lunar.soliloquy

One must have patience. And a lot of it. One of my more recent jobs has been to go through some old handwritten patient card notes and transfer the data into the electronic medical database. As I've mentioned previously, I liked to think that patience was one of my better qualities but this job's really testing it. Seriously, what the hell is the point of writing notes if no-one can even read them?? Might as well save the time (and a few trees) and not bother, if your handwriting's going to suck so damn bad. /rant

So I realise I haven't really been updating this blog as much as I should be, I guess I just haven't been bothered lately. Not that anything interesting has really been happening in my life worth mentioning. Work goes on, days off are spent at home with parents, and boredom slowly accumulates. Three weeks of this and I'm beginning to feel the boredom biting at my sanity. I should probably get out more and stuff, but the city life in Rotorua just isn't the same as in Auckland, and most of the time my parents have plans of their own for me (such as helping out with visitors, of which we've had plenty over the past few weeks), so that makes things difficult. A significant portion of my time is spent attempting to play SC2 at 1 fps with my friends in Auckland on my 3 year old laptop, which usually ends up in utter fail with me lagging everyone else in the game and generally having very poor quality games. My dad gave me $400 to upgrade his 8 year old computer at home and I've ordered a few parts which should be here by Christmas, so hopefully I'll be able to have a decent game on that. I'm still contemplating on the parts I should get for my own computer I'll be building next year and hunting down deals online. According to one of my friends, $1000 is about the optimal amount to spend on building a computer.

Work's been meh. Still poking people's arms with needles and doing the occasional BP or CVD assessment while my boss piles me with the monotonous computer work amongst other stuff. It's been a while since I've actually missed a vein but I somehow managed to miss 2 today for some strange reason. Perhaps the novelty of phlebotomy's beginning to wear off and I'm starting to lose interest in what I'm doing. Guess I'm that type of person who's not easily interested in things, and gets bored with things easily. Ah, I need to find something to amuse me again, life's just getting too boring.

At the moment one of my Dad's late friend's wife's yoga teacher from Germany is staying at our house as part of her tour of New Zealand. I don't really mind having random visitors in my home but I won't deny that things are easier to do when they're not around. For example, playing DDR. Our visitor is staying downstairs at the moment so I'll certainly cause a lot of noise for her if I play at my usual time before breakfast. And since there's only one TV in the house that just means one extra person I'm sharing it with too. I would get a TV for myself and play in the basement but since I'm only home for one quarter of the year I'm not sure it's worth the investment. That's one annoying thing about living in two homes rather than one, you can't furnish your place as well as you want to since you're only getting to use it for a limited portion of the year. There are lots of things I'd like to get for my room, like maybe a surround sound system, a big corner desk, a nice desktop computer (I'll be getting that soon) to list a few. I know I'm just being picky and I should just appreciate the fact that I do have my own place to stay in during uni (I do) but I guess I just like to enjoy myself too much sometimes. Anyway I'm going way off topic.

So yeah, we've got this visitor and Mum and Dad are going out of their way to show them around a bit. Which means they tend to leave me alone more, which is one advantage of having her around. Yeah I know I should make the most of my time with my parents but I do like my alone time too and sometimes they do invade into that. I also don't really like gardening that much. Oh, it looks like I'm heading off now. I'm still at work atm and we're gonna take a patient to the hospital in Rotorua cuz he's poor and doesn't have any money for transport and my dad's just being kind. Sigh, the demographics of this place sometimes make me wonder what these people do with their lives...

Don't ask me why I'm blogging at 4am in the morning, cuz I don't know either. I guess analyzing computer components at night before sleeping was a bad move. The complexity of computer architecture is so ridiculous, my head was literally buzzing with them all through the night and I had a terrible amount of sleep last night.

I suppose the main motive behind this new venture of mine is due to my simple annoyance at the fact that my $2300 laptop I got 3 years ago can't run Starcraft 2, even on the lowest quality without lagging the hell out of everyone in the game. Yeah, sure my Toshiba P200 meets the minimum requirements but those are the -bare minimum- for even running the app and that's still on lowest quality. Now I don't mind running SC2 on crap quality but what actually gets me is the LAG. 128mb dedicated graphics is the minimum, 512mb is the recommended. Guess how much I have. 256! T.T; And that was top notch 3 years ago. For a lappy, anyway. I won't ignore the fact that my motherboard broke on me two years ago but I didn't find it affected it -too- much in terms of gaming. My laptop's just simply out of date, and I need something I can play my Starcrafts on, and with Katherine's Intel i7 930 nVidia GTX 470 out of reach, I'm feeling the pinch more than ever now.

