They're on a collisions course with wakkiness!

Well whether we like it or not, the New Year has come. Holidays are over and it’s time to get back to work and school and all kinds of happy crap. School starts back up on Thursday and I don’t feel ready. I decided to wait on the truck project for a couple of reasons. First, wanted to have a bit of time off over the holidays to just sit back and take it easy. Second, the cost, difficulty and danger of keeping the garage at or above 70 Fahrenheit would have been great. Propane heater + volatile chemicals misted from a paint gun = no eye brows. I’m all about explosions, but only when I’m not in the middle of them. So we’ll see about doing it in the summer. Meanwhile, I did get a chance yesterday to set up our surround sound in the theater. The wires were pre routed in the walls, so I really only had to do a little trimming, some hanging and a little testing and optimization (and a little bit of creative problem solving when one of the wires was found to have dropped back inside the wall). Anyway, it was rather painless, and sounds pretty good. One strange thing I noted it that the remote for our sound system seems to have a life of its own. It will randomly send out signals to the receiver instructing it to shut down. This violates my policy of “do what I say or die” so it is now lifeless (a.k.a. no batteries). There is something about exhibiting your will on inanimate objects that leaves you feeling refreshed and gratified. Well, like so many at this time of year, it’s time for me to start focusing on a diet. Since starting school 1 year ago, I have gained and held about 20 lbs. While I don’t care at all how much I weigh, I have noticed that my clothes don’t fit as comfortably as they used to and I don’t feel as healthy as I have in the past. However, rather than make all these promises that’ll last about 3 weeks, I’ll just make some simple changes. In the past 2 weeks the Nikkster and I have been on the bishopric hit list it seems. (like that? the Nikkster? I just thought of it. I bet she’ll hate it! It’s code talk you see, so I don’t have to use her real name! Yes I AM awesome, aren’t I?) You see, 3 weeks ago we were your typical people who were privileged enough to be able to attend our regular block, Sunday school and Elders Quorum/Relief Society. Now, THE Nikkster (pronounced ‘thee nik-STEER’ for the time being) is locked into talking in front of the 11 year olds with the title of ‘Teacher’, and it would seem I am to do all the paperwork for the Elders presidency as their secretary/conveyer of donuts. Thus, I shall now begin observing national Secretary Day which will be held this year on April 25^th. I expect chocolate and lots of it! Now on to business, as some of you may know my computer is stupid. Here stupid is used synonymously with ‘it no worky’. It would seem to be a fairly straight forward problem, in that when you push the power button absolutely nothing happens. Referring back to the IT crowd, the first thing I checked was that it was plugged in. From here things got a little technical, but basically it was plugged in. Next I checked the power supply and it was good. I even verified this with a second power supply borrowed from the Deliveror of all things containing lemony goodness (My favorites are the Goth Rock Speed Metal Fusion cookies! Ok only about 3 people will get that joke). The more I test the more I find out what the problem isn’t. Unfortunately, all signs are pointing to the motherboard which is a cheap but crappy problem. If I were to replace the motherboard, the temptation to upgrade is SO strong. That’s how I work. Just look at my truck, anything that has broken on it has been replaced with the biggest and strongest components I could find, within reason. And if I ever break those then I’ll have to abandon reason and just buy an M1 Abrams tank (nothing says I’m cool like potentially dangerous government surplus). Thus, what I’d really like to do is spend about $1100 and upgrade my entire system. This, however, will not be happening unless anyone finds me cute and lovable enough to fund the project for me (this is where I smile and bat my eyelashes). So I’m stuck right now with a computer that looks like it’s in the middle of a rather invasive abdominal explosion (as opposed to the non-invasive abdominal explosions). I guess once I verify that it is in fact the Motherboard I’ll find a nice little orphaned replacement and cram it into my system. Anyway, I’d like to thank everyone who came to the party for a good time and condemn those who didn’t come to a life full of curiously talkative breakfast cereals. It was a good party. I know this because we had all the necessary things. We had a fireworks show (courtesy of Ty, Happy Birthday Ty!), wild animals showing their talents (the girls sleeping in the bedroom and the parakeets… doing what ever it is that parakeets actually do), movies (thanks to Deliveror’s Media PC, and a very special thanks to Eegah and very strange foreign cartoons), LAN gaming (again, thanks solely to Deliveror’s ability to procure graphical human interface devices), strippers (in fact the same ones that I brought to the bachelor party), staggering drunkenness (when I slipped and fell down the last 2 stairs), even someone loosing their lunch (when Tessa surprised us all with her impression of a garden hose). And in the morning there were at least 3 individuals (besides the Nikkinator and I) that had lost consciousness in various places throughout the house. Anyway, I thought it was fun and I hope everyone had a good time.