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I've been doing some hardware upgrades. Here's the short shopping list:

22" Samsung LCD display
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300
Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA motherboard

The old 22" CRT display went bust and I had to get something to replace it. After a short browsing frenzy I went and got the Samsung from downtown, from the only place that actually had it in the shelf, Serv-it. A week or so later, I got annoyed by not being able to play HD-Divx movies. So it was time to look at a budget-friendly computer upgrade. The asrock's motherboard makes it possible to run either ddr or ddr2 memory, it supports both agp and pci-e slots, and takes any goddamn intel socket 775 cpu. Another plus is that it's dirt cheap. See, as far as motherboards go, you can shelf between 50-300 euros on them. This one is at the bottom range. I noticed it too, as soon as I had installed everything. Lots of crashes and freezes. Apparently their hardware support for ATA drives is pretty bad. Luckily it seems most of the problems are gone now that I used the drivers from the CD, and did not use new ones from the web. Strange. The E4300 is running at default clock speed now, I cannot be arsed to fiddle with it since everything is running smooth as it is.

Found a new, very handy image backup application. Acronis True Image 10. Speedy backups possible, easy to run restore (you can either install a boot menu, or run it from usb/cd, cool stuff). It helped quite considerably when my C:\ partition was being raped by the ASS-Rock motherboard. Luckily no important data was lost, but it was not a pleasant experience. I'm not used to fighting shitty hardware. But I'll have to say, now that it's running smooth, all is well.


Eventually I'll make the jump to decent motherboard and buy a monster 8800-gtx series graphic card. And overclock the HELL out of this cpu. But as things are now, I don't want to spend money in more hardware untill I've graduated.

Another monday half spent

Been a while since the last update. I've got to keep up! :)

Been a little sick again. Some fever, but it went away in the same day. Situation now: home alone, drinking coffee and getting ready mentally to work on my thesis.

I've been pulling 3-4 work shifts per week. On the off time I've been watching some episodes of twin peaks, Rome second season & playing games (America's Army, Continuum, Europa Univeralis III, Fable, Medieval 2: Total war). I've done quite a considerable amount of reading as well, sadly I don't have the library receipts to see the reading history. Anyway, it's been history mostly + some business books.

I've also done some work on the thesis. Btw, procrastination is a bitch.. but have no fear friends! There are ways to combat it, such as goal setting. The following is a dirty copy-paste to make this post appear longer:

Goal Setting
This is a very effective mechanism for limiting procrastination. The process requires taking some larger goal and breaking it down into a series of smaller tasks. For optimum effectiveness, these goals should have four properties: Specificity, Challenge, Proximity, and Routine. It works very much as Discounted Utility Theory, outlined on the Theory webpage, would predict.

1. Specificity
   Goal specificity refers to explicit standards and conditions that indicate their fulfillment. Increasing specificity has been shown to increase performance and, in turn, should decrease procrastination. To the degree one does not have a clear understanding of when goals are about to be achieved, the motivational benefits of temporal discounting do not occur. In other words, you should know exactly where your finishing line is.
2. Challenge
   Challenge of goal essentially increases its value. Achieving a difficult challenge is more rewarding than achieving an easy task. To avoid procrastination, challenging goals should be set as they have higher value and less easily overshadowed by other alternatives. To be effective, challenging goals should be set as they have higher value and are less easily overshadowed by other alternatives. Of note, expectancy is somewhat diminished by challenge. Consequently, there is an optimal breakpoint where the decreased expectancy of a goal outweighs the potential gains in satisfaction.
3. Proximity
   Ideally, your goals should be set though that they can be completed in a timely manner, perhaps today or even just this morning. Distant goals are substantially delayed, reducing the motivational effectiveness. The only reservation regarding proximity is that by dividing a large goal into variously spaced sub-goals, each sub-goal must necessarily be easier to achieve and thus less satisfying. Consequently, there should be a breakpoint where the further subdivision of a goal decreases achievement motivation more than can be offset by the decrease in delay.
4. Routine
   One predictor of procrastination is the number of “choice points” a task requires. The more junctures that require choice, the more likely it is that we will procrastinate. Consequently, one of the most powerful self-control techniques is the development of automaticity through routines. Automaticity refers to a habitualized course of action that can be conducted with little or no conscious attention. These automatic routines can maintain goal pursuit as they limit decision making to that relevant to the task at hand. Consequently, you should try to schedule your goals to occur at a regular time and a regular place. For example, if you trying to exercise, choose a day, a time, a place, and stick to it as best as possible. If sickness makes you miss a day, get back to it as soon as possible. Eventually, you won't be deciding to do other things. You will just find yourself effortlessly performing."