Custom PC Build

I’ve decided to build my own desktop PC from scratch. You may ask, ”Why would you ever do something so complicated when you could just buy one from a store?” Well for starters it actually isn’t that complicated, and because for less than the price of a macbook I can build a desktop with enough processing power to melt the military defense network of third world country.

http://www.amazon.com/lm/R12G9CCZSOYWYZ/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=

Here’s a list of the components I plan to use. Most of them anyway, some things I couldn’t find on amazon and I’ll have to get those parts elsewhere. You could assemble an ‘out-of-the-box’ version of this machine for a pretty reasonable price if: you didn’t mind the looks of the tower (I hate them), you didn’t plan to overclock the processor (I do plan to), and just used the cooling fans included with the case (good aftermarket fans are expensive). But I figured if I’m going to take the time to build something from scratch, I might as well spend a little extra and have some fun doing it. Also, my television just crapped out and I spent what amounts to nearly an entire pay check on a replacement 3D LED. So I’ll have to wait a month or two till I can afford the components. I’m trying to do this while still depositing 25% of my net pay into savings so I can put a down payment on a house in 2 years. Modifying and repainting the tower should keep me busy till then.

Here’s what it looks like strait out of the box:

Side Panel

Front

Top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictures don’t convey just how friggin big this thing is. This tower is nearly two feet tall and weighs in at 30 lbs. You could fit most stock pc cases inside this beast. The black paint job and solid construction of thick steel give this case a very industrial look. I hate it.

The first thing to go is the side panel (first picture), I don’t like the diamond checkered pattern laser etched into the acrylic window and the different options for mounting fans make it look like the victim of a drive by. I ordered a replacement from the CM store for $25 +shipping. Technically this panel is for the 932 AMD limited edition tower, but the chassis are the same so it fits just fine.

New side panel. It looks vaguely ed hardyish

Of course I have problems with this panel too. The gay ed hardy looking dragon laser etched in the acrylic for starters. Also, the fact that you can’t mount any fans on this thing is a major drawback. I plan to fix both of these issues by replacing the acrylic with an unetched (and significantly less gay) piece from a hobby shop and cutting my own fan mounts. I’ve also ran into another problem due to CMs terrible packaging. The pins holding up the window in that picture are made of cheap plastic. Nearly half of them arrived already broken (acrylic was actually cracked in a few places too). I wasn’t planning on using them to mount my aftermarket window, but I did want to reuse them to cover up the holes drilled through the panel. Now I have to find something else that size to cover up the holes. The only thing I can think of right now is spray painting similarly sized googly eyes and gluing them on. Rivets maybe? But I think those would hang out the back too much.

On to the inside. Part of the paint job I want to do involves removing and repainting the drive mount (on the right side in that picture for the less tech savvy). Because of the way the case is riveted together, I pretty much had to disassemble the entire case to remove it. That took some time, but the real pain was removing CMs “patented button design” toolless 5.25” drive mounts.

If you’re looking to try something similar and need a quick how-to on what rivets are and how to remove them, I found this link very helpful.

http://www.overclock.net/t/337343/how-to-rivets-removing-and-replacing

These were a huge pain to remove. Not sure it was worth the trouble

I only managed to remove one of them fully intact (upper right in the above pic). The other four are either cracked or have a small chip missing. They all look reusable though, which is good because I want to repaint and reinsert these. Even if they’re broken, it’s not a problem. I planned on using screws to help secure my optical drives anyway.

It’s ready for paint this weekend. Hopefully I’ll have time to finish the acrylic window too; I just need to find a friend with dremel tool I can borrow to cut out the fan mounts. Also, I need to look into ordering a custom cut stencil for part of the paint job. Has anybody done that before? Finding a place online is easy, but I have no idea how reputable they are.

Conspiracy Theories stole my lunch money.

