Polished Windows: My Windows 7 Experience

 Martin · 15 years

Though I would normally shun someone who would buy an operating system on launch day, a week ago I bought, downloaded, and installed the newest version of Microsoft's OS, Windows 7. It's nice to have a modern OS on my recently assembled machine, and though the transition from XP was a bit jarring in some respects, any unexpected problems have been minimal so far. Overall, I'm glad I made the switch.

Of course, I went into this only after reading a lot about the upcoming OS and playing around with the beta version for a while. Despite its many criticisms, Vista represented a big leap forward in terms of the underlying systems of Windows, and a lot of growing pains for the platform were felt upon its release. Most of the issues that plagued Vista in its early days have been resolved however, and this makes for a far more comfortable Windows 7 experience.

Here's a quick run-down of how the (mostly painless) upgrade process went for me, from my old rig turning into a massive paper weight to the re-birth of Windows on my new machine.

If you completed the homework assignment, you've already read about my old computer breaking down, and my quest for parts to rebuild a new one. Gold star for you. If not, you can read about it here - there's no use in going into that much detail about it again.

Once the new computer was built, I put a minimal number of games on it, but held off on installing a massive amount of other software. My reasoning for this was twofold - first, I would save myself a great deal of time backing up data for the Windows 7 install, which was only a month away, as well, I would be avoiding any licensing problems that would arise from too many installations of protected software. This happened anyway, but I'll get into that later.

After a month of having only two major games on my computer, World of Warcraft, Windows 7 launch day finally came. I failed to find a copy of Win 7 Professional in stores (Best Buy only had upgrade copies, and Office Max/Office Depot had nothing but Vista), so when I got home from work I jumped onto Microsoft's online store and bought a digital copy directly. Since Win 7 Pro comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, I was given the option to download either. I chose the 64-bit version and started the 2.3Gb download. It took about two and a half hours to finish.

I burned the ISO file to a DVD and dropped the stuff I wanted to save onto one of the other hard drives in the machine, and then I restarted the computer and began the install.

Having so recently done an XP install, I am happy to report that Windows 7's install process is much more streamlined, and possibly even faster (I didn't time it, but it seemed to take about 20-25 minutes). Win 7's disk partitioning and pre-install setup is now done in a much more modern environment, with mouse support and a slick GUI. It asks only a minimal number of questions, and lets you set up the details later on once the install is finished. I was impressed by the speed and simplicity of the whole thing, especially compared to the old XP installer. Ars Technica actually has a great 15-page review of Windows 7 up, including a good portion on the new installer.

Once 7 installed, the system restarted one last time, and before long I was staring at a shiny new OS, all ready for my antics and exploits. Not too much had to be tweaked for the system to be the way I like it, either. UAC is relaxed in Win 7, so the interruptions aren't as annoying. The OS also seemed to find drivers for just about everything in the system, save for the GPU. That was really the only piece of system software I've had to install so far.

The only trouble I've really had with Windows 7 so far rests on the software side of things. On the first install of my Adobe software, something happened (I think I left the system waiting for the next disc for too long at some point) and the installation failed. All the programs seemed to install fine, but their licensing software was broken, so I had to re-install them. Then I had to call up the Adobe licensing support line because I'd already used my allotted two installs and wasn't able to de-activate my old computer's software before it died.

Aside from that, and a couple of times where a program crashed or froze, I've had no problems. Some of these issues may stem from the fact that I am running mostly 32-bit applications/games on a 64-bit OS, so I've expected a few hiccups.

Overall, however, things have been great. I'm finally able to use more than 4gb of RAM (I've got 6gb of RAM in triple channel mode now), and most everything seems to run solid. The improvements to the taskbar have taken me a lot less time to adjust to than I thought they would, and I actually feel like the new features, like Aero Peek, have helped me be more productive with my machine.

I'll probably have more to report as my collection of games and software trickles onto the new computer, and I start using it for other multimedia purposes - but for now you can consider me impressed.

And of course, glad that I don't feel like a sap for being a day one adopter.

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Project Needlemouse

 Martin · 15 years

I SO called this.

I know this is a little bit of old news right now, but I can't help but gloat a tiny bit.

