Compassion for the Environment?

May 10th, 2010

I have been conducting a coffee culture survey over the last few months.  Well, it wasn’t so much a survey as it was a bunch of observations.  Alright, I did not really go around keeping track of data in order to come to empirical conclusions, but rather simply kept a running count in my head.  Man, you guys are a tough crowd…

 Fine, moving on…  Here’s one for your noggin…

Are Starbucks customers more sensitive, compassionate and/or considerate about the environment than Tim Hortons customers? 

Since the flip of the year I took a mental count of how many coffee cups were littered throughtout the various TTC properties that I frequent and the comparisons were so lopsided that it was absolutely mind blawwwwsting!  

I have a count of just over 20 (22 to be exact but I put down “just over 20″ knowing I would immediately elaborate afterwards to get a higher word count…) Tim hortons cups unappealingly sprawled on the ground or tucked away in strategic corners of buses, subways, bus stalls, etc.   Keep in mind that this number is only inclusive of TTC vehicles and properties. 

Like you’ve probably guessed I have a tad bit of free time on my hands between A and B.  To add to all the littered Timmy’s cups, about a third of those were bundled with wrappers from consumed products such as donuts, sandwiches and so on.  Definitely not a good sign for the environment.

 As for keeping count of Starbucks cups, can you believe that I did not come across a single article of trash!?   Yup, not one single item. I’m as surprised as you are.  Given how many Tim Horton’s garbage I saw, I was starting to believe that people just didn’t give a hoot about littering anymore and did as they pleased, but perhaps I am wrong when it comes to Starbucks customers!?

 Now to the belly of the beast…  given what I had observed, does this mean Starbucks customers are more environment conscious than the Tim Hortons faithful?  Perhaps it’s a pure numbers/ratio thing where Tim Hortons patrons out-number Starbucks loyalists by a count of XXX-to-XXX!?  Are my observations accurate and/or are they conclusive enough to hock to marketing companies?  Alright, maybe not but it’s quite an astonishing comparison don’t ya say!?

Full disclosure…  I brew Starbucks on a daily basis but I guarantee that it did not taint or influence my observations in any manner.  And no this blog was not sponsored by Starbucks in anyway.  I thought it was an interesting observation and wanted to share it.

Some food for thought…

Cheers,

Arbs

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Change of Address…

April 18th, 2010

I switched to a new version of Wordpress to get some new bells and whistles to play with (mainly techy and geeky backend server stuff) and in the process needed to update the URL.    Be sure to update your bookmarks to dial into the new URL.

Sorry to all of my followers.  You probably thought I fell off the edge of the earth.  I’m hoping to ramp up production again this spring.  Hopefully I don’t keep everyone waiting too much longer.  Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Arbs

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Viva Las Vegas!

September 20th, 2009

I couldn’t wait for this vacation as a getaway from the everyday was long overdue.  As if the excitement of going to Vegas wasn’t enough, the hype was escalated to a new plateau with the foremost reason for the trip being to celebrate my friends’ big 4-0 milestone!   The trip was organized by his better-half many months prior and we somehow kept it a surprise from him right up to being handed our boarding passes.  A half dozen of us made it out for this surprise b-day celebration and you can bet it was all good times!

It wasn’t long ago when I made my inaugural foray to Sin City.   Fast forward only a few years and the strip is already amidst some major overhauls.  The Boardwalk Hotel & Casino is gone, Aladdin was bought out by Planet Hollywood, a new extension of The Wynn, Encore was built,  a new extension of The Venetian, The Palazzo was also added and among many other changes on the strip. 

Caesar’s Palace is my favourite resort on the Las Vegas Boulevard strip and it would have been insane if we booked a room there but we just couldn’t cross paths with the right price.  We were on a bang-for-the-buck, shoestring budget but with some time and patience we managed to score luxury suites at The Venetian on the cheap.  Our suite was ridiculously lavish and fully loaded:  3 LCD’s, washroom enclosed by French Doors and remote controlled blinds and curtain system.  Quite the smorgasbord of amenities.  Too bad we weren’t in the room long enough to soak it all in!

 Not knowing if there would ever be a third tour I had a laundry list of must-sees and must-dos for this trip:  Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Fremont Street Experience, Cirque Mystere and a much anticipated shopping spree made it on the list.  We loaded our plates to the hilt and I’m happy we were able to cover everything! 

Hoover Dam was a little depressing.  It appeared much grander, immense and vast in Transformers!  On the other hand, the Grand Canyon was breathtaking and very much a spectacle of nature.  Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon was bundled into a single excursion and my only beef was that the trip ate up 16-hours from start to finish.  To each their own but if you’re like most of the visitors to city in the middle of the desert than I’ll assume you booked a 4-night, 5-day package and you don’t have a whole bunch of time to fit in most of the Vegas experience.  If you’ve got time to spare and nature’s your thing then by all means but otherwise I suggest considering it only if you can’t find a single alternative thing to do.  I bought the Mystere sound track the last time I was in Vegas and fell in love with it instantly.  Knowing the songs beforehand seemed to “bring out” the show like a pop-up book!  So vivid, so clear and so trippy!  Leave it to Cirque to dream up all those creative costumes, comical characters and crazy contraptions.  We managed to fit in a second show which was Le Reve at The Wynn.  With exception to the  full price tix, the show was quite good and the music was true to the Cirque style… errr…  I mean Franco Dragone style.  Celine Dion’s “A New Day” was apparently one show not to be missed.  I’ve seen the DVD and concur with the claims.  Hopefully if and when my third time rolls around she’ll be back in town to perform in “An Even Newer Day Than Before starring Celine Dion et la famille from Montreal, Quebec du Canada (part deux)”.   Hahaha…

Vegas seems to have everything under the sun to please even the most discriminating tastes and preferences.  How can you not like a place with a motto like theirs, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!”  Sure, it sounds like trouble waiting to happen but everyone should let loose once in a while and live a little.  Fun is the only real defense against aging.  Go out and get it!

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Night It Up 2009

July 25th, 2009

Although they were only for short periods I still managed to make it out on Friday and Saturday to catch “Night It Up” at Metro Square.  For some reason I recall the previous year’s event was held in late August but regardless, I’m thankful it went off when it did as it would have been too unbearably hot for me.  Nothing detracts more from the “street food” experience than weather that’s hot, sticky and humid!

The entire area was packed beyond belief on Friday night.  It was reminscent of walking through The Guvernment on a Saturday night… seas and seas of people and not even an inch of space to walk!  Parking in the T-and-T plaza on Warden and Steeles is already a headache on a regular night but Night It Up just compounded the issue.  It’s partially due to the lack of driving skills that makes the parking lot seem busier than it actually is, but that’s a whole other story.

It was a pleasure to see two smelly tofu vendors duking it out:  Wei’s and Mother Bear.   Wei’s is a consistent carny and is usually the sole smelly tofu vendor at the various Asian festivals in and around the GTA.  Mother Bear is a new player in the arena of street festivals and I was hoping to get a taste of their offerings with little effort.  This was not the case and to add insult to injury, I did not even get a chance to sink my teeth into either combatants arsenal of tasty treats on either days.  Even with two tofu vendors on the premises the line ups were uncomprehensible and wrapped around like a portrait or reenactment of The Great Wall of China!  Smelly tofu is truly an acquired taste.  If you can get past what some would call putrid, rotten or stinky-feet, then you’re pretty much home-free as the taste of the tofu is nowhere as offensive as those odours abundantly wafting through the jubilant summer breezes.  It’s just smelly tofu folks…  GO AWAY AND LET ME ORDER SOME ALREADY!   Hahaha….   ;P

With smelly tofu clearly out of my reach and off my radar, I turned to all the other vendors in my quest for the ultimate in savory and gratifying avenue cuisine.  Off the bat I found my favourite skewer vendor from the Taste Of Asia 2009 festival.  Xin Jiang’s their name and traditional west China cuisine is their game.  Boy was I ever happy to see them!  I bolted over and immediately ordered a couple’a bags of lamb skewers to whet my starving and discouraged appetite.  To my relief they were still nice and blazing hot from the smokey hardwood coals that they were just pulled from and the flavour was even better than the last time we had them.  Xin Jiang went a touch heavier on the cumin and marrying spices and a smidgen more daring with the mixture of piquant chili powders.  I can confirm it’s on purpose and not just a heavy handed prep chef cuz I had it a few times over each of the days and they all had a consistent flavour.

There were tons of good eats to be had.  I hope the rest aren’t overshadowed by me dwelling on the few in the previous paragraphs.  Best sauce goes to a seafood grill where I had a whole grilled squid and puffer fish.  They had an assortment of fresh and dried seafood but at this point  I had too much food in my hands and was so preoccupied and eager to eat that I forgot to query for their business card.  The secret grilling sauce was slightly looser than your run-of-the-mill bottled Kraft BBQ, tangy like citrus and hoisin combined and a nice late chasing bite of chili was pleasant and not overpowering at all.  In my opinion they could have grilled the seafood a little longer to get the golden crispy bits and edges but the heat from the grilling did heighten the secret sauce by concentrating the flavours and made it nice and ooey-gooey!  I tried a few kabob  stands but they couldn’t compare to my GTA street festival champion of skewered meat, Xin Jiang.  The others charged a similar price but served sub-flavoured and cool/cold portions.  Cold portions is the worse possible way to serve street food that’s meant to be served hot.  Texture will be like leather and the flavour profile is no-longer existent.  It’s small and cooks quickly.  Do everyone the greatest favour by cooking it to order!!!

I couldn’t wrap up without mentioning that we tried the homemade waffle/funnel cake stand that I mentioned in my Taste Of Asia 2009 post.  I can’t confirm whether it’s the same booth or not but the sign and equipment were pure ghetto so I’m branding it as the same!  The end product looked like an over-crispy birds nest or a cross-section of a human brain but I’ll confess that it was crispy and rather quite tasty.  Mad props to those guys and their determination to open a stand of their own!

Hopefully the Toronto CUPE strike will end soon as it has already curbed some other festivals that I wanted to attend this nice and cool, uncharacteristic summer.  The Chinatown festival on Spadina goes down on August 22nd and 23rd and realistically speaking, it’s not that far away from now.  Will the possibility of an unresolved union strike jeopardize my chance to finally get some smelly tofu at a festival in 2009!?

The year 2010 holds new hope for entrepreneurialship and promising aspirations that I too could possibly thrive in the competitive arena of Asian festivals.  I never imagined carny-life as a hobby or pastime but it’s really starting to grow on me.  Will my passion for supreme avenue cuisine drive me over the top!?  Even I can’t predict at this time.  Until then, I’m just going to go about my course and continue to enjoy it one day at time. 

Cheers,

Arbs

Posted in Good Eats | 1 Comment »

TRANS-freak'in-FORMERS Baby!

July 1st, 2009

I went to watch Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen on Saturday evening at Colossus and it was MIND BLAWWWSTING (not just mind blowing)!  I watched the first Transformers movie on a regular screen and was absolutely blown away!  I promised myself that I would go for the full IMAX experience for part two and any other succeeding episodes.  If I watch any movies at all, I usually prefer to wait until the whole world has seen it and then I’ll go watch it when I don’t have to fight for tickets or good seats.  I’m hardly a movie goer and I even surprised myself that I lined up for a movie on opening weekend!

I admit it was a little crazy to go on the opening weekend but I couldn’t resist reliving the revered rivalry of Optimus vs. Megatron, Autobots vs. Decepticons, Good vs. Evil (Bad!?).  I grew up in this era and was glued to the television watching this stuff.  Voltron, Force Five, Robotech, Gundam, G-Force, you name it and I remember being late for school one time or another for watching any of those.

Shia Labeouf is an incredible actor and I believe in time he will etch his own scriptures in the history books of acting.   He packs the same fluent and natural talent in front of a camera as the likes of Will Smith.  I’m sure it didn’t come overnight but they executed flawlessly and entertainingly when it counted most.  Shia’s gonna rock part three!

With every hero comes their damsel in distress.  I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the movie yet so in a nutshell and not surprisingly Shia keeps Megan Fox (and planet Earth!) out of harms way.  I’m questioning if they hired a premium team of make-up artists or whether they used CG to touch her up beyond the PG-rated parts cuz she was quite the looker.  She was definitely more “accentuated” than in the prequel.  Tough nuggies 90210-guy.

I don’t know how they dream-up this stuff!  Man, it sucks not being able to talk about the movie.  Get out there and watch it already so I can talk about it!!!   ;P

Cheers,

Arbs

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Taste of Asia 2009

July 1st, 2009

I was caught blind-sided by this festival and didn’t know about it until I heard from Van’s cousins late Sunday afternoon.  They blocked off Kennedy Road from Steeles Avenue up to Clayton Drive for the event (the north-east Pacific Mall/Market Village parking lot exit).

This was my first time catching the Taste of Asia street festival and was actually surprised how many vendors showed up to repreZent.  They pretty much filled up the entire stretch that was cutout for them.  Mind you, there was a humongous stage with ample seating laid out concert-style just south of Clayton Drive and a few kiddy rides and a ticket booth setup just north of Steeles that took up quite a bit of space.  But even with those said, it was still quite an impressive feat to see the capacity they exhibited.

I was especially surprised at how many independent entrepreneurs setup shop and took a shot at the growing trend/culture of being a Asian festival carny.  One guy and his girlfriend, or wife, had two small single-element portable burners, two small 8″ non-stick frying pans and a huge $1 fluorescent bristle board like the ones we used back in school for presentations that advertised waffles or funnel cakes for sale.  I’m not sure what kind of waffle or funnel cakes they could have churned out with two beat-up looking 8″ fry pans but all the power to them for even trying!  You go guy and girl!

It was a little chilly and windy in the cold front after the rain shower but I could still smell the burning hardwood coals, poignant spices and the supreme undisputed-king-of-street-food SMELLY TOFU in the air.  I’ve noticed that smelly tofu’s notoriety has grown exponentially over the years.  I remember the line-up was two or three deep for those scrumptious golden fried delicacies at my first few T.dot asian street festivals.  I didn’t have to wait for my next order and next order and next order… I think you get the gist.  However, the queue at the Taste of Asia ’09 was easily 5-6 booths long!  What up wit dat!?  I know where the smelly tofu restaurant is so I didn’t wait in line even though I was kinda twitching like a crack junky looking for a fix.  Anyway, moving on…

With no smelly tofu in my possession or stomach I thought it would be tough to find some decent good-eats that would at least come in well-distant second.  To my delight, the task was easier than I anticipated.  Ironically, just diagonal from the smelly tofu stand was a shishkebab booth that sold some very, very juicy and delectable lamb skewers.  They toned down the spices just a tad too much which I suppose was to appeal to a wider audience otherwise they would have scored higher with this discerning mouth.  The lamb morsels were cut perfectly to get the desired mixture of lean meat to fat ratio to keep it moist, the edges were lightly golden brown and crispy textured and the surrounding surfaces were seared just enough to lock in the juices but not too much to be tough and leathery.  Wow!  What a treat!  Too bad I had a vietnamese grilled pork chop and chicken rice with sunny side up egg beforehand (another diamond in the rough/mom and pop restaurant) or else I would have wolfed down more!  That and I didn’t find this needle in the haystack until we were leaving.

The Taste of Asia ’09 wasn’t on my list of festivals so it’s definitely a bonus and I’m already ahead of my game plan for 2009.  I’m getting excited for the next one that’s at Metro Square on July 10th and 11th.  Hope to see you there!

Smelly tofu here I come!

Cheers,

Arbs

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The Ultimate Universal Remote!?

June 15th, 2009

There’s a new favourite device in our household.  The reigning champ right now is a universal remote!  I’ve seen many devices that claimed they’d put an end to the clutter of having multiple converters but Logitech is the first, that I’ve seen, to deliver.  They really hit the sweet spot with their Harmony series.  Perhaps I’m fresh off the boat and this technology was already on the street but what can I say, it’s new and exciting to this guy!

 It was the same poop, different pile with all the remotes that I used in past.  If you want to switch from doing one thing to another you have to turn one device off and then turn another one on.  Yes, it’s all controlled from a single device but it’s retarded that no one pushed it further, at least from what I know of the home/consumer market.  Logitech finally put an end to this inefficiency and insanity.   Suppose you are listening to a music CD on your stereo and you want to switch to watching TV.  You simply select an action that you defined on the remote and it does two things:  1)  it turns your TV on, and 2) it turns your CD player OFF!  What a simple concept yet the value that the action adds is insurmountable and unfathomable!

It all starts with installing Logitech’s Harmony software on your computer.  You create an online account and log into the software to access Logitech’s online database of converters from various manufacturers.  Enter model numbers of the components that you want to control and it will search the online database.  When found, it will automatically know all the commands and functions that your remote is capable of and allow you to choose from a number of pre-determined actions.  Once you’re happy with the setup you just have to plug in the device via USB cable and upload the new settings into the remote.

There were a few instances where the application only assigned the most popular buttons/operations like Tune Up and Tune Down for the Radio but it didn’t take much to figure out the custom button mapping feature.  For those older and possibly obscure remotes there’s a Learn Command feature that will allow you to add a few extra buttons right up to changing the entire button scheme!  I really like this feature as I’m really picky and systematic when I have the option to change and customize things.

I purchased a refurbished Harmony 520 from TigerDirect for just over $50 including taxes.   I purchased many refurb-ed products in the past and I haven’t had a single problem with any of  them.  If you’re skeptical about refurbished items I suggest you speak with a sales associate for more details.  Sometimes they’re just units that sat on a shelf for an extended period of time and didn’t sell.  In these cases they ship them back to the manufacturer and they check that it’s still in working order and then repackage them and put it back on the shelves.  That’s of course the best case scenario and ideal situation but that’s not always the case.  Some refurbs were failed units returned under warranty and repaired by the OEM.

It was a very reasonable purchase at $50 and it has more than exceeded my intentions so I give the Logitech Harmony 520, 8-stars out of 10.  It lost a half-star due to slighty inconsistent button feel and esthetics (level/height/feedback/pressure), it lost another half-star as the button arrangement could be been a little more standard and intuitive and it lost a full-star as it doesn’t appear to have a power-saving mode.  I could be wrong about the last point.  It could possibly have power saving as it appears to turn on when I walk close to the remote.  I’m probably just imagining things but until I find out for sure I’m considering it a feature that’s missing.  Other than these mentioned, the unit itself appears to be great purchase for the money and perfect for someone who has alot of remotes that they’d like to get rid of.  The more remotes you have the more obvious it is that you made the right choice. 

Take one for a test drive.  It’ll be time well wasted.

Cheers,

Arbs

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Computer Porn (Part-2/Final)

May 31st, 2009

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally rounded up all the remaining components and my computer is complete and running.  As promised, here is the much anticipated finale.  Drumroll please…

Hard Disk Drive (WD Caviar Black 1TB SATAII):  What’s a good drive and what isn’t?  In my opinion, every brand releases a poorly manufactured batch every so often.  The question is whether you’ll be the unlucky one to purchase from that batch and/or shipment.  Back when I worked in computer retail, I saw every brand that we sold go through this cycle and there were no exceptions.  There were units that died shortly into burn-in testing and then there were some that were DOA (dead on arrival).  So who was the lesser of all evils?  In my opinion and experience it’s Western Digital.  Some will disagree with me but keep in mind that I’m not saying they’re the best on the market.  It’s just my observation through experience in dealing with various brands.  Until I’m proven wrong or it’s pointed out why I should choose otherwise, they will most likely continue to make my hard earned $$$.  You know the old adage, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

Video Card (XFX 9400 GT 1GB PCI-E):  I don’t anticipate playing many games or running CAD apps so the decision was pretty obvious that a higher-end video card was not necessary.  The feature set on this card is nothing out of the ordinary with 1GB of video memory, dual monitor outputs (VGA and DVI) and an additional s-video port.  The main selling points were price and the passive heat sink that spanned the entire length and width of the card.   Most negative comments I read about video cards were usually cooling fan related and that they were simply too loud and noisy.  My only beef so far is not with the card itself but with XFX’s support website.  You have to register an account and log in before you can download anything which no other site requires and is an absolute waste of time.  They call it personalized support.  I call it retarded and a valueless, self-satisfying marketing driven decision.

