Being a complete sucker for new technology is really a curse. Every time I see a brand-spankin', shiny new product I start thinking to myself "hmm... I wonder how I can justify getting this". Sometimes I can manage to yank myself violently out of that train of thought, which hurts a little but is by far the best solution in the long run. When I either fail to yank hard enough, or forget to yank at all I move into the next phase: obsession.

In the obsession phase I get stuck thinking about something, and not just late at night while I'm browsing webcomics and news sites, but all the time! I wake up dreaming about that new shiny toy that I'm convinced will solve all my problems. I go to work, only to be interrupted with images dancing around in my head. When I get to this point it becomes very hard to turn back. The only two possible routes to take are to either try to bury the whole idea in the back of my mind somewhere and get on with life, or succumb and buy the toy. Since I'm perpetually broke, I keep my mental shovel handy.

The whole reason I'm even writing this is to blow off a little steam. Recently I bought a new computer. I looked online quite a bit, researched my options, checked pricing, evaluated my budget with my special obsession-induced financial myopia, then took the plunge. I've put together an embarasingly large number of computers in the past, and have very seldom been dissapointed in how things turned out. Unfortunately, this time I am very disapointed. I'm about ready to ebay half the internals and try again, but I know I'll only want to get "upgraded" parts when I do, which I can't really afford anyway... *sigh*

So, now I'm trying to find that mental shovel I usually keep handy. I wonder where it went...

Well, here it comes. I am beginning to see a glimmer of light at the end of the seemingly interminable tunnel of school. Even this tiny little sparkle I see gives me a surge of excitement, knowing that the worst is past!

I'm sure you all know exactly how it feels. All of us have gone through several big transistions, whether from elementry school to middle school, or high school to college. The depressing thing is that every such transition in my past has led only to another dark tunnel. Now that I'm graduating, I'll just move into the VERY long tunnel of working until retirement, if I am ever able to retire that is.

I'll stop being such a pessimist and say that I won't mind the pay raise that comes with having a degree. *pessimism creeping back in* but I'll soon have a mortgage to worry about! DOH!

On a brighter note, I've finally got the "Hello World" of microcontrollers working today. I successfully made some LED's blink exactly twice per second. I had them blinking at random rates several hours earlier, but I couldn't just let it be... Now I get to move on to phase two of blinking lights, which would be analagous to doing a "Hello World" program that used a nice friendly font, and instead of saying "Hello World" it would say "Don't Panic".

All of that work is being done ostensibly in preparation for my senior project, but everyone who knows me would say I'm just a geek (or more appropriately, a nerd).

For those unfortunate enough to have stumbled upon this blog, take a deep breath and try to regain your sense of self worth, then check out my friend's blog at http://45acp.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!