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It’s the opinion of some that a person’s death is not a thing that should be celebrated no matter how deplorable their actions in life may have been. I am more than glad that Usama is dead (I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire), I’m elated. But I’m elated because justice has finally been brought to the thousands of innocent people that perished in the world trade center, to the soldiers who’ve died fighting terrorism oversees and to the people of this country as a whole. We should not mourn the passing of an evil man, we can mourn to person he became; but to actually regret his death is to call it unjustified, and that is wrong. He is responsible for the death of thousands and has vowed to kill more.

 

I can’t even begin to describe how it felt to watch tens of thousands of baseball fans break into a spontaneous chant of “USA! USA! USA!” as the news broke; to listen to the hundreds (if not thousands) of Mizzou students sing the National Anthem, God Bless the USA, even Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus and wish that I had been in greek town to join in; to hear the fireworks (which are illegal in the city limits) thunder through Columbia during President Obamas address to the country. It was a completely surreal moment, as if the entire nation collectively shouted “well it’s about damn time”. I am worried that some of us are confusing Vengeance with Justice. This was not an act of revenge, it is the righteous purge of a very evil man. But that is not the reason I am writing this.

 

Just to be absolutely clear on this fact, I do believe Usama is actually dead. Already conspiracy theories are surfacing that the government is lying. What purpose would that serve? It’s been nearly 10 years since September 11, why lie about it now after all this time? It doesn’t make any sense. The focal point of these theories is the lack of physical evidence; e.i. why was he buried at sea? The reasoning for this is quite sound and I generally agree with the logic behind the decision. By burying him at sea we have prevented any chance of his grave becoming a shrine to terrorist and would be suicide bombers. The thought of people leaving flowers at his headstone or worshiping at his tomb makes me sick. But the main reason I think he’s really dead is because it’s a lot easier to prove someone isn’t dead than it is to prove that they are. Example:

(Usama isn’t dead)

Obama: We killed Usama. I’m awesome. Change for everybody

Usama: Hello America. I not dead Your Obama is a liar.

Obama: Shit. Well this is a little embarrassing

 

(Usama is dead)

Obama: We killed Usama. I’m awesome. Change for everybody

*chirping crickets*

 

I do think the timing is incredibly suspicious though. It is my understanding that the operation had been planned for more than a week. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; any military action should be carefully planned in advance. It gives soldiers time to prepare, commanders time to acquire equipment, mobilize resources, etc. It also gives elected officials time for political maneuvering. It was only 5 days ago when Obama released his birth certificate. When it was released I remember thinking, Why is he releasing this now after withholding it for nearly 3 years? Who cares how much money Trump wants to throw at his ‘investigation’? The shut up and go away strategy has worked pretty well for Obama so far. Now the timing makes a little more sense.

 

I’m not saying I believe the birth certificate is a fake. Frankly, I just don’t care. He’s already been elected and whatever ‘damage’ he has done is already done. You can’t undue legislation and repeal policies he has already passed, I’m not even sure he would loose his office if the birth certificate was proven fake. I am pretty pissed that were even having this discussion though. Why the hell isn’t showing proof you’re a natural born citizen a requirement for running for president? What good is a law if it isn’t enforced? That’s like mizzou banning smoking within 20 feet of all building entrances. There is no punishment if you do and no one to enforce it, effectively rendering it a strongly worded suggestion. Except were talking about a law, written in our constitution, that isn’t being enforced. Why the hell not? But I digress…

 

The timing of the birth certificate release is just too convenient for me to dismiss it as a coincidence. If you’re liberal (and there’s nothing wrong with that if you are, I just think you’re ignorant and a little dumb), then you probably think I’m crazy and jumping to conclusions (actually I doubt you even read past the third paragraph…… so never mind). But the fact remains he knew about this operation a full two days (at least 2, it was probably closer 5 or more) before releasing his birth certificate. That’s plenty of time to have a forgery made and released to the public, be talked about for couple of days and then collectively forgotten as a much more news worthy event happens.

