Yay! We finally got our new computer. We've had it for about a week, and it's great. I really can't believe how much faster this one is than the old one. Even the internet is faster, which I'm a little surprised about because our internet connection is the same one. However I have heard that Apple has done some tweaking to the network settings, so that probably accounts for some of it. With the old computer there was enough time to fix your breakfast while the computer was starting up. Now it only takes a few seconds to go from pushing the power button, to being at the login screen.

And as promised here are a couple of pictures of The New Hotness. (after the cut)

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"It," is our new computer that I ordered this morning. It will be a brand new 20" iMac that is going to look absolutely enormous next to our little 15" G3 iMac that we are currently using. As it is almost the start of the long weekend, and it is a Build to Order (upgraded RAM and HD) it probably won't ship until almost the middle of next week, and is supposed to take 8-12 days to get here. It sucks that we have to wait until almost the end of the month to get our new computer. I can't wait to see how much faster the 2.13gHz Intel Core2 Duo is that the 600mHz G3 PPC. I also bought a brand new Nikon D80 a couple of weeks ago, so I will post pics of the new comp when it gets here.

Who'd have thunk it. Must be from spending too much time with T.

So T and I just made the biggest purchase that we have ever made. We just bought a new (to us) car.

The old car had so many issues that it was starting to become a safety hazard to drive it. We tossed around the idea of just not having a car since I have the bike. However we decided that the benefits of having a car outweighed the costs.

I hadn't really planned to actually purchase a car today, but my other half managed to talk me into it.

So, we are the proud new owner's of a 1999 Hyundai Accent. I'm not really sure if we ended up getting a good deal on it or not. The original sticker price was $11,000 or so, but was marked down to $8975. We managed to get it down to $6000. Of course then all the extra fees come in. Naturally the government has to get their fingers into the pie. Since it was purchased at a dealership, there was GST and PST (for a total of 14%) and then there was a $500 "document fee." We were also offered (and accepted) a 1yr warranty plan. So all told the final price we paid was $8000. I am now officially broke. No more pub nights for me for a while.

So at first glance this may seem like a good deal, but my cynical side figures that no matter what, the dealer always gets the better end of the stick. I don't really know anything about bartering, but they didn't even have a counter-offer, so it makes me wonder if I could have gotten it for even less. We took it out for a test drive and it drives very nicely, and with a 1.5l engine the 2dr hatchback will hopefully be better on gas than the 2.4l full size 4dr sedan we had before. Also, we didn't look at some things quite as closely as we should have, and have since noticed that there a several little dings and missing paint chips that we didn't notice before we signed all the papers.

Anyway, right now I am feeling very nervous and wondering if we made the right choice, but only time will tell.

The weather has been totally crazy here the last couple days. Today it was actually snowing which apparently hasn't happened in Victoria in a long time. Yesterday we ran the gamut of weather. Over the course of the day we had: sun, rain, hail, snow, and sleet. Now, minutes before I wrote this, we had thunder and lightning. In five years of living here, I think we've had thunder and lightning twice (this being the second time.)

Bizarre

So I got a couple a really nice compliments the other day. The first was from the head barista at work. He said that my milk steaming is my weak point. I whole-heartedly agree with this. I have a hard time getting consistently good milk. The compliment then came afterwards when he said that he thought that in terms of espresso shot quality, I was the most consistent barista. This should seem logical considering that I am one of the most senior staff members, but it is tempered by the fact that I only work one shift on the bar a week.

The second compliment was in regards to my photography which I feel has a long way to go. It might help if I made more of an effort to get out and take some more pictures. Anyway, a friend of my sister-in-law, Colleen, was at her place and saw the calendar that I had made and sent them as a Christmas present. She was looking at it, and when Colleen mentioned that I had made it, the friend, who owns a cafe, said that if I ever wanted to do a show, to let her know. Personally I don't feel that my photos are quite good enough for a public showing, it was a really nice thing to hear.

In other news, my bike is now re-insured, but I haven't had a chance to ride it yet, and the weather is supposed to be lousy for the next week or two. :(

For those who don't know, these are the four legal areas of attack in kendo. I joined the Uvic Kendo Club, and our first practice was yesterday. We didn't actually learn anything though. There was a demonstration and then some sparring as the club is preparing for a tournament in Vancouver this weekend. We will start learning stuff on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it.

Hooray. My car is finally running again. It mysteriously wouldn't start. After trying a couple of different parts that didn't work, the mechanic spent 5 hours following wiring to discover that a small module (about 2" square) was the culprit. Thankfully the mechanic was someone who I (sort of) know, and he charged me a much better rate than I would have gotten at a garage.

I don't drive much. In the almost 6 years I've owned the car, I've only put on about 30,000 km. Even though I don't drive it much, when I din't have it, I realized how much I rely on it, so I'm very glad to have it back. Now I'm thinking of selling it and getting something new. Unfortunately I can't really afford a new car, and I really want to get on of the new Intel iMacs. On top of that, I'm trying to save money for my wedding. Stay tuned to see what wins.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I may have had the most pathetic New Years Eve ever. T and I stayed home and played a video game and had a couple of rum and cokes each. Granted it was our own choice. New Years just isn't really a very big deal for me any more. I guess it doesn't help that we just got back from spending a couple of days in Port Renfrew. The owners of the caffe own a cabin up there and they rented a couple more for the staff to come out and relax for a couple of days. It was great. We spent two days drinking, eating, sitting in the hot tub, hanging out on the beach and watching Conan movies. Tough life huh?

Anyway, on to the rant.
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You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

I thought that if I did only one of the millions of quizzes out there, this should be the one considering where I work. Gotta say though, I like the result it came up with. I think I would have been fired if I was a frappuchino.