Veteran OCNers might know that I am one of the co-founders of the Socket 939 Appreciation Club here on OCN. If nothing else, this signifies that I have a certain affinity, even admiration, for what is now undoubtedly an old computing platform.

Despite its age, however, S939 is still quite capable. It loses out to the latest that Intel (especially) and AMD have to offer when it comes to just raw computing power, but for my own personal purposes, it's still more than sufficient....

I'm not one who has the gift of an outstanding memory, but inevitably some things just stay with you forever for whatever reason. Such memories etch themselves onto your mind, like a deep wound that scars your skin even as it heals.

Some days, such as that Tuesday eight years ago today, I'll never ever forget.

In my most recent entry, I mentioned that I was at last trying out Vista after using XP almost exclusively (aside from a brief, and temporarily interrupted, dalliance with Ubuntu) as my operating system. At the time of writing, I was feeling a mild tinge of disappointment with Vista, primarily because of how it felt a little slow compared to a fresh-out-of-the-box XP installation.

A couple of evenings of use later, I must admit that perhaps my initial observations may have been a...

At the outset I'd like to make a quick disclosure: I'm really still just a green-horn PC enthusiast who is still wet behind the ears. My enthusiasm for this hobby far outweighs any real knowledge or experience that I have.

Unlike many on OCN, I've only been involved in this hobby for a little more than three years. Before May 2006, my family and I only ever bought retail PCs. We would tend to use these machines until such time as when they didn't perform well enough for our purposes...

Lately I've been looking back at significant parts of my past. I think one of the most fun, satisfying, and memorable phases of my life was when I was actually a practicing "musician" and songwriter.

I'm not daft enough to call myself a real musician because, well, I'm really not. I used to play guitar with a modicum of proficiency, but I'm not really a musician. Musicians are what you call people with real talent; I'm more of a ham-and-egger who just has far more enthusiasm...