Lewies Blog

I heard something fall downstairs. I went to check out on my wife and apparently her computers power supply had fried. I took her over to Comp USA. We got a new 250 watt power supply, a fan with heat sink for the CPU, and a couple cans of air.

I should have looked at the fan closer, because when we got home, it said that it was good for CPU’s up to 1.5 GHz. Angels CPU is around 2.5 GHz. We could only get the power supply in by taking out her CD and DVD drives. The original power supply was much smaller. She didn’t use them much anyhow, so we took them out as an interim solution.

The power supply was also too thin. We could only use one screw to secure it to the case. I put in another screw to help secure it against the frame, but it wasn’t to my liking. It’s the best I could do. Hopefully we can order this specific power supply on the internet.

We also got the boards and the case cleaned out pretty well. Angel kept begging me to let her use the vacuum cleaner on it. It just seems absurd to vacuum a computer like that. I told her if she did it, then I would have to get a camera and take pictures.

Anyhow, the computer is up and running with her second life. I teased her that her character was too hot for her computer to handle.

Some of you may have noticed that I hadn’t blogged recently. I usually post every day, but I missed out on the whole week. Part of it is due to my sleeping schedule getting back to normal after a week of vacation. The other part is because I got a second life.

Second Life, is a game. You don’t go around killing anything. So what exactly is the point of it all? The point is, that it is a social game. The other part of it is that everything in the world is player made. You build things with primitive objects (squares, spheres, cones, etc.). You can upload art, sounds, movies and scripts to make your objects look better or give it some kind of function in the world. If you are a 3D game developer, it may be fun just playing around trying to build things. You can also build customized skins and such. You don’t have to be human to play this game.

Just like all the other free games, this one boasts that you can play for free and cash out your in-game money for real money. You can sign up with a credit card or a pay-pal account. If someone signs up, you can get money for referring them. You can get even more money if they get a pro account. If you want to own land in the game, you need to have a pro account.

One interesting thing is that the character customization is virtually unlimited. There are so many things that they allow you to modify. On top of that, you can create your own “skin” as an image to put over your regular skin (like tattoos), or build objects in the world to wear (like masks, tails, wings, clown nose).

I’ve started playing a few of the games too. I like one called Tringo. It is a mix between Tetris and bingo. You have to play it to see it. It is simple and easy to get the hang of.

As far as the social aspect goes, it is addicting. I don’t know how to explain how addicting it really is. The people are really friendly and always happy to help out. No matter what your interest is, there is a place for you where others share the same interest. Do you like furry creatures? Look up Alpha Prime at Furrnation. There are plenty of free avatars you can change into like a cat, dog, squirrel, Wolf, etc. Goth? Dance in the circle of death over at Transylvania where bloody foggy mists roam across the ground. Like air planes? Pick up a free helicopter and try it out on the aeronautics grounds.

Any how, life calls.