Wednesday 27 June 2007

Pic of the day: Black metal monster... computer. And yes, this is the wallpaper in my home office. In my defense, I only rent this house.

Monster PC returns!

Well, it may not be monstrous today, but it was pretty good back when it was new, in the spring of 2006, and it has even had an upgraded video card since then. True, 1GB RAM is a bit mediocre by today's standard. But a 10 000 rpm hard disk goes a long way to make up for it. A faster hard disk means quicker loading of everything the first time, when it is not in memory. And it also means swapping is faster, when you need to use virtual memory. I may not splurge on a 10 000 rpm disk next time, mainly because next time is probably a Dell again and they don't offer this option. But it is slightly habit-forming.

But by now, of course, I am in the habit of using my Dell Laptop instead. I have been doing that since spring, when the Monster broke. I waited way too long with handing it in, because I hate taking taxi and I hate carrying the big heavy thing. It may be light as a baby when you pick it up, but after ten minutes it feels more like an elephant baby.

I got to test this effect today again. I picked it up in the other end of downtown from where the bus and taxi station was. As I made my way across the first street crossing, I thought to myself: This time I won't waste money on a taxi. It is only like 6 minutes walk home from the bus station. And then 500 meters (yards) later I was like Why isn't there a taxi station in the middle of downtown instead of on the very edge??. (In all fairness, there used to be. At least closer to the middle. Haven't seen it in a few years though.)

As I approached the bus and taxi terminal (which are side by side) my bus was already there and almost ready to go. I remembered an article from Readers Digest from when I was still a kid, an article that claimed that the muscles are fully restored after 20 minutes of rest. If you felt tired after that, it must be the brain. (Of course, another article claimed that the brain had almost no limits...) Anyway, I decided to save the ridiculously expensive cab fare (not to mention the humiliation of having to tip). I took the bus. Readers Digest was wrong.

Even so, and despite the walk taking more than 6 minutes when carrying a heavy black metal block, I managed to get home without my arms reaching the ground. Though they did feel longer than usual. I'll probably do this again the next time it needs repair. But perhaps I should exercise my upper body more. The bow hasn't seen much use lately, which is really a shame since I have this big garden to bowyer in. Probably not until the landlord leaves at the end of July, though. Would not want to accidentally skewer someone.

Anyway, it's back! With my favorite tools... and favorite distractions.