So those are my prime motivations for looking into a gaming rig. I just received a pay rise at work so I'm feeling I can be a little generous with my present for myself this Christmas and could probably part with $1500 for the purposes of building my machine. But no more. I know how easy it is to go over that limit with the endless numbers of computer components that are out there on the market now, and how you could get that extra "oomph" for just $50 more or so. But that's not going to happen to me. I'm going to strictly adhere to my budget on this one, and not oversplurdge on something ridiculous like the monster of a machine my sister has. Of course, getting the latest tech out there is sure as hell tempting, but I'm not a hardcore gamer as such, so spending extra money for a hobby I really don't have a lot of time for would be a waste of money in my eyes.

At $1500 I believe I'm looking at the mid-range of performance computers, so it's not going to be hitting the fps on Crysis HQ max anti-aliasing etc, unfortunately. But I don't care, so long as it runs Starcraft 2 with NO LAG I'm happy. Apparently you can build a decent rig for around $500 if your sole intention is for it to play SC2 but I don't want my rig to be outdated so fast to the point its going to be obselete next year (when they release Diablo 3 and god knows what else) so I'm quite keen on getting something that will last a while. Building a computer is serious business and being my first time at ever looking at a computer beyond the specs in the shops it's a little daunting. Luckily for me the internet exists, with its wealth of information (although can be a little subjective, as all media is) and I have friends experienced in such matters. I will be sure to pick their brains about this, as computers have never really been my forte since the only thing I used to do with them is play on them, lolz. Didn't really take them apart or try and put one together, it all seemed like too much work for what it was worth. Wish I could've learned a little computer architecture in high school.

So onto the parts themselves...

~Processor/CPU
So far I'm leaning towards Intel rather than ATI atm since from what I've been reading, Intel's chips are where it's at today in terms of gaming and overall performance. ATI's chips are a little cheaper and the specs do look good on paper but in practice, Intel makes the superior gaming chips. In particular the i5 series seems to be the favourite chip for budget gamers such as myself and the i5 core 750/760 was agreed by several reviews to be the one to go for. It's a little expensive at $309 (all prices are from PBtech, where I'm probably going to be buying it from) but the CPU is important and I'm willing to spend a little more on it, but if the budget disallows it, I'll probably go for something a step down. I'd still like to run a quad core, though. Interestingly, Intel's releasing their new chipset line early next year, so I'll probably wait til then and see what the i5 line has to offer with the new "Sandy Bridge" or whatever you call it technology. If I was going for an AMD chip I'd probably go for the hex-core (!) Phenom II X6 1055T but according to a number of reviews the hex core technology they use is still based on an old AMD chip or something and somehow it's not as good for games, but is better for multi-thread apps, whatever they are.

~Graphics Card
nVidia or AMD? >< too many decisions. I heard ATI makes better cards but nvidia makes better drivers, so the verdict's out there of which of the two is actually better. I think in terms of bang for buck AMD cards are top on the market, but if you're looking at high-performance cards, nVidia beats AMD hands down with its GTX460 series and above. Since I'm a gamer on a budget, I'll be leaning more towards AMD on this one. I looked at nvidia cards but the ones I wanted were too far out of reach for my budget ($300 and upwards) whereas with the AMD ones you could get a similar performance for 2/3rds the price. The AMD Radeon HD 5770 seemed quite popular among gamers on a budget with the nvidia GTS450 close behind. Both cards were around $230 which seems a reasonable amount to spend on a graphics card for a gaming rig.

~Motherboard
So I'll need a motherboard that fits nicely with the two options I've chosen up here. I'll be waiting for Intel's new chipset to come in so obviously this may be subject to change, although I've looked at what I need and what's on the market. Gigabyte seems to make decent gaming motherboards and are cheaper than the EVGA ones so I'll probably be getting one of theirs. The Gigabyte H55M-D2H looks to be within my price range and has all the support I need including support for ATI CrossfireX technology in case I decide to purchase another graphics card in the future to keep up with the play. All for a reasonable price of $160.


~RAM
The architecture of RAM components didn't seem particularly as important compared to CPUs and Video cards for gaming rigs, so I just decided to go with something generic - the Kingston HyperX 6GB 1600MHz C9 DDR3. Any 6GB card with DDR3 should be okay to use, right? That's another $199, not much more than the 4GB ones, so I decided I may as well got for 6 gigs of RAM.

~Hard Drive
Idk, anything that will fit all my anime and junk, and won't break the bank or lose my stuff. Western Digital seems the economical choice, with 1Tb for $109.



~DVD/Bluray Drive
A Bluray drive would be nice but I'm not spending an extra $100 just for that. The LG GH22Ns50 seemed economical, at $45.

~Network Adapter
Need something that works. And wireless too, please. The Asus PCI-G31 was only $38 and seemed like it would do the job.


~Power Supply
Prefer something not too noisy. The Great Wall 550SEL boasted good energy efficiency and ultra-silent running for only $79, and that seemed reasonable.


