My geek life just got more complicated. Remember I had ordered those three Dell 24 inch widescreen monitors? Well, Dell just released their new 22 inch widescreen monitors - and I got an email promo that says on the 26th and 27th they’ll be offering the monitors for $80 off, making them only $299 CAD each (that’s what the email says, though $80 off the published price of $399 is $319…). $299 for 22 inch widescreens! That’s crazy-cheap. So I’m in a quandary - I could get three of these 22″ widescreen monitors for $897 CAD versus the $2097 CAD for the three 24″ widescreens. And we’re only talking about two inches here. Big change in resolution though: the 24’s run at 1920 x 1200, the 22’s at 1680 x 1050. The 22’s aren’t as bright, and have a lower contrast ratio. But for the difference in price, would I notice? Hrm. Decisions, decisions. The monitor is so new I can’t find any reviews of it…

I always enjoy Christmas time, because it means spending time with my family getting away from the stress of constant incoming email, and not staring at my table of review items that are taunting “Review me…review me!”. This year promises to be extra fun because Ashley and I bought presents for each other that the other doesn’t know about - quite often we want such specific things the other person knows what they’re getting. I’d tell you what I bought Ashley, but she reads this blog so that won’t be a good idea. Some random thoughts…

• This Christmas we had the opportunity to reach out and help three groups of people in three specific ways, and we feel extremely blessed to have the financial resources to do so. I’m not a believer in being generous only at Christmas - responsible stewardship of our resources is a year-round task - but this time things just kind of fell into place. It brings Ashley and I tremendous joy helping others - I think people from the richer nations in the world would give even more if they knew what giving felt like (only a small percentage of the population gives on a regular basis).
• My cold is finally breaking today - the past three days I’ve had congested sinuses, swollen glands and a touch of a cough. I very rarely get sick - I think the last time I had a cold like this was when I was in Scotland in 2004. I’m really hoping that when I wake up tomorrow it will all be gone. Here’s hoping! I haven’t been very productive lately because of this cold - it’s hard to think straight. I took some Benadryl yesterday morning, and I didn’t realize it was the “drowsy” version. I was half comatose for most of the day, feeling veeeery sluggish and more or less brain dead. Watched a lot of TV - The Lost Room miniseries was very cool!
• I set up the R1800 printer last night - the geek paralysis was broken - and did a few test prints, including my first 13 x 19″ printer. STUNNING quality. I did a sunrise print on Epson semigloss and it looked amazing. I’m doing up a print for my mom, a 13 x 19 print of a sunset over the ocean in Hawaii, and I’m confident it’s going to turn out fantastic.
• Today is the day that a very cool piece of hardware is supposed to show up. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say what it is yet, so I’m not going to say anything…other than I’ve been told it’s coming with 2 GB of RAM and two 400 GB hard drives in a RAID 1 array. Mmm. Tasty!