give me the creeps.

Went to Gameworks with David today, and he won me a stuffed Shadow from the claw game. David rules. <3 Shadow. Also beat House of the Dead 4 with him. The final boss isn’t that hard… then again, we went through about $20 worth of points to beat the game (which, at Gameworks, isn’t really that much). Meh.

Apparently there’s some sort of terrorist thingy going on right now? My mom says they’re not allowing gels or liquids as carry-ons, but are allowing them in checked baggage, since they recieved a threat of a liquid bomb or something. Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t it be more prudent to disallow liquids in checked baggage? I mean, unless liquid bombs require human intervention to set off (I know nothing about them; they very well could), it would be better for a terrorist to stick one in baggage, check it, and then not get on the plane, no?
Meh.
This is why I don’t read newspapers or listen to the news anymore. The world is exploding.
Speaking of exploding, is there still stuff going on in Israel and Lebanon? I heard they were fighting each other or something. Blah.

Humans suck. Why can’t we all just get along? And why couldn’t the US just mind its own business instead of invading Iraq and Afghanistan and pissing off all the Muslims?

No picture. Still not in the mood for photography.

My life is breaking :(

My laptop now slows down to a crawl after being used for more than a day straight. Whether or not this is due to my roommate’s forced powering-off or not is unknown… all I know is it never had any problems running iTunes + Photoshop + Trillian + Windows Explorer before, and now it chokes.
Blah.
Maybe it’s time to get a new laptop. This one is like 4 years old.

The CD player in my car is unhappy. It randomly turns off at random times. Redundantly too, apparently.

Netzero is being unhappy and randomly deciding to end my internet session.

At least my iPod hasn’t broken… yet.

The CD I ordered on Monday arrived today. Yay for Amazon Marketplace vendors having amazingly fast shipping!

Today was lunch with Amanda. It was yummy. Saw “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” last night with Vicki, David, Jennie, and Margaret. It was actually really good and well done and whee. I guess I’d recommend it…
Pat’s back!
*dances*
I should call him and see if he’s free tonight for stuff.

Um… yeah.
I guess I’m supposed to post a picture.

Kat doesn’t like caffeine free diet coke.

Edit: Um, okay, so my laptop really is broken. The fan isn’t working… and so it overheats and powers itself off a lot.
…
I need to buy a new laptop. Any suggestions?