Max and Tyler’s blog

New rig – running

Originally uploaded by tb0n3z

All of our computers are named after Farscape characters. This one has been christened D’Argo, because it’s big and powerful (and because my last “mothership” named Moya is taking up residence in the media room with the TV as a media box, and I didn’t feel like changing its name).

You get 20 geek points if you can tell me which two Farscape characters shared this name.

Best moments of the afternoon: 1) turning the power on and not seeing sparks or smelling smoke, and 2) finding out that World of Warcraft does not need to be completely reinstalled (3 versions going back to 2004) but just runs. Yay for forethought and installing it on the drive that was moving to the new rig. Overall, I haven’t set up a new rig in 3+ years, and I am so impressed. Everything has moved over very nicely, it took about 5 min to have all my thunderbird email and firefox addons/bookmarks in place. The only thing I had to upgrade – or pay to upgrade, anyway – was Nero 6 which didn’t support Vista. So far Vista 64 has no issues with my frequently used software, we’ll see how it goes.

People keep bugging me for stuff I would like for Christmas (usual answer: nothing!), so I figured I would just add junk to my Amazon wishlist and use that.    Amazon now lets you add any web page to your wishlist even if it isn’t something Amazon sells, which is very useful.  So here’s my ongoing wishlist.  I added a bunch of items in various price ranges to it.  You should also be able to see my sub-lists that contain Discworld and X-Men stuff that I don’t have yet, I think, if you click around. 

Most of this stuff you can buy in stores, you don’t have to buy from Amazon.  The Thinkgeek stuff is probably not going to be found anywhere else, at least it’s not likely. 

And again, um, nothing is good too.   

Our new(to us) car – the Element

Originally uploaded by tb0n3z

We bought a new (used) car! A 2003 Honda Element. With 2 dogs and now a host home youth living and traveling with us, the tiny cars just weren’t cutting it anymore. Plus the 92 Accord was sadly on its last legs. We were lucky enough to find one (people don’t give these up often) with one owner, dealer trade-in, 4wd, and the EX package which includes a jack for mp3 player, decent stereo, and roof rack. Mileage is a bit high but Hondas go forever (the 92 is at 280,000 and climbing).

There’s one thing about this vehicle, people either love it or hate it. Is it ugly? Is it funky? Who cares, all I know is you can darn near hose it out if it gets dirty. One of the most functional SUVs on the market. And the gas mileage is ONE mpg worse than our tiny 99 Chevy Cavalier.