ryles@blogger: MyBlog: Golden Week Break

Today marks the last day of this year's series of holidays known here in Japan as "Golden Week." Which is to say it's back to work tomorrow. So what did I do this past 5 days of no work? Spending! Not exactly a good habit. :P It's just the start of the month and I've already spent a lot.

It started last Friday, the day before the long weekend. My new Lelouch Lamperouge figurine arrived from Amazon.jp. That cost me 7,000JPY. I haven't removed him from the box as of today. Still thinking where to put him since my [small] shelf is already full. Expect some pics once he is out. :)

Then, on Sunday, I bought 2 used DVDs of Blood: The Last Vampire. They were labeled "Disc1" and "Disc 2" so I thought the contents followed one after another. It turned out "Disc 2" was actually a "Digital Master Version." I only found out when I tried watching them. :( At least they cost only 950JPY each since I got them from Book-Off. This brings me to the next item I bought the day after...

...an external portable DVD drive (reader/writer). Apparently, my laptop's drive is having problem reading DVDs already, so I bought a new drive from Yodobashi the day after (Monday). That cost me 8,000JPY, but since I get 10% points, it's practically 7,200JPY - I just have to spend the points later at any Yodobashi outlet. I've been considering buying the drive for quite some time already, so it's Ok. However, something else caught my attention - an Asus EeePC. The model 900-X I saw (CeleronM 900Mhz, 16GB SSD, 1GB RAM) was selling for 25,000JPY, so I gave it some thought and decided to buy one. But...

...as I was considering the specs, I came upon 900HA (Atom1.6Ghz, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM). But 900HA was selling for 10,000JPY more. So I thought perhaps 900-X should be more than sufficient for my planned use (surfing via wifi, E/J dictionary, offline news and e-book reading, etc.). I mean, the speed-up from the use of SSD (instead of a slower HDD) and 1GB RAM should more than make up for the 900Mhz processor, right? However, the dispay model I saw was hot to the touch compared to all other models on display - which is bad, despite the assurance of the storekeeper that it's due to the lighting under the display. A netbook that heats up on my hand or lap is the last thing I want, but I wanted an SSD version for its durability and speed! So... in the end, come Tuesday, I ended up buying the model 901 - the best of both worlds (Atom1.6Ghz, 16GB SSD, 1GB RAM)... at a cost - 40,000JPY.

That was my last major purchase this long and costly weekend. But am I happy with them? Yup! Or rather, I should be! >D Kidding aside, I'm quite satisfied with them.

I spent last night and today setting-up the EeePC. I named her "Haruhi-chan," after the popular anime character. I should say Haruhi-chan did not disappoint in terms of performance - boots-up, logs-on, and runs applications fast. She's way, way faster than my 3 year old laptop, Belldandy! (Btw, she is a Sharp Mebius PC-CS50H) However, I expected Haruhi-chan to be lighter than her 1.3x kg! She's definitely not a light netbook. I tried bringing her out today, and, whoa, did I notice the additional weight in my bag! And like all netbooks, you'll miss the big screen. I never thought I'd feel my Belldandy's LCD was large - until I actually resumed using her after spending some time with Haruhi-chan. Other than that and the really tinnie-winnie keyboard, Haruhi-chan satisfies. She makes up for her lack of physical assets with performance and capability. :D

Oh yeah, one last thing - the 40,000JPY actually also came with 10% points. So that means I have enough to buy a decent netbook bag at zero cost (or more appropriately, at "prepaid" cost). I'll probably do so later this month, once I decide I don't need anything else.

So to cap this blog, here are two pics - one of Haruhi-chan, and one of both Belldandy and Haruhi-chan side-by-side: