Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve, I went to the Eiffel Tower with my dad. Taking the subway there was pretty packed, but not nearly as packed as any bus ride in Belarus. We picked a spot by the river and waited for about a half hour until midnight. I got some cool photos of the Eiffel Tower. I'll never forget the words of my tour guide when first seeing the Eiffel Tower in 2001. "During the day, it's just a stack of wrought iron metal, but at night, it's magic!" Ha ha. Anyways, I was looking forward to the countdown cuz the French word for "one" is a real nasal sounding "oh" and I wanted to hear a half million people say "oh!" at once. No luck though cuz I guess the French don't count down. The lights on the Eiffel Tower just started flickering and everyone started cheering and setting off their fireworks. Then after about 20 minutes, all the lights in the Eiffel Tower just turned off which was something I've never seen. I'm not sure if that's just so the crowd will disperse or if they just blew a fuse or something. Anyways, the crowd still had a lot of party left in them so we took the opportunity to catch the subway back before the rest of the people decided to go home. It was a good idea since we got home rather quick. Anyways, it was a great night to end my stay in Paris. I leave tomorrow morning to go back home. I've been gone so long I feel like I've been gone for months. I think it will feel all too soon by the time I get back though. Happy New Year!

I took alot of pictures in Honfleur. The interesting thing about Honfleur is that it's one of the towns that wasn't bombed in WWII so it has some really old buildings. This one building was from 1600 and it really looked it too. I took alot of pictures of the streets and alleys cuz you just don't see anything like it in the U.S. I bet people thought I was really weird doing that. It's probably such an ordinary thing for the people there, but to us that alley is like twice the age of our country.

Then on the way home we stopped at this big supermarket. They are kinda rare cuz they carry everything kind of like a Costco but nothing is in bulk and it's the size of a regular supermarket in the U.S. This kind of thing is rare in Europe especially France. Anyways, it was really funny cuz the store had like an emcee or something. He had this really glittery jacket and a microphone and I guess he was just imforming everyone of sales and stuff. I wanted to take a picture of him, but I didn't cuz the store was really crowded and I didn't want to draw attention to myself. It was so strange though like it was a supermarket game show or something.

Today I went to Notre Dame and did what I tried to do the last two times I was here which was go up in the bell tower. It's always been closed. This time of year is way crowded in Paris. It may be even more than in the summer. Anyways, the line took about 2 hours cuz they let only small group of people up at a time. Under 18 was free so my brother got in for free, but somehow there was some miscommunication and I got in free too even though I was showing the guy money and tried to pay. He just waved me on. I don't know, but thanks! So I saved 6 Euros there. It's an endless spiral of steps. It was kinda weird since it really isn't that high. I was feeling the burn. Anyways, I got some cool pictures of the city and it was also another neat perspective of the cathedral that I hadn't seen before. It was also cool to see the bell. I didn't see Quasimoto anywhere so I had to take his place in some photos. Tomorrow I'm going to a small coastal town called Honfleur.

Today I went to the Montparnasse district. I think it's a district, I'm not sure what else to call it. It's called Montparnasse. Anyways, that's a very non-touristy part of Paris. That's where the Montparnasse Tower is located which is the 2nd tallest tower in Europe. I didn't take a picture of it though cuz it was only 56 stories and it looked pretty ordinary. The French hate it. It's kind of ugly I guess. I hear it will be getting a face lift. Anyways, I went to two museums today. I went to the Rodin (pronounced Roh-dan) museum. He was a sculptor from the late 19th and early 20th century. He's probably best known for his sculptures, The Thinker and The Gates of Hell. He was going to make The Gates of Heaven as well, but he died before he could do it. I wonder why he did the Hell gates first. Anyways, don't open those gates! I probably never would have heard of The Thinker except for the countless times I saw it in Looney Toons cartoons which was my main interest for seeing it in person. Sorry to disappoint you all. I'm not that big an art lover. The second museum was the Bourdelle (sp?) museum who was a student of Rodin. I actually went to that museum first. This one is definitely off the beaten path, but he has some pretty cool sculptures. Some are really huge. An interesting similarity between both artists was they would make smaller sculptures of what they desired to make and then they made them progressively bigger until they made one that was the size they wanted so the museums had a couple of some of the sculptures but just different sizes. There were a few Thinkers at the Rodin museum. Anyways, if you want to check out what Paris life is really like without tourists, go to Montparnasse, but don't expect to get any help in English. They have some more reasonably priced restaurants there. I had a pretty good lunch for 10 Euros. The Bourdelle museum is in Montparnasse. Rodin is not exactly in Montparnasse but is in walking distance from it. It's next to the Invalides where Napoleon is entombed.

