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I've never really cared for casinos- maybe it was the abundance of old people, or droves of suckers putting their money into a rigged slot machine expecting to be one of the lucky few to break even. Regardless, I love gambling, and the stock market is no exception. The house is still rigged to win, but if you're patient and thorough, you have much better odds.

The only time I have been burnt by a stock was when I got impatient and bored, and felt like I was wasting money holding it in a company that wasn't going anywhere. The day after I pulled my money out, it jumped from $1 to $4 a share.

Rather than making $4000, I lost $900 on that trade. I'm going to be more patient from now on.

I bought tens of thousands of a financial stock that was recently delisted for noncompliance with the NYSE (deadline passed for a revision of a 10K filed for 2007, and it traded below $1 for 30 consecutive days). It got put on the pink sheets. I had already bought a thousand dollars worth with my spec funds before the delisting, but since then the stock has dropped to 1/6th of its original value. Despite the fear of losing it, I did my research and realized that even in bankruptcy, the common would still be entitled to a book value of at least $3/share. And I realized that certain funds have been quietly accumulating shares, an odd occurrence for a pink. It had simply been naked shorted to oblivion, and may be one of the most unvervalued positions in my portfolio. Armed with this knowledge, I averaged down and quintupled my original position.

Now I'm waiting.

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Last weekend, I flew back to St. Louis for whiteroses13's wedding. Meagan (yes, the same one) started texting me out of the blue a week before, confessing how she missed me and thought of me all the time, even after a year and a half. Not believing in mere coincidences, I gave in, confided and eventually asked if she would like to be my date to the wedding- actually, she sort of invited herself since she asked me if I had a date and if I needed one (how do I say no to both?). We had a great time- I even taught her how to swing, rumba, hustle, and a few other dance steps. There was a connection that night... it was the first time in a long time I was having fun with a girl just by being myself.

She wanted me to move back to St. Louis- she now wants a stable guy with a "good heart" to settle down with. Someone she can trust.

It was an awkward goodbye.

Everything is more expensive down here in FL. While gas prices are beyond ridiculous, the price of oil per barrel has shot up since I moved, so I can't really compare. But shopping down here is an unpleasant experience for anyone used to living elsewhere. In the midwest, name brand 2-Liter sodas cost maybe $1.09-1.25. Here, the store-brand cheap sodas cost $1.40. In the midwest, a gallon of milk is considered expensive if you paid more than $2.50. Down here, they're $4.50. NY Strip steaks cost an extra $2.00 per pound from the supermarket (it was "on sale" at 6.99/lb yesterday).

Oddly enough, restaurant chains that exist in both places aren't much different pricewise. Groceries, on the other hand, are expensive. This cost differential unfortunately happens to offset much of the savings I was expecting by dining on store-bought meals versus living on fast-food.

House prices are in another universe. What my real estate agent considers a "steal" is still what I consider heavily overpriced. Despite the falling prices, one is still hard-pressed to find a moderate-sized 3-bedroom/2-bath single-family home in a decent suburban neighborhood (ie- no local gang activity) for under $200,000. Considering that homes down here rarely have basements and yards large enough for throwing a ball around, 1600 sq ft suddenly becomes small and claustrophobic.

Central FL's geography is by no means magical, either. Despite there being an ocean nearby, the quality of nearby beaches is lacking. The tourism industry here only serves to inflate the egos of real estate investors. It seems that the real estate market is in a dive right now only because we, the consumers, recently realized that we're nearly paying a quarter million dollars for a small ranch on tiny sliver of sandy, vermin-infested swampland.

I couldn't imagine making a median-level income (ie- $40k/year) and being able to afford a house, let alone supporting a family down here. Honestly, I wouldn't even want to raise kids here. The crime in central FL is quickly approaching Detroit levels. Poverty is on the rise, and mean wages down here are actually lower than in St. Louis. The hordes of tourists and elderly retirees attract the worst of people to prey on the few remaining who are still naive enough to trust strangers. The drugs and violence then go on to affect the locals. The beauty of central FL is quickly being overtaken by a cesspool of the lowest of the low.

It's sick.

Maybe I'm not ready to buy a home.

So a few weeks ago, I took some (okay, well most) of the money I had set aside for a house down payment and decided to play with the stock market. Believe me when I say this: it's better than gambling. I get a bigger rush without even heading down to the casino. I have a brokerage account online and make trades from my bed. (Ever wanted to go to the casino naked? Now you can!)

