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Well, I turned 34 in relative peace and harmony. I didn't actually get to have a party due to an uncertainty of funds, but may rectify that sometime later this month. I did get the day off from work, and I spent it shopping for new clothes (my much-need birthday present for myself), getting all the maintenance on my car done, getting the kids registered in after-school care as of next week, and generally futzing around and enjoying the day. I have an appointment on Tuesday to get my hair cut and highlights put in, and I found a shirt to wear with the nifty new necklace a friend gave me for Christmas.
After David and the kids got home, we went out to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Not my favorite place, but the kids enjoy it and it's not Chuck E Cheese's. I'm hoping to go to some nice local place next month or so, but it'll be a bit before that happens, as it typically involves babysitting and stuff. Food was good, and the leftovers will come to work with me tomorrow for lunch. David and the boys decided they wanted to get me a present, so we went to Target. David's not really skilled at the whole "buy a present in secret and wrap it" thing, so instead I waited in the pharmacy area while he and the boys got the present, which they they presented me with around the electronics aisle. The picked out a Sunbeam stand mixer (I have no mixer currently, and so long as this one works it's unlikely I'll have to shell out for the $250 KitchenAide model), a colander, and two really nice rubber spatula/scrapter things. They were good mommy presents. I will enjoy them. The mixer is red, as are the colander and scrapers. I like them very much. :)
The following day I spent with the kids, as David's at drill this weekend. We went to IHOP for breakfast, then to get haircuts, then to IKEA so that I could price out furniture while they played in the ballroom. We got lunch there and then went home. After David got home, we took a break and then ended up going out to CompUSA, where my second birthday presents come to light: a new 80 gig hard drive with an 8 meg cache and a new ATI Radeon 128 video card. Now, while my old video card was also a 128, it was only a Rage, which is sort of like comparing apples and oranges. Between the two, World of Warcraft runs far more smoothly than it did. I can actually get in and out of Ironforge in a reasonable amount of time, even with going to the bank and the auction house! Things still aren't perfect, of course: Griffin flight is still mostly a slideshow, and crowded areas give me a stop-and-start sort of experience, but the stops and starts are reasonable and don't tend to make me walk off into chasms accidentally. They won't really be fixed until I get a new processor and new memory, but neither of those is a new priority right now -- and I'll likely just pony up and get a whole new computer when I do it.
Still, I can see leaves and pebbles now, even before I played with the video settings. I can see textures in clothing and far away birds wheeling in flight. I can see into the distance, and even watch my character actually draw her weapons rather than just suddenly having them. It's an amazingly rich visual experience, and I'm so, so grateful that we got them. It doesn't seem like much, but it makes a world of difference to me.
Oh, and in other presents,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
adamjury sent me a much desired copy of SR3, since mine are still in Oklahoma and he was undoubtedly getting sick of me pinging him every other day to ask a question. :) Thanks, Adam. *hug*
After David and the kids got home, we went out to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Not my favorite place, but the kids enjoy it and it's not Chuck E Cheese's. I'm hoping to go to some nice local place next month or so, but it'll be a bit before that happens, as it typically involves babysitting and stuff. Food was good, and the leftovers will come to work with me tomorrow for lunch. David and the boys decided they wanted to get me a present, so we went to Target. David's not really skilled at the whole "buy a present in secret and wrap it" thing, so instead I waited in the pharmacy area while he and the boys got the present, which they they presented me with around the electronics aisle. The picked out a Sunbeam stand mixer (I have no mixer currently, and so long as this one works it's unlikely I'll have to shell out for the $250 KitchenAide model), a colander, and two really nice rubber spatula/scrapter things. They were good mommy presents. I will enjoy them. The mixer is red, as are the colander and scrapers. I like them very much. :)
The following day I spent with the kids, as David's at drill this weekend. We went to IHOP for breakfast, then to get haircuts, then to IKEA so that I could price out furniture while they played in the ballroom. We got lunch there and then went home. After David got home, we took a break and then ended up going out to CompUSA, where my second birthday presents come to light: a new 80 gig hard drive with an 8 meg cache and a new ATI Radeon 128 video card. Now, while my old video card was also a 128, it was only a Rage, which is sort of like comparing apples and oranges. Between the two, World of Warcraft runs far more smoothly than it did. I can actually get in and out of Ironforge in a reasonable amount of time, even with going to the bank and the auction house! Things still aren't perfect, of course: Griffin flight is still mostly a slideshow, and crowded areas give me a stop-and-start sort of experience, but the stops and starts are reasonable and don't tend to make me walk off into chasms accidentally. They won't really be fixed until I get a new processor and new memory, but neither of those is a new priority right now -- and I'll likely just pony up and get a whole new computer when I do it.
