April Updates
To spare you the pile of fake content scrolling across your screen today I'll give you a real honest to goodness update.
Big news is that Fox is still here. She had a setback recently where the condo she was looking at got a cash offer and her lender was fired after the realtor asked why he wasn't doing anything. She got a new lender and in the process got a much better loan. We're looking into several places for her still but the biggest hurdle is that a lot of loan companies don't want to loan money to someone buying a condo or townhome because they assume the person is going to rent it. Which limits you to places that have 'no renters' as a policy.
We found a new kennel for her pets in the meantime. The previous one was getting snarky with us and actually accused Fox of wasting her money for kenneling them. My theory is that the vet used the cat kennel room to let her toddler play in his playpen and when the room was being used for its purpose she couldn't do that. Considering that they were costing Fox roughly $50 a day you'd think they could be a little nicer. Oh well.
The new place is cheaper and MUCH better. They will also send photos of the pets and were perfectly fine with letting Fox visit as much as she wants. We got her youngest cat, Luna, spayed before boarding her but roomed Tigger there pretty quickly. The kennel has a much more open space for cats to chill out and they even use aromatherapy and play videos for them. It's pretty cool. I'd describe the place as more of a big pet playhouse instead of a kennel.
Still, Fox is doing okay although a bit frustrated. When the realtor suggested she look into renting temporarily it sent her into a minor anxiety spiral, but some ice cream therapy and busy work seem to have helped with that. And the next day we found out that the original condo unit that she had thought she had lost was back on the market again! Huzzah!
I still consider myself a grumpy introvert, but Uriel and I both get along just fine with Fox. Mostly because she is an introvert as well and doesn't dive in and hover in our personal space. She buys her own food, keeps to her own space, and is happy to help out. It works out nicely. Saying that, I hope she finds a place soon seeing as how she's getting more and more frustrated with how long this process is taking.
As for myself, I've had some good business lately and hoarded the money for improving some things I've needed to do. Last year I upgraded my computer to a new AMD processor and I found out that the brand I picked tends to run hot. More than once my computer shut down before it overheated.
(As an aside, although I like talking computers, I dislike it when people feel the need to swoop in and tell me how I've screwed up on blah blah, I don't need blah blah blah, or that their blah blah blah is far more uber than mine. Please don't do this.)
So, first thing I did was head to the TigerDirect outlet (formerly CompUSA) only to learn that they were closing. Bummer. On the good side I snagged a Corsair H100i water cooler for 20% off. I also looked into cases as the one I had was crowded and I wasn't sure it would have room to fit the watercooler's fans. I finally settled on a Corsair Vengeance C70. It's still a mid tower but is bigger than the last one I had. To save some money I bought the standard black although it comes in army green as well. You military geeks might be interested in knowing that it looks like a giant ammo can. Check it: http://amzn.to/1GfAITO I was drawn to it because it is metal, and has handles.
The fellow who normally does my computer repairs has semi retired and so I looked into some other place. Thanks to the internet I can check reviews for places and found a reliable place. I brought my box in early in the afternoon and picked it up in the late afternoon with new case and CPU cooler installed. They also had a ton of refurb computers and laptops there. Something I'll keep in mind if I ever need to get a cheap thing for one reason or another.
So far the whole thing runs very quiet and there have been no problems so far. It plugged in nicely and set back up quickly. Plus the guys at the repair shop were nice. I talked gaming and streaming games with the guy and traded tips and ideas. I joked about how I doubled my RAM because someone had once told me that a girl like me didn't need much RAM. Tell me something like that and I will stuff my box with so much RAM... (I currently have 32 gigs)
I also decided I was sick of crappy keyboards so I researched and finally bought a better one. I got a mechanical keyboard with a brand called Das Keyboard: http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional It's a solid thing that gives me very loud key clicking feedback. They also have quieter ones but I like the loud ones. And yes I know that the old IBM keyboards are better and more awesome and blah blah blah. I like what I have. They were made to be easy to clean at least and the letters on the keys are etched in so they won't wear off with use. Plus I dig the USB ports on the side. Mainly though, I like that this keyboard will probably last me through the next decade. And dude, German engineering!
So far, I freaking love it. And the new system needs to get pushed all to heck before it will even consider getting hotter than 115f when before it idled there far more than I preferred.
I own a 1994 Toyota Camry. It looks like a pile of crap, but since I work at home I don't need anything fancy. I just need a car that drives. Unfortunately we were having issues where the battery was draining, the window washer fluid was leaking, the air conditioner wasn't working, and a tire had gone flat. I feared that I was going to be looking up more than two grand in repairs, but so far the estimate is half that. Still a cringe worthy chunk, but it isn't going to drain every last cent of the money I had set aside for car repairs either.
The rundown seems to be that there's a faulty circuit board that will be replaced, and a broken antenna motor that is contributing to the battery drain. That will get disconnected as it isn't even really used anyway. The rest are mostly just gaskets that need to be replaced after going bad, and a part near the timing belt that was wobbling and asking to explode later. I like this better than having to replace the whole a/c compressor in the car and things like that. I'm also really grateful that I've had enough of a boon in sales and donations to be able to afford it at all as, despite not driving much, I still do need a car.
