Archive for category Personal
Life Is Like A Best Buy Purchase
Posted by clifgriffin in Personal, Rant on September 23rd, 2007
After doing some research online today, I learned that Best Buy is selling Logitech diNovo Edge keyboards for 60 dollars or less. Considering the retail price for one of these bad boys is $200, I decided it would be smart for me to purchase one.
I picked up the first box on the rack of 3 that they had left. It felt a little bulky and normally I would have picked through the available inventory and selected the best “feeling” box, but with a helpful employee standing over my shoulder I just grabbed the first one and headed towards the register.
As I waited to pay at the register, I wiped dust off of the cover and thought in the back of my mind “I wish I could have selected a better box.” The front of the box seemed to bulge a bit. “Whatever” I told myself. “It doesn’t matter what the box looks like.”
Upon arriving at home, I looked on eBay and was happy to see the same keyboard I purchased selling for a minimum of 40 over what I paid. I started making plans to buy the other 2 and sell them for a profit.
Eyeing the box again, I decided I wanted to play with my new toy. I removed the stickers that secured the top of the box. Slipping off the top, what do you think I found?
Well if you guessed a Logitech diNovo Edge “Most Advanced Keyboard in the World” you are wrong. What I found instead of a stupid piece of crap PS2 eMachine keyboard that had been stuffed in the box.
Best Buy of course closed at the very moment I made this discovery.
Basically, someone bought one of these keyboards, put their keyboard in the box and returned it as unopened. And some idiot at Best Buy fell for it.
I only hope I don’t have any troubles remedying this mistake tomorrow morning.
Also, if any of you reading this decide to go buy the remaining keyboards I will hunt you down and stab you.
In the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
When God Smites Your Favorite Toy
Posted by clifgriffin in Personal on September 20th, 2007
Anyone who knows me reasonably well knows that I have been working tirelessly and expensively on a media center for my entertainment center. (That sounds a little redundant.) This media center, for those who are not enthusiasts, will act like a Tivo, mp3 player, radio, dvd player/recorder, etc. It’s a jack in the box of entertainment fun!
As I’ve put more and more time and money into this project, I’ve found myself putting a lot of importance into its success. And this is partly natural…I doubt any of you would want to spend hundreds of dollars on a project and have it not work like it should.
Well two weeks ago, the media center had some serious file corruption. I had to reinstall Vista. At the time, I was very depressed about it. It seemed like everything was going wrong in the world. Now if you think that is silly, you are correct.
I fixed this problem with about 5 hours of effort, and the world was once again my oyster.
During this time, I kind of felt like there was a possibility that God was trying to tell me something…that maybe I was spending too much time with ye ol’ media center and too little time with Him. Unfortunately, with my media center fixed this was no longer my concern. I didn’t think about it again. I simply started planning its implementation and spending more money.
The pinnacle of all this spending and enthusiasm happened last Sunday. The media center was ready to go. I had mounted my 42″ flat screen HDTV on the wall the day before. And I had spent at least 4 hours installing a giant antenna 30 feet off the ground out back so that we could receive free, over the air, HD football that night.
I set it all up; it was working perfectly.
And then, through the most unlikely chain of events, I decided to demonstrate its use to my roommate. This turned out to be the divinely appointed time at which I would learn my lesson once and for all about putting too much importance on a toy. It was this very moment that my media center not only crashed, but refused to start. Why? The motherboard (If you don’t know what that is, it’s fine. Just keep reading.) had fried itself.
I immediately slipped into depression. It ruined the whole day. It ruined my night. It ruined Monday. (Which isn’t hard, because after all…it’s Monday.)
However, God did take the opportunity to show me why this had happened. In talking with two of my friends about this issue, I heard things like “Man, God must be punshing you.” or “Maybe God is trying to tell you that you are placing too much importance on your media center.”
Adding this to my internal suspicions, the picture was very clear.
Presently, my media center is still broken. I’ve learned to accept it. I will be trying to get the motherboard replaced by the manufacturer soon, but no longer am I going to allow it to be the most important part of my happiness.
Anything can be an idol. Let that be a lesson to you.
Cordially,
Clifton
Boo.
Posted by clifgriffin in Personal on September 9th, 2007
That’s what I say. Boo.
This past week, though entirely productive, has also been stressful. Why? Because everything I touch, within reason, falls to pieces.
1. My media center is broken.
2. My car is a piece of poop. (It’s leaking coolant for the second time in 2 months.)
3. My sunglasses are apparently gone forever.
4. I have a cold.
5. There is this programming project I’m working on at work that is broken for no apparent reason.
6. I have to move again. (Thankfully for the last time.)
To all of this I say boo.
I’m going to go sulk.
Clif
I Can’t Find A Screw Driver
Posted by clifgriffin in Personal on July 18th, 2007
I can’t find a screw driver. Philips, flat-head, or otherwise.
And just why would I need a screw driver, you ask?
Well, I will answer that question. You see, my life is not complete without many hobbies and trivial pursuits to keep things interesting. So I invent ways to spend too much money on toys. The toy of this month is a media center.
What is a media center? A media center is a computer that is built solely (or primarily) to be used for playing media, whether it be TV, DVD, music, or photos. I have decided that I do not use my desktop computer often enough to justify just letting it sit in the corner. It is relatively powerful and it would be a shame to let it waste.
Thus, I bought a media center case that looks quite like a DTS (audio receiver), and an HD card. (HDTV, baby).
But I can’t put it together, because I can’t find a screw driver.
And I’m too tired to go somewhere that has one.
And it’s just as well, I’d probably break something in my tired stuper.
Alas, I go to read my book, Catch 22.
Love,
Clifton
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