I still can’t help myself… I still read Slashdot, mostly just to get a laugh from the comments on the physics articles. Man, I really need to grow up. Although even I have to admit that every once in a while, a poster rises above the usual level of inanity:

mccalli (commenting on the phrase, “multiple universes”): This is one of my pet hates. By the very definition of the word, there can only be one universe. Or are the definitions now being changed?

SEWilco (in response to mccalli‘s comment): Note to God: Remember to make English better in next universe.

So, Sarah’s computer is looking decent now. At first the system refused to boot into Windows 2000 — it would almost launch the desktop, but then the screen would go blue spit hexadecimal gibberish at me. So I booted off the CD, planning to reinstall the OS, when Windows gave me an option: do you want to repair the OS, or do a clean install? Well, what the hell, I thought. I asked for a repair… and to my great shock, it worked. There’s my old desktop (“Spenser”), perfectly preserved. I’m probably going to wipe it clean anyway, but I feel kind of sad and nostalgic looking at it. I can’t bring myself to kill it now. I should feel glee, or righteous vengeance, or something. (Yes! format c:! Take that, you bastard!) But no… after all these months, my rage has faded. Ol’ Spenser and I have finally made our peace. If only it could have happened under better circumstances.

As mentioned earlier, Sarah’s new motherboard will likely go snap-crackle-pop if I plug in an old 2X AGP video card. Fortunately, I was able to borrow an old PCI video card from Dave (a Matrox Millennium) in order to just get the system working. The thing is, the Millennium is working like a champ. I just plugged it in and it worked, with good resolution, plenty of colors and, most importantly, with no futzing around.

Now Sarah really only wants to write reports, do email, web surf, and so on. She’s not going to be playing Doom III or anything like that. So now I’m thinking… hmmmm… if I go buy a low-end graphics card, the best-case scenario is that I’ll be out $30-40, and everything else will be the same as far as Sarah is concerned. So really, what’s the downside of leaving in the Millennium? The only negative that I can think of is if, when Sarah goes to college next year, she falls in with the l33t overclocking hax0r crowd. Then they’ll make fun of her for her crappy old PCI card. God forbid such a fate should befall my baby sister, but when it comes to college, you have to be prepared for even the worst eventualities.