Over a year ago, I posted about Sega's continued efforts to ruin their best franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog. I posted about how the 2D elements of the old games just don't translate to 3D. And I posted about how a 2D game, drawn in 3D, would still likely be met warmly by Sonic fans. This was pre-Sonic Unleashed, and I not-so-secretly hoped Sega would prove me wrong by refreshing the franchise with the it.

If you've played the game, however, you know that this wasn't the case. Sonic Unleashed was horrible. Stanky, even.

So now, almost a year after the release of Unleashed, and almost a year and half since my Sonic rant was unleashed, Sega has announced that in 2010 we'll be seeing a new, 2D sonic game via the following trailer:

So, I guess ol' Marty has his finger preeetty close to the pulse of the gaming industry, eh? Now I just need to wait for the downfall of Twitter, and my life will be complete.

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It’s Alive!

 Martin · 15 years

I got my new computer parts earlier this week, and after an hour or two of assembly, it gracefully sprang to life. And on the first try, no less. I'm proud of myself, because it's been a while since I've built a computer entirely from scratch.

Here's how the final build turned out:

  • Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPU
  • Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
  • Diamond Radeon HD 4890 1GB (PCE-E 2.0 16x) GPU
  • Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard
  • Western Digital Caviar Green 500Gb SATA HDD
  • HP 24X Multiformat DVD Writer SATA
  • Cooler Master Silent Pro 600W Modular Power Supply
  • Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

The only parts I didn't buy were two existing HDD's that I threw in at the end, for good measure (another 500Gb and my old 74Gb Raptor, both SATA). I was planning on adding the sound card from my old computer, but it won't fit well without blocking off the fan from the GPU, so I'm just going to roll with the onboard sound for now. Lastly, I'm currently only using two of the RAM sticks, because I'm running 32-bit XP, and I'm waiting for Windows 7 to release for the move to 64-bit.

The build went quite well and was fairly easy this time around. The power supply fit the case nicely and was easy to install. This was my first modular power supply, so the lack of cords (at least, initially) was a welcome addition to my computer-building experience.

The most difficult part of the whole build was easing the board into the box, as it was a snug fit. Antec makes great cases though, and there was plenty of holes for mounting the board properly.

The only other real problem I had with this build was just making sure I was grounded at all times - my current apartment has carpeting everywhere except for the kitchen and the bathroom, and neither of those places is a good place to build a computer. So, my hands were in contact with the case at all times, and no electronics were harmed in the production of this computer.

Anyway, back to the build... Antec also makes great sliding mounts for hard drives, so installing the drives was easy. Those had to go behind a separate door behind the front panel, so while they took a little more trouble to get in and out of the case than I would normally like, I don't do a lot of drive swapping, so it doesn't bother me much. Getting the DVD drive to install flush with the front of the case took some fiddling but wasn't difficult either.

To my relief, the GPU fit the space very nicely. The new Radeon HD 4890 is actually a tiny bit smaller than my old GeForce 8800 GTS. The only other large difference I noticed between the make of the two cards is that the circuit board of the Radeon seemed a tiny bit thinner, and more susceptible to bending, than the old GeForce.

Installing the CPU is always a harrowing experience for me. I'm always afraid I'm going to bend the connectors by placing the CPU in the slot the wrong way. Or that I'm going to accidentally rub off the thermal paste on the bottom of the fan (almost happened this time). Or that I'm not going to press hard enough on the fan mounts, and the fan will fall off later. Or that I'm going to press too hard on the fan mounts and crack the motherboard. Or... alright, I'll stop. It went smoothly. That's probably all I should have said about that to begin with.

RAM was similarly easy. Just pop it in the correct slots and snap it into place.

Once I got done putting all the parts in the box, I plugged in all the necessary cords and pressed the power button - which to my delight, worked. I hadn't closed the case yet though- I've built enough computers to know not to bother doing that until I know everything is working. I installed Windows XP. Installed some games. No problems. So far, I haven't even been hit by the notorious lockups I've heard about so many people getting from running 32-bit Win XP with more than 3Gb RAM.

Overall, this was a pretty straightforward computer build. I didn't have to consult manuals too often, and all the parts fit together well. Nothing got broken, nothing got fried. And now I've got a new computer that eats games for breakfast. Yayuh!

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Scatterbrain

 Martin · 15 years

I haven't been able to update the blog as much as I'd like over the last few weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about things to write about. Instead of letting all of my random thoughts go to waste, I thought I'd present them here as a collection. If you're just looking for a few moments of entertainment, you like reading the musings of the slightly insane, or you're looking for something to spark your pent-up rage, the following list is probably for you!

