The cycle begins again.
August 16, 2004
I wanted to write this weekend because I had little else to do, but I couldn’t muster up the mental powers I needed to write solidly. What I would have ended up with was a series of disjointed, completely irrelevant and pointless thoughts that lasted for about three lines apiece.
OK, so that wouldn’t be all that different than what I have now, but trust me, it would FEEL different.
I’ve just completed a transaction that will take my desktop computer through the end of 2005 without dragging its heels too much. Being shipped to me this week is a new 160 GB hard drive that I purchased for less than $100 and a new DVD-ROM drive. Not only will this allow me to pull a hard drive out of my computer for good (so long, 18 GB drive!), but it will allow me to play musical hard drives and make the new 160 GB drive my archive drive, the 80 GB drive I use as my archive drive as my C drive, and remove the drive I use as my C drive. I’m also completely ditching a storage technology that I’ve been using for about six or seven years now that’s long past its prime, was expensive to maintain and purchase new drives for, and requires me to keep an extra PCI card in my computer. Long story short, my computer got a much-needed peripheral upgrade without altering the core too much.
Nah, I leave that for my Dad to take care of on my behalf, willingly or not.
My generous father decided that instead of struggling over a PC that’s been sitting in my room at the apartment since the 4th of July weekend waiting for me to fix, he just went and bought a whole new PC. Yes, I had malingered and not takena look at his computer in a timely manner, but in my defense, this was somethign that he’d been thinking about for a long time. The end result, however, was that I got to scavenge parts from his “old” computer, including a new CPU, faster RAM, and a better power supply than what I have now. The power supply isn’t a big deal, but the CPU/RAM thing is nice. I had been a bit stuck with the whole CPU/RAM thing because in order to buy a new CPU, even a faster one costing me $60-$70, I would need to purchase new RAM to go along with it, which would run me almost $200, closer to $300 if I wanted to have the same amount of RAM I do now. That was unacceptable, but now, hey, I’m good for awhile. This should definitely last me until the end of 2005 at the very earliest. Combine that with a big new hard drive, and I’m back to being competitive with my computer again. Woo!
Not that it’s that important, mind you. But it feels good to have new PC parts again. Well, order them, at least. In other news, I started looking at apartments last week. Not in the “immediately seeking” category, but more of an informational thing learning how much I can expect to spend, what kind of space I’ll get, etc. My plan is that I’ll get my own place probably towards the end of the year/beginning of next year, and I don’t want to pay more than $600/month in rent. I know for that price it’s pretty much going to get me a studio, but I really don’t need much more than that. My preferred area to live in is northwest Portland, but that will raise the price of rent a bit, however, looking through the available apartments there I found a few good deals. I figure that by the time December or January rolls around, I will have both saved up a bit of money that I can use as moving/move-in expenses, plus I willo have gotten my second pay raise that’s to be expected in three months (more or that in a bit). I have a good deal of furniture already, and the rest I can either scavenge or do withou for awhile. Pretty much the biggest purchase I’ll need to make for that new chapter in my life will be a bed. Queen-sized. No more futon for Andrew. The futon will be kept and used as a couch, but a bed is a necessity. I’m tired of folding my bed up in the morning and then back down at night. My kitchen is pretty much taken care of with the exception of a toaster oven, and I still have stuff at my Mom’s house like a bookshelf, beanbag chair, dorm fridge, as well as another dresser full of computer stuff.
Some of the places I found seemed nice. I didn’t get an idea of square footage, but in terms of atmosphere the ad writers did a good job. One place was 2 bedrooms for $600/month, but it was in Beaverton, and I’d sort of like to get out of the suburbs. I really don’t particularly enjoy living in the ‘burbs, and I’d either rather just live in the country or be in the middle of downtown. I don’t know of a whole lot of apartment complexes in the country, though and I’m certainly not ready to sign a mortgage agreement, so that leaves me looking for apartments in the city. Let me tell you, though, I’m not looking forward to the daily drive. No matter where I live I’ll be driving up and down I-5 every day to work, which is my least favorite thing to do during rush hour. Yes, I could get a place closer to work in Beaverton, Tigard, or even Wilsonville, but frankly, I’d rather not. What if the office moves? What if I get a different job? Then I’ll be livign in a place that’s further away from work than I would be in the city. If I get another job sometime, it’ll be more in the city and not further outside it. Plus, living in the city will put me right in the middle of things which is where I like to be.
But it’s not something I have to seriously deal with for awhile. This computer purchase I just made was a planned purchase for the last six months or so, and I’d put it off long enough. Just gotta watch my finances and save a bit of cash, maybe get a loan floated from the parents if it comes to that at the time. But as I said, not a critical issue for awhile.
So yes, my second pay raise should come in three months, right before Christmas and before I was thinking of getting my own place. That means that I got my FIRST pay raise, yes? Yes. My boss came in and told me last week that I’d screwed up the payrool because he’d put in a raise for “Self” and the payroll company had given it to him instead of me. I guess they assumed that when you put in a raise for “Self” that means you want a raise for yourself? Something like that. I haven’t gotten the details of insurance yet, but I plan on bringing it up this week so that it can hopefully go on my next paycheck and I can get covered for health, dental, etc. In other words, I can start my adult life as a productive member of society. That’s right, I’m officially a cog in the great machine of capitalism. Woo! Mediocity and anonymity within society!
Boring weekend. Watched TV, read, cleaned up. There you have it. Now, back to work. I’ll write again soon.
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