radiance

I bought a new monitor, Samsung 712N, on sale at Futureshop. Plugged it in, and it worked instantly, no drivers required. And the conflicts I had been having with my monitor before (which I thought was due to my video card) stopped, so I guess it was the monitor after all.

Man, if I knew what I'd been missing, going from crt to lcd, I would have switched a lot earlier. Part of the problem may have been my monitor being old, but I just find the new one so much brighter -- the colors are more radiant. At first I thought it was just the settings, so I turned the contrast and brightness down -- but it was still really bright. The first thing I did was playing COH on it, to make sure the response time could keep up with games. It looked great.. also, while fiddling around with the cables behind my computer, I accidentally disconnected my internet. Then when I put it back in and played COH, I stopped having the connectivity issues I was having before (I'd get logged off every so often).

VERY satisfied with this purchase. It helps me forget about my broken camera.. hehe. Lesson of the day: If something breaks, buy something else! Spend, spend, spend! Haha..

tv is back

TV is back. Premiere's are coming, television is back in business. No more re-runs, no more shows that should never have been on television. Less infomercials.

But what it really comes down to is -- commitments. What shows will I plan to watch these next couple weeks will dictate the amount of television I watch for the next 8 months. Last year I was able to limit myself to 3-4 shows per week, although I watched them religiously, it was good because it amounted to about 2-3 hours per week (not counting Leaf/NFL games).

New shows are headed our way: The Apprentice 2, Joey, CSI: New York, Survivor: Vanatu, Amazing Race 6, The Benefactor, Medical Investigation.

Old shows return: That 70s Show, Everybody Loves Raymond, Alias, Smallville, CSI, Will & Grace, The Sopranos, Malcolm in the Middle, Simpsons, Family Guy.

Kind of crazy how there are so many new shows and all reality. I'm looking for quality this year. Alias, Smallville -- those I have to keep watching. I expect Apprentice 2 to be good, not sure about Survivor (can it still be good after 8 seasons?), Amazing Race -- always good. I'm not sure if The Benefactor will be any good.. the genius behind Apprentice is Mark Burnett, not Trump, so it's not guaranteed that the Benefactor (Mark Cuban) will be a hit. Medical Investigation looks awesome. CSI:NY could be awesome too.. Gary Sinise!!

And of course there's Joey, the funniest character from Friends, who's show premiere's this Thursday just before The Apprentice 2.. Personally I think Joey will bomb. Guess where I'll be Thursday night? Haha..