Never Too Zune

Each time I plug my iPod (5th generation) into my computer and it freezes up, I secretly hope that it won't come back on, so I have an excuse to buy a Zune HD. From everything I've seen online, these things look pretty nice, and I'd like to try something different than iPod for a while. I have absolutely no interest in the iPod Touch or an iPhone; the 32gb Touch is $110 more than the 32gb Zune HD and being tethered to AT&T again just makes me feel sick.

But I digress; the Zune HD looks slick in its own right. Wireless streaming capabilities and built-in HD radio are great, and I also like the idea of being able to output HD video and, of course, web browsing. If Microsoft opens up the Zune to user-created applications, it will become an even great alternative to the iPod. They seem to be making an effort to get developers to consider their other mobile devices, so I don't think this is too far-fetched. So far, however, they've been pretty tight-lipped about it.

Marvel Comics Feeling a Little Disney

Though I am not a huge comic book buff, I still felt as though I could almost hear the collective groan of fans as Disney scooped up Marvel Comics for a cool $4 billion early this week. Though both companies are distinctly American, and I am sure DIsney will handle Marvel with care, I still feel like Disney is starting to (or maybe already has) hit that critical mass where a company gets so big, with a reach so broad, that it ends up losing focus on all fronts.

There are plenty of companies out there who handle the multiple prongs of modern media quite well, but Disney has already been in danger of losing its grip on things in the past, and with yet another large addition to their stable of interests, I can't help but wonder what the future will be like for both Disney and Marvel.

Will Disney change how Marvel presents its franchises?

Will we see Marvel characters integrated with Disney's other mainstays, in titles like the Kingdom Hearts games?

Will we see another feud in Disney's management as these things happen?

Who knows? It could be interesting to watch, but it'll be a shame if either brand is hurt because of this.

All-Out Fallout

When I got sick a couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days laying around my apartment, relaxing and recovering. My girlfriend had some things to do up at her mom's house, and didn't want to risk getting sick, so I was all by myself for much of that time. Instead of doing anything productive, I used the time to get re-acquainted with my Xbox; I decided that there was no better way of doing this than by collecting all the achievements in Fallout 3.

I did all that I could with my existing character (why did Bethesda choose to make one bobblehead impossible to go back and get?), and then made another so I could focus on slightly different talents to pick up a few odd achievements, like the one for 50 speech successes, and also so I could hit the appropriate levels with neutral and bad karma.

I've now gotten every achievement in Fallout 3, as well as in Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt, and have had a lot of fun in the process. I've seen a lot of things that I missed in my first go-round, and have grown to appreciate, for a second time, the vast world of Fallout 3.

Hackintosh is Dead

Though I usually get my fill of OS X at work, a few months ago I got OS X up and running on some old PC hardware I had laying around at home. I was mostly interested in trying my hand at iPhone App development, so I downloaded the iPhone SDK and got everything up and running without many problems. I didn't use the old rig often however, and I let it sit around for a while before firing it up again last week.

Though I've been told it isn't a good idea, I've used the system update on my Hackintosh before, and everything's turned out fine. When I booted up to find a 300+ mb system update waiting for me, I thought nothing of it as I proceeded with the download and installation. Unfortunately, the update broke my installation, and for some reason I haven't been able to re-install it since. Either something has changed on my box (something which sticks around after multiple hard drive re-partitions?) or I simply can't remember the settings I used to install OS X the first time. It's a drag, but frankly I haven't had time to learn to code iPhone Apps anyway. I'll probably dig into this a little deeper one of these weekends when I've got nothing better to do.

Can't Take the Heat

Recently, I was playing some World of Warcraft on my desktop computer, wrapping up a dungeon with a group of others, when the image on the screen stuttered, a strange dot pattern appeared around my cursor and the UI elements, and then the computer locked up. After a quick restart, and about a minute of play, the same thing happened. In a hurry to get back into the game (and in an effort not to be the reason for the deaths of my entire group), I threw open my laptop and loaded the game up there. In-game disaster was narrowly averted, but it left me worried about my desktop machine.

In my experience, most graphical glitches of this kind are attributed to overheating hardware – the bane of all computer gamers.

