All this and more hummus, too.

August 7, 2003

So I’m sitting at home today, all showered and dry after going for a jog in the heat and sun this afternoon (I know, I know, you don’t have to say that I shouldn’t exercise outside during the day), sitting in my beanbag chair waiting for “La Femme Nikita” to start, and the phone rings. I was expecting a couple of phone calls, but on the other end was my sister, needing my presence by the side of Highway 26 in order to pick her up after her car had broken down. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon, but hey, she’s my sister, not to mention I don’t have caller ID to screen calls. She asked me if I left a swarmy away message on AOL Instant Messenger when I left, but since I forgot, that’ll do as a substitute. I ended up loaning her my car for a day a opr so until her car gets fixed, so I’m currently stranded. The intereesting thing about not having a car is that you feel so cut off and helpless, unable to go anywhere, even though if you ACTUALLY had a car you may not go anywhere regardless. Or is that just me? That’s how I felt at school, in any case.

I’ve been shopping (not with the express intention of buying, but I’ll have money at some point) for a new monitor for the last few months since I realized that my 19″ ViewSonic monitor was on the fritz, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I want an LCD and not a CRT monitor. I mean, I’ve always wanted to get an LCD instead of a new CRT, but since LCDs do come at a premium, I had always kept that option open. I’ve actually been following LCD prices for about five or six years now, and it’s quite amazing that the size LCD I’ve wanted that once went for $5,000 now sells for around $600. That’s still pretty pricey, but I think that I can make sacrifices so that I don’t have to spend that much. I think I found a great LCD model, plus it’s less than $400, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be sold anywhere, and the websote of the company that makes it (Hyundai) seems to be…missing…from the Internet. For lack of a better word. Aargh. Well, it’s not like I have money at the moment, but as I said, I will someday. Sure, my 17″ monitor WORKS, but not too well. The picture quality is good, it’s bright (unlike my bigger monitor), but I have to run it at an uncomfortable screen size. At the size I ran on my big monitor, I can see the screen flickering. At the biggest size I can run without the flicker, there isn’t enough room on the screen plus everything is all stretched out. I guess I was just spoiled on my big monitor. Of course, there IS one other option, and that’s to get my big monitor repaired, but I think that it will most likely cost about $150. Cheaper than a new screen, I suppose. I’ll give the place that my Dad used to get his monitor replaced a call, hopefully it’ll be less than I think. That would be the ideal solution…well, maybe not. The ideal solution RIGHT NOW.

Tomorrow my Mom and I are finally going to CostCo again. We were going to go about three other times, but she kept putting it off. My Dad asked me to go to Walla Walla with him a few weeks ago on a business trip, but I turned him down because I’d already promised my Mom I’d help her with stuff at CostCo. Alas, we didn’t go that time, although don’t get the wrong idea, I did have other stuff I had to do. I always like CostCo just to see what they have in stock, because usually they have neat things like oil drums full of raisins, tankers of juice, that sort of thing. I’m sure I’ll find something interesting to occupy my time.

So for the rest of the evening I’m going to watch some TV, then head to bed. About the same as last night, and the night before, and the night before….

I *ama* going out at some point next week. Honest.

Posted in Geekery, General