I'd like to get the thing repainted some day, but I'm okay with having an ugly car so long as it still drives.
Big news is that Fox is still here. She had a setback recently where the condo she was looking at got a cash offer and her lender was fired after the realtor asked why he wasn't doing anything. She got a new lender and in the process got a much better loan. We're looking into several places for her still but the biggest hurdle is that a lot of loan companies don't want to loan money to someone buying a condo or townhome because they assume the person is going to rent it. Which limits you to places that have 'no renters' as a policy.
We found a new kennel for her pets in the meantime. The previous one was getting snarky with us and actually accused Fox of wasting her money for kenneling them. My theory is that the vet used the cat kennel room to let her toddler play in his playpen and when the room was being used for its purpose she couldn't do that. Considering that they were costing Fox roughly $50 a day you'd think they could be a little nicer. Oh well.
The new place is cheaper and MUCH better. They will also send photos of the pets and were perfectly fine with letting Fox visit as much as she wants. We got her youngest cat, Luna, spayed before boarding her but roomed Tigger there pretty quickly. The kennel has a much more open space for cats to chill out and they even use aromatherapy and play videos for them. It's pretty cool. I'd describe the place as more of a big pet playhouse instead of a kennel.
Still, Fox is doing okay although a bit frustrated. When the realtor suggested she look into renting temporarily it sent her into a minor anxiety spiral, but some ice cream therapy and busy work seem to have helped with that. And the next day we found out that the original condo unit that she had thought she had lost was back on the market again! Huzzah!
I still consider myself a grumpy introvert, but Uriel and I both get along just fine with Fox. Mostly because she is an introvert as well and doesn't dive in and hover in our personal space. She buys her own food, keeps to her own space, and is happy to help out. It works out nicely. Saying that, I hope she finds a place soon seeing as how she's getting more and more frustrated with how long this process is taking.
As for myself, I've had some good business lately and hoarded the money for improving some things I've needed to do. Last year I upgraded my computer to a new AMD processor and I found out that the brand I picked tends to run hot. More than once my computer shut down before it overheated.
(As an aside, although I like talking computers, I dislike it when people feel the need to swoop in and tell me how I've screwed up on blah blah, I don't need blah blah blah, or that their blah blah blah is far more uber than mine. Please don't do this.)
So, first thing I did was head to the TigerDirect outlet (formerly CompUSA) only to learn that they were closing. Bummer. On the good side I snagged a Corsair H100i water cooler for 20% off. I also looked into cases as the one I had was crowded and I wasn't sure it would have room to fit the watercooler's fans. I finally settled on a Corsair Vengeance C70. It's still a mid tower but is bigger than the last one I had. To save some money I bought the standard black although it comes in army green as well. You military geeks might be interested in knowing that it looks like a giant ammo can. Check it: http://amzn.to/1GfAITO I was drawn to it because it is metal, and has handles.
The fellow who normally does my computer repairs has semi retired and so I looked into some other place. Thanks to the internet I can check reviews for places and found a reliable place. I brought my box in early in the afternoon and picked it up in the late afternoon with new case and CPU cooler installed. They also had a ton of refurb computers and laptops there. Something I'll keep in mind if I ever need to get a cheap thing for one reason or another.
So far the whole thing runs very quiet and there have been no problems so far. It plugged in nicely and set back up quickly. Plus the guys at the repair shop were nice. I talked gaming and streaming games with the guy and traded tips and ideas. I joked about how I doubled my RAM because someone had once told me that a girl like me didn't need much RAM. Tell me something like that and I will stuff my box with so much RAM... (I currently have 32 gigs)
I also decided I was sick of crappy keyboards so I researched and finally bought a better one. I got a mechanical keyboard with a brand called Das Keyboard: http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional It's a solid thing that gives me very loud key clicking feedback. They also have quieter ones but I like the loud ones. And yes I know that the old IBM keyboards are better and more awesome and blah blah blah. I like what I have. They were made to be easy to clean at least and the letters on the keys are etched in so they won't wear off with use. Plus I dig the USB ports on the side. Mainly though, I like that this keyboard will probably last me through the next decade. And dude, German engineering!
So far, I freaking love it. And the new system needs to get pushed all to heck before it will even consider getting hotter than 115f when before it idled there far more than I preferred.
I own a 1994 Toyota Camry. It looks like a pile of crap, but since I work at home I don't need anything fancy. I just need a car that drives. Unfortunately we were having issues where the battery was draining, the window washer fluid was leaking, the air conditioner wasn't working, and a tire had gone flat. I feared that I was going to be looking up more than two grand in repairs, but so far the estimate is half that. Still a cringe worthy chunk, but it isn't going to drain every last cent of the money I had set aside for car repairs either.
The rundown seems to be that there's a faulty circuit board that will be replaced, and a broken antenna motor that is contributing to the battery drain. That will get disconnected as it isn't even really used anyway. The rest are mostly just gaskets that need to be replaced after going bad, and a part near the timing belt that was wobbling and asking to explode later. I like this better than having to replace the whole a/c compressor in the car and things like that. I'm also really grateful that I've had enough of a boon in sales and donations to be able to afford it at all as, despite not driving much, I still do need a car.
I'd like to get the thing repainted some day, but I'm okay with having an ugly car so long as it still drives.