I began investing by buying common shares of some tech companies that I already knew a lot about (like AMD), as well as a couple biotech stocks that it's possible that I might be too familiar with (I won't mention them by name, lest the SEC finds out). Then I diversified a bit and put some into higher-risk-yet-VERY cheap REIT stocks (mortgage and real estate investments)- many have became penny stocks lately since they're on the verge of bankruptcy or mass dilution.

Needless to say, it's paying off. I plan to sell some of my shares and move the original amount back into my savings account for a house again, and leave the remaining stocks in my brokerage account just so that I'm playing for free. Buy low, sell high. The market's in the shitter right now, and stocks are on sale. Warren Buffett said to be greedy when others are fearful, and there's enough panic out there to make me a rich man.

I'm not Warren Buffett yet, but then again, I'm only 24. I've got some time to catch up...

Heath Ledger was found dead earlier. Depressing.

And yet Ben Affleck lives on, mocking us all.

Oh well, better luck next year.

I've spared no expense this Christmas. I've camped out for a Wii to give to my family, I bought a nice 22" monitor for my sister, I've even flown nearly a thousand miles to spend it with my loved ones. Yet I've somehow become more jaded this holiday season, even moreso than last year.

What is wrong with me?

My old site got hijacked by a spammer and got shut down. I'm currently fighting with the host (mysitespace.com) to get my domain back or get a refund- it looks like I'd be better off dealing with the BBB than these crooks.

So I found myself back here.

In case you missed it, I took a job offer in Orlando about a month ago. As difficult as it has been to leave all of my friends and family behind, it was probably for the best. I was miserable at my old job, and I really needed a change of scenery for once.

It's sunny and warm here, so what's not to like about it? Well, for starters, tomorrow I'll be spending my first Thanksgiving in a house alone, with no turkey, no family, and no traditions.

I never realized that being "liberated" can be so depressing sometimes.

Lately, I've taken more of an interest in my car. My WRX has nearly 30k miles on it already (that reminds me... it needs an oil change- doh!), and other than the window tint, it has remained relatively stock so far.

Ignoring the advice of my parents every sane person I know, I recently started modding. First I did the plumbing (exhaust) I got an Invidia catless up-pipe, an Invidia V2 catless downpipe (so I'm completely catless), K&N short ram intake, Cobb turbo heat shield, STI top-mount intercooler, and some engine management (courtesy of Enginuity). It's tuned pretty conservatively at the moment (runs a little rich), but still puts out an estimated 300+ hp at the crank. I just got a Prodrive axleback just waiting to go in, as well as some Whiteline springs and swaybar to help with the suspension.

The modding bug has bit me hard.

View my progress here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2661479

So it seems my daily driver is about to turn into a track monster. I'm considering buying a used VW Jetta TDI (turbo-diesel) for my new daily driver (50 mpg ftw) and let this thing become my project car.

Just a thought... let me know what you think.

After watching some of the video "confessions" of VT shooter Seung-hui Cho, and reading some of his writings, we realize not only was he insane, but also a narcissistic idiot. For an english major, he couldn't write very well. Nor could he form coherent sentences or convey any ideas without sounding like a rambling loon. And to top it off, he still had no purpose other than to kill as many as he could. At least crazies like Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVeigh had ulterior motives. This kid just wanted attention, and idolized Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (the attention whores at Columbine). Rather than doing what he wants, to remember him as an oppressed martyr, I'll choose to remember him as a whiny little bitch who couldn't cope with reality.

If you haven't seen the video and want to picture this guy, think of Napoleon Dynamite, and give him guns and an unhealthy dose of megalomania and lunacy. He wasn't forced (as he claims on tape) into violence by anyone. He chose to be a violent outcast. Many, many stories are now surfacing of teachers, roommates, and other students who have tried to reach out to him, and yet he only shunned them.

If this kid was a tortured soul, then he was his own tormentor.

News lately has been bothering me lately.

Last week, Don Imus gets fired for saying something insensitive. It may have been a sexist comment, but just because so-called "black leaders" say it was racist doesn't make it so. Looks like I'll have to add "nappy-headed" to the list of banned words/terms.

Yesterday, another school shooting. Not just any school shooting (good god, how many?!), it was the most horrific school shooting ever. My prayers go out to the victims and their families.

Some were quick to jump on the soapbox and tout anti-gun and anti-videogame propaganda even before the victims and shooter were identified. We don't even have the decency anymore to let families grieve before we use the deceased as posterchildren for our own agendas.

What a sick, sad, depressing world I find myself in...

Another unsuccessful poker play tonight. It's alright- I'm only out ten bucks.

Yesterday, Rachel dropped a bombshell on me. Though I'm a bit brokenhearted still, I'm not bitter. I want only the best for her, and if this guy can complete her better than I can, then it would only be selfish of me to want to stop it. Maybe I'm just jealous of her happiness. Her ability to fall in love so soon again. I wish love was voluntary.

All I need is time to cope and move on.

But I am finding new hobbies. Too bad the weather has sucked recently.

I ordered an uppipe for my WRX. 2002-2005 WRXs have three catalytic converters in them: one in the uppipe (the pipe that runs from the exhaust header to the turbocharger), one in the downpipe (the piping that runs from the turbo down to the midpipe), and another one in the midpipe (just before the axleback). Removing each one will net around a 15-20 hp gain. Removing the one in the uppipe will dramatically reduce turbo lag as well. Unfortunately for me, putting in a catless uppipe is the most time-consuming (3-6 hrs for an amateur shadetree mechanic). However, it is probably the most important, as the pre-turbo cat in higher-mileage WRXs my break down easily and get ingested into the turbo, thereby destroying it. Replacing a $500 turbo just because I forgot to replace a $50 part is not something I'd enjoy. No, it won't void my warranty. In fact, some dealership mechanics have told me off-the-record that I should probably have this done within the first 50k miles. I can thank the wonderful state of California for having to remove this unnecessary cat.

Well, the uppipe has arrived, the gaskets I ordered for it have not, unfortunately. So it looks like the install will be next weekend. Besides, I'd like the weather to be a little warmer.

It's currently sleeting and snowing outside. I don't think St. Louis itself had it nearly this bad, but I left work a couple hours early regardless (coincidently, it took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get home, so at least it saved me some sanity).

It's days like these that I love having AWD.



Btw, this pic was taken before it started snowing. There was about 1-2 inches of ice on the ground here in St. Chucks.

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As I've mentioned previously, I built a monster of a PC over Thanksgiving break. I decided to take my time (and lots of pictures!) and walk through the wonderful process...

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When Caroline told me that her schedule was busy, I never realized to what extent. In the past three weeks after I worked up the courage (and alcohol) to ask her out, we've only managed a lunch date this past Monday. While I don't consider a lunch to count as a date officially, it was much better than simply exchanging emails and the occasional phone call. However, because I had a school project due the next day, I couldn't really feel at ease. Nonetheless, I don't think I really made any major mistakes until after the meal, when we had to part ways. The awkward pause-hug always leaves both parties feeling unsatisfied. Maybe she wanted a kiss, or maybe she didn't really like me. I found her difficult to read (like most women on the first date), so I'm dying to get a second chance to redeem myself. And hopefully, it'll be an evening with drinks, and I'll be more relaxed (and myself).

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I went to a party last night at Mi Tolteca. Apparently, some Mexican restaurants can be rented after close and turned into dance clubs at night. There was a DJ, $1 beer, a $5 door charge, and 100+ people crammed into a tiny building that I recall used to be a Burger King not too long ago. I danced a little and tried to enjoy myself, but before long it turned into a hookup party. I began to feel ill when an attractive girl I danced with for about 20 min ended up making out with some random stranger outside.

That's disappointing.

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Yesterday, I pulled the trigger on another expensive purchase. I bought a new PC, sans monitor (I already have a Dell 24" flatscreen). Here are the specs:

• Core 2 Duo E6600
• eVGA nForce680i Motherboard
• 2 GB Corsair XMS2 800Mhz DDR2 Ram (dual-channel kit)
• GeForce 8800GTX w/ 768mb (PCIe)
• 2x320GB Seagate SATA 3Gb/sec hard drives (in RAID0)
• ePOWER 550W Power supply
• Samsung 18x DVD+/-R DL burner with Lightscribe

This is the first time ever that I'll be buying all current-gen top-end hardware for my PC. It'll all arrive (in three separate packages) on Monday. I'll try to remember to post some pictures.

You can never take the geek out of me.

It was a disappointing game tonight, but I was glad to see the Cardinals come back somewhat in the ninth inning to prevent a shutout. The series is currently tied 1-1, which means that if the Cardinals win all three of their home games this week, they don't have to go back to Detroit. And with Carpenter and Suppan pitching the next two games, the odds of that are in our favor.

Go Cards!

---

Okay, so I did forgive Meagan and tried to start over. I even brought her as my date to Andy's wedding last Saturday. We had a great time and I even started to open up again...

