This post courtesy of the new Wordpress for iPhone application.

In other news, Maggie and I have been married for two years today. Crazy.

And to pre-emptively answer the “What kind of new upgrade are you getting?” questions, here’s the new rig. Most of this stuff isn’t top-of-the-line to save a little up-front money, since I was only planning on upgrading my old box, but it’s more than serviceable, and it’s pretty future-proof as far as upgrades go; I’ll be able to buy AMD processor upgrades for this box for a good long while (yay AM3 processors being backward compatible!)

• MSI K9A2 Platinum motherboard (AMD 790FX chipset)
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (2.5GHz Brisbane core)
• 2GB G.Skill PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066) RAM
• Western Digital 500GB SATA 3.0GB/s HDD
• GigaByte ATi Radeon HD 3870

A lot of people will probably scoff that I went AMD this round… but like I said, future-proofing. Intel Nehalem comes out at the end of this year, and it’s basically a dead stop for anything Intel because they’re changing so much about the architecture. Plus, I like supporting the underdog when I can, and i figure figure processor diversification is good.

After some intense frustration trying to find a good video card upgrade, I’ve decided to part out my Windows/Myth machine, and make a more substantial upgrade. I know some of you out there have some older machines that could maybe use some of this stuff. Let me know if you’re interested in purchasing any of the following parts and make me an offer. Some of it’s up on eBay right now, but I’d rather sell to friends first so I’ll pull it down if you want it.

These parts I’m definitely getting rid of:

• AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 333MHz FSB
• AMD Athlon XP-M 3200+ 400MHz FSB (same as XP 3200+, fastest Socket A processor you can get)
• 2GB OCZ Platinum low-latency DDR400 RAM (2×1GB kit, this is almost brand-new)
• 1GB (2×512) Kingston DDR333 RAM
• ASUS GeForceFX 5200 AGP
• ATi Radeon All-In-Wonder 9700 AGP (no fan, 2D works ok without it)
• ASUS A7N8X nForce2 motherboard
• Chieftec 350W ATX power supply

In addition, I -may- be getting rid of some of this stuff. I know I’m going to have to lose at least some of it, since the new motherboard I’m getting only has 2 PCI slots, and one of those slots will be taken up by a wireless adapter. If you have an interest in it, let me know, it’ll probably help me make my decision.

• Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum with Audigy Drive
• Hauppauge PVR-150 analog TV tuner
• Western Digital 120GB EIDE hard drive

Let me know if you’re interested.

So, I’d like to write another song. But I’m having trouble finding a suitable poem. This is where you come in.

I’m looking for a poem with several short stanzas, that isn’t very wordy and paints a picture rather than telling a story or giving a message. A very good example would be “The Engaged” by Octavio Paz (better known to some as “A Boy and a Girl”):

Stretched out on the grass
A boy and a girl.
Savoring their oranges, giving their kisses
like waves exchanging foam.

Stretched out on the beach
a boy and a girl
Savoring their limes, giving their kisses
like clouds exchanging foam.

Stretched out underground
a boy and a girl.
Saying nothing, never kissing,
giving silence for silence.

I just listened to a recording of Eric Whitacre’s string transcription of his beautiful song, A Boy and a Girl. (link) It really opened the floodgates for me. I vividly remember being on the stage in Sioux Falls with Iowa State Singers, giving our performance of this then-new piece for the NCACDA regional convention. I can remember feeling like the entire contents of my soul were being spilled out with each word. In any other situation like that I probably would have been curled up on the floor sobbing, but I was so focused on the choir and the music there wasn’t room for anything else. That was one of the top–if not the most–soul-shattering moments I’ve ever experienced.

After the conclusion of our concert that afternoon, we received a standing ovation, which as I understand it is VERY rare at a convention like this. I remember filing off the stage, having to carefully watch my step as my glasses had fallen apart during the warm-up just prior to the concert. I remember the incredible sense of closeness I felt to all of the people in that room as we shared hugs and elations.

I have a recording of that concert. It is really quite a masterful recording of an exquisite performance. I can’t bear to listen to it anymore, because even though I know it’s an excellent recording, it still feels dull and lifeless compared to the memories it evokes.