haardvark | (no subject)

Since I only have 6 or 7 major projects I wanted to complete during the Christmas break, I decided yesterday to build a computer with the board I bought from

thinksnow some time last year (maybe even a whole year ago, yikes). Finding parts for it that I didn't already have has been a bit of an ordeal, but I _did_ get to see the greatest computer store in town:

Buried at the back of an industrial strip mall in Deepest Darkest Kitchener, the place was poorly signed, a warren of rooms filled with 1970's vintage green carpeting and dark wood panelling, reeking of cigarette smoke and filled everywhere with random piles of gear and stacks of old floppies (even the 10" ones). I wandered around for a few minutes and finally ran into this little troll of a dude, who seemed momentarily baffled that anyone had intruded into his space.

"Hanh?"

"Yeah....I...called about the socket A Athlon?"

"Hanh? Oh, yeah, what speed did I say I had?"

"Erm, 1800 I think?"

"Yeah? Huh. I wonder where it is..." And he proceeds to dig into random drawers, throwing random parts and chips over his shoulders and muttering to himself. At one point he presented me with three different chips in his tobacco stained mitts and said "These ADD UP to 1800, will that do?" When he finally located the right piece he looked me squarely in the eye and said "You're in luck, kid, I'm running a TAX FREE special, today only. Provided you pay cash, of course."

In the middle of all this there was a phone call apparently involving organ donation, but I elected not to eavesdrop too carefully.

Later the same day, I was looking at DVD burners with Lightscribe functionality, and the only thing I could think was, "No way, that's one less opportunity to break out a Sharpie!"

Christmas was....frantic. Blending of new families, lots of time spent driving back and forth with overtired kidlets, too much wine and bad food. Everyone had a good time. Santa was generous as always. (and in a tiny bit of LJ-dirtside convergence, one of my gifties was a book I requested based on an endorsement from, I believe,

postmoderngirl).

Now I just need to find a vintage cooling fan and I'm all set...