... until last Monday evening. I called her that night after the annual Vitae (a pro-life advertising group) fundraising dinner. After a short-yet-bitter argument over abortion filled with "I'm a mother, so I know more than you do..." (she has a four-year-old) and countless strawmen that she knocked around, we agreed to disagree (fair enough) and I asked her what she was up to that night. She told me that she was headed to Side Pockets (a local pool lounge) to meet a friend of hers. I asked her if it would be alright if I tagged along and she agreed. Despite the argument, I was more than happy to see her that night.

Unfortunately, my feelings soon took a nosedive when I realized that the friend she was meeting was only there to hook her up with some guy. I told her that I felt awkward to be around to see some drunk idiot hit on her, yet she didn't want me to leave. So I just left the table and sat at the bar, assuming that the guy would eventually leave and she and I could talk and play some pool.

Some twenty minutes later, the entire group walks out, leaving me crushed. Another hour went by before I worked up the courage to call her and ask her for some explanation. Instead, her friend answered and told me that Meagan was still with that guy and was spending the evening at his apartment.

Holding back tears, I told her to relay to Meagan that I didn't want to see or hear from her ever again.

That was it. Four weeks of my life spent chasing after a shallow girl who will probably never realize why she can't find a decent man. I'm not going to carry the torch any further for her, as I deserve better.

A lesson can be learned from this: if a guy with good intentions ever hears the same old tripe about how "all the good men are taken" from a girl, he should avoid her at all costs. She is either too stupid to recognize the multitudes of decent available men out there, or she is too shallow to give them a chance. More than usually, she's both.

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On top of girl trouble, I've had to deal with more stress than usual lately. I'm behind in my nonlinear optimization class, and I need to come up with a proposal for my final project by Thursday. If anyone has any ideas of a real-world problem where I can apply a [continuous] optimization program, please let me know.

Since I've cooled down a bit, I think I will elaborate on the last part of my previous post.

Meagan (no, not Megan) and I went out on a date nine days ago. We both had a great time. So great in fact that we spent much of this week's evenings together, despite the fact that I had two projects due on Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week (I still managed to finish them).

She seemed like a nice nursing student who wanted a long-term relationship. She was very attractive, and she said that I was very cute (woohoo!). She lamented about how she believed that "good" guys were always taken, and that I possibly proved her wrong.

Last Thursday, we made tentative plans to go out Friday night. On Friday, I call her in the afternoon to see if we're still on, and she informs me that she's en route to the hospital because she hit her head at work and might have a concussion, and that she'll call me back later that day.

So my Friday date is off, but I understood and wasn't upset. Being the concerned, caring guy that I am, I still attempt to reach her Friday night and Saturday morning to no avail. Keep in mind that I have no idea of her condition, and was thinking of doing something to make her feel better.

I make a third call, Saturday (about 12:45pm) where she finally picks up.

me:	Hey, how are-
her:	(interrupts) Do you know how many fucking times you've called me in the past day?
me:	(dumbfounded pause)...Three, but you-
her:	(interrupts again) Did I not say that I'll call you back?
me:	Yeah, but I wanted to know-
her:	When I tell you I'll call you back, I'll call you back!
me:	Hey! I just-
her:	(*click*)

Honestly, I hope she doesn't call back. I don't need this unnecessary drama.

Oh well, back to the sea she goes.

Another Saturday afternoon. Another hangover. Another school project. Another hurt feeling.

My Windows Vista RC1 DVD arrived a few days ago and I loaded it on my desktop. It seems pretty stable, but driver support is definitely lacking. There was less struggle installing drivers on Vista than on Ubuntu, but Ubuntu actually managed to get my wireless network card working out of the box, something that required a lot of trial-and-error driver downloading from Linksys's and Ralink's websites.

Even on my old AthlonXP 3000, it's not sluggish, and the Aero Glass theme looks pretty spiffy (on a Geforce 6800GT) and renders very quickly. The downside to using this theme is that I'm using over 400 megs of RAM on idle.

In the spirit of change, I replaced the layout and title on the journal. It seems this is a more practical blog now, and the title is more fitting for C/C++ software developer (rather than Recursively Enumerable). The old layout had served me well these past 2 1/2 years, but I needed a change.

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The past couple of weeks or so, my trite bouts with depression has come back. It's difficult to explain to those who have never dealt with this before. I don't enjoy wallowing in misery; I guess it just comes naturally to me. If there was a cure (I'm always trying new meds), I'd be more than happy (pardon the pun) to use it.

