Our summer vacation - A Dutch MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
421

There, in a nutshell, is one of the major reasons I don’t play computer games. Well, there’s the fact that I don’t find them interesting, but aside from that it’s ridiculous the kind of hardware you have to buy to make the high end games run right. I have all sorts of sympathy for the 64 bit woes–I’ve been running a 64 bit OS for several years now since my computer usage pretty much necessitates it. I use almost no third party software and don’t play games but I do insist on my puter doing about seventy five things at once with NO LAG, DAMMIT! :stuck_out_tongue:

BTW, Taters, Himself says that WoW is designed with a fairly simple polygon complexity (including Witch King expansion) that doesn’t really warrant turning the res up that high–he says if you keep the resolution at 1440 max you won’t be losing anything visually but you will be conserving a ton of processing power and video memory. He says if you were playing something really cutting edge like Fear, Crysis, Turok, Battlefield II, or other games that use texture detail and MIP mapping (distance based texture detail) that WoW doesn’t use the higher res would be warranted but that WoW is made to be played by people who aren’t running bleeding edge systems. The WoW engine hasn’t changed in four years, it’s far from cutting edge… He says you ought to try dropping your anti-aliasing (pixel smoothing) down to 4x, and ansitropic (lighting effects) down to 4x as well. Those are the big GPU killers that are drastically overused, people bump them up thinking they’re getting a big difference, but WoW isn’t using high end lighting and shadowing effects so it’s just wasted effort.

He also recommends going to the Nvidia manufacturer’s site to get their 64 bit drivers rather than using the native Vista drivers because if you aren’t using the specific drivers you really aren’t getting the full potential from the card–specific drivers give you tweaks that aren’t available in native drivers. Vista also has a nasty habit of giving you 32 bit drivers even in the 64 bit versions and that can really fuck up your video processing.

I’d listen to him, he’s very very into video processing optimization and he can make outmoded equipment perform way past the levels it was ever intended to do…

422

I could swear I had posted this, but…apparrently not:
I’ve been up for a while, still messing around with my list of things to do, but also putting away a bunch of stuff. Need to water, then it’s off to church, maybe brunch, and then we’ll see whether it’s raining.

In the meantime: went to church, then brunch, then Borders. I’m really sleepy. so I’ma gonne take a nap then see what trouble I can get into.

Hi to everyone!!! (I read stuff, really, I did; but I’m falling asleep.

GT

423

I went to Mass, come home, walked Nelly, made a tie out of Thrak, and went to the parish picnic. My Knights of Columbus council grilled the meat. I supervised, and drank beer. We stuck the hotdogs that fell off the grill into a tree. We called it a “dogwood”

Glad you feel better, Spaz.

Aleq, I was just going to upgrade my video card, but the upgrades would have cost more than the new system and a bigger monitor.

BBBobbio, so venison is on the menu tonight? :smiley:

:waves at Haze :

Soapy, a monitor is only too big if it falls throught the floor, and crushes the cat.

424

For everyone who has ever wandered what really goes on at those KofC meetin’s. :smiley:

We’re goin’ to visitate with a couple of friends for a while and have dindin. It’s nice when somebody calls and says come for dindin.

Later Y’all!

425

Did laundry this morning–7 loads. Guess it’s been more than a week since I’ve done it.

Also made it to Shaw’s (big chain grocery store), they had lots of sales, which was good. We bought a lot of stuff, which was less good. Our fridge was pretty bare though because we didn’t go shopping last week. Just need to hit Trader Joe’s on Tuesday for some ssorted other things. TJ’s has the best frozen fruit and veggies! I just love their pineapple.

My motivation, which wasn’t high earlier, has now bottomed out, I think. Ugh. Does anyone have any to spare?

426

Not me, Mousie. Motivation is strictly not on my agenda today. Even though I’ve been trying to persuade myself it is, it just ain’t happening.

I feel like such a slug. It’s a beautiful day, I have easy work to do and lots of good goofing off, and what do I end up doing? Bubkis. Absolutely bubkis. I just can’t be arsed.

Sometimes I hate myself for being such a slug.

427

OK, I’m all parented out. Spent yesterday entertaining Mumsy Dearest (including a side visit to see my grandmother at the nursing home), followed by spending most of today with The Boy’s parents AND Mumsy.

Tiring stuff, I tell ya. I feel like curling up in a corner and sleeping for the next week… which I could, I suppose, seeing as I’m ON VACATION. w00t.

Trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Apparently, the Dinner Fairy isn’t really feeling up to making anything, seeing as he’s rather pooped from spending all day with his folks.

428

Wow, too late now. I got the BFG 9800 GTX, which comes overclocked. I also got a new power supply, which is 680 watts, compared to the 300 watts it came with.

So, we’ll see what happens now.

It’s raining now. It figures, we just put fertilizer on the lawn yesterday. :rolleyes:

429

Home and exhausted. We arrived at the science center just as it was opening, so we got right into the exhibit. It was pretty cool - not only were there people parts, but they had a camel, a baby camel, and a young filly. We spent about 90 minutes there.