So earlier today, I opened up my desktop computer and dusted it out. Then I turned it on and started World of Warcraft again, and let it sit. About 10 minutes later, I came back into the room to find the screen flickering and the computer frozen. Not good.

I guess this is a good excuse to get a new GPU, something I've been wanting to do for a while anyway, but my existing motherboard doesn't have a PCI-Express 2.0 slot on it, so I'm back to the same conundrum as before I assembled my current desktop - upgrading one part means upgrading two or three others as well. And since these are all the most expensive parts (GPU, CPU, motherboard), I might as well just splurge a few extra hundred bucks and update the rest of the hardware. But if my apartment is getting too hot (it's hot here lately, but not that hot), I'm not too keen on buying and subsequently ruining more computer hardware either. It's a problem, I guess.

That's All For Now

Anyway, I think that's enough of this rambling for now. I've been a bit of a scatterbrain lately, and now the madness shall spread!

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Back From BlizzCon 2009

 Martin · 15 years

Time flies when you're having fun, I suppose - I'm back from BlizzCon 2009, and though I don't quite feel ready to head back to work, and all the other responsibilities of non-vacation time, it's good to be home.

My trip started off as the typical Marty-planned trip does: poorly. I happened to hear about when tickets were being sold for BlizzCon 2009 only a few days before the first sale, but I wasn't able to grab any of the tickets in the first round, as I wasn't home that weekend. My luck turned around somewhat quickly though, and I was able to get in and score a couple of tickets very early in the second (and final) round. I also got two cheap plane tickets. As was the case last year, this trip was to be for myself and my brother, to celebrate his birthday.

As the old saying goes, however, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry, and Spencer (my brother) found out only a week before the trip that his work couldn't give him the required time off. He was upset, and I was faced with a dilemma; I wanted to go on the trip, but I didn't want to go alone. Geeking out simply isn't as much fun by yourself. I felt bad too, since the trip was originally for Spencer. So I could skip the whole trip and just spend the time off with him instead. A friend of mine was attending the show this year, and he could pick up our goody bags if I chose to stay home.

After a few days of mulling it over, I decided I'd just go on the trip by myself. I wasn't entirely pleased with this, but I didn't want the money spent on tickets for the show and for flight to be a complete waste. This way, I would also be able to pick up our bags of junk myself, so my friend didn't have to bother with it, and I could attend some of the panels of the show, which I knew would be interesting and fun. I made some changes to my flight times, jumped on a plane, and made it down to BlizzCon for a fun couple of days.

Lucky for me, I didn't have to go it alone after all; my girlfriend happened to have enough miles on her frequent flier rewards card for a free flight to Anaheim and back. So, my trip, which had up until this point, looked like it was going to be lonely and somewhat disappointing, actually turned out to be quite fun. My girlfriend isn't really into games, but she still had a good time as I showed her around the exhibition, explaining all the odd sights and sounds. And we got to venture out and do some shopping, as well as just hang out and relax, something we'd both been needing. I really appreciate the effort she took to come with me, and it was a great impromptu vacation!

But now we're both back at home, and at work. My new World of Warcraft pet, Grunty, is prowling around in Azeroth. My n00bz is guarding the rest of the junk on the shelf in the computer room. And even though I'd rather be off on vacation again, I'm happy to be back. Hopefully my next vacation isn't so long in the making - and better planned to boot!

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One of These Things Is Not Like The Others

 Martin · 15 years

We all have little fits of nostalgia now and then. And what better way to fulfill these odd urges than by jumping online and finding old videos on YouTube, toys on eBay, and DVD collections on Amazon?

So it was that I found myself browsing Amazon the other day, looking at old cartoons. Something I'd read that morning reminded me of an old cartoon I'd enjoyed as a kid, Doug, and I wanted to see if anyone ever got around to putting the series on DVD. This was one of those times when a mere search would satisfy my curiosity; no purchases were to be made.

I pulled up Amazon, typed in the word "Doug", and a few moments later was looking down a long list of cartoons and shows, many of which I remember watching in my youth.

The list read like a lineup of classic Nickelodeon shows: Doug, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Rugrats, Losing Control, The Secret World of... er, wait. Losing Control?

A softcore porno. In the middle of my Doug search results!

I find this completely hilarious. Right smack-dab in the middle of a bunch of cartoon DVD collections is some random adult DVD, which I can only surmise is there because one of the actors is named Doug Jeffery. A page or two down, the same search also yielded a Girls Gone Wild video, which apparently included "commentary" by comedian Doug Stanhope.

Maybe all those Bing commercials are right - perhaps we are indeed suffering from Search Overload Syndrome.

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Bing Goes The Internet

 Martin · 15 years

Though I am not a diehard Google fan, I usually use Google whenever I need to search for something, and I take advantage of a few of the services they offer like Gmail and their online calendar. Lately though, I've been a bit intrigued with Microsoft's revamped Live Search, Bing. I've been frequently jumping back and forth between Google and Bing to compare search results, especially when I have trouble finding something.

So far, I've been pretty impressed with Bing - it almost always returns just about everything I would find on Google, and the image and video search function on Bing is actually a cut above those found on Google.  And though I do enjoy the simplicity of the Google landing page, which is one of the reasons why I think it became so popular in the first place, I do find myself drawn to the Bing landing as well; they almost always have a beautiful image on display, and the fact boxes you can mouse over are usually interesting.

Bing has been running a contest over the last few weeks, in order to help them find a jingle for the site. The contest simply asked people to record their idea for a jingle, and then submit it to the Bing YouTube page, where the winner would be chosen based on number of views and quality of rating.

The winner was crowned yesterday, and while the video is odd and slightly disturbing, I have to admit - the song is kind of catchy. Catchy in the way that the simple tune gets stuck in your head for about an hour after viewing. Behold the winning video:

The winner, Jonathan Mann, has been creating (and posting on YouTube) a song a day, and the video he submitted to the Bing jingle contest was his 202nd creation. Sure, it's decidedly awful, but isn't that pretty much what's expected from contests like this? Isn't being awful a prerequisite for running a viral internet campaign?

Anyway, I got a kick out of it. And almost as big of a kick out of the sourpuss people posting about how terrible it is directly on the Bing blog. It's pretty easy to pick out the people who are seemingly just mad that Bing isn't the pile of garbage they hoped it would be. But their comments are funny, nonetheless.

Also, I'm happy to report that Twitter has been down for hours now. Apparently, it was taken out by hackers early this morning. Let's hope it stays down.

Update: It looks like it's tentatively back up now. The world has its largest collection of useless information back again.

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The July Hiatus

 Martin · 15 years

Has it really been an entire month since I've posted here? it honestly doesn't seem like it. I've visited the blog frequently (every day), and though I've had a lot of ideas for things I've wanted to post, and have even written a fair amount of half-finished articles, I never got around to posting much of it all.

I guess I've been a bit busy. Not enough to completely excuse me from my absence here, but pretty busy. Since I feel like I owe an explanation to anyone who's been visiting the site and wondering what happened to me, I'll briefly run through everything I've been up to.

To kick things off, I got myself a new bike a little over a month ago. My girlfriend and I have enjoyed going for walks on the roads and trails near our apartment since we moved here, and we both thought it would be fun to have bikes to better take advantage of the bike paths, as well as for a simple form of local transportation. So far, it's been a lot of fun to be able to hop on a bike and jet around the area for a bit, and it's also been a good amount of exercise. So long as the weather stays reasonable, I'm sure we'll be doing this for many months to come this year (if not the entire year).

I also started putting a more serious effort into re-tooling the Reflect system/website, and though I've only been able to dig into a little bit of the core system so far, I'm happy with the way things are turning out on this front as well. Reflect has grown to include a lot of talented members of the Game Maker community, and I want to provide these developers with as much function as possible, as well as make the system more attractive to other developers who might be considering putting in an application to use it. I'll elaborate on all that later though, as I make more progress with it.

In order to help me develop the new Reflect assets, I also decided to get myself a laptop. Up until now, I've not had a laptop, and have used my desktop computer for everything. I'm still partial to my desktop, because I enjoy the power and comfort of the desk/chair, but I am happy to be able to get away from the "computer room" at my apartment, too. One of the biggest hurdles for getting started on new projects lately has been having to spend lots of time cooped up in the back room in my apartment, and now that I am free of this burden, I've been able to do a lot more.

I've also had the chance to see a few movies. My girlfriend and I have watched Public Enemies, Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince, Proposal, and a bunch of random rented flicks. My brother and I saw The Hangover as well. I enjoyed all of them, and in my opinion, it's been a pretty good summer for movies.