 

Call me crazy if you wish, but I know the timing was deliberate. I don’t have any proof, this is just what my instinct tells me (it also tells me you have better things to do with your time than read this garbage). I remember saying last week that something major was about to happen (I wish I would have wrote it down or published it somehow but I did not and you’ll have to take my word for it), something big enough to draw every ones attention away from this birth certificate nonsense. I only hope that this administration has learned its lesson and just releases whatever evidence they have of Usama’s death. I don’t care how morbid whatever video footage they may or may not have is, we don’t have time to linger on this and argue about the validity of Usama’s death or the morality of releasing this alleged video footage.. As evidenced with the whole birth certificate debacle, American’s are willing to argue about anything for years (not to mention half the population doesn’t trust Obama further then they can throw him, but he brought that on himself). Release the evidence so everyone will shut the hell up about and lets move on to more important things. Like how we are supposed to pay the bills this year.

UPS sucks

Dear Sir or Ma’am,

I wish to express my displeasure with your delivery service related to a package that was supposed to be delivered to me recently. On a scale of one to unsatisfied, services rendered on the occasion approached congressional budget committee levels of epic fail. I was so displeased that i attempted to convert my beloved DeLorean into a time machine in an effort to have my package shipped through a different delivery service. Alas, my attempts have failed (and now I’ve managed to piss off a van full of Libyan terrorists). As it turns out, i know very little about the theory of relativity, astrophysics, Einstein-Rossen Bridges, and magnets. Thus, the only course of action remaining is retaliation. And since your competitors will not allow me to ship road kill and hornets to your corporate headquarters (yeah, i looked into it), I am writing you this letter to express my displeasure.

As a favor to your company, I have created a new name for you. This service is rendered free of charge, as I believe it is my responsibility to inform other consumers of your corporate image and policies.

UPS: Unhelpful Porcupine Sluts

I arrived at this company name after careful market research and thorough statistical analysis of consumer feed back. I don’t want to bore you with the technical details, but I will attempt to explain how I reached this conclusion. Let me break it down for you.

Unhelpful

1. When I attempted to have the package held at my local distribution center, I discovered I was not able to do this on your website. What is this, the dark ages? Do I need to send a request through the pony express? How about a telegram? Your competitors will let you do this on an iphone app. Get with the program grandpa.
2. When I called to have the package held, I was connected to a call center in Mexico. Listen, if I wanted to talk to a Mexican I would visit the bus boy at the local Dennys diner or have my roof re-shingled. The operator was impossible to understand. Seriously, I think my toilet speaks more English (and I don’t feel sorry for making it put up with my shit). If the package is only going 500 miles, don’t connect me to a call center 5000 miles away. How are they supposed to help? Have they perfected Einstein-Rossen Bridges and wormhole travel? (because I could use some advice if they have)
3. What the hell are ever happened to ‘the customer is always right?’ “There’s nothing I can do” should not be in your vocabulary. I know I’m a selfish asshole (actually i prefer narcissistic jerk), but this selfish asshole is doing business with your company (not any more). Your company, out of all the other companies out there. That makes you special (very special), so make some reasonable accommodations to satisfy me. If I wanted someone to tell me “There’s nothing I can do” I would ask congress to pass a balanced budget.

Porcupine

1. What’s the difference between a UPS truck and a porcupine? With a porcupine, the pricks are on the inside. Your drivers are pricks and they suck at their jobs. I received one notice than an attempt had been made to deliver my package, the final notice. I was told that all three notices had been left. So either the neighborhood kids like stealing sticky notes (not likely after the punji pit incident), or your drivers are as honest as a lawyer turned politician. This is not the first time I have failed to receive a notice when a delivery attempt has been made. I swear it’s a mass conspiracy that stretches beyond the delivery drivers, spanning decades and incorporating elements of the CIA, Roswell landings, Keebler Elves, the moon landing, Barrack Obama’s birth certificate, the Kennedy assassination, black helicopters, Reaganomics, Tony the Tiger, Mormonism, the Total Gym, and Tupac’s ‘death’. No one wants me to get my packages and I’m starting to get pissed off at all of you. Except for the elves, they’re cool. Everyone already knows that elves live in a world of secrecy and deception. And their cookies are like little drops of heaven, which offers a cool contrast to the hell you’ve put me through.
2. The intelligence of your employees rivals that of this adorable woodland creature. I doubt any of them would recognize a porcupine if they sat on one.
3. I would rather make love to a sack full of porcupines than ever deal with your company again.

