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Not O.K. Computer

A debate is raging inside my mind! Well. Not so much raging as pondering good-naturedly. See, my PC is giving me a metaphorical headache. I got it when I was in Grade 10, so it's getting a little old in computer years. What I'm trying to figure out is if boosting my RAM will solve my problems. Sometimes what this rig likes to do is shut itself down 100%, without provocation or any sort of warning. (Its favourite time to pull this one is during a critical moment in WoW, usually.) This has only happened at a few random times, but it's still irksome. That may be a problem with RAM or virtual memory, but I think it's more likely that it's just Windows being its idiotic, "I know better than you" self. I also get horrible lag sometimes when playing WoW, but I think, (I hope) that can be fixed with a RAM upgrade. This is evidenced by the improvement I see every time I reboot my machine.

The other big problem is my monitor. It has these episodes where the screen seems to be having some sort of crisis, and it goes all dim and then flashes back to normal, and then slowly fades dim again. It often seems like there's a yellow-coloured gel (like the ones they use with theatre lighting) in between the outer glass and the inner electronic image, and then an invisible hand keeps adding more yellow gels making everything more yellow. It gives me this disturbing image of the contents of my screen drowning an awful death in mysterious urine.

But then, my other option is to just consider this old rig a lost cause and just update the RAM on my MacBook. (Which sadly has the same RAM as my PC. A month or two after I bought it though, they upgraded all the models substantially. Dag nabbit.) I might do this, but I have a feeling it's going to be more complicated than if I just wanted to get my PC upgraded. Probably more expensive too. And besides, if I upgraded my Mac then it would be all the more tempting to get games for it, (what little are compatible) but I didn't really want to use it for that. I'd much rather have a decent PC to play games on and leave my Mac as it is. Maybe I should just save up for a whole new one and try and sell this old guy, or at least parts of him. (Him? What's wrong with me?)

Anyways, that's enough of that. Today Pete and I went Christmas shopping for our families, although I only had one thing left to get. I'd write what I bought for my dad, but there's a (very) slim chance he might read this so I'll hold off on that info until after the big day. Which is the day after tomorrow. I can't believe that. I didn't get much into the Christmas spirit this year at all, which is too bad. I consider it my favourite holiday. If I ever end up making films one day, I'd sure love to make a Christmas film that's loved as much as It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story. (Two words: Dream on.)

And yeah, the title of this post is a Radiohead reference. I've been enjoying quite a bit of them lately, especially the beginning of My Iron Lung, which has got to be one of the more pleasant musical arrangements I've heard recently. But then a short way into the song they ruin it and it goes nuts. It's like Coldplay meets Killswitch Engage. Listening to it always makes me think of a paint brush delicately adding finishing touches to a great work of art, and then out of nowhere the artist throws his painting down a steep stairwell. And the stairs are on fire. Tragic.

posted by Dave @ 7:09 PM