Friday, December 24, 2010

random projects

Upgrading the HTPC:
The HTPC has served me faithfully for two years, but I felt like it was time for an upgrade. No, not rational at all. I suppose I got annoyed by waiting for Firefox to load. Sure, it's not the computer's fault, but I'm upgrading anyway. The Intel Core Duo E7300 (which is still really competent by today's standards), motherboard, and RAM have been transferred to the HTPC Midwest Edition. In other words, it's now in a nearly identical setup at my parents' house - only this time with a 2TB HD so my dad can download lots of pr0n (although honestly, why bother downloading pr0n when you can stream it?).

New parts:
- Intel i3 540
- ASSrock H55M mobo
- Last minute call to keep the old 1TB WD Caviar Green HD and add on a...
- Intel 40GB SSD (which actually will solve the Firefox issue... hopefully)

I suppose at some point in the future I may want to upgrade my desktop PC, although it's totally not worth the money. I might as well get an iPad 2 first.

Car work:
The car recently hit 200,000 miles (figuratively). Aside from a well deserved car wash, it also needs:
- A change of antifreeze
- A change of oil (by the time I get around to changing it)
- A new windshield (gonna splurge with an OEM part seeing how easily these replacement windshields break)
- New trim for the windshield, since Low Price Auto Glass of Austin, TX didn't mount it right and it flew off somewhere. )-: The parts have been ordered.

Monday, December 13, 2010

scale - ski edition

A ski-related version of my other post "scale," comparing relative distances of places in Cleveland and Seattle.

One Hour Drive:
I'll give the combined stats for both ski areas as if they were one... since that's kinda what Summit does too.
240' vertical
17 trails
85 skiable acres
20,000/hour lift capacity

2,280' vertical
52? trails
1.17 mile longest run (International)
1,981 skiable acres
34,490/hour lift capacity

Two to three hour drive:
750' vertical
58 trails
290 skiable acres
23,850/hour lift capacity

750' vertical
47 trails
1.3 mile longest run (Lost Boy)
285 skiable acres
26,620/hour lift capacity

3,100' vertical
57 trails
2.5 mile longest run
2,600 skiable acres
20,910/hour lift capacity

1,500' vertical
38 trails
1.75 mile longest trail (White Salmon)
1,000 skiable acres
FAQ seems to boast of how they have no phones, no WiFi, no ATMs, no TVs.

Within a day's drive:
3,050' vertical
140 trails
752 skiable acres
37,535/hour lift capacity

5,280' vertical
200+ trails (if they don't count, I won't either)
7 mile longest run (Peak to Creek?)
8,171 skiable acres
65,507/hour lift capacity