Sluts

1. Because you are withholding my ‘package’ you dirty whores. Seriously, how many ‘packages’ pass through the bowels of your operations every day? I bet your father is ashamed of you.

For your information, the package was a case of lemons sent from the finest organic lemon grove in this country. I love this delicious citrusy fruit and its existence is celebrated every year in the country of my ancestors. I was planning a grand celebration with my closest friends featuring lemon aide, lemon meringue pie, lemon chicken, fried lemons, and whiskey spiked lemon tea among other delightful citrus dishes. The Festival of Lemons is a popular tradition in my native land of Norway and is celebrated every year by men and women, young and old, rich and poor alike. If you wish for more information on this delightful festival, please visit (NOTE: DO NOT VISIT THIS SITE! IT IS ONLY FOR THE ORIGINAL LETTER! NOT FOR YOU! it is disgusting. dont say i didn’t warn you) http://www.lemonparty.org

Your complete disrespect for your customers and your gross lack of service has forced me to use store bought lemons for the Festival of Lemons. This is completely unacceptable and has cause me great emotional duress. As compensation for the mental anguish this catastrophe has cause me, I demand that the following actions be taken to rectify the situation immediately:

1. I own a horse. I want her shipped, free of charge, to my Aunt’s ranch in Norway
2. explain how magnets work
3. travel back in time and prevent the birth of Rebecca Black, Chad Kroger, and Justin Bieber.

Honesty is Only the Best Policy if you Follow Through

I’ve been debating about whether or not I should make this post for the last few days, and finally decided it had to happen. This is about the wedding I attended last weekend. Congratulations Mike and Nikki. I was supposed to have a date for this function, but due to complications beyond her control, she couldn’t make it. I was disappointed, but still determined to have fun. So what did I do? I got drunk and hit on bridesmaids. Wait, that makes me sound like a narcissistic jerk (well I am, but not on this particular occasion). It was just one bridesmaid, and I’ve know her for a while. She’s also very pretty and waaaaaaaay smarter than I.

Particularly, this is about a text message conversation I had after I left the reception. Usually (always, in fact), I would keep something like this private, because sharing it feels too much like gossip. However I’m breaking that rule because: 1) its pretty darn funny 2) I’m making fun of myself here, not her 3) I’m not going to tell you who she is, and I doubt anyone (save Nikki or Mike) could figure out who I was talking with here. My texts are normal font, hers are italicized, and my thoughts on the exchange are in bold. For the record, no kiss ever happened. At least I don’t think so. I’m 99% sure on this because I didn’t black out till I got home, and I remember expressing my desire to kiss but not actually making a move. Which totally sounds like me. Honest to a point that’s ridiculous, but totally lacking the courage to do anything about it.

1107: Thank you for the dance. You looked gorgeous tonight. Next time I wont as permission. To kiss you

Apparently she never got this one, changed her phone number. It caused some confusion, but……. It also means she texted me first! (well sort of) yeah!

1121: Sorry, I probably should have kissed you back. You’re not as bad as I was saying. And I’m probably drunker than I was saying.

Damn strait you should have! wait, who’s this?

1126: Dont recognize this number, so I assume your *****. And you should have.

smooth, real smooth

1132: It is indeed *****. How many people did you kiss tonight?

@#$%^! how do I always manage to say the wrong damn thing?!

