I went and helped someone with computer troubles after work today. It is a cash in hand job I do every now and then and I really enjoy it. It tends to not be particularly difficult, it's always a nice ego boost and I enjoy the conversations.

However, like many IT people, at home I am often asked to help out with computer troubles, and yet the situation is not quite the same, there isn't the same level of care and making sure they understand that I would perform when asked to do it as one of these jobs, and there isn't the same level of attention paid to the solution by my parents as by one of my customers.

I got to thinking as why this is on my way home and I can't help but think that this does simply come down to money and convenience. My parents and youngest brother know that if it comes down to it, they can just ask me to perform the task again. It doesn't cost them anything but a little inconvenience, and in my case I'm not being compensated, but I do get onto it quickly, the sooner it is done I can get back to what I was doing before and I know they aren't going to pay that much attention to it.

On the other hand when I am doing one of these computer jobs, the person knows that afterwards they will have to pay me, and if something goes wrong, they'll have to contact me (or someone else I guess) and organise another visit to do the same task, whereas if they pay attention, take notes, etc, they can avoid this issue when it next crops up rather than coping with a delay of a few days and an extra expense.

It is always interesting to see how situations change when money becomes involved.

Tags: computers, money

My new PC, RanMac 2: The Return has been completed, I swung by Chatswood this morning and grabbed a 750 Watt Thermaltake Toughpower and everything has worked fine.

Well, almost fine.

The VPN software required for work is not compatible with Vista, and the Compatibility Advisor basically say, if you install this program, your PC will die horribly. So I had to grab VMWare and set up a virtual XP machine so that I can do the stuff required for work.

Fortunately that was fairly painless and it all worked flawlessly.

So tomorrow I get to put away the various bits of junk that currently covers my floor (I might take a few photos first, so people can both see my new case, and perhaps see the chaos that is my room), and perform the healthchecks.

Tags: computers
Current Music: 05/04/2007 The Broodax Imperiate - Downloadable Content, The Penny Arcade Podcast - Mike Krahulik an

Sigh, the downside of building your own machine is you have to deal with the stress of faulty components.

The power supply I got seems to be unreliable, resutling in CPU INIT troubles on my motherboard.

I tested it with my brother's PSU and everything else works fine, so I now have to call up IT Estate tomorrow and find out how to return it, and then call up Arc and see if they have a thermaltake 850W PSU in stock. (It currently says call)

Night all

Tags: computers, frustration
Current Mood: Frustrated
Current Music: The Red Panda (Original Universe) 1 - Case of the Dynamite Dame - Decoder Ring Theatre - Decoder Rin

Sigh, the parts for my PC still aren't here.

They should arrive tomorrow though, and then I can spend tomorrow evening setting everything up and installing everything.

And then i will be out all Friday evening.

And will be helping set things up for other people on Saturday morning (hey, it's good cash in hand money).

So the first real chance to get games on that puppy will be Saturday afternoon.

Speaking of games, I got Super Mario Paper today, and I finished Legend of Zelda: Windwaker too, so I can move onto the next game on my Wii.

Been playing a bit of Pokémon Pearl, it has been good so far, not moving through the game as quickly as I normally do.

And on the theme of late packages, after tomorrow, I will be able to contact Right Stuf International about the fact that their package never arrived, just the receipt, and the 6 week maximum shipping time will have elapsed.

I am not impressed with them, I paid $54 for shipping, which increased the total price by over 50%, and then it took them a month to get 1 of the volumes in, so the order I made in mid FEBRUARY has not yet arrived. God damnit! I want my strange crossdressing/romance shoujo manga to arrive already.

Tags: computers, games, late packages, wii
Current Mood: Sick
Current Music: Slice of SciFi #107: Interview with Morena Baccarin - Slice of Scifi - Michael and Summer

I need to stop going to sleep at midnight. I am just not getting enough sleep at the moment, and that needs to stop. Even the gradual introduction of coffee into my diet is not helping my state of wakefulness.

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts, my current rate of new podcasts is roughly equal to the number of podcasts I am listening to. My DS has seen a lot more use too, after getting an M3 Simply. It has let me try games I would otherwise have completely ignored.

Read a few volumes of manga on the bus also.

My external hard drive died recently =( I have been completely unable to have a computer see it in any useful way, beyond Windows Explorer freezing for a few minutes before giving an error, or Disk Utility permanently trying to get information.

Also, currently looking at buying a new PC in the next few months.

The plan is to get a CMStacker 810 case, because then I can support a nice large number of hard drives. Any suggestions for hardware? It needs to support at least 8 IDE devices, and then 7 SATA II drives (for future expansion).

Tags: computers, lack of sleep, work
Current Location: Work
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Dragon's Landing Inn - Bravo 73