./janella.com

i decided late last year that i was going to get a new computer system this year. my current system is a p3 733 mHz running winxp and win2k (swap drives). i bought it about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago from micronpc. when i bought it i decided not to get ‘top of the line’, which i think was the 900mHz, because i heard the difference wasn’t too much.

since then the 1gHz came out. then the 2gHz. now the 3gHz! in between that time i built my first computer, which was a present for lotte. that system is an amd system, which i think runs at 1gHz. it’s a sweet machine and my first effort at building a system.

well, early this year i got a new work system. i had been running a clunky 400mHz system, while everyone around me was in the 1gHz to 2gHz range. i then got a replacement system: a 2.4gHz system. well, i then saw how much has improved. so it was time to upgrade the home system. now to buy or build?

buying would be easier, but building would be more satisfying - and frustrating. so of course i chose the latter. i set out to do the research, asking knowledgeable friends what they would consider, and then bought the parts that fit my needs. i wanted to be able to surf the web, get email, and the edit photos and video. so i went with the following:

• p4 3.0gHz 800mHz fsb
• asus p4c800 deluxe motherboard
• 512mb ram - setlled for pc2700 for now
• 150gb maxtor sata hard drive
• ati 9600 xt video card
• nd a antec sonata case

you figure i would save some money building a system, but in actuality it?s the slightly more when factoring the cost of software. the difference is you get to choose from a wide variety of parts and build the puppy.

well, i have all those parts. now just need to put it all together.

here are my quick new year’s resolutions:

• watch more movies
• read more books
• donate blood - or some deed like that

no health resolutions for now. too many people in the gym! i’ll wait until end of february or march in order to start that resolution ;)

happy new year to everyone!!!

hope you have a great 2004!!!

merry christmas to everyone! have a safe and happy holiday.

christmas eve is almost done. everyone has gone home after having a full lovely dinner and desert. pictures should be posted as soon as i get them back.

today we had brunch at the [hukilau] in san jose, a nice little place serving hawaiian food. the brunch was to celebrate the winter solstice, which nobody could really define.

so what is the winter solstice?

from the [following website]:

'Winter Solstice also known as Yule, Christmas, and Saturnalia, occurs in mid December. It celebrates the birth of the new Solar year and the beginning of Winter. The Goddess manifests as the Great Mother and the God as the Sun Child. The God also appears as Santa Claus and Old Man Winter. Colors are Red, Green, and White. This is a festival of inner renewal."

so that's your answer.

for the third year in a row, dave and i went to amc mercado to watch lotr. the show, as always, started a little past midnight. there was bout 15 minutes of commercials (yes commercials) then another 10 minutes of previews before the movie actually stated. - small movie review will follow later.

the movie didn’t let out until about 4:00am. i wasn’t able to get out of the parking lot right away, so the trip home took about 1/2 hour. ugh. all in all it was fun. the movie was a good cap to the whole trilogy.

i remember this night, 11 years ago today. it was the night my father died. i remember pretty much everything that night, and right now i’m not going to go through the details. i just wanted to write down that i do remember, that i do think about my dad every day since then. and that i miss him.

saw a meteor streak toward the horizon tonight as i parked my car. pretty cool.

after much research and debate, farrah decided to get a gameboy advance sp. a nice titanium gameboy advance sp. the idea to purchase such a shiny new toy came from playing the new/old game super mario advanced 4: super mario 3.

the super mario game is just like the older super mario 3 game, which farrah says she enjoyed so much. she also got zelda which is another addictive game on the small screen.

what about me? i’m playing this new version of prince of persia for playstation 2. it’s a nice looking game with cool fighting scenes. my only complaint is that so far it isn’t that challenging.

can you ever make a mistake in this world, especially when you’re famous? nowadays i suppose not.

a friend forwarded me a link regarding the paris hiton sex video (don’t ask me for it, i don’t have it). it wasn’t anything interesting. there was nothing different than what you may see in an adult video. but it made me realize that once something hits the internet you are basically screwed.

if you don’t know who paris hilton is ( and really there is no reason you should know who she is) she is the great granddaughter of conrad hilton (hilton hotels). anyway, this girl comes from very powerful american family and still they cannot stop the streaming video from flooding the internet. i guess money can’t buy you the power to stop the flow of information like this.

the internet has done good of course. i remember back in the late 90’s when south park first hit the internet. it was a large 50mb file that made its way onto many computers and screens. you gotta remember 50mb back then was large, especially when downloading on a 56k modem connection! i remember my friend scott sending the file to his home from work (faster connection at work) and his email at home got stuck!

i just find it interesting that’s all. something to blab about on this page i suppose.

just added photos from kayla’s church play back in september. it is available in the family album when logging in at [photo.janella.com]

ok, after thinking i screwed up the page somehow, i find that the reason it looked so darn funny was that i haven’t written anything! wow, a program that forces you to write! i like it.

so, i just write this quick quick paragraph here right now, just to occupy some space. there are some topics i do want to write about, and some pictures i want to post. it will be just a little longer.

tonight i had dinner with some ex-netscape customer care people at chevy’s in sunnyvale. it was good seeing everyone who made it.

peter and sue i had only seen several months back at peter’s wedding. the last time i saw heath was at a dinner with dave. david, luis, tricia and michelle i hadn’t seen since being laid-off.

dinner was at chevy’s in sunnyvale. i had the habanero steak tacos which was exteremely hot! whew.

anyway, i guess this would be only of interest to scott (since he knows who these people are and he’s read this home page), but here’s a quick rundown:

• peter: working, married in may (i'll post the pics sometime), and driving a nice black mazda rx-8. yeah he got rid of the mustang.
• sue: not currently working, but i think she's doing some campaign work for general clarke
• tricia: working at a biotech company that some former egain employees work at.
• michelle: recently laid-off from the same biotech company that tricia works for.
• luis: happy and working for a auction site for car dealers (if i remember correctly).
• david: working in brisbane i think? he was all the way down he table and i only caught bits and pieces of his whereabouts.
• heath: working in sales and the gym.

it was good seeing everyone. found out shelly is working at the clinique counter at macy’s in valley fair. those who’ve seen her say she’s looking really good. i don’t think anyone knows where nancy is other than she’s married. karen couldn’t make it, but i think she’s married now also. jason and peter f. couldn’t be found either.

it was good getting together with everyone. somewhat interesting to take stock of where everyone is at. this tech slowdown has put a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, and i seriously think nobody really loves what they are doing for work. not that netscape was all fun and games, but it sure was exciting.

farrah and i headed down to the [sony metreon] to watch the [matrix revolutions], the last a trilogy by the wachowski brothers. i would have to rank this third in terms of quality of story and action, behind the other two. so it works, i guess, in descending order.

what i liked about the film? the action scenes defending zion were really well done. part initial battle scene in a club was cool. oh, and monica bellucci in a red latex get-up made the movie too.

the bad? well, i thought it was still too talk-y. not as much as the second one, though that had the car chase scene and the twin dudes going for it. i also thought the ending was so-so.

i say give it a shot as a matinee if you want to see it. i hear it is playing on imax. i don’t think this one is worth it on that big of a screen. may be the first two, but definitely not this one.