~Case
Something stylish that would keep the goods nice and cool. Everyone who builds custom rigs seems to use Coolermaster these days, probably because they have the best ventilation. Even the ones at the net cafes back in Auckland use them. Must be good. I pick the most stylish looking one, the Elite 430 mid-tower.
So I think that's all the hardware I'm going to need to build my new gaming rig. I'll wait til next year for Intel's Sandy Bridge and see what's new before jumping in, of course. It's pretty exciting, the prospect of building something like this (abeit a bit nerdy) since I've never done this sort of thing before and I'm expecting to get some good results out of this thing. I have absolutely no experience in the art of computer assembling whatsoever (unless you count the time I replaced a broken 64mb graphics card with a 128mb one on our 8 year old bomb of a desktop in Rotorua many years ago) so I'll have to get someone else to do it.

Let's see how much this is going to cost me altogether...

Intel Core i5 760 2.8 GHz Processor - $309
Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 5770 Graphics Card - $229
Gigabyte H55M-D2H Motherboard - $160
Kingston HyperX 6GB 1600 Mhz C9 DDR3 RAM - $199
Western Digital Blue Edition 1Tb Hard Drive - $109
LG GH22NS50 DVD Drive - $45
Asus PCI-G31 Wireless Network Adapter - $38
Great Wall 550SEL Power Supply - $79
Cooler Master Elite 430 Mid-Tower Case - $171

Total comes to $1339. I know I have a little leeway to upgrade 1 or 2 things if I wanted to and still stay within my budget. I still haven't decided on a monitor yet either. My sis asked me if I wanted her LG LED one for Christmas so I might just use that, although I still want to have a look around to see what's on the market at the moment. I'm more than open to suggestions if anyone who's bored enough to be reading this blog can suggest anything in the way of parts cuz i'm utterly clueless about these things and I just compiled the list above in 1 day on a quiet day at work. I'm all for value for money so I'm after the parts that will give me the best bang for buck, not the ridiculously expensive ones that are going to break my small collection of savings. Thanks for reading, feel free to comment (I think I removed the restrictions on profile requirements for comments now so you shouldn't need to sign in anymore).

A random kitten paid me a visit at work this afternoon. Being such a hot day the receptionists had left the back door open to uninvited guests, and despite being uninvited, this little guy made my day. I mean, it's not every day you get a little kitten stroll into your room at work, jump up on your lap and have a nap, and stay there for an hour. All the while, making soft little kitten noises and squeaks, of course. And combined with the warmness of its little body vibrating gently with the purring, it was certainly a delightful experience to be had. No-one had any idea who it belonged to or what it was doing there but apparently it wasn't uncommon for people at work to take home stray animals who turned up there. I've always wanted an animal at home. A rabbit, a cat, or even some fish would have been nice. Never even bothered trying to convince my parents though, especially since I've essentially moved out of home and probably wouldn't have the time to look after one in Auckland. Not that the apartment allows pets, anyway. Ah well, I'll just hope more of these little guys show up at work xD


In the end one of the doctors ended up taking her home. She got her immunised, de-flea'd and cleaned at the SPCA and now she has a new home. This little kitten certainly knew where to look to find herself an owner who would treat her well. Clever little thing ^^

So yesterday and today I've been taking people's blood and have been having about a 80% success rate so far and rising. I think I've been starting to get the hang of it. When I started I forgot really stupid things like taking the needle out before loosening the tourniquet and causing a big mess =X. I always feel real crap when I remove the needle and blood spurts out like a fountain everywhere and the patient looks away and you just know you did something wrong. Hey, it doesn't happen so much anymore, I swear I've gotten past that stage ><. Practice makes perfect, right? Although phlebotomy isn't really something you can practice at home (unlike piano, etc) ... so before I reach a level where I'm competent enough not to screw things up, a few people are going to have to get hurt >< gomen kudasai... I just can't stand hurting people. Even when people say it's OK I still feel bad because know if I was in their position I would say I was fine even if it hurt. Guess some people are more honest than me, but still =X

This weekend my dad's got some garden work lined up for me, probably involving mowing the lawns and weeding the vegetable patch. Gardening, haven't done that in a looong time. Not that I miss it too much, heh. So long as the weather's good I'm not complaining. On Sunday some people are coming over from Tauranga to visit the Redwoods along with some of our family friends here. I don't know many of the people coming so I guess it'll give me a chance to meet some new faces. Rotorua's pretty goddamn boring at the moment so I'm just sticking to whatever my parents are doing, not that I have anything better to do anyway. I do DDR it out on the Wii occasionally when I've got the energy but usually I'm so tired after work I just couch potato in front of some anime or manga. Of course, I don't have any internet or DDR in Murupara so that's pretty much all I do after work anyway when I'm staying out there. It's a good way to wind down, anyhow. I haven't had much of a chance to watch anime all semester so now I'm just catching up a little xD. I just finished Code Geass R2 yesterday night and it was fantastic. The ending caught me off guard but only a little, since a certain SOMEONE happened to spoil it for me right from the beginning T.T. I'm wondering which one I should start on next, maybe I'll take a look at Dark Angel ^^.

Okay, it's getting close to 11 so I think I'll quickly wash up and head off to bed, thx for reading =D