Still, I can see leaves and pebbles now, even before I played with the video settings. I can see textures in clothing and far away birds wheeling in flight. I can see into the distance, and even watch my character actually draw her weapons rather than just suddenly having them. It's an amazingly rich visual experience, and I'm so, so grateful that we got them. It doesn't seem like much, but it makes a world of difference to me.
Oh, and in other presents,
adamjury sent me a much desired copy of SR3, since mine are still in Oklahoma and he was undoubtedly getting sick of me pinging him every other day to ask a question. :) Thanks, Adam. *hug*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-02-06 05:16 pm (UTC)From:(I blame my failure to remember on all the drugs I did back in the 60's)
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Date: 2005-02-06 06:05 pm (UTC)From:Happy Belated Birthday from me. (I blame my failure to remember on all the drugs
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Date: 2005-02-06 07:52 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-06 07:53 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-06 08:23 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-06 09:43 pm (UTC)From:Happy birthday :-)
So you're 34, but what I was actually wondering is, how old are your kids?
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Date: 2005-02-07 08:20 am (UTC)From:Welcome to one of the things I hate about where I grew up.
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Date: 2005-02-08 06:41 am (UTC)From: (Anonymous)Oh, and we have the raw materials for your birthday present scrabbled together, we just need some labour time; probably this weekend.
Spike
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Date: 2005-02-07 05:29 am (UTC)From:*hugs*
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Date: 2005-02-07 06:12 am (UTC)From:Also, while a better video card helps, I found (with CoH) that the BEST ay to help with lag issues is to increase your RAM. I would be willing to wager you're running with 512 meg of RAM, correct? If so, up it to a gig, if you can. It makes a huge difference and, thankfully, RAM is not insanely expensive right now so you can upgrade for a very reasonable price. It will make an enormous difference. Ironforge will still be a lag fest (Argent Dawn isn't exactly light on the player population, after all...) but the rest of the game will improve incredibly.
Oh, and happy birthday too! :)
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Date: 2005-02-07 07:07 am (UTC)From:And on another note, we are both running with 256 meg of RAM. So you see, that's kind of the performance sticking point. :)
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Date: 2005-02-07 07:14 am (UTC)From:Level 39 (very soon to be 40 without enough gold to buy my mount yet, by far... should have started saving up for it at level 35, at the latest...) Night Elf hunter.
And, yes, if you're running 256 RAM, I GUARANTEE that is what is causing your lag issues. It might be able to run the game, but you will have a VASTLY smoother experience if you up that. 512 will make an enormous difference. 768 will be like night and day. 1 gig will be like you're playing a whole new game. I highly recommend both of you up the ram as soon as it is financially viable. You will not be disappointed if you do.
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Date: 2005-02-07 08:23 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-07 08:30 am (UTC)From:Seriously, I would be surprised if you couldn't find it there for a reasonable price.
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Date: 2005-02-10 10:11 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-07 08:38 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-07 08:43 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 08:11 am (UTC)From:I'll stop now.
And stop talking about your computer! I keep getting tempted to try to cobble together a new system for you and then realizing the parts would be hard enough, but the shipping would KILL. :) So you just need to come down here for a few days. :p
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Date: 2005-02-08 09:56 am (UTC)From: