Laundry is an interesting thing… It is the one thing that is the snag in my plans to hit the gym. For those wondering and hoping to see my routine again, it will have to wait. Oh well… It means I can throw my test post up and maybe see if it gets any bites. If anyone is looking for something to sink some cash into… check my next post coming very soon.
My Thanks to the Surgeon of Metal and Future Plans
I left ZeroXR 13mg with a post outlining a rather dire situation. As things were looking… they were not going to end well. That changed today. My friend David managed to finagel things so that we could attempt to try to salvage my predicament. The radiator, he picked up a stock unit from Gary out at Track Dog Racing for a fair price of $40. My deepest regards go to him for helping a student down on his luck. That sort of understanding is almost lost in the modern day era. This simple act of kindness from Gary has made me want to hopefully bring my business to his shop once my finances open up a little more so that I may be able to do my supercharger upgrade at some time. David managed to procure the new radiator fan for about $38 and the missing radiator hoses at $48, post tax comes to about $92. The last few water hoses and the fuel filter were the bitchy part, but once those locked in… we were good to go.
The test run and drive home yielded good results. Devil’s performance seems stabilized, even more so with the new radiator fan, obviously. Devil seems to behave in a more coherent manner now, which is important considering I am going to Texas A&M Commerce for school this fall. It’s good to see my machine in tip-top shape and once I can burn my gas tank down to the end and drop in some fuel cleaner… Maybe I might see my fuel efficiency increase.
Ultimately, I want to thank my friend David for helping me out with everything. It was troublesome, but to have a friend help you out when your funding has been tight means more than anything. I owe him big time for it, as a shop would have probably charged me a good $1,000 in labor easily considering how tight some of those hoses are.
Now… With Devil repaired, what does this mean for the office of ZeroXR 13mg?
I plan to hit the gym for sure and shift away from my home work outs. The home work outs were ok, but being around my parents while the recite depressing banter about me is not really an inspiring environment for important personal progress. Tomorrow, I’ll be returning to my push and pull schedule at the gym. I may try to push my limits higher. We’ll see. I’ll probably be doing my booster dose of creatine and carb stack with a finish of my whey protein shake for sure. Tomorrow for divinely great punishment… I will be doing push based exercises. Why? Cause I miss stacking weights on for squats!
I know I have been meaning to be less of a recluse… but with regard to my job falling apart on the inside, my family demanding more expedient repayment, and a few more automotive issues to be addressed… I may have to consider either a second job or do something to generate a good amount of money. I am playing with the idea of selling my PSP and DS… I love them both, but as things stand with my family for the most part… I may be parting ways with them. If anyone knows someone who could use a DS or PSP… let me know, least before I decide to randomly throw it up on Craigslist.
Devil is Hospitalized…
So… today was interesting. It started off with a fight with my family about automotive stuff… then turned to me getting degreaser to see if a wheel was leaking. Then a call from my friend David saying he had time to try to attempt my overdue 60,000 mile service on Devil…
I’d bring my box ‘o crap to his home and we’d get cracking on what we could. The forces of irony were quick and merciless…
Mishap #1: I apparently didn’t order the top and bottom main radiator hoses. It will cost me about $38 locally. Not really too bad…
Mishap #2: When trying to remove the top radiator hose from the top of the radiator… It apparently snapped off a rather large chunk!
Mishap #3: On removing the radiator from the engine bay… David noticed that the primary fan blades had popped off the fan motor.
Numbers 2 + 3, David hopes to score parts from a local Miata tuner shop in Dallas. Hopefully, the radiator and primary fans can be had for not too much out of pocket. O’Reilly’s was asking $150-ish for the radiator and then $70 some for the fan motor and not the fan assembly (which I need). I hope I have some vestige of a prayer out there…
There’s also the matter of my AC compressor pulley that was damaged… Not really my biggest concern, but I would like to have AC again. The pulley should run about $25, which is no big deal… the bolt-up is easy enough too, so I am not in a panic. Hell, if that has to be done later, no hurry. There’s also the matter of checking out my rear calipers for potential leakage. My father said there was some fluid dripping, but a few visual inspections revealed some moist grease on the inside of my wheel. If those bastards are leaking… I have yet another repair to expense out.
So what happens now?
With Devil in David’s garage, I will have to wait and see if he can successfully get the major parts (radiator and radiator fan) without too much trouble and procure the hoses. Hopefully that should resolve the major issues and get my car patched up with all new 60,000 mile parts. My family has offered to let me borrow the jade chariot or be chauffered to work… we’ll see what happens. Hopefully tomorrow, Devil will be back and ready to rock out with new parts and new journeys.
The next issues from there are brake calipers and new tires again.
Seeking Assistance – Anyone good with laptop processor temps?
So I have been expressing my concerns with my processor temps… With the help of Maczimus, I would try to analyze things from the Windows side with how much gaming I have been up to lately. (Blame cousin Sol and people bailing on plans with me for that…) I downloaded CPU-Z and CPUID Hardware monitor to do some data logging on temperatures.
