My birthday present…

…to me was an extra 1 GB of memory in our desktop computer. It was 512 MB before; now it’s 1.5 GB. It flies. HWMBO is constantly observing that the machine is slow and I really need to take some stuff off it. Instead, I put some stuff on it. I also took the opportunity to vacuum the machine out (dust is flammable, you know) and remove the SCSI card which I no longer need since I bought the SCSI/USB adapter.

I used to put my own computers together; I only relented and bought this computer when my last home-brew’s power supply conked out. However, it’s good to keep your hand in by being able to replace memory, insert new hard disks, insert and remove cards, and generally be able to find your way around the inside of a computer. It’s out of warranty, so there are no consequences to opening it up.

As the machine is now faster, this was not only a present to me, it was a present to HWMBO too. The present that keeps on giving.

(psst!) I bought him his own domain name this week: www.liangtea.com. He doesn’t know it yet. I’m saving it up for his birthday next month.

5 Responses to “My birthday present…”

  1. legalmoose says:

    I’ve built my own computers for the last decade (Pee Cees, that is, not the iBook I’m currently using as my primary email/web machine) and I just can’t see going to a big company to get their crap. If it breaks, I fix it, and no going through tons of hassle. Ugh.

  2. spwebdesign says:

    And you know for a fact that HWMBO never reads your LJ? You might want to Friends’ lock this. 😉

  3. chrishansenhome says:

    Well, I’ve decided that since I can fix and upgrade computer equipment, it’s a good idea for me to actually buy something from Dell and then work on it at my leisure. And, to be honest, I’ve not had a problem with this computer (and we’ve had it for 2 years now).

    While I like building my own computers, it got to the point that I was swearing and getting very het up when I did it. Also, when they break down, there’s no one to blame but yourself…

    Your mileage may vary, of course.

  4. chrishansenhome says:

    Well, as he would read it on this computer, logged in as me, he could see it anyway. I don’t believe he reads it. But that would be OK; if he finds out before December 18th, so be it.

  5. boyshapedbox says:

    I hope you had a wonderful birthday! Here’s to a great year to follow!