With regard to Dell.

Okay, so I wrote my last post about how I ordered through Dell for my new PC; well I meant to include this conversation that I had through their web chat thing. I just find it funny:

Connected with XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian
10:18:49 PM Eric Peterson Hello
10:18:58 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian Welcome to Dell's XPS Sales Chat! I hope you are doing well and thank you for waiting. My name is Brian and I'll be your personal sales agent. How may I help you with your purchase today?
10:19:13 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian Hello Eric.
10:19:25 PM Eric Peterson I wish to know if the Windows Vista on the XPS I am going to buy is 32bit or 64bit 10:20:23 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian We only offer 32-bit OS here at Home and Home Office section since most programs formatted for home usage is engineered on 32 bit only and will run slow on a 64 bit OS.
10:21:13 PM Eric Peterson I have a question then; why do you offer 4gb of ram if a 32bit Vista does not read over 3gb?
10:22:13 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian A 32 bit OS can only see up to 32 numbers at once. When you translate the amount of memory into binary, the largest number that fits into 32 digits is about 3.5 GB. So the OS can only see that much memory. Supposedly the 0.5 gig's power will be used to run its own system and hardware for even better performance.
10:23:18 PM Eric Peterson I see, but there is no guarantee that the full 4gb is being used though?
10:23:53 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian It's 4 GB that is used on the system.
10:24:08 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian Are you planning to purchase a system today?
10:24:52 PM Eric Peterson I actually purchased one yesterday and wanted to know about which bit my windows vista would be since i could not find it in the system specs
10:25:08 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian Oh okay.
10:25:18 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian Is there anything else I can assist you with regarding your concern?
10:25:31 PM Eric Peterson no there is not, thank you for your help Brian
10:25:43 PM XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian
10:25:48 PM System XPS_AMB_Rep_Brian has left this session!
10:25:48 PM System The session has ended!


I think it is strange that he told me that the excess memory is not for sure used and then told me that it is... It does not change my mind about ordering through Dell; I just think its funny is all. Oh and I only ordered 3gb of ram anyway.

New PC.

It has been a while since my last post regarding Jelly Belly jelly beans so I thought, with some encouragement from Emily, that it was time for a new post.

Spring break has just started for Emily and I and we are looking forward to relaxing a bit which will be nice coming out of a very stressful midterm week. Not really sure how to seg-way into this so I will just say it; Emily bought me a new computer because she is a great wife.

I ordered a new Dell PC the other day, after some trouble making the actual purchase, and it will be coming on Easter Monday. The trouble was that I had mis entered some number on the back of my card when attempting to buy it which did not let Dell run my information. After talking to the bank and finding out what error I had made I had to recall Dell. At this point I was informed that my account could not be used at the current time prompting me to call the bank again and find out that my card had been locked down due to perceived fraud. A long series of questions ensued and I was finally able to call Dell and authorize the purchase of my new computer. Moral of that story... when you see *** in front of you on the screen make sure you know what those damned asterisks are hiding.

Some of you might be asking why I decided to buy a PC from Dell instead of making one myself. The answer is simple. I went to Dell and built the perfect PC for me which cost like $1500, mind you this is not the PC I purchased. I then went to different online stores and after making my computer I found out that if I ordered all of the parts to make the same computer Dell would make for $1500 that it would have cost me $1350. In my mind the extra $150 would be worth the hassle of me not having to assemble my new computer and also having a warranty for it. This discovery made me realize that unless your really die hard about your computer buying a pre-made machine is not really that bad of an idea.

For those of you who may be interested below are my system specifications:

Quantity Item Number Description
1 223-2365 XPS 420, Intel Core2 processorQ6600 (2.40Ghz,1066FSB) w/QuadCore Technology and 8MB cache
1 311-7873 3GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
1 310-7963 Dell USB Keyboard
1 320-6189 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
1 341-5334 320GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache
1 313-5656 Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup
1 420-6718 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English
1 420-7622 DELL SUPPORT CENTER 2.0
1 412-1054 Turbine Lord of the Rings Online,XPS
1 310-8030 Dell 2-Button USB Optical Mouse
1 420-7468 ADOBE ACROBAT READER 8.1 DIM/INSP
1 313-5829 16X DVD+R/RW
1 420-7616 Roxio Creator Premier for Inspiron/Dimension/XPS
1 313-2758 Integrated Audio (I have a sound card that I intend to move)
1 410-1184 McAfee SecurityCenter 15-month
1 412-0912 MS WORKS 8.5
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 988-2217 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
1 983-9470 Type 3- Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
1 960-8700 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 310-8626 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
1 420-7285 Datasafe Online 10GB,1 Year Free
1 420-7649 Adobe Premier Elements Photoshop Elements, and Soundbooth Software

Jelly Belly

Ok, in the grocery store there is an entire line of Jelly Belly containers, they are priced at like $5/lb. and there are a multitude of different kinds available. That is the background, now the question, is it okay to sample (sample meaning one or two jelly beans) one or two different kinds in order to discover which kind you wish to purchase?

Caucus '08

So yesterday was super tuesday and boy was it a hoot. Well neither Emily or I went out and caucused but we thought about it, well at least I did. Either way I have heard some pretty funny stories about how it went down this election cycle here in good old MN and wow is all I have to say.

From what I have heard there were so many people that went out that most people were writing down their choice of candidate on the backs of scratch paper and even receipts. Overall the system sounded like it was pretty chaotic but interesting to listen to in any case.

So, what do you all think of the caucus and how our system is working? Like it, don't like it?

D.C.

So Emily and I went out to D.C. to do some sight seeing and visit her brother Matt and his wife Laura. Overall the trip was really good, we got to eat at a lot of great local restaurants and see a lot of the sights; for more of a run down on what happened you can go check out Emily's blog. There is one story that I wish to mention though; one night the four of us were walking through Crystal City (Crystal City is the name of the area Matt and Laura live in) to go to Cold Stone, well we were walking through the underground mall like shopping structure that from what I gather makes up a large part of Crystal City. Anyway, in the halls of this subterranean labyrinth there were posters, or ads rather, all over the walls. Every other ad, it seemed, was the same gentleman wearing a kimono and brandishing a sword in the wilderness with the subtitle "If this is what he does in his free time imagine what he does at work". The add was for some rinky dink community college and was just overall very humorous. Most of the trip to Cold Stone we spent making fun of the gentleman in the ad and his general nerdiness but on the trip home we paid little heed to them seeing how we had already exhausted all we could say and more importantly we had delicious ice cream to eat. To all of our surprise on the way back we came up to a man and a woman standing in the hallway next to one of the aforementioned ads. The man was taking a picture of his lady friend with the ad. Why would the woman want her picture with the ad though? Could it be they found it just as humorous as we did? The answer is no; she wanted the picture of her with the ad because she was indeed out on a date with the infamous star of the ad. What can I say some chicks must dig kimonos right?

Some pics from the trip...