I will establish some base lines and update this post later today with new data I can find.
Baseline measurements will be from the initial start-up temperature of 40C. Hardware fans not active unless indicated.
With the Cooler Master Notepal running
Idle: 47C
Minimal Activity (Web, IM): 51C
Heavy Load (Games, YouTube): 59C – 60C with hardware fan finally kicking on low speed.
Without the Notepal on, but on the cooler
Idle: 49C
Minimal Activity: 55C, but reduced to 44C for a short time when hardware fan kicks up on low speed (2,900rpm)
Heavy Load: 59C with fan running at 2,900rpm
Zeroism: The Way of Perfection [Editorial Special]
Lately, my friends and associates have hit quite a bad time with their lives falling apart this summer. Honestly, it’s almost coincidental with the fact of summer love or summer dreaming… A few nights ago, one of my readers had said she had broke her relationship off with the man she was seeing because she finally found out he had failed out of school. This failing started a chain reaction that his family has restricted his social life and it failed to instill in him a drive to want to do better. She said it has depressed her, but at the same time she wants to be there for him and hope to instill in him some hope of moving forward.
I was sorely reminded of the Heaven and Hell I went through with living life at the bottom and knowing that I was simmering in the suffering of my own self. Sure I had someone else with me, but that person also brought me down to absolute destruction. At the time, I played it off as nothing, but in reflection, I was in the Hell of all human possible Hells… Ignorance to the truth that I was nothing, I had nothing, and I refused to accept myself for the person I was. It just got me thinking of one of the old martial arts proverbs:
Why struggle with catching a carp in murky water? By the time you think you realized you have forever lost it, the carp may have ascended to Heaven and become a dragon.
The problem most of us have with hitting rock bottom is that we struggle to accept who we are. We keep trying to “fish” for the character flaws within us hoping to ensnare them… but by the time we realize that our character flaws are a part of what makes us human… We have wasted valuable time that could have been used to better ourselves or fish for more skills that make use of our unique humanity. Unfortunately with humanity comes with the caveat that we, ourselves, must figure our needless struggle should not even exist… That we must be like the waters of a river that erode the stone and flow around our adversities.
No one can help us in this darkness with simple inspiration, we must find the strength within ourselves and possibly find mentors who foster nurturing intent in order to guide us on our own personal path. This path that we can choose or choose not to walk is what I call “The Way of Perfection”. The path to greatness is one that differs uniquely from person to person. Some of us may have one that starts easy and ramps upwards… some have it difficult and it pushes to the “ungodly” limitations of their own human faith. The one thing in common that everyone shares on this journey to perfection is that there is always an intrapersonal struggle within ourselves. There will always be the one thing that will make us question our previous definitions of personal integrity and honor… Once we cleave that into a manageable topic that no longer overwhelms us. We can finally get into the stage where we can begin polishing the rough gems and refine the facets of our personalities from rough diamonds into works of beauty.
I won’t lie that the journey is hard… I finally started my journey a while back after coming to terms with myself, but through the challenges brought to me… I have not let my strength waiver. If anything, I look forward to harder challenges later in the future with hopes to really break down barriers that have lost their ability to bind me. From accepting myself, I can say I was ignorant for ignoring my own potentials. I know I am limitless now and that with my educational career just a little over half way done, I can aspire to my dreams.
This is in dedication to those readers out there who have been fighting for so long and with no hope in sight. Let this be a tribute to you and a prayer that you all will find greatness as long as you keep your mind to it.
3 Months – A Follow-Up and Progress
With retrospect to things… It’s close to 3 months when a chapter of my life that had cast an ugly hex on me finally came to a dead stop. It was a hard road full of memories I though were treasured, but when I analyzed them all and then looked at myself: I realized I was underestimating my own self. Of the 4 years worth of memories, there was only 1 year worth mentioning. The rest, I have forgotten and written in with brand new memories from my great and upstanding friends. You all deserve the highest honor for how well you all have supported me and kept me up beat. I lack the proper verbage and monetary flow to even express my gratitude, but to you all… I thank you dearly from my estatic heart.
So what’s been going on at the hallowed office of ZeroXR 13mg? Quite a bit actually! Russ and Yamcha had asked me to focus on good public relations due to the matter of my former associate essentially slandering and libeling my reputation in Dallas. So I have been trying to push myself to social gatherings for true fashionistas, original bohemian artists/photographers, geeks and intellectuals all around to immerse myself in good people and good vibrations. It has done well for my reputation as some of the supposed irreversible damage has finally began to shed off.
In light of the reputation talk… [Cue Announcement]
Rei who was runner up for my Bluetooth haiku contest will be receiving a Plantronics Explorer 350 courtesy of the “ZeroXR 13mg Looter’s Chest” and NewEgg. Newegg is where ZeroXR does his technology shopping online to snipe the deals and makes sure he gets a fair price on his goods. Let’s have a round of applause for Rei!
