Ahhhh. Aren't we glad that's over?

Seeing as my PC was about in the shape pictured above, I took the leap of faith and invested in a new MacBook. No no... I invested... In my future. Now I know a computer out of the box is like a fresh banana. It's ripe, appealing to the eye, stands firm, and 3 days later (or the computer equivalent-90 days) it is lying in a molding heap of mush that is unstable in regards to any human interaction. This made me callous and untrusting. But then my Mac came along and said "You don't understand. I'm not a banana. I'm a cashew. Leave me on the counter for a week then come back and eat me later. I'll still be delicious."

For years I considered the switch, but the now cliche "It's too expensive" excuse kept rising to the top like a repackaged Britney Spears song. As time goes on though, I'm starting to realize a few things. 1) I paid $300 less by going with Apple's refurbished service on this machine. 2) Even though the refurbished system had the old OS on it, Apple decided that since they just came out with a new OS they should just throw a copy of it in my box in case I want to install it. 3) Antivirus? Hahahahaha! Oh man those things are silly and expensive. Pass. 4) I need a tuner for my guitar. Wait, what's that? Garage Band has one on it? Oh, well that must be nice for people who can affor... what's that? It comes installed for free on the system right out of the box? But... I thought we were supposed to pay for everything but the most basic possible [trial] media programs. Have I been living in a dream world!?!?

Nope. Just a PC world. Where it is PC to sell products that should come installed free on your computer. Where it is PC to outsource to a host of companies to manufacture programs of the same application where you have to pick and choose which price you can afford and which flaws you can bear to wade through before you'll be able to make a functional slideshow. A world where it is PC to sell a basic OS for $200. That breaks.

But I'm looking forward to the future now. A future where I don't have to catch up with the money I saved on my computer at the front end by repairing it a year later, and where I won't have system failures just because my coding went nutzo. Never let anyone tell you that a PC is cheaper than an equivalent-component Mac.

I'm a happy person right now. I'm a Mac.

Alright ladies and gents, the day is here. I have Xbox LIVE!

Wow I feel like I have been waiting forever to get this, and there's a lot of learning ahead because my online gaming experience is pretty limited, and completely PC-bound. (Actually now that I think about it, pretty much just WoW...) But no more!

Anywho, if you're reading this, feel free to add me as a friend on LIVE.

My gamertag is Jontepolon, a french-sounding obscenity I created during college to yell at my friends when I would oust them in Super Smash Brothers Melee with Jigglypuff's sleep-kill move. Think of it as a far more original/spontaneous/not yet annoying version of "pwned". As my friend coached me when choosing a gamertag, "It's only good if you can yell it out when you kill someone." Put that in your philosophy book and memorize it.

So let my education begin and tell me about your favorite game to play on LIVE!

I guess as I get older, I find myself doing things that I said as a child that I would never do, so lo and behold, the sports games are piling up on my shelves where the side-scrolling platformers and 2D-fighters used to be.

The latest addition was done out of sheer reverence really. After my favorite NCAA football team from my college hometown of Lubbock TX had a heartbreaking season being, at one point #2 in BCS rankings (to Alabama of all teams,) until it fell to powerhouse OU then lost an embarrassing bowl against Ole Miss, I was pretty well prepared to watch the nation forget that Texas Tech existed all over again. Needless to say, when I saw the NCAA 10 ad at Wal-Mart before it hit shelves, I almost peed my pants with joy (there's really no other way to pee your pants. Tell your friends, toddlers.) Though he is leaving us after only a Sophomore year to spend some time healing an injury on the SF 49ers bench, WR Michael Crabtree didn't abandon the pirate ship without Crab-Grabbing the cover of Xbox360's NCAA 10!

Though it won't matter a lick to most gamers, I just couldn't be more ecstatic about this happening, and even though Madden is always a superior product for gameplay and graphics, from the few of us who play NCAA for team loyalty, and the 5 of us who have deep love for our Red Raiders and have GS accounts, WRECK EM TEXAS TECH!!!

Colt McCoy in '11! Big 12 FTW!!!

In other words, my laptop is hotter than hell.

A year ago, I turned in my dead Dell for an HP Pavilion dv2000. I know right? It has "2000" on it, so it's from the future. Well as casual as my PC gaming interests are, I still want to kick around some year-oldie-but-goodies without many problems, but problems I have! It seems I can't play 20 minutes of WoW without my lappy burning a hole in the desk, the table, the leg... it's indiscriminate, really. And then the lag just gets out of hand. I downloaded a demo of Dawn of War 1 on Steam, but apparently that will only last until a multi-squad skirmish breaks out. Then the heat is on.

Anywho, I kinda thought this new lappy could handle at least some older games, but it's having much the same problem my last one had, and I'm beginning to wonder, is even casual PC gaming a towers-only Sam's club kind of thing with an old lady at the door to make sure i'm toting around a 50 pound desktop to get in the warehouse? I like laptops. But I sure do wish I could game it once in a while. Anyone feel my pain, or better yet, have a creative cooling solution? That would be supurb. Well, don't buy this guy unless you wanna drill some extra holes in the plastic casing!

I spotted a couple of games on the horizon, that despite some obvious clonesmanship of Devil May Cry-ish gameplay and/or Assassin's Creed-ish holy war motifs, appear to be too legit to quit. I guess if you, like me, did not get your God of War fix on PS2, and won't be without a PS3, you'll be stoked about these too.

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