Then we walked to a bookstore where daughter got a 25% teacher’s discount on some books she bought. Next stop was Fell’s Point for lunch and moseying, followed by a visit to my youngest sis. On the way home, we stopped at WalMart and the grocery store, and now we’re home, hot and tired.

It was a nice day, but I’m glad it’s done. I’m ready to sleep… butt still hurts. <sigh>

Gotta feed my sweetie - laterz!

430

I thought Breathed stopped drawing Bloom County/Outland years ago. When did he startback up again? Or are those retreads with just the time sensitive stuff changed to current?

431

The weekend is winding down and tomorrow it’s back to work. So firstly … YAY for those who are on vacation, including GT; sounds like you’re going to have a great time, btw.

I did not get to the farmer’s market today but will be able to make one on Tuesday afternoon. So that’s okay. I did a minor bit of grocery shopping and will finish it up tomorrow afternoon, after work. Reward will be supper by Popeye’s chicken. YAY!

Sounds like you had a great time with your daughter today, FCM, that’s wonderful. :slight_smile:

And to Haze, whatever is Yasmin and why are you taking it, and why would it maybe be the cause of your nausea? Just curious!

432

This has not been a good weekend for me. I think I’ve been crying more than I’ve not been crying for any and every reason. My brain has been playing major tricks on me and in general I’ve been a total wreck.

My apologies to TVMan for having to put up with me and my mental issues bullshit.

:wanders off with a :frowning: :

433

{{{{{Pie}}}}}}}

434

Sorry to read that, Pie. Hugs. Feel better soon.

Yazmin is a contraceptive that’s also used to treat some other stuff, tarra. Thanks for the good wishes, too.

Opus has been around for several years, rosie. When it first came out, he wouldn’t allow it to be published online, so circulation was pretty low, but it’s been online for at least a year, I think.

You have a very interesting K of C chapter, doggio.

I went for a walk, then noticed that it was thundering in the distance, so I turned around and walked home again. Good thing, because it proceeded to POUR and also thunderboom fairly nearby. After it stopped, I went back out, got some ice cream and went for more walk, during which it sprinkled a teeny bit, but not till after I was done with my ice cream.

:: Does ecstatically happy dance of joy for rain FINALLY ::

Oh…and I took a nap earlier. For more than an hour, I think. Not sure why I was so tired, but I figured it was better to just give in and sleep.

So now I’m figuring out what to do during the closing ceremonies. One of my to do items for tonight is to schedule the rest of my week. I’m going to try to stay away from the computer other than the usual couple-times-a-day check-in here, because I’ve been typing a lot for work lately (there’s just lots to write), so I want to give them my hands and wrists a rest from that task. Also, I want to keep from getting sucked into the Web and losing my week off.

Oh…I’ll probably post the next MMP late tonight. Need to get it written, don’t I? (I have the idea and have been thinking about it all weekend, but haven’t started on it yet.)

Off to get stuff done…

GT

435

Feeling moderately put off, but not worth venting about…

Looking forward to the next MMP.

{{{Pie}}}

436

:: hugs for Pie ::

tarra - like gt said, Yasmin is a form of birth control. Ironic that I’ve started taking it now that I’m not getting any. :stuck_out_tongue: The doctor said I have PCOS (although the only symptom I have is irregular periods; apparently most people with PCOS have extra hair and tend to be overweight, among other things). I don’t really mind having three periods a year :wink: but in the long run I think it’d be better if I could keep track of my own body.

It’s going to be a crazy day at work. See y’all in the next MMP!

437

But wait. . . it couldn’t be me. . . I just got here! :smiley:

~waving~ to all the peoples :cool:

Sending a healing vibe to Lunch. You’ve had that . . whatever it is. . . for quite a while now. Hopefully, it will find you an unexciting host soon.

And to swampy: I was just shocked to learn that you don’t have fashion sense in the confessions thread. Shocked, I tells ya! :eek:

438

(((Pie)))
doggio, I think you have just confirmed Mr. Lissar’s desire to be part of the Knights. He likes anything with swords. Bad puns are even better.
Yeah, the constant-upgrading stuff about computers gets me, too, and I don’t even play computer games. Well, except for flash ones. Very occasionally.
It’s been a good weekend, I think. Very relaxing. Of course, next weekend we’re going to Napanee. Shoot me now.

439

Okay, friend problem, again with QD. I suggested getting a freezer for Other Quasi-Daughter and her husband for a baby present, and going in with QD to buy it. QD says she has one she bought for university about four years ago, which is in good condition, and which we could give to them, if she decides she doesn’t want to keep it.

Fine.

And then she suggests that since it cost $100 initially, and it’s used, I would only have to give her, oh, $30 or $40 for it, and she could pass it on. As I think about it, I’m starting to get mad. She’s extremely chintzy, and this idea sounds really really chintzy. We’re going to pay her half or a third of the price of a used appliance in order that she can pass it on to a friend? An appliance that she’s used for four years?

Mr. Lissar says No Frigging Way, she gives it herself or we buy a new one.

Does this seem weird or is it just us?

440

Went for a walk and mailed birthday cards–some of them are early and some are a bit late. It all evens our right?

(((Pie))) We’re here if you want to talk/vent.

:: Waits for the next MMP ::