LeoXiao wrote:The computer is still okay (I'm mainly worried about the keyboard getting worse) and works well enough. But it's those small things that make me regret a) not buying a new machine or b) not spending some effort to fix my otherwise sturdy my old laptop by installing an SSD or new graphics card. Building desktop computers is difficult enough, I'm not sure I want to deal with finding the exact right parts to fix a mobile device.

Personally, I avoid refurbished hardware like the plague. It was sent back to the manufacturer for a reason, and (unfortunately) often it is just quality tested again and sent out again, which may miss the kind of intermitent problems that likely were the reason it was returned in the first place.

As for upgrading your old laptop, the graphics card can't be upgraded on laptops because the chips for the graphics are attached to the same board as the rest of the chipset - unless you're talking some very old machines (25+ years ago) with a separate board for the graphics...but that wouldn't run Windows 7 .

You could have tried adding more memory (although some laptops have the RAM soldered straight on the motherboard), though. Or just zeroing the harddisk and reinstalling everything - Windows has this tendency to get all gummed up and slow after years of use*. It's fairly unlikely the harddisk got physically slower, unless it was actually failing.

* Although IMHO it's more the process of un- and reinstalling (often crappy) software repeatedly that is to blame, as my two Windows machines are still very quick and stable after years of use.

^
I got burned with those refurbs, as the first widescreen monitor I bought -- used -- was actually near the end of its lifespan, and the capacitors gave out, forcing me to shell out money to buy another.

Flamy vent: In my country, it seems too many so-called "IT-specialists" think that everyone has broadband (I actually do) and is running the newest hard- and software available (I don't, like many others). Unfortunately, this means some idiots can't be bothered to create a simple file upload for a forum that's compatible with anything but the newest Google Chrome* browser. Unfortunately I am on one such forum.

Even Flickr, whose website displays totally broken in my browsers, has a file upload that works in browsers which are not the most recent. It's just too bad that their Photostream won't load properly, otherwise I'd just host my pictures there (actually, I might do that anyway, since I could just log into my account from a newer computer and post the pictures from there via Flickr).

Of course, to be totally honest, the truth is that I like my non-Intel hardware platform muchly, because I can browse the web without worrying about picking up spyware and other crap (they simply won't run), while more recent stuff is full of currently exploited security holes. Besides, this laptop has a good keyboard.

* Which can't be installed on my aging hardware platform, and which won't be installed anyway anywhere else because I am not interested in corporate-sponsored spyware.

(somewhere, picking up a second-hand PowerMac G4 or G5 and installing FreeBSD onto it is getting...tempting)

Third day of class is tomorrow and work is already starting to pile up.

Plus I need to get back to my routine of going to the gym. I've felt terrible these past few days.

I have many problems and doubts plaguing my life, as is probably the case for most young persons, yet as of late my concerns lie not so much with the higher goals of what i intend to do in life, but on the more inmediate and mundane matter of economic and general self-reliance. Which is a lot of words for saying "i need to find a job".

It's funny in a way, because i'm actually reading and learning a lot nowadays (if not at even half the commitment i could have) but it's either stuff i can't really make a carreer out of just like that, or my learning is too scatter-brained to make economic gain out of it. That or i just haven't found the way to spin it into some economic venture/market niche.

In any case, as it happens Youtube kept showing me ads of this online school Treehouse. Now, i can't really call tech-anything my passion or even interest (small dabblings into programming at 15 proved more frustrating than anything) and quite frankly its promises of being job-capable in aproximately 6 months seem -to my unexperienced eye- too good to be true. That said, it's that very same promise of quick training (i'm not exactly 17 anymore...) and high rentability that kept me interested enought as to be asking -in this post and other places- whether or not this school is legit enought as to risk investing my (parents's) money into. Their wiki page seems to check out at the very least.

If it doesn't work? Welp, i'm kind of fucked i guess. I don't really mind doing "demeaning" work like washing dishes or picking up trash or whatever, but various mental problems (severe hikkiness, anxiety, etc.) as well as possible lack of offer kinda put a damper on it.

I was staying at my ex boyfriend's house on vacation with my boyfriend. And while I was on ecstacy i told him that my ex should come in and cuddle. With him. Because i thought he was feeling lonely. Now my boyfriend still probably thinks Im in love with my ex.

Also i feel really bad that I threw up because I had taken so much and i woke up my ex bf's mom. She blamed it on bad food, but i feel like i couldn't tell her the truth. ):

Lesson learned, never let someone eyeball you ecstasy.