1133: You, but this doesn’t change the face that your ohone number has changed

A savvy answer lacks a numerical response, pronouns are more hip. Try it on your next math test.

1134: That’s cuz I moved and got an awesome new phone.

I wish they had awesome phones where I lived

1136: Wait, then howd you get my first txt message?

The phone gnomes probably forwarded it to the right person

1136: What?

well maybe the phone gnomes sent it to the wrong person

1139: If your awesome new phone is so different how’d you get my text messages in the first place?

I don’t know whos more confused at this point: me, her, or the phone gnomes

1143: Because it’s awesome and can text? Are you talking about the cake picture that you sent to Nikki’s phone that was in my purse?

OMG! CAKE!!!!! wait, the cake is a lie. the cake is always a lie. fool me once, shame on portals

1144: Im talking abou youre pretty face. I have nothing to do with that cake

quick. cover up the fact that you have no idea whats going on with a complement.

1148: That makes no sense. I have a feeling you’re drunker than you thought too.

Shes right, that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Time to act sober dave.

1150: What do you mean? That makes perfect sense. If you changed your number, how did you get my first text. How does that not make sense?

and not a single misspelling, whos has two thumbs and is the best drunk texter ever? This gu- wait….. can you even text without two thumbs?

1150: Did you send me a text before I sent you one?

maybe those phone gnomes don’t exist after all.

1151: Yes, and I sent it to you 417 number

quit misspelling words, shes going to know your plastered.

1152: Oh well I definitely didn’t get that one. What did it say?

1159: Sorry, I probably should have kissed you back. You’re not as bad as I was saying. And I’m probably drunker than I was saying.

crap, wrong text. double crap, it was the wrong person! how do I cover this up?

1200: Thats what you said.

real smooth dave

1200: Right. That’s what I sent. Did you say something before that?

1201: Yup. Let me find it here real quick.

Because this was totally necessary

1203: Thank you for the dance. You looked gorgeous tonight. Next time I wont as permission. To kiss you

well now shes definitely going to know your hammered, but at least you were honest

1212: Oh, yup didn’t get that. Thanks I guess. And thanks for hanging out with me. I felt a bi abandoned with all those LVR people around.

huh, i guess those phone gnomes really don’t exist

1220: I didnt even notice them.

I was too busy shoveling booze down my throat. What else are you suppose to do at an open bar?

1222: That seems unlikely. They were everywhere.

Well I did pick the table closest to the bar. Its pretty difficult to see much from there. Heck, it’s hard enough to get the room to stop spinning.

1227: I dont remember that. I just found some lemonchello!

OMG! this has alcohol in it.

1230: I would imagine you don’t need to drink anything else tonight…

She probably has a point…. but its already half gone, might as well finish it.

1233: Whats that supposed to mean? I just found half a bottle of lemonchello in the freezer from fresshmen year

i probably should have just tossed the stuff, it was about 6 years old.

1237: How in the world do you not drink a bottle of lemoncello in 4 years? That stuff is delicious.

I’m pretty sure this tastes like draino, actually. And that was before it went bad. Maybe thats why theres still some left. Oh, well. bottoms up.

1239: Well im working on it now, you should gimme a hand with this

And I wonder why I’m still single. Could it have anything to do with lines like these? nah, it’s probably just those pesky compliments, women hate those.

1242: You know, I would, but I’m at Tami’s and were going to church tomorrow.

1246: Probably a good decision. Good luck with virus lab and lif and all that

1250: Thanks, good luck with your trash and stuff.

1252: Lol. Thanks….. And stuff

Well, thats about it. Nothing ever came of it, and i doubt it ever will. She texted my a few days later and said how embarrassed she was about the whole thing, which i don’t really understand. If I wanted to embarrass her, i could think of much better ways to do it. I did learn an important lesson though, and next time, I’m not asking for permission.

