Saturday

Friday was a rough and very busy day. I pretty well knew last night that I wasn’t going to be doing anything on Saturday. True to form that is exactly what happened. I spent the bulk of the day in bed and when I wasn’t there, I was watching YouTube videos. Ted Talks have become my new favorite thing.

I ventured out of the house late in the afternoon and as I was more than ½ way to the post office I realized I left home without the key to the PO BOX. I took the opportunity to just go for a short drive. The battery was low and needed to be charged. I went in a very large circle and got on the freeway that I would normally take on my ride home from work. They have it freshly paved and all of those rough spots are gone. It looks nice and still has a bit of that fresh asphalt smell. I loved being able to drive above 55 mph and the need for speed kicked in. There is just something about being on the open road that makes me want to drive fast. I had and still have the thought of going for a pizza but I am saving that for next weekend, I think.

I am not a gambling man but decided to take a gamble with regards to my desktop pc. If you remove the heat sink and the fan then you need thermal grease (it’s more like a paste) before you can put it back in place. The thought of removing the heat sink just doesn’t resonate well with me. However, I thought and later confirmed, you can just remove the fan and no grease is required. I did that and I found a little dirt but nothing really to write home about. I saw no reason why the fan should be impeded from moving. Since the fan was out of the way I took time to dust out the heat sink as well and very little dust came out. My house might not be totally clean but at least my pc is. Anyway, I got the fan reconnected and also replaced the CMOS battery. This is a button battery often used in watches and other electronics that keeps the date/time when your machine loses power as well as any default settings in the BIOS that you may elect to change. If you replace the CMOS battery while on power you won’t lose time or settings, but if you do it as I did without power you are sure to lose those settings. My thought process here was twofold. First the battery was getting old (it’s been 6 years) so why not replace it now while I had the chance. Second there couldn’t be any harm in resetting everything, sometimes that is exactly what is needed to fix a problem.

Sadly, in my case my theory didn’t prove out. The fan still isn’t detected upon boot up but does spin up once you boot into the operating system. That still leaves me with a decision to make, replace the fan or replace the computer. I have opted to replace the fan. However, as I write this and give it more thought I am not terribly optimistic that a replacement fan will solve the problem. I placed an order on Amazon and a replacement fan will be delivered early next week. If I install it and it too fails to be detected upon boot up that tells me that the issues are with the motherboard and while things are humming along fine today there is a chance that they could stop at any given moment with or without warning. If the new fan has the same problems as the old fan then it’s time to go shopping. It’s almost like getting justification to go buy a new computer. I do really want a new machine but really don’t want the pain of configuration as well as spending the money. In normal times I wouldn’t give it a second thought and would just replace the machine. I mean it’s given me 6 years of solid performance and that is well past it’s prime. There are faster and better machines on the market today that will certainly make me happier with improved performance and I will surely get better graphics with new monitors but honestly, I am fairly content with what I have. Stay tuned and I will keep you updated. I hope for the best but am prepared for the worst. I am still looking here and there which really doesn’t help narrow it down to a specific place or a specific machine. The only thing I know for certain is I don’t want small form factor or SFF, I am interested in the original mid-sized tower which is what I have now. Gaming computers do have an appeal based on looks and the LEDs that illuminate them. However, gaming machines are nothing more than a name and some fancy colors. You can easily get similar performance with less price by buying a traditional desktop if it’s spec’d out properly. I am not a gamer. I did buy a Nintendo Wi a couple years ago because I heard how cool they were. I got a bowling game and something else that was of interest to me. Today that unit is tucked away in a closet and I no longer use it, so there is no sense in going down an expensive rabbit hole to throw away my money. If gaming appeals to you and you enjoy it, great. I am not against it and honestly enjoy seeing others play but it’s just not for me.

No major surprise but I stepped on the scale again tonight and of course I am continuing to gain weight. I know the only real way to lose weight is diet & exercise which are both not appealing to me. I will be bringing this up at my next doctors visit because continuing on this same path is easily going to work against my overall health and wellbeing. I’d love to be thin but that is not in my genetic or dietary makeup. Two loves I have in this world. That’s food and men. If I can’t have a man then I am damned sure going to have some food and that means pretty much anything my heart desires and my wallet can afford.

I’ve done my daily work task, which is what brought me to the PC in the first place, otherwise I would have stayed upstairs with the cats. Which is back to where I am headed. We have to figure out what to eat and then what to watch to pass the time. Sunday will be the usual routine of groceries and house cleaning while we try to mentally prepare for Monday.

I hope that your enjoying your weekend and that all is well in your world. Thank you for your visit today. Talk with you peeps again soon.