School is fast approaching and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Mostly because I'll be working only slightly fewer hours and then going to class on top of it. It would be nice if I could budget well enough to get one full day off each week, but I doubt that is going to happen. Like everyone else, I wish secretly to win the lottery, or to find out I have a billionaire relative who suddenly died, leaving me all his/her assets. But if I were to suddenly come into a lot of money, it could only end horribly. The first thing I'd do would be the responsible thing, I'd pay off all the loans, credit cards and mortgages of all my friends and family.

As for the rest of the money, I'd say there's about a 10% chance I'd be responsible and save most of it, a 20% chance that I would do the same after some pressure from my parents and the GF. But there's probably a 70% chance I would just start buying every shiny, expensive thing that crosses my vision.

List 1: The exuberant but (somewhat) practical

1. A $5000 or more computer, probably made by NASA. (For any nerds reading, I'd do my best to trick it out with a Tb or more of solid state memory, BOOYA!).
2. A Lexus...or 5 (and of course new cars for all my friends).
3. 65 inch television set with surround sound and all the good stuff.
4. 6 bedroom house for my roomies and I. Mostly so I can finally have my Man Cave.
*Man Cave subject to contain many leather bound books
5. Pimped out wardrobe.
6. The biggest, baddest, most comfortable recliner on the planet, complete with massage, heat, built in cooler for drinks etc.
7. An iPhone

List 2: The straight up exuberant

1. A plot of land, maybe 100 acres, in some huge stretch of wilderness...maybe in Idaho. I'd build a vacation home there and an air strip/hanger. This way the only way in would be by plane and there would be no one around for miles and miles (aka I can do whatever the hell I want there, most likely involving explosives).

2. A plane on which to fly to said air strip/vacation home.

3. Extra computers/WoW accounts so I can multibox my brains out. (One man guild baby!)

4. A remote control helicopter (gas powered) with tiny rockets and a paintball gun with which to unleash a flurry of annoyance on neighbors, friends, passing cars etc.

5. I'd rent Six Flags for a huge party.

The last thing (that I can think of right now) that I'd do is not for myself. I'd buy things for people I don't know. For instance, I'd hang around at car dealerships and pick out people who look like they're scraping together their savings to buy a car and just slap down a check and pay for the whole thing up front. I'd also pay for someone else's meal every-time I went out, on top of leaving huge tips. (And if the service was bad, I'd leave a 100% tip but tip the other table's server double that.) I think I'd also like to carry around $100 gift cards to various stores and hand them to people I find amusing or who are extra friendly.

And last but not least, I'd make it rain...like every day.

Never Enough

I now have another project on top of getting a new computer. I want to attach my computer to a recliner so I can play games while relaxing in the living room. The budget I've decided on for this project is roughly $100. I can get a lcd mount arm through work for about $40, which would be the most expensive part. Then I just have to get some wood to build a frame around the chair on which to mount my computer, keyboard and mouse. The creative excitement this project gives me reminds me of building with legos when I was younger. Having a vision of some completed piece of work and then making it happen always gave me such a satisfied feeling.

As for my other project, being ahead financially this month is wearing my pockets thin. I managed to find a gaming desktop for $500 on Craigslist and I want it so freaking bad. It was easier when I knew I couldn't get anything, let alone the $1200+ computer that I wanted. Now I have a very decent, very cheap computer within my grasp, and the cash to pay for it. That is if I completely ignore most of my upcoming expenses like rent and groceries. But who needs food or a roof? That's always been my problem. I decide I want something, I research the crap out of it trying to find the best deal and somewhere along the way all that wanting turns into needing and I decide I have to get it. I mean, before I was planning on spending over a grand on a comp, now I can get one for $500...so naturally I'm saving $500 right? I swear to god the logic makes sense...somehow.

I think I need to be content with building this chair and just let that occupy my bored brain.

Finally

So I'm finally writing a new post. It has been a long time but I have an excuse, it's called work. But I don't want to think about work so we'll leave it at that.

Anyways, lots of exciting things lately. All the RA peeps are back for training, so I will do my best to start corrupting them early. The GF's comp needs some work and the tech guys at Circuit City are going to do it for free for me. The mag class went swimmingly (and yes I just said swimmingly) and I came out of it with an A. Someday soon I shall post my final project, a riveting tale of discrimination and harassment in WoW. Also, I'm finally ahead financially this month. Not by much mind you, but I'm paid up and not completely broke.

Next stop, new computer. I've been fantasizing getting a nice desktop computer for a while now. Working in the computer department with tech guys all day I've learned a lot about computers and have got it in my head to make one. Perhaps make it myself and buy all the parts separate, or at the very least use a site like ibuypower.com and have them custom build it for me...we'll see.