Back, But Not Back-Back

I've been back in the States for more than a week now, just laying low and taking care of a few things that I've neglected for too long. And lots of laundry.

I have a good bit to write about, mostly because I am behind and need to catch up on the past couple weeks. If I'm honest though, I just haven't had the energy or the motivation to sit down and write of late. It frustrates me, so I am preparing for a self-inflicted forced-writing regiment. I have decided to broaden this blog out a little bit, because there's a lot more going on than just poker, and limiting myself to only a few subjects makes me not want to write about anything at all.

And to that end...

I just built myself a new computer, which I should spend a fair portion of my life sitting in front of if all goes according to plan. This PC is a huge step up from my last box, which I built several years ago around a starter Pentium 4 with crappy RAM. Setting out, I intended to just build something basic and quick this time, but ended up getting a bit carried away. For you nerds out there, this is what your mom stares at when she's under my desk:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
Asus P5Q Pro ATX motherboard
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Rosewill 500W power supply
G. Skill 4GB DDR2 1100 Dual Channel Memory
Western Digital Caviar 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Sony NEC Optiarc DVD+/-RW with LightScribe
Creative Sound Blaster 7.1 X-Fi Titanium
ASUS Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

... all packed inside a Cooler Master Centurion case and manipulated by a wonderful Logitech S510 Cordless Keyboard and Mouse that I found for cheap. I planned to build a $500 system but came out with a $1200 monster that I love instead. It's super fast, though I am becoming a bit frustrated by some of the software limitations of 64-bit. And I am still working some of the glitches out of my video card, it seems. I'd like to buy a nice set of speakers now to take advantage of my sound card, but it's not imperative.

I had two main intentions when I was setting up this system. Primarily, I wanted big speed for processing photos and videos and for rocking out the occasional graphically-intensive game. Mission accomplished. Secondly, I wanted to set up more of an office environment that would be conducive to daily blogging. I'm not sure if I've succeeded in that yet; only time will tell. But I am working to create a fully functional workspace where I can do some good, productive things.