Good news, the new laptop is in.  Just shy of 5 weeks from when I ordered it, which still astounds me for 2015.  Same brand as last time (Sager) so it looks very similar, though noticeably lighter.  Mind you, gaming laptops are anything but light.  Win 8.1 came with and if not for that x.1 item I would have installed Win7 instead.  It’s a serviceable OS.  The setup was remarkably quick too.  And this from the guy who remembers installing Win 3.1 and has been custom building rig since the early 90s.  Anyone remember the install time for Win 98 or XP?  You could spend hours just to get access to the internet, then the patches would take up an entire day.  Now the long part is reinstalling the core services.  Right now that’s Chrome (IE is somehow worse in W8 than 7), Steam, Marvel Heroes and the Blizzard launcher.  I’ll get the rest of the apps back on in due time, though it’s going to take ~150gig or so through the pipe to get there.

A funny story.  I have a particular background that I’ve been using on my PCs for a few years, one particular of my daughter.  I wanted to use it again and went to my backup storage and couldn’t find it, even though I had spent a day or so backing up the old rig.  Turns out I missed some files and this generated an opportunity to clean up some video/pictures I had kept for 5 years.  About 100 gigs worth actually, nearly 1000 pictures and 500 videos.  I am a bad curator but took the time to label/categorize what I could.  Now the better half will do the necessary triage and we’ll back up the backup.

I’m not a big picture fan, more of a store it in my head kind of guy.  That said, going through these things was a nice trip down memory lane.  Sometimes I lose focus on priorities with work asking for a bit too much and these sort of events really help to remind me of what I’m really working for.

Stress Relief

I’ve mentioned in the past how gaming is a massive stress relief for me.  It provides me with a challenge and I input a solution to reach a goal.  I think I get more fun out of planning the solution than I do of executing it, outside of the actual endorphins for goal completion.  A tablet is an OK gaming device but the game selection is lacking compared to the PC, as are the interface options.  So yeah, PC gaming is scratching a heck of an itch.

Physical activity, in particular hockey, is my other stress relief.  I play less in the summer, once a week instead of 3, so I need to supplement that somewhat.  Back into the home gym for a few weeks now, something I haven’t been able to truly get a grasp on since my first daughter was born 5 years ago.  Oh, spurts here and there but nothing long lasting.  I’m about 6 weeks in now and I sleep better, which is great.  Then all the other health benefits, the use of a new notch on the belt and if this keeps up, I’ll need to take in some of my clothes.

The month of May has been an interesting one.  Feels like I’m getting out of an old rut and into a new stride.  Spring cleaning I guess.