Last weekend, I went hiking with my girlfriend and a few members of her family down at the John Muir Woods national park. It was beautiful, and the I had a great time marching up and down the hills with everyone.

As you might have guessed at with my new bike and the hiking, I've been trying to spend a little more time exercising. I've also been trying to get in more time with my girlfriend. And since all of these things take a significant amount of time by themselves, I'm sure you can imagine how its been with it all happening at once.

I will try to update the blog more often than monthly intervals, of course. I've still got to post the editable version of my long-abandoned competition entry, as well as my animated water texture tutorial. I'll get around to those soon!

Thanks for reading and staying faithful enough to come back and find this new post! More to come soon, hopefully!

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Just Beat It Already

 Martin · 15 years

Almost two weeks ago, I was at work, and had gotten up from my computer to work on some stuff, and the screensaver came on after a few minutes. I prefer my screensaver to be a bit more functional than merely saving the screen, so I have my work computer set up to read the news from CNN's RSS feed and display the headlines on the screen.

After a few minutes away from the computer, I happened to glance up at the screen and see something about Michael Jackson going to the hospital, possibly in a coma. Curious, I flicked off the screensaver. CNN was reporting that Michael Jackson had been rushed off to the hospital, but that details were sketchy. A quick trip to Digg, which had sucked the story away from TMZ, confirmed what I figured must have happened: Michael Jackson was dead.

That night, all the news websites and TV stations paid tribute to Jackson by playing his music, interviewing his peers and his fans, and talking about his life. Pretty standard fare for a celebrity death. As expected, it continued for the next few days.

The problem now, is that two weeks later, it still hasn't stopped. A quick peek onto CNN's website or TV station yields article upon article covering all ranges of the Jackson saga from the smallest, most mundane details of his life to the morbid memorial service.

Seriously. I've had enough. I'm tired of hearing about Michael Jackson.

About the only thing I hate worse than this non-stop smattering of tributes is the fact that in death, Michael Jackson seems to have been excused from every questionable thing he did in his life.

And I'm not saying that to take away from the man's accomplishments. The guy was an incredibly talented entertainer - there's no question about that. In his prime, back in the 80's and 90's, Michael Jackson simply couldn't be beat. But I don't think that, just because the guy died, we should forget about the many allegations of child abuse that were made against him. Or the horrendous mess he made of his face with excessive plastic surgery. Or even the whole baby-dangling-out-of-the-window thing.

We should acknowledge that Michael Jackson was a talented, troubled man, and that to some he will be missed. Now let's move on.

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The Father’s Day Blitz

 Martin · 15 years

With less than a week to go until Father's Day, the ridiculous parade of allegedly dad-focused marketing is already well upon us. On the way to work this morning, I heard a countless number of commercials trying to convince me to buy my dad a new cell phone. On TV, I've survived a constant barrage of pleas to pick up new flat-screen sets, stereo equipment, and various implementations of carpentry hardware. Online, it's been cameras, camcorders, USB memory sticks, hard drives, and all sorts of other computer gadgetry.

Each holiday it gets worse.

I'm not against the idea of getting someone a thoughtful gift, either. I think that if your dad has been pining for something for a while and you've got the means to get it for him, then maybe you should. But isn't the whole idea of the holiday lost when you're stuck in some infinite loop of trying to one-up last year's gift with something more and more expensive and outrageous?

The idea of buying someone a cell phone as a gift is utterly absurd to me. A cell phone is a personal thing that you should shop for yourself, since you're the one who's going to be using it most of the time. Not only that, but if the gift receiver doesn't have a cell phone already, he/she's going to be stuck with a new monthly bill, thanks to your thoughtfulness.

The notion of gifting a new television is just as bad. As if people need another $1,000+ added to their burgeoning credit debt.

Since when did the idea of showing your appreciation for someone include buying them a menagerie of electronic gizmos?

While retail world is busy buzzing in peoples' ears about its newest pile of shiny garbage, I'll be taking a quiet trip up to the country to my parents' house. I'll probably end up wrestling with some technology anyway; I hear my dad's been having some computer problems. But I think that he'll appreciate the help a lot more than being saddled with an unwanted new cell phone.

Unfortunately, the balance of the entire universe will be thrown off anyway - because for Mother's Day, I only sent a card this year. Sorry mom!

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