Part of the unexplained lack of posts since the beginning of this year has been because my old computer has been crapping out on me left and right. Now I've had the Magi now for almost five years. As far as technology goes, that shit is kinda sad. I mean, I'm a definite neophile through and through, but when it came to my box at home, I just kept it chugging along at bare minimum, doing what I needed to do it to make it survive.

And then the shit hit the fan in February.

This was when I was told to start taking more work home, which was going to be an issue since the old computer can't handle running Dreamweaver and Photoshop at the same time, which for me, would double the time it takes to design.

Then along came Woot, and I got a new computer.

Thing is…the damn thing came kinda broken. My Flickr set shows how it was when I first got it, but once I restarted the computer, it wouldn't boot to the OS. Bugger. So I switched back to the old computer and tried to get online to HP's website, but the old computer now wouldn't connect to the Internet. Great! Thank God for Knoppix LiveCD, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get online to use HP's live chat in order to talk to a support person.

Now, I don't know when HP decided it would be cute to not include recovery CDs with computers and then have you pay $30 from HP in the event your computer goes down, but it's a jack move. A complete jack move. I felt like Johnnie Cochran trying to explain to the HP tech support representative that I just bought the computer and should get the discs for free. I mean, there has to be some sort of supplemental warranty, right?

HP sent the discs, but in the meantime, I tried to resuscitate the computer through a series of reinstalls of other operating systems, but they all fell flat primarily because they required the correct drivers for the network card which — surprise, surprise — I had to wait to get from HP in the form of their recovery discs.

The discs came, and to no surprise, they wouldn't work. The OEM discs that came were not bootable (retarded!) and the supplemental disc had no sort of instructions for installation. Thanks for the free coasters, HP.

Now here I've spent $400 on a new Media Center PC and can't even run Windows XP on it because I can't connect to the 'net to get drivers. Now I'm out of TWO computers, because the old one now won't even turn on anymore (I think it sensed the competition and died in its sleep). Fed up and pissed off, Goofball and I went to Fry's and bought a Windows Vista Ultimate OEM CD and I brought my computer back to life. (I would also recommend to ANYONE who is looking to buy new Windows software to ALWAYS get the OEM CD…it's much cheaper.)

I know what you're thinking…"Karsh, why didn't you just get a Mac?" Actually, during this whole computer issue, I was very close to grabbing an iMac once my tax refund came in, but once the new computer got back up and running, that went completely out the window. And I still haven't spent enough time really tinkering around on a Mac to buy one flat out. I've gotta kick the tires around, so to speak. And those 'tards in the Apple Stores at Lenox and Perimeter are always shooing me off the machines when I do go to try one out. Guess you gotta have a fistful of cash in hand to do so.

Anyway, the new computer is up and running smoothly. I'm not in love with Vista by any means — Explorer still crashes whenever the wind blows, and Windows Media Player is a pain in the ass to uninstall — but it's better than nothing.

For now.