School is looming closer and closer with the passing of the days. I have my dormatory arrangements set-up and then the matter of financing my education being the final hindrance I need to seek resolution to. I basically have a short way to go before I may achieve my dreams of being a pharmacist, so I look forward with breaking new limits and setting the bars higher on my threshold for knowledge. The anticipation kills me as it’s like a showing me the gateway of power, but not giving me the keys to the kingdom. I look forward to possibly meeting new friends there and beginning the final steps on my career choice.
The site has been slowing down I know from my social tendencies to talk to others or even go to the bars just to drink and converse with good people. It’s been fun with my occasional quirky tangents, but I just haven’t had much of a budget for any new tech toys to test out. Conversely, that has lead me to enjoy some of my cheaper joys in life… like finishing my DS and PSP games which most are finally coming to happy conclusions! In addition to that, I have met a lot of new friends and building new relationships to build myself as sort of a ZeroXR remix rather than sadly dote on a past full of pain.
Lastly… I have been basically trying to relax when there’s downtime for ZeroXR 13mg or when friends bail on hanging out with me. Sol, my dear cousin, got me hopped up on World of Warcraft and I have been burning my time off there. Anyone who would like to venture around is more than welcome to contact me. Here’s my gamer data if you want to tag me:
Elune Server – Zeroxr – Human Mage (Primary)
Shadow Council Server – Luceferi – Human Paladin
Ravencrest – Elandranae – Night Elf Druid
Fears about Suzaku…
I love my little laptop… I really do. Though the last few days have me concerned. I have had Suzaku for nearly 2 years now and it wasn’t until recently that the poor machine has been heating up at a vast rate both in Linux and Windows XP. In Linux, there is minimal processor strain as I usually turn off the Compiz-Fusion effects and just keep my system functional. In Windows, I use it mainly to back-up my phone, hack/upgrade my phone, and (as of late) World of Warcraft. I know I had blasted a whole ton of latent dust bunnies out when I did the RAM install for my machine on top of ripping out caked up dust on the cooling fans as well.
It concerns me as my machine is usually on for a good few hours be it doing some bittorrent streams of Linux distros, movie/anime watching, web surfing, and games. If Suzaku is on the verge of death… I need to try taking the machine apart and see if it is due for another cleansing of dust and debris. I would hate to find that my machine that has treated me so well wants to give up. Let’s pray that is not the case.
The Asian Infestation at The Saigon Mall Opening!
So, my family had heard the Vietnamese community clammoring about the opening of the new Saigon Mall strip out in Garland, Texas on the AM band radio station how there were sales and giveaways. Naturally… They wanted to go. I was about to evade going, but when Sol said “Dude, I am going too!” that changed my mind. We would take my father’s jade colored chariot to the market center and be graces with a scene that looked like this…
Continue reading The Asian Infestation at The Saigon Mall Opening!
Oh My… I think I am going to hate Sol for the monster he’s created…
After struggling to hasten installation of World of Warcraft’s installation by copying the patch files over from Sol’s computer… I would finally see an inkling of things picking up. I had to download the final big patch that brought me from v2.0.1 to 2.4.0 which was a hefty 1GB download that started when I got home from Sol’s at about 6:30 and the patch completed by about 12:10am. From there were the quick patch-ups from Blizzard that were 5MB and 15MB each respectively.
I had played for about 1 hour before I had tired out from exhaustion and required sleep. I got to a major city and Sol was trying to add me to his guild [Rejects] but due to the trial account, that wasn’t possible. Trade has been disabled as well due to the pervasive nature of people who would gold farm the game in exchange for real world cash… Which Sol understood naturally as he was hoping to try equipping me a little better for the hell that he could. Even for running the game on my sad machine, it ran rather tolerably… I can’t say the same for Guild Wars for the many times I have attempted to run that on my laptop Suzaku in failure. Though it was interesting to see that in 1 hour’s time, I managed to get my character ZeroXR, a human Alliance mage to level 3 and 75% close to hitting level 4. The battles make sense and I can already somewhat understand how the game can be a rather fun time sink. The interface, I will comment makes me feel ADD with so many meters and bars to gawk at while watching my skills, HP, MP and etc regenerate and/or cool down.
I am probably going to want a new machine for sure before I partake in playing recreationally as when the spammers go ballistic in a major city, it gets rather chaotic and things begin to lag from my poor integrated graphics card begins to beg for mercy. However… on reading Blizzard’s article on why the chat seems so sparse, it seems that I don’t even get the full chat functionality anyhow. Though it is good to know that even with my trial account, all the items I earn will still be available for me should I choose to buy into the mess.
What’s to Come for This Week…
Let’s see…
I will have my picture post of my misadventures with Sol to the new Saigon Mall out in Garland. I will evaluate my adventurings in the World of Warcraft, the only issue now is the final patching and choosing of classes. From there… I have a few things that I have to see that may be potentially fruitful for good things to come from them all. Potentially a busy week indeed!
I bid you all good night and good tidings! Tomorrow is the beginning of a new work week and even payweek as well! The long shot to Friday begins!