Month: March 2010

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New hardware

Time for a major technology refresh.

Just bit the bullet and bought myself a new computer to replace my old frankenputer (2001 vintage). Its been resurrected a few times and probably should have been retired 5 years ago.

Most of what I usually do isn’t very demanding so I tend to keep computers for a while. However, with the number crunching and Monte Carlo simulations I’m anticipating on running for my PhD project, I need something that will be able to handle it.

The new computer isn’t quite as high end as I would have liked, but it’s still pretty decent and more state-of-the-art than any other computer I’ve ever had. Core i7-930, 12GB RAM, 1.5 TB storage (500 GB and 1 TB drives) and nVidia GTX 260 video card.

After the new computer arrives and gets set up, the old computer will likely live out the rest of its days in quiet retirement as a file server.

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Charleston Eats: Charlie’s Grocery

In the middle of the Radcliffeborough neighbourhood is a tiny little unassuming corner store called Charlie’s Grocery. It doesn’t look like much on the outside and it’s the kind of place you probably wouldn’t notice driving by.

Charlie's Grocery
I walked over there for lunch to meet fellow blogger Andra Watkins, who told me there were really good falafels to be found here.
Charlie's Grocery
Walking inside brought back childhood memories of being in the corner store dad used to run. Charlie’s is a lot smaller than that store, but has almost the same kind of feel (I don’t remember Dad selling wine or beer though). In the back of the store is a little lunch counter where you can place an order for a variety of subs or sandwiches, including the sought after falafels.

We placed our order, and about 15 minutes later walked out with falafel in hand. Along with a Diet Mt Dew, lunch was just over $5.

The falafel was pretty good. Warm balls of mashed chickpea, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and sauce stuffed into a half pita.

Charlie's Grocery falafel

Charlie's Grocery falafel

Yes, oh so tasty. It’s only a short walk from work, so it’s definitely going on the list of nearby lunch spots.

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Cliq: Almost month 2

Aside from the area code, still don’t remember the phone number.

Recently got a firmware update pushed down for the phone. Battery life is much, much improved. Now I can let it sit all day and it’s only down to 90-95% battery from a full charge.
Word is the Cliq will be getting Android 2.1 sometime after April, which should bring some cool new features and capabilities.

The vibrating alarm thingy isn’t very strong. Clipped to my pants, it’s faintly noticeable and easily ignored when I’m distracted by something. Clipped to a belt I can barely feel the Cliq when it starts buzzing.

Would still like a decent calendar app. I’ve been spoiled by using Datebk for the past 5 years or so. Doing everything with Google Calendar is ok, but is lacking in a few areas.
Started using it as an e-book reader with Aldiko. Lots of free e-books available to download, and plenty of O’Reilly titles to drain my bank account. Uses the ePub format, which is pretty standard.

For now, still a high end PDA. I may even put some effort into remembering what the phone number is sometime soon.

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Dog TCO: 5 years

With Nala turning 5 and Simba turning 4, I figured an update to my previous Dog TCO post was in order. Here’s the breakdown from 1-Jan-2005 through today.

Pie chart of dog total cost of ownership after 5 years

In case you haven’t bothered to click on the graph for the large version, some of the bigger chunks are food in blue (22%), vet in light green (17%), pet supplies in burgundy (20%), meds in green (10%), kennel expenses in yellow (13%) and other (11%).

There hasn’t really been too much change from the last analysis in the way expenses are distributed. Food, supplies and vet expenses continue to be the biggest chunks of the pie at 22%, 20% and 17% respectively. The total for the past 5 years (2005-2009) is just over $22 300, or about $4 460/year.

I typically don’t skimp too much when it comes to the dogs, so I probably spend a little more than most people do. They’re worth it though.