Thermal Matters…

I left work at nine and drove directly to Auburn to buy some thermal compound for my processor.  I thought I had a full tube of Arctic Silver, but it was empty.  I couldn’t install my processor without it.   I reluctantly came back to the Valley to start the job at my Benefactor’s house.  I really wanted to come home and play, but work beckoned.  Installing my processor would have to wait.  As I  had expected, it was a hot and sweaty job requiring lots of physical exertion.  I earned every bit of the $50 dollars my Benefactor paid me.

“You work hard and very fast,” my Benefactor told me at one point as he stood in the backyard nosily surveying my efforts.

“I can’t wait to get home,” I told him. “I have a new toy to play with. Computer related stuff.”

“I don’t get all these new fangled computers,” he replied. “All you hear about on TV these days is dot com this and dot com that.”

I smiled at his obsolescence and continued to chop down underbrush.  

I then rushed home so excited to get into some computer work – immediately removing the cover off my computer case.  I carefully removed the heatsink. Uninstalled the old processor which will be sold on EBay.  And proceeded to install the new one.  I then applied a razor thin layer of thermal paste and put back on the heatsink.  Everything went flawlessly and I was so relieved when the BIOS on my motherboard recognized the new processor after a quick BIOS update and my computer booted up without a hitch.  FAST!  Is all I can say.  I effectively have 12 GHz of processing power now.  Applications open almost instantly – the only bottleneck being my harddrive and I already have plans on replacing that tonight which I will run by dad when he gets off of work.  I want to order a new extremely fast 600gb velociraptor drive and will get dad to pay for it out of my disability money under the guise that he would have spent that money to buy me a plane ticket to Washington if I went.  I am going to have a blazing fast and updated computer when all is said and done before long.

Wasabi Nights…

Last night was very, very nice.  It is so nice to have a companion to spend time with and do things.  Kim and I went out to eat at the new sushi restaurant downtown.  I am still astounded that our little town has a sushi house.  The new Kia plant is working wonders for our local economy.  As Charlie said the other day, downtown is thriving these days after being dead for decades.  

“You are really adept at those chopsticks,” Kim told me as I dipped a tuna roll in a little ornate square dish of wasabi sauce.

“Rachel was obsessed with all things Asian,” I told her of my ex-wife making conversation as I chewed my food. “We often ate out at Asian restaurants and she cooked lots of Asian themed food.  Rachel kept a set of formal ivory chopsticks at home for when we ate.  She kept saying we were going to get remarried and would order fancy wedding kimonos off of EBay spending a fortune.”

“She sounded like an interesting lady,” Kim replied with an air of jealously.

“Yes, she was. She was an interesting woman,” I told her. “But she was also completely nuts!”

I chuckled as I shook my head and ate another bite of food.

Kim laughed. “Like me?”

“No, you are not nuts,” I replied. “You are just perfect in my book. Rachel makes you look completely sane!”

After our meal, we went and got Sadie and Kim’s Eclipse, and brought Sadie to my house so her and Maggie could play.  Kim ended up spending the night over at my house and you should have seen us all piled in my queen sized bed – dogs and all.  We were the crew!  I got one of the better nights of sleep I have had in ages listening to the dogs snore and sigh softly overnight.  I told Kim she and Sadie should stay over more often.

“I don’t want you to go to work!” she told me pouting this morning as I crawled out of the bed at four AM to shower, shave, and fix some breakfast.  “I want you to stay in bed with me.”

“I would love nothing more than to just throw the covers back over my head and sleep till noon.  Just leave the door unlocked when you leave for work,” I told her as I kissed her on the cheek as her and the dogs went back to sleep.  I headed to work.  It was the first time I didn’t want to go into work in the three weeks since I started working at Wal-Mart.  Pleasanter things were in store at home.

I Need a Better Brew…

Kim looked in my fridge last night to put in a bottle of wine to chill and she noticed my six pack of Schlitz malt liquor I had bought previously in the day.  I reached in, grabbed one, and took a drink – my sunset brew for the day.

“How can you drink that stuff?” she asked. “Only winos and Billy Dee Williams drink malt liquor.”

I burst out laughing at the Billy Dee Williams reference and those old Colt 45 malt liquor commercials.

“Malt liquor is sweeter than beer and less carbonated,” I told her. “I kind of like it.  It’s a throwback to when George and I would drink all the time.  Everything I know about drinking I learned from George.”

“What’s your favorite beer?” Kim asked.

“Heineken by far,” I replied. “I also like Grolsch, but they are so expensive, I can’t afford them or I should say I am too cheap to buy them.  Schlitz is only $2.99 a 6-pack.”

“I am going to start buying you a six pack of Heineken every few days so you won’t drink that junk,” Kim told me. “I don’t want you to be like a wino.”

I laughed. That would be nice I thought – nice not to be like a wino.  Although, I don’t need any nefarious influences as far as my drinking is concerned.  I find myself able to drink two or three beers and be satisfied, though, these days.  Dad would just die if he knew I had a girlfriend who is buying me Heineken.  That would be the horror of all horrors for him. 

Brownie Points…

I thought I would do something special for Kim today.  I am going to swing by the nail salon and get her a gift certificate to get a manicure and a pedicure.  I think she will really be surprised and like that.  She often says she likes to get it done, but it’s expensive.  I am going to give her a treat.  That fifty dollars I worked so hard for today will pay for it I hope.  I have no idea how much it will cost. 

I would also like to get her some flowers, but I don’t know what to get.  I thought roses would be too ostentatious.  The last time I bought flowers was a dozen roses for my ex-wife when we were dating.  I sent them to the restaurant she was working at.  Would it seem too sappy for me to get Kim flowers?  I hope not.  I am going to give it a try and see how she reacts.

George Gets His Magazines…

George wrote today that he received the first issues of his magazines already.  “There’s a lot of shit going on in the world that I didn’t know about,” he wrote of reading Time.  George’s letters have been more upbeat lately with more confirmation that he will most likely be paroled come September or October.  Florene and I are praying for September and it has been a big topic of discussion between us – us both growing excited at every passing day.   We both can’t wait for fall to get here.  It all depends on when George goes in front of the parole board.