The journey to an upgraded computer.

The only computer I like to play is World of Warcraft (begin with the eye rolling).  Last week their newest patch 5.0.4 went live. And my frame rate died. I got a whopping 9 fps with my character out in the middle of nowhere and every setting turned to low.  I have the picture to prove it.

Now I would love to blame Blizzard for "breaking my fps" but I know quite well that my computer isn't the best. I've got an eMachine ET1331G, which comes with a 300w power supply and a Nvidia GeForce 6150SE nForce 430.  And yes I know with a computer like that I most likely deserve that 9 fps for trying to play an online game like World of Warcraft.

So started the journey to an upgrade. I've never installed or bought a graphics card before. I didn't know where to start.  I looked at graphic cards on Amazon but I couldn't figure out what to buy. What did I need? I knew the computer had a PCI Express port but didn't fully know what that was. I ended up at tomshardware.com. That site has a great forum full of people willing to help answer the questions of the clueless.

They gave me the names of a few cards that "might" work in my computer and told me to buy a new power supply.  By "might" I guess we are talking about the fact that you have to have room inside the case to put the graphics card. I have no idea why any company would build a computer and assemble it in a manner in which it can not be upgraded properly. Built in obsolescence most likely.  With the names of cards and power supplies in hand, I found myself back at Amazon.com.

I ordered a Radeon 6670 graphics card and Corsair 500w power supply. My order is set to arrive on Wednesday.  The next part of this journey will continue then, when I find out if these parts will fit and if I can install them properly.

A bit of summer reading...

 I love to read. It is one of my all-time favorite things to do. I can sit with a book for hours and just escape. So when BzzAgent.com, of which I am a member, gave me the opportunity to get two free books for my Amazon Kindle, I jumped at the chance. Nothing better than free books, right?

The two books were The Hangman’s Daughter and The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch.  Yeah, I’ve never heard of the guy either.  The covers look a bit grim or plain. Which is why you should never judge a book by its cover.

The books center around a hangman, his daughter, and the town’s young doctor. They use a bit of common sense and logic that makes me think a bit of Sherlock Holmes to solve murders that happen in their areas.  I thought the books were going to be boring or gruesome due to the fact the main character is an executioner. I was wrong. There is witty banter and good plot lines.  The hangman, Jacob Kuisl, is an intriguing character.  His job is to torture people and to put them to death, but I find him to one of the most likeable, kind people in the the book. He is intelligent and likes to heal people more than he likes to harm them.

I’ll be honest. I enjoyed these books much more than I thought I would.  I thought The Hangman’s Daughter was going to be boring…maybe gory, but still boring. A book with history based in a part of the world that I have never been to.  But I found myself drawn in the books. The old school doctoring, the mystery to solve.  The witchcraft scare. The book was just a good read.  The Dark Monk reminded me a bit of books wrote by author Dan Brown, with the riddles and the mentioning of the Knights Templar. I love a good mystery and  a good mystery only gets better when you throw in age old conspiracy and secret sects.  I am looking forward to reading more by Oliver Potzsch.

---BzzAgent is a site where members, like me, get the chance to try products and share them with others and spread our opinions about them.  I have not been paid to give my opinion on this product. I was given the product for free to try.

BzzAgent Garnier Fructis Campaign

Been a while since I did any blog posts, but I got a great campaign from Bzzagent so I had to share. Bzzagent is an awesome site that allows members, like me, to sign up for campaigns to sample products from companies and to share those products with others. Then I get to give them my opinion. How awesome is that?!?!

So this campaign is the Garnier Fructis campaign. They sent me a bottle of Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo Triple Nutrition for Dry, Damaged hair and a bottle of Fortifying Conditioner Triple Nutrition for Dry, Damaged Hair. Awesome kit, right?

Anyway, these products work pretty good. I generally tend to use whatever kind of shampoo or conditioner I have a coupon for, so I don't really have a "favorite" brand that I am loyal to.  But Garnier Fructis produced a wonderful product when they made this line.  My hair feels beautiful and shiny.  The shampoo rinses away easily leaving my hair feeling clean and pampered. The conditioner is the right consistency...not too runny and not too thick.

The scents of the products is good.  To most people they would probably smell amazing, but I am picky about scents so I just say they are okay.  But it isn't too overwhelming nor is it too weak. I would say the scent has just the right amount of smell.

All in all, I got to try some great products and I was really happy with this campaign! :)

August 11th and 12th freebies

Yesterday I got a tshirt, Zebra pens, and cheerio sample.

Today I got some ear buds from 1saleaday.com

August 9, 2011 Freebies

Today the mailman brought me freebies that included Martha Stewart Living Magazine, a mini tote from Allure, samples and some pens.

May 11, 2011 Freebies

Today I got Cosmopolitan magazine, Kraft coupons, Narnia movie from Hitpredictor, some junk freebies, Brownie mix and a Bowdabra from Listia .

Lied to in AT&T Live Chat.

Apparently my BBB battle with AT&T is coming to an end. AT&T thinks they did nothing wrong. Won't even acknowledge that their customer service lied to me. Up until now I had refrained from posting the conversation, but not anymore. So here is the conversation where AT&T Live Chat lied to me.

In my complaint to the BBB, I said that AT&T had lied to me and I wanted an apology for being lied to.  I wanted AT&T to acknowledge that their customer service rep had lied to me and given me false information. This is the letter that I had received from AT&T in response to my Better Business Bureau complaint.