Power Slam of the Oppressed

Anyone ever get bullied around as a kid? I never really did, well not singled out anyway. This kid was a jerk, but he was a jerk to everyone. I just snapped first (or I was the first a teacher saw). I threw a couple of punches and we both ended up getting suspended for it. My friends wore t-shirts the next day protesting my innocence. Josh…. didn’t have many friends. I can’t even remember what he was doing to set me off. I think he was shooting bb’s with a rubber band or something. Anyway, he got himself expelled for pooping in some kids shoe a few weeks later so he definitely had it coming.

I felt bad about my suspension, mostly because I was being punished and that always sucks. My parents, teachers and the principle all told me I handled the situation completely wrong. My cross country coach was really pissed. I did miss a race because of the suspension.  But looking back now, I’m not so sure what I did was wrong. I did break the rules. I did resort to violence to solve a problem. But you know what? The faculty finally noticed what an assclown this kid was. I think it was mostly due to the 15 or so ‘free drilling’ t-shirts students were wearing the next day, but they wouldn’t have been wearing them if I hadn’t stood up to the kid.

I don’t about you, but my response the first time I saw that video was, “Oh shit….. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Casey Heynes, the -eh hem- chubby kid in the video has been picked on pretty much his entire life. Little skinny wise guy thinks its a good idea to pick a fight with someone three times his size. Casey takes the first punch, right in the mouth, and just tells the kid to leave.  That only encourages the little slime ball. After a few more swings, Casey has had enough, picks the kid up, and slams him on the ground like a bag of gas station ice. Casey gets a fat lip, and the bully gets a concussion. Who gets suspended for fighting? Casey.

I’m not going to argue that he crossed the line. That looked like it really hurt. I don’t ever want to be thrown around like that. Then again, I’m not going to punch someone in the face because they are fat (annoying might be a different story). Should he have been suspended for it though? I don’t think he should. Never mind the bully that started the fight received no punishment (besides the obvious ass whoopin). How can you punish a kid for actually standing up for themselves?

When I was growing up my parents always told me not to fight back and to turn the other cheek when dealing with bullies and eventually they will leave you alone. Really? Bullies pick on the weak kids because they are easy targets and you want me to be a better target? I say stand up to them and fight back. You don’t have to win, just show them you’re not such an easy target after all and they’ll leave you alone. I’m not saying to should be picking fights or using whatever justification you wish to ‘defend’ yourself, that would make you the bully. But standing up for yourself when your backed up against a wall is perfectly reasonable.

Josh never bothered me again after that fight. And I can guarantee you that Casey will never have another bully problem (anyone dumb enough to mess with that kid after seeing the video deserves what they get). Also, I’ll bet you lunch for a week that the bully in that video is on his best behavior for the next month (concussion aside). It doesn’t matter who got suspended, everyone in the world knows that kid is jerk and his teachers will be watching him like a hawk now. Casey, I’d like to shake your hand if I could. Just because you were punished doesn’t mean you didn’t do what’s right (double negatives my face, let’s see you word that sentence better :P).

I wanted to use this as a segue way into other topics related to bullying, like public unions and democrats, but that will have to wait until next time. It is late, I’m tired and this is now 729 words. Which means it’s probably the longest thing I’ve written since freshmen year. 742

Introduction to Destruction

Well, this is my first blog post. I’ve decided to do this for many reasons. First and foremost is to beat you over the head with my opinions until you see the light and agree with me. Well, not really (though I can’t say I won’t try). Mostly this will just be a way for me to vent, plus you can’t get to know me a little better (lets face it, you can’t argue with written word, maybe i’ll finally get a word in). Also, lets face it, if you’re still reading this, you actually care about me. In which case, you probably actually care about what I have to say. Thank you for putting up with my bullshit. Please excuse my awful spelling and buckle up, its going to be a crazy trip.

 

my first few post will be about my new job, fitness (hey, everyone worries about this to some degree), healthy eating, Wisconsin (teachers & cowar- er… democrats), the end of the word, and meth (yes, meth). After that, we’ll see were we end up.