And last but definitely not least…

CPU (Intel Core-2-Quad 2.66Ghz Q9400):  I don’t know why most places sell this processor for either the same price or cheaper than it’s little brother the Q9300 but whatever the reason, the marketing department at Intel did their job and was able to coax me into buying it.  I plan to run with bare metal hypervisors/virtualization software so the Intel VT (Virtualization Technology) was mandatory.  I have more than 4GB of RAM so a 64-bit architecture was another mandatory feature so operating systems can see and utilize all of the memory.  My only hesitation was whether to purchase a faster, comparably priced Core-2-Duo chip.  In hindsight, we will eventually be getting a camcorder so the extra cores should help greatly with video conversions, editing and so forth.

Stuff that stood out with this particular system build:

  • Even though the Asus documentation summed up all the bells and whistles in their entirety they failed to go into detail about the features that required setup beyond flipping options on/off in the BIOS.  Namely, setup of the Intel Matrix RAID Storage drivers!  No setup instructions or ”getting started/read before you start” literature was bundled with the motherboard.  Thankfully, I have access to another computer with an internet connection otherwise setup would have been a nightmare!  I had to Google “Intel Matrix” to find the steps to properly setup the drivers.  FYI…  You have to download and extract the drivers to a FLOPPY DISK first.  There are two versions: 32-bit or 64-bit.   Insert the floppy when you install Windows and hit F6 to load mass storage drivers.  Point to the floppy when prompted.  Continue installing Windows normally.  When the OS install is complete, download and install the Intel Matrix Storage Console while booted into the Windows GUI.  I wish they would have included these few high level steps as it would have saved me tons of time and headaches.  Thank goodness I like trial and error testing or else it would have been a crusty day.  Hopefully the steps outlined here will benefit at least one person and it would have made it all worth my effort to post it.
  • This is not unique to this particular system build but a spare hard drive with more than enough free space to backup your files will make any upgrade experience more pleasant and go much smoother.  There’s nothing worse than having to worry about overwriting or accidentally deleting your precious files!
  • Picking up a good case was more rewarding than I imagined and it is already paying itself off.  The extra working space saved me from cut up and bruised knuckles and even though the cooling fans are massive you can barely tell they’re running.

Cheers,

Arbs

Posted in Tech Talk | 4 Comments »

Another weekend bites the dust!

May 20th, 2009

Can’t believe another long weekend has come and gone.  Where did the time go!?  With the May-24 weekend behind us that means we’re coming down the home stretch to the much anticipated BBQ season (some may recognize it as summer or something to that effect).  What do you have planned for the BBQ season of 2009 (aka summer)?

Like every other summer, I want to make the most out of what this stretch has to offer.  BBQ-ing, fishing, tennis, biking, golfing, badminton, cottaging, snowboarding, etc.  Yes, you seen that right… snowboarding!  Not the physical riding part but the mental planning and preparation part for the 2009/2010 season.  I can only get out once per boarding season so you can bet all your marbles that I’m gonna pull out all the stops and make it the best time possible.

After our last trips to asia, I’ve grown into a fan of all the chinese street festivals in and around the GTA.  I took them for granted before our first trip to asia but my respect for them has grown substantially after two incredible trips to the far east.  If you’ve been to asia and were daring enough to try the street food then you’ll know exactly what I mean.  There’s always something magical when I take bites of skewered street meat or trays of smelly tofu at these festivals.  The smells of the pungent spices, fermentation processes and the texture of the marinated meat unlocks the wonderful memories and brings back the celebration of all things “food” in markets, alleys and narrow streets throughout asia where we found good eats when it never even seemed possible.   From the Shilin Martket in Taipei, to the Nishiki Market in Kyoto, to my new buddy “Shiu-Bee” who sells the best damn skewers I ever had the pleasure of eating in a back alley where our Super-8 motel was in Beijing, I get to relive the dream that was once a surreal affair and unbelievable reality.  Irreplaceable and untouchable even if only reminiscing for a minute.  Can you tell that I’m looking forward to the food…  errr, uhhh, I mean…  festivals!?

