Oh noes, it's teh XP-ocalypse

I have spent far more money this month than I would have liked, but I suppose it was inevitable.

I went down to Altex on Tuesday and special ordered a new computer. I had saved up some for it since late last year, but not quite enough to cover the actual cost. I have extra right now though, so it's not a problem. I guess it was wishful thinking that I could get a computer for the amount I had saved that would nicely run the software I use. Anyway, it cost less than the one I'm on right now, which is almost six years old, and the manager knocked some off the price because I had a quote for something similar from Dell. They came in $200 under what Dell was pitching. I hope it lasts as long as this one. I also decided since there's really nothing wrong with the computer I'm on, except that the OS is no longer going to be supported, and it is 32-bit and Autodesk, in their infinite wisdom, er, I mean them being in bed with Microsoft (I told that to some students and they giggled, and then I laughed at them because it was funny) not creating 32 bit versions of their software, despite all that, that I would like to keep using it, maybe as a render farm. I'm not sure how to set that up, but I might can figure it out.

At any rate, I have no space on this little rickety computer desk that I'm currently using. It came from the Wal-Mart about seven or so years ago, and is really a waste of space. The shape makes it so that you can't really put anything but a monitor on it, and it takes up a lot of floor space nevertheless. Right now, my tower is on top of my short bookcase, because you seriously cannot fit a tower on this computer table. So, I got to thinking I'd like some raw furniture that I could stain myself that might be sturdy enough to put two towers and a monitor on, but the stuff is like $300. I had the brilliant idea of looking on Craigslist yesterday, and lo and behold, I found a desk for $80 that was real wood that came from the store I was looking at. I went over and took a look at it after class this evening, and it looks great. And they knocked $5 off the price because the lower shelf was a little loose, and the guy said I'd need to reinforce it. They were very nice. This is actually the first time I've ever bought anything off Craigslist, and I gotta say, if I need furniture I should look there first. Anyway, it fit in the back of my Mazda Tribute, and so I have it out there now. Maybe I can get it set up tomorrow. I don't know when Altex will have my computer ready, but I'm looking forward to it now. When I realized that I really needed to just go ahead and get a new one, I was kinda sad about it. But maybe the VPN won't jack up my IP address when I log off of it on Windows 8.1, and maybe explorer won't randomly decide not to load when logging in.

Now, no more spending. Next up is hopefully writing a nice check to hubby's student loan servicer. 

Cold Front

I woke up this morning (actually it was after noon, on Sundays I don't set an alarm and get up when I wake up) and realized that I really needed to blow out my computer with some canned air. The thing attracts dust like there's no tomorrow. I took it out on the porch, and it was looking like it might rain. It was about sixty degrees. I came back in and cleaned off my desk, for the first time in months. I should really keep it cleaner, but I've always been the sort who 'has better things to do' than clean. After breakfast I noticed that the temperature had dropped to fifty-five. Right now, it's thirty degrees, and I just checked the weather and it's supposed to be twenty-five tonight! It was nearly ninety the other day. At any rate, good thing I cleaned out my computer first thing. We didn't get any rain, which really sucks. We need rain badly.

That is all I have accomplished today. Breakfast and cleaning my desk and computer. I feel like I should do something, but it's cold outside. That's a good excuse right?