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Today I realized how fragile my feelings are. I'm still too sensitive, and I need to learn how to care less. I swear, my obsession to find the right girl is likely going to destroy me. Not trying to be too vague, but I need to be fair to the situation. Still, there is no excuse for snapping at someone for merely being concerned.

Dealing with this rut lately has been somewhat successful. In the past, I've managed to overcome the bouts of depression simply by ignoring my feelings and surrounding myself with friends whenever possible.

Unfortunately, being alone is inevitable. I'm just inclined to fall back on depression as if it's a predisposed default emotion.

I guess school might have had a factor. I would be out at a float trip this weekend if I hadn't remained home and worked on a couple assignments. It's not that school is difficult; I just happen to have lost interest in school too early in the semester. I suppose that getting back on my regular regimin of Concerta and 4-hours-of-sleep-per-night might make things a little easier, but I don't know if the subsequent side-effects (high blood pressure, anxiety, paranoia, etc) would kill me first.

Work hasn't helped. No matter what, I feel useless. I try sometimes to undertake additional tasks, and jump on opportunities to prove myself (and to myself), but there haven't been any such opportunities lately. It's funny... I feel more stress when I do nothing at work than when I work my ass off. Well, maybe not so funny; I'm not productive, so therefore I'm expendable. And there's nothing I can do about this right now. Maybe Brian was smart to leave.

So I'm alone at the house, taking a break from a programming assignment that doesn't interest nor challenge me. My roommates are both gone for the day, and I no one but Josie and Clyde (Dave's pitbull and kitten) to keep me company.

I need a reason to be happy.

I know I haven't updated this journal in a long, long time. This summer has been- for the lack of a better word- interesting. There was a period after Mark's death that I managed to cut myself off from many of my friends- I really didn't mean to. I haven't been myself lately.

We now have a new roommate, Dave. He's a chef at Lindenwood, and he and I get along rather well. He's a Subaru fanatic (he used to own a 95 Impreza RA). Still, in the last three or so weeks he's been with us, he's already managed to break his arm. On the upside, he's introduced me to a new friend, Trish, who might be nearly as crazy as I am (we'll see).

Dave doesn't know about Mark yet. Ryan and I will tell him eventually.

Fall classes started today at WashU. Computer Graphics was at 4pm today. I don't really need to take this class, as I took CG for my undergrad (this is a senior-level class as well), and both classes teach intro-level OpenGL. I figured I would need to take this over again since we never covered radiosity and raytracing at UMSL, and I plan to take advanced computer graphics next semester at WashU.

At the last moment, Brian talked me into registering for Nonlinear Optimization, an advanced algorithms course that will hopefully give me a challenge.

Not to say that computer graphics will be easy- projects always take time, no matter how trivial. But at least Nonlinear Optimization will be guarantee that I'll be learning something new this semester.

My WashU bill is going to be ridiculous. Two classes will cost about $7000 in tuition. It's a good masters program- the best in the area. Maybe I'll see a return on this $40k+ investment.

Many attempts have been made to write this entry without succumbing to tears. But this entry must be made nonetheless. So I must...
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Yesterday the former chairman of Enron, Ken Lay, passed away. Even though Lay himself was an alumnus of Mizzou and I was attending the university while the Enron scandal broke out, I myself never cared about it until about a year ago when I did a little bit of reading on the matter, and learned that the scandal went far beyond securities fraud and cooking books.

If there is a tragic figure somewhere in all this, it must be Lay. No, I'm not going to excuse the man for his deeds- after all, he was captain of the ship and certainly knew about the scandal as it was taking place. He even cashed some $300 million worth of stock options before the crash. He should definitely take the blame. It is certainly a shame that he will never live through the kind of ruin that thousands of Enron stockholders and employees experienced and are still experiencing to this day.

My opinion of Kenny-boy:
Ken's major flaw was that he was far more interested in the perks (luxury homes, personal jets, exotic cars, etc) than running a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Because of this, he let his underlings do his work for him. He ended up in a position where he couldn't say no to people like CEO Jeff Skilling and CFO Andy Fastow, since he knew very little and was no longer in control of the company. The cleverness of Fastow's accounting/book-cooking to keep Enron's debts off their books was far too complicated for Ken to understand. So instead of asking questions, he just signed off on them.