^
Sorry, if this sounds lecturing, but you really shouldn't have done a vacation at your ex-bfs house with your new bf in the first place.

robersora wrote:^
Sorry, if this sounds lecturing, but you really shouldn't have done a vacation at your ex-bfs house with your new bf in the first place.

I went to my ex bf's house to drop my boyfriend off. Because my ex boyfriend was going to drive them together back to school. Then I got lazy and I stayed for two weeks.

Actually the worst thing about going there for vacation was that I was constantly third wheeled. But I ate a ton of food and his parents seemed to like me a lot. ):

Found out the other day that an officer I knew back in my hometown was fatally shot in the head the other morning. Certain parts of town were shut down and put on restrictive access while officers from all over the region(some as far as an hour or so away) were searching the swampy area for the suspects. They had everything there: Local, county, state, ATF, FBI, US Marshals, Secret Service(possibly), many canines, and quite a few helicopters. He had 30+ years with the department and was actually supposed to retire like month ago or so but stayed a bit longer to help department out. I knew him through the Police Explorer program that he ran for the department. Still haven't found the suspects and I am actually quite shocked no one has ratted out the hiders. He was a great person and a great asset to the town. He will be missed.

You, his family, and all those who know him have my sympathies. If that's the case I've heard about on the news, I'm pretty shocked by that as well.

https://www.facebook.com/truebluewarriors/photos/a.774006002647571.1073741871.238818532832990/881387841909386/?type=1

The post gives a good description of the officer and brief summery of what occured.

FUCK YOU BROTHER IN LAW I MAY HAVE TO KILL YOU

Whoa, what brought that on? I thought you were in a good mood.

NemZ wrote:Whoa, what brought that on? I thought you were in a good mood.

Oh, great, the fat motherfucker loses it again while we were driving to supposedly to eat out, and they fought in the car -- right before a 5-year-old kid. Got home and this shit got worse, and I had to cut in because he was trying to drag her out of the house, and keep my sister away from that motherfucker with a steel pipe, a step short of making a fleshy baseball out of his cueball head.

He hates my sister's job (which involves tutoring Japanese nationals), being so fucking jealous because he can't do right shit like basic fatherhood needs like working for real instead of being a lazy fat shit... and by extension he hates the Japanese. This motherfucker does nothing but to be the dick. Absolutely a narcissist because he expects everyone to accept his ideas as valid.

Oh, I have no qualms about packing up and going back to the countryside anytime soon. The fucker can have his money (if it comes after performing some obscure transaction as a half-assed broker -- I wouldn't be surprised if it even involves crystal meth -- it's his shit money, so why I should expect a handout?) and pussy and drown in it.

Were they physically fighting when you decided to break it up or just arguing? Was he breaking shit and/or generally being violent, or just angry?

I know you've complained about your living situation in the past but I thought it was more lies, manipulation, etc then anything so physical.

NemZ wrote:Were they physically fighting when you decided to break it up or just arguing? Was he breaking shit and/or generally being violent, or just angry?

Physically, yeah. Found her on the floor while he was standing, looking like a mad gorilla.

I'd better call in my cousins on what to do with this shit, like a lot of us beating him up, although I'm considering legal options.

You should get him out of the house and call the cops. If for some reason you can't get rid of him, you and everyone else should leave. Do not put up with that shit for a second.

NemZ wrote:You should get him out of the house and call the cops. If for some reason you can't get rid of him, you and everyone else should leave. Do not put up with that shit for a second.

I'm packing just in case.

Edit: if I were her, we'll have to go, but the problem is that she doesn't want to leave her children... and much to my dismay, the supposed-in-laws approved of their fat-fuck sumbitch relying on my sister for anything including money.

In others' eyes she would've been called a "martyr" for trying to put up with that kind of shit.

What a fucking mistake. I should've called it a long time ago. Should've stopped the fucking wedding. I've put up with one human monster a long time ago, and now this.

Sorry to hear your situation has deteriorated. You and your sister should definitely get rid of him somehow, otherwise the domestic violence will probably continue, maybe even escalate. You don't know what to expect from men like him, especially when they're drunk and have had a particularly bad day.

Dunno what the laws are in your country, but definitely get your sister and her kids out of there ASAP!

Pretty shocked to hear things have deteriorated to physical abuse, but you have a case against him now, since emotional/etc abuse is much harder to prove.