I don’t think this is necessarily a summer related thing but the vacation bug is biting again!  Where’s there to go and what’s there to do!?  With the economy being as bad as it is, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to blow large wads of cash on a dream vacation even if the funds were readily available.  With that said, Tai Pan style bus tours appear to be quite attractive and are giving the other options a run for their (our) money.  How can you go wrong with a multi-day trip that includes transportation, accommodations and some attraction entrance fees for less than $300 smack-a-roos!  Yeah, I know they’re probably seen as the vacation of choice for old fogies but who’s to say this isn’t the start of a new trend!?   Alright I confess, it’s an excuse to hit the outlet malls!  I don’t think I’ve dropped any serious shopping cash in Canada for least half a decade.  Even with the current skewed exchanged rates it’s still cheaper to shop south of the border, never mind the deals that can be had overseas.  I don’t know how retailers in North America calculate their MSRP’s but with the price tags being substantially lower combined with lower taxes in the United States, shopping south of the border makes good money-saving sense.  Taking a bus guided tour just sounded better and even sexier didn’t it!  Hahaha…   ;P

Cheers,

Arbs

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Computer porn!

May 16th, 2009

Figures the title would have grabbed your attention!  Hahaha…  ;P

My current computer system has seen better days so I’m in the process of building a new computer that will succeed my trusty old pal that has served me well for half a decade.  Upgrading my computer is always a project that I look forward to and I turn into a kid in a candy store.  I assume I can’t be the only one so I thought I’d share my experience. 

The component run down…

Motherboard (Asus P5Q-E):  I don’t have a favourite motherboard manufacturer but if I absolutely had to choose one, it would probably be Asus.  I appreciate how complete their documentation and list of drivers are on their website.  Through all the brands that I researched, Asus always came out on top for me in respect to having the most ideal feature-set that matched my demands.  I wanted an onboard RAID controller, dual-gigabit NIC’s, onboard e-sata and plenty of USB hook-ups which this M/B has.  My only complaint so far is that it only supports up to DDR2-1200 memory.  I’m not a gamer so this is not a huge deal.

Memory/RAM (OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2-1066):  I read alot of good performance and compatibility reviews about OCZ so I decided to give them a shot.  This particular model was apparently built with overclockers in mind and has a cool looking heat dissipating system called “heat pipe conduit”.  Hopefully it works as well as it is stylish.  I can’t really tell you much right now as the system is still in the process of being built.

Case (Cooler Master Storm Sniper):  I’ve always been a space-saving, mid-tower kind of guy but I decided to go big this time.  This case is a whopping 21.7 inches in height!  I love the ample space to work and get around stuff and there’s definitely no shortage of expansion bays (five 5.25″ and five 3.5″ bays).  I don’t think I’ll be going back to standard towers ever again!  I’m planning to run multiple hard drives in RAID-5 (and then some) so I figured cooling should be a primary concern.  The case comes loaded with one 140mm and two 200mm fans.   One of the 200mm fans provides direct airflow across the five internal 3.5 inch bays which I really like.  I know a good portion of cases have this setup/configuration but not many have a speed adjustable 200mm fan!   As you can see from the picture above, the fan is huge!  The adjustable speed control for the fans and the blue neon lighting are just icing on an already very sweet cake. 

Power suppy (OCZ ModXStream-Pro):  For better airflow and a cleaner and slicker looking install I decided to get a modular power supply.  I hate the birds nest of unused connectors on standard power supplies so going modular was a no-brainer.

CPU cooler (ZeroTherm BTF90):  All the reviews I found on this cooler have been great.  I like the solid square copper plate that sits directly on top of the CPU.  Some other brands have thin pipes with gaps between the contact points and it just doesn’t make as much sense to me as having a single unibody piece to transfer the heat away from the smokin’ CPU.  The butterfly shape is different and kinda cool too.

That’s all I’ve got for now.  I’m still waiting for the other parts to drop in price.  I’ll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Arbs

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