Yep. Lost another one. Now I am currently using an extremely overpriced and very temporary power supply from Best Buy. Which will be returned as soon as the new one I'm going to order in the next 20 minutes gets here. Seriously, who charges $80 for a 430W power supply? I can get a comparable one for less than half that online. And don't try and tell me that the SATA connectors cost an extra $40, because I'm pretty sure they don't.
In Other News, I have recently found out where half of the last chase scene in The Italian Job came from. MacGyver episode #3, Thief of Budapest. Everything from the signal manipulation, to the red, white, and blue Mini Coopers, to the underground driving. I was a wee bit surprised. And very amused.
[EDIT] Ardith gets zero points for not finishing her research in her hurry to spend money online. See, the original version of the movie came out in 1969 as Wilson so aptly pointed out. This means, of course, that I shall have to sign up for Netflix, and watch the original version. And then draw up a lovely diagram pointing out all the similarities and differences between the three, and send it to Wilson for his birthday.
That's right, contrary to popular opinion, you are actually not supposed to put a gash in your thumb with the food processor blade. It makes using knives difficult. I expect I shall have a nasty scar after it heals, and from the current lack of pain, I suspect I did something to a few nerves. But at least I didn't get hit with an axe like Moore did. And I can still mostly type, and I can still drive a stick, so it's all good. XD
Tonight I shall have to go see Batman Begins. I'd be seeing it in an IMAX theater, but the one here is very closely associated with the Science Center. And so the are showing Forces of Nature right now. Or something equally educational. So sad...
I think I'm starting to get a good feel for what work's going to be like. And I'm enjoying it. I've probably learned more in the last week and a half than in an average month at school. The college education definitely helped; I had a foundation to work with, but there's still a lot to pick up. And a lot to get used to. Working on a huge project is just so much different from anything I've done before, even the group projects. I never actually had to use a revision control system before, and now I check out every file before I can change it. However, I get to use UltraEdit for coding, and we're using gcc, so I don't have to deal with Microsoft's compiler, or even Eclipse. Only the second week, and I've started doing real work. That's better than I expected.
On the downside, I do have to deal with Rational Rose once in awhile. But things are finally starting to click now; once I've seen how it's used in a bigger project, UML makes a lot more sense.
Lots of fun, definitely. The people I work with are great; really helpful, and friendly to boot. Plus, I got my first paycheck last Friday. I promptly went out and bought a set of Firefly DVD's, went to a movie, and bought cookbooks.
Oh, and paid bills. It's really nice to be able to pay bills ahead of time. Really, really nice.
I also got stuff besides boxed dinners and canned soup to make dinner with. I made stir fry with top sirloin steak the other night, and it was the best I've ever tasted. Cooking is soooo worth waiting an extra 30-60 minutes for dinner when I get home.
Next on the agenda is research for a new/new-to-me car, and furniture. I want to have a couch again. And a desk. Any bright and intelligent suggestions?
So, watching network television the past few days without a remote control for the tv has made me sit through a few commercials. Mostly because I'm too lazy to get up and change the channel. However, I have gained an amazing new insight into the world around me; the fashion world in particular.
Someone decided to let the 70's back in. Unfortunately.
After seeing one too many Old Navy commercials for their Brand New peasant skirts, I realized I am doomed to see what I thought I had fortunately missed by a couple of decades. I'm sure not everything trendy in the 70's was horrible. Just the vast majority of it.
Of course you all realize what this means. Yep. In 5-10 years, we will once again be living in the 80's. I hope you're looking forward to it.
Today I got my new Iowa Driver's License. And it only took 30 minutes, too!
Of course, they hid the place in an out-of-the-way strip mall on the far side of Cedar Rapids. They're lucky I'm good at finding places now. Which is not always an easy task, here, let me tell you. Allow me to digress a minute...
...when you first unfold one of those large city maps that show every street, are impossible to fold back up, and the local Walmart charges you an astronomical price for, you look it and think to yourself: "How hard can this be? Sure, there are a lot of streets, but about half of them seem pretty straight, and this being Iowa, we don't have the everpresent loop-of-highway-around-the-town. There's one big highway that goes through it, and another that crosses it at about the middle. Sort of. Easy, no?"
No. Allow me to give you a small example. The library, according to all the vast resources at my disposal, is on 1st St. SE. Watch out for that little SE. It's important. See, Cedar Rapids is divided into four 'quadrants' by US 380 and the Cedar River. And because of this fact, most streets have NW, NE, SW, or SE after their names. Some of the big ones get away with just W or E. But that's beside the point. Because these streets have these extra identifiers, someone, in their infinite wisdom, said:
"Let's name streets running parallel to the river the same thing on both sides! 1st Streets next to the river on either side, and moving out from that! It'll be cool! And then we can have number avenues running perpendicular to the river! In fact, we can pull this trick lots of places!"
End result: There are two completely different 1st Streets in Cedar Rapids, and 1st Avenue intersects them both. And we're not even going to hit the multiple repetitions of letter-named-streets/avenues, or the fact that Edgewood Parkway runs roughly parallel to Edgewood Road. For all of its very short existence.
Yep. The road planner(s) should be shot.
But all in all, it's not too bad of a little city. I got my driver's license after only a half-hour, and it would have been shorter had the guy not mistyped my address three times. And then had to start all over.
Besides. There's a IMAX theater. And I rather suspect they'll be showing Batman Begins when it comes out.
*crosses fingers*