After my spectacular computer meltdowns (my new mobo still can’t recognize any hard drives for more than a couple minutes), I’m wary of self-assembly.  I want something with a warranty.

However, I don’t like most of the parts the mainstream desktop sellers use: crappy cases; low-end video cards; cheap RAM; loud fans.  The sellers that do use good parts tend to have extremely high markups.   I also don’t need the things they want to sell me: hard drive; monitor; keyboard; video card; operating system.

I used to go to Monarch Computer for this sort of thing.  They let you buy a box with just what you wanted inside– no parts forced, not even the CPU.  They’re gone.  Newegg doesn’t have systems.  Dell’s site breaks frequently under Firefox, and I doubt their systems would be suitable, if I could get them to work.  Is there a site that has what I’m looking for?  Or should I just try my luck with another mobo+CPU combo, and hope it doesn’t all end in tears once again?  The problem’s gotta be there, right?  …  Right?

I’m trying to find sites that use a particular CMS package. As part of my query, I’m looking for index.php and numbers in the URL (like so: index.php s=0..999).

Alas, Google provides me with this response:

We’re sorry…

… but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can’t process your request right now.

I finally got pretty good about updating, just to go silent for weeks. (Some friends may have noticed I’m not exactly responsive outside the blog, either.) I’m insanely busy right now, but hope to be back to intermittent posting within a few weeks. I’ve also got a direction for my game that I’m pretty excited about, I don’t expect to post anything public about it until next year.

This is another post totally unrelated to game or web development, but here’s a shot of my dad from our recent trip to Palau and Yap:

More great shots here.

Also,  thanks to Dagon Design for the tip on how to change thumbnail size in the latest versions (2.1 and later) of WordPress.  My old fix wasn’t working after the upgrade.

I’m sure you’ll see this linked at dozens of other sources, but I can’t resist.

“Eyeball tattooing, to attain the electric blue eyes of the Arrakian spice melange addict.”

I’m back from Palau and Yap.

I’ve added topic subscription/new post notification, and upgraded to the latest version of WordPress.  The new post tracking should be helpful for the topics you’re interested in.  I didn’t bother adding the ability to subscribe to a topic without posting to it, but it’s easy to add with the plugin I’m using.  I don’t like how it clutters the interface, though.  Let me know if you want that functionality.

I’m going to be away from almost all communication technologies for a bit.  When I get back, I expect someone to tell me what the heck is going on with the Halo 3 ARG.  I recommend getting in on it– if it’s anything like last time, the ARG is the best part of Halo.

The State Department’s passport status line just kept me on hold for four hours, and then hung up on me.

Passport renewal has devolved into serious chaos at this point.  If you are thinking of traveling overseas as soon as one year from now, and you’ll need a passport renewal, apply NOW.  If you need one in less than four months and haven’t applied yet, drop me a line– there are some things you need to know about applying.

I really did try to come up with a good caption, but I couldn’t– maybe this Sudoku speaks for itself.

Zombies took over Union Square yesterday. Fortunately I was not there, or I might not have been able to bring you this crucial information.

Brave photographers were able to bring us these chilling images (and more) , while there are more stories from survivors who hid in the Apple Store.