Fourth Fun

Well, I intended for yesterday to be a nice, calm lazy day. Well, it mostly was.
After talking with the lady who's car the suicidal air conditioner landed up against, we came to an agreement. She was amiable to getting payed in two payments, so that made us breathe a whole lot easier. I can afford an extra $400.00 this month even though it means raiding the savings. Next month we'll be able to send her the rest. This also means I got to keep my promise to Gak that most of this paycheck he could spend on a new computer. We'd been talking about updating his computer for a year now, since I got mine. He worked his tail off this past week open to close because his boss was on vacation. I didn't want something as stupid as a suicidal AC unit to keep him from his well-earned new computer. This just means that other than seeing Transformers and Harry, we're really not going to be able to do much for the next month or two, but I can live with that. (Yes, I know, this means no more yarn for me for a couple of months. That's OK, I need to use up some of what I've got anyhow...)
So, yesterday morning Gak was shopping around online. We then decide to drive down to Microcenter because they often have refurbished units at great prices and are good as new. (My refurbished printer I got several years ago lasted me a very long time until the power supply went and it was cheaper to buy a new one that I killed in 2 years...) We head down there about 11:30 or so. (I told you, we were trying to have a lazy day.) After looking at both some new and refurbished ones Gak finally makes a decision after talking with a sales guy. The biggest difference between the refurb he got and the new machine: his is running XP still and the new one has Vista. The cost difference: $50. Therefore, for $50 less, he got the operating system he wanted and a good unit to boot. The only problem is we had to upgrade the video right away, and that was $80. No biggie. We were going to use the card he already had, but it was PCI, and the new computer is PCI Express. Good thing the sales guy mentioned this before we headed to the checkout fat, dumb and happy.
He got it set up in almost no time. We didn't have to buy anything extra other than the video card because his monitor is 7 months old and his speakers are great and about 2 years old. The hardest part was patching for EQII. It took several hours. I'm just glad it wasn't over dial up, or we'd still be waiting for the next week.
The biggest part of the adventure is when we went to go to lunch after getting the computer. We decided to head over to Suburban Square in Ardmore because there's a Ruby's Diner there and they've got great shakes and fab burgers, all of which you can get as a turkey burger or chicken breast or veggie burger. (Much better than some places where you can't sub a turkey patty at all... I'm not big on regular burgers but like turkey...) Well, we make it down 30 to the place and turn to get to the parking area. We get to about the train station and stop. Cars aren't moving. People are wandering around with cell phones. There's apparently been an accident and there's a lady lying on the ground. The cops show up about a minute or so after we're there and starts directing traffic. I couldn't remember or figure out how to get to the parking at the other end, so we decide to go over to the mall instead. There's a Ruby's at the mall, but I figured Suburban Square would be closer and easier to get too. Guess not. Well, after making pigs of ourselves at lunch, we wander down to the comic store so Gak could pick up a comic that he was missing. (He skipped an issue and was really confused until he realized what happened.) After that we head home.
I crocheted a bit and putzed around on the computer a bit yesterday. Overall it was a nice quiet day. Mom called me while we were having lunch. It looks like Gram will be in the hospital about 5 days in total. Mom had a great visit with Michelle. They had talked about putting in a movie and the next thing they knew, it was midnight and they hadn't put one in. Yesterday morning they went out to breakfast and then Mom went to visit Gram. She got there as they were bringing Gram some food. Gram was glad because her stomach had just started to grumble and growl and she was actually hungry. This made the doctor very happy. This means she's healing and all her systems are functioning. You know how it is, when you're really sick you just don't feel like eating, but when you start getting better, you're suddenly ravenous. Well, same applies for surgery. I don't remember if Mom was coming home today or tomorrow. Bob and Linda are planning on going down there to transport Gram from Baltimore back to her place out near Fredrick. It's not that far, but far enough to be annoying.
Well, I'd better wrap this up. I've got things I should be doing, including getting ready for next week's trip.
Peace to all and may you have some fun and good times.