Though the tragic figure is Ken, the victims here are the employees. Enron's 401k plan only matched employee's contributions with Enron stock that would be restricted until they turned 50. In other words, it forced many employees to place their retirement savings entirely in Enron, rather than be allowed to conservatively diversify their portfolio. On the other hand, Enron's upper management was enrolled in a different retirement plan, which allowed many execs to dump their stock at will. Sadly, because of securities fraud and stock-locking due to management switching 401k administrators at "convenient times", employees were locked into their investments until it was too late.

Sadly, this resulted in nearly 20,000 employees who helplessly watched their retirement savings fall from $90 a share to just pennies in a matter of weeks, and they could do nothing about it. It almost seems as though Enron was engineered to fail and destroy many futures from the very beginning.

So this begs the question: is it still possible for employees to seek civil action and receive some compensation from the Lay estate?

According to the Wall Street Journal Blog, Lay's death might cause his conviction to be expunged- everything associated with his case is extinguished as if he was never indicted or convicted. Regardless, civil claimants can't seek punitive damages from deceased defendants.

So the answer is no.

Don't expect any real sympathies from Lay's family either. His wife had played a role in dumping stock, as well as shifting millions in personal assets to investments that are beyond the reach of creditors or legal judgments, just before tearfully telling national television audiences that she and her husband were struggling to avoid personal bankruptcy.

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Ken Lay's death is just another sobering reminder that life isn't fair. Many live through their lives being selfish, uncaring and lucky enough to succeed, while the rest of the world works hard, shares, or dies in poverty. Though Ken himself is no longer alive to enjoy the benefits at many others' expense, his family is, and they are immune to the repercussions. His conviction will disappear from the record- possibly the history books, and he will never see the inside of a jail cell. Yes, life isn't fair.

But I rest assured knowing, deep down, that God is.

I woke up this morning in horror after finding that I had a tick burried in my left hand. I burned it out, but the burn hurts. So I'm now icing it.

I spent the weekend in Kansas City at my cousin's funera- I mean wedding reception. The actual wedding was two weeks ago, in the Bahamas. The bastard.

He's only a couple years older, but he's on his second marriage. Everyone I ask about the first (since this is the second wedding of his that I missed) tells me that she was just a bitch, and wouldn't provide details. Alright, I'm nosey, but I'm always going to press for the three Ws (no not Who/What/Where, but rather What Went Wrong^TM).

With my fascination with sob stories, I should've chosen bartending as a career choice.

The third-generation Schueths (my generation) all seem to have issues with marriages. The three with children (including my sister) are not married. The ones who were married have all been divorced at least once.

I want to be different.

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Lately, I've started listening to a coworker's band- Joe's the lead singer and songwriter, and he's pretty damn talented I must say. After enduring the endless supply of shitty bands trying to befriend me on myspace, there is some hope.

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I saw Superman Returns last night. You need to see it. If you already have, then you need to go see it again. Yes, it's that good.

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Happy Fourth of July!

Other than a friend having a severed thumb, I think this summer's been rather uneventful. I've been keeping myself occupied with work.

Lately I've been working out at my alma mater's gym, since they still take my ID (free gym, sweet!). I'm hoping to tone up and lose weight this summer. I'm about 25 lbs overweight methinks... 155 is my target. Even though I've been only going three times a week for about 2 1/2 weeks, I am beginning to notice a difference.

Not to comprimise my geekiness to testosterone, I've bought some items for my desktop PC...

First and foremost, a 24" Dell widescreen TFT monitor (see here and here for reviews) replaces my [slowly dying] 21" CRT (yep, the same one I bought two years ago). I love widescreens now- I've been hooked since I got my 17" WUXGA laptop. I don't think I'll ever go back to a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor again, unless it's a second LCD to extend my desktop.

The second item I bought is a brand-spankin new 5.1 Digital theater system for my PC (Logitech Z-5500). With over 500 watts of optical, Dolby-digital, THX-certified audio, I'm likely to piss off the neighbors. Luckily, however, my roommates don't care. The sound is clear, and I notice quite a difference over my old 140-watt analog 4.1 system (which was still good, but I donated it to Josh).

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So, well into the night I've been playing Oblivion. I haven't been a big fan of RPGs since the days of Ultima Underworld, although Knights of the Old Republic had nearly brought me back into the fray. I tried Morrowind, the predecessor to Oblivion, about 5 years ago and spent nearly two weeks on it before I realized how boring it was.

Oblivion, however, is absolutely amazing. The game has so much depth. The story is fantastic, and there's a seemlingly endless supply of quests to keep me occupied. It doesn't hurt that the graphics are freakin amazing.

I need to get a new PC.