Ana Pires 2.0

My new computer has arrived, and is completely set up and ready to use.

I’m going to be honest. The first time I looked at it, I thought it was ugly. Really, very ugly. The front has only a little grid protecting the inside, and a big fan, before all the wires and hardware. Wires and hardware I get to see, because of the grid, you know, filled with little holes… It’s not pretty. But I don’t know, it kind of warmed up to me. Not really, but kind of.

It came with four fans, one of them being enormous, so I don’t think it’ll overheat now… And it’s supposed to be really good and reliable. And, thankfully, I ended up not losing anything I had on my documents’ disk.

A new monitor came as well, since the other one end up dieing… And that however, is very pretty. My wallpaper collection is mostly useless now, since my resolution is way too big now for most of them, but still, I’m very happy with it. It’s LCD, so it’s good for my eyes, and it’s tiny and pretty and elegant.

I’m happy. Even though that thing is damn ugly. It’s okay, but it’s ugly.

My Everest now tells me the computer’s temperature is at 32º Celsius (90º Fahrenheit), which, comparing to last time at least, is very good. I terms of an operative system, I got an original, legal version (yes, really) of Windows XP Professional, and as soon as my brother can help me (you know, the computer savvy one), I’m getting Linux on VM Ware.

I have no idea how much all this cost, and honestly, I don’t even want to know. All I do know is that I’ll take care and cherish it to last a very, very, very long time.

Remember when I previously had problems with my computer, concerning some fur? Apparently, it wasn’t just the fur’s fault. About two days ago, my computer started acting up again, restarting on its own and crashing every time I tried doing something. After some headaches, it was decided it would be a better idea to just get a new one, with better ventilation and with less problems…

I spent nearly two days without it, and hence, without Internet. It was horrible. At a certain point, I was just roaming around the house, aimlessly, completely bored. I tidied up my room, read, watched TV, some DVDs, played PS2, slept… There was nothing else to do!

Right now I’m writing from my brother’s laptop, an iBook. I want one of these, they’re so beautiful. That is, once I overcome the guild of letting my desktop one die. But then, I’ll surely switch to Apple, or at least use it as my main working environment. Windows can be for games and things that are okay to be lost if something happens.

The new computer will be arriving tomorrow, maybe. I’ll have to format the old one, but all my documents are in a separate disk, and nothing will be lost.

I guess I just have to wait now…

When I was a child, around six or seven years old, I found a ring on the street. I was absolutely delighted! It was beautiful to start off, and it was gold! I had found a beautiful valuable thing in the middle of the floor, on a somewhat busy street, and even after my mother and I asked if it belonged to someone sitting on a nearby esplanade, no one claimed it. So it was mine.

But there was one problem. It was huge, seriously huge. Not even now, that I’ve grown a bit since then, it would fit. I was to young to wear such a thing anyway, so it end up on a little box, and was eventually forgotten.

I found it again one day, after getting my new bedroom, completely re-painted and re-furnished and all that. I don’t remember how old I was, but I remember I found it while unpacking some things. I was once again completely delighted, the pretty ring I found when I was young! But again, huge, it would fall off my finger.

I didn’t hide it on a box again though. I put it near the rings and accessories I had (and that fit me), although I couldn’t use it. It would simply fall off if I did. This way, at least, I could admire my childhood treasure every time I passed by that shelf.

A few weeks ago, I was watching TV in my bedroom. Oprah was on, and there was this guy called Colin Cowie talking about parties and the way he lives. I’m more fond of Oprah’s more serious shows, but there was nothing else on, so I kept the TV on while doing other things at the computer.

He eventually said something that caught my attention, something I later looked up, that was “Use your good stuff, wear your good things. Don’t wait until you’re dead for somebody else to use your good stuff”. I found the saying quite cute, and smart actually. It’s not that profound or deep in meaning or anything, but the man’s right if you really think about it.

I didn’t think of the ring right away. But the next time I saw and noticed it on the shelf, near the other rings I usually wear, I remembered that sentence.

So, more than ten years later, I finally made up my mind. With 10€ (around 8 dollars), I went to a jewelry store, and got my ring resized to fit me.

Why wait? Why wait to use the good clothes or the good accessories, why wait to use the good plates and glasses when eating at home, why wait to feel good? I think it’s great to have special things and rituals you only do every once in a while, but we really shouldn’t wait that much to make ourselves happy. And really, if such little things can make us happy, like resizing a ring we couldn’t wear before, why not?

My computer has been resetting itself. It’s quite annoying. It hasn’t done any serious damage yet, only a lost game I was playing and some tabs I had opened that end up getting recovered by the almighty Firefox either way. Nothing important. But it is annoying, and quite worrying. It’s not normal.

The panic! All the family photos that aren’t backed up, my personal pictures, my old school papers, my saved games, the eMule’s temporary files, the e-mails, the calendar, the bookmarks! *gasp*

Okay, it must be a virus! So I run my anti-virus, Avast!, which I highly recommend by the way, and yes, there is a virus. Ew. So the virus is removed, and after some more scans by both the anti-virus and an anti-spyware software I found lying around, I’m sure my computer is safe.

And then it resets itself again.

Second hypothesis, it’s summer, and my room gets really, really hot. That has to be it. But still, it’s not normal… If it was fine before, meaning the last summer and even weeks ago when it was already hot, why not now? I can hear the fan running, and it’s not making any strange noises or anything, so it mustn’t be a problem with it. Then what? What to do? My computer savvy brother isn’t home, and there’s no one to ask help to… I’d google some help, but I have no computer because it keeps turning itself off! *panic*

After all this drama, I decide to try my luck and open up my computer’s box. This is quite courageous of me, because I may understand and get around the Internet, but inside the actually computer, not so much, meaning, not at all.

So anyway. I open up its box, and I see this huge ball of fur in there. No, not really a ball, more like a really strange blob of fur. Seriously. It was covering the entire fan and the little holes that let the air pass through. I swear, you could make a new animal from all that fur.

I know I’ve been a bit of a slob in what concerns cleaning my room lately. It’s not untidy or anything, everything’s in its place, and I vacuum every week, but the animals’ fur, I admit, has been a problem. I didn’t think it’d be such a problem though. I mean, you have no idea, it looked terrible! My room’s not that dirty! And my pets don’t have that much fur!
All in all, it’s the cat and dog’s fault.

After being vacuumed, the computer is working fine, and even though it’s still very hot in my bedroom, it hasn’t reset itself ever since.

There, my adventure of the day! Thought I’d share the lesson I learned with you.
Every week or so, vacuum the insides of your computer! And your pets.

After a very nervous day and a sleepless night, the time finally came for me to go to school and get to see my grades.

I’m not 100% happy, because some of them were somewhat low. They’re okay, and with the average made, around 148 if I did the math right (out of 200), I believe I’ll enter university just fine. They could be better, that’s all. Except for one. My 200 points English exam. I mean, that’s the maximum grade… I had a maximum grade, on an exam!

And all those people saying the computer and television were bad for me, hmpf.

I have all I need to enter university. I’ll be making and sending in my application next Monday. I’ll only hear back from them in August, but I’m confident. I feel bad for some of my friends though. Most of them have exams to repeat, and I almost had one too. I wish them the best of luck.

I look like a goth right now. Either that, or like I’ve been punched in both eyes… I think I’m going to get some sleep…