I went to the Louvre today. This was my 4th time to the Louvre and I still haven't seen everything. This time I looked at ancient Persian, Babylonian, and Mesopotamian stuff. I saw a pillar from Darius' temple. That's right, THE King Darius from the book of Daniel. That was pretty cool. The Louvre only had one, but there were about 70 of these in the temple. It was really impressive. I don't know if any others survived since the Louvre only had one, but maybe there are others in other museums. I don't know. Then I also saw these enormous carvings from ancient Persia. They basically just have big pieces of the wall from the temple and set them up against the wall in the Louvre. I'm kinda curious as to how the French got these things and what is left of where they found it.

I also saw the Code of Hammurabi which is the first written law discovered. Too bad the plaque was in French so I couldn't really read what the translation was of the laws. The huge tablet was written in cuneiform which looks really complex. I also saw some other tablets that were written in cuneiform that were really detailed for being chiseled in stone. Anyways, it all looked really complex. Who says early man was primitive?

I also saw an old part of the Louvre that had rooms decorated back to Napoleon III. It was exquisite and ornate fo sho! Anyways, I'll post pictures when I get back.

Adventures in Italy

There was no easily accessible internet access in Bardonecchia unfortunately so now I have to dump all my stories down at once. It was a really good time. Anyways, I finally remembered the name of where I was going for snowboarding. If Bardonecchia doesn't sound familiar now, it will be in 2006 as it will be the site of the snowboarding events for the 2006 Winter Olympics. The main portion of the games will be in Torino which is about 90km away. Anyways, the first adventure was our trip by train there.

Most of the trip was pretty smooth. It was one of those cool bullet trains (we totally need these in the U.S.) so the trip only took about 4 hours. Anyways, we got to our stop, but for some strange reason the conductor wouldn't let us off. Traveling on trains in Europe, you got to be ready to jump off cuz you only have about a minute or so. Anyways, lame conductor doesn't realize we want to get off so we can't get off cuz he's in the way then the train starts moving again. So now we're going onward into the unknown, next stop Torino. By now, lame conductor has figured out he goofed, but oh well, you're in Italy so it's your problem kinda deal. Thanks alot. So we're assured that there are many trains that can take us back. Meanwhile while we're waiting by the door to get off at the next stop (we're getting off no matter what this time), my mom faints. That only added to the complexity. So we get off at Torino, find out that the train station is closed, there are no more trains back to Bardonecchia, and the only people around are people who are spending the night. So the only option is taxi to get back except there are no taxis and no guarantee that we'll find a taxi that will want to drive us 90km. The train station wasn't in the best part of town either. Anyways, we saw a hotel nearby and went there to see if they could get a cab for us. The lady at the hotel was very nice and got us there own driver which was a pretty nice man and he drove a really nice Mercedes. Needless to say, the ride to our hotel was comfortable, but very expensive (250 Euros!), but we got there and I was thankful for that.

Snowboarding in the Alps was pretty fun but only because snowboarding is really fun. I have to say it sounds alot more exotic than it really is. I still think Mammoth is the best place I've ever gone. It wasn't their best season and alot of the runs were closed. But the views were pretty good and I got alot of good pictures. The Alps make awesome scenery for snowboarding. You would think for a place that is going to host all the snowboarding competitions for the Winter Olympics would have snowboard friendly perks like chair lifts and benches. Well, Bardonecchia is definitely not ready in that respect. All the lifts to the top of the mountain are those button lifts that are basically those spring loaded little things you grab and sit on while you get pulled up the mountain. It's not bad if you're on skis, but on a snowboard you're turned sideways so instead of your weight resting on the seat, it's constantly pulling against your inner thigh. Not comfortable! Also not so easy to balance either and the incline was like 60 degrees angles in some parts! So the first couple days on this thing were a bit rough. The drag method works well though I find. This is where you lose your balance and instead of letting go, you just spin onto your back and get dragged up the mountain the rest of the way. I was pretty proud of this until I found out my brother, Micah, had fallen early on and got dragged up the mountain for nearly 15 minutes. I can't believe he hung on that long, ha ha.

Anyways, I forgot to mention that the reason we were on this trip was this was an annual ski trip with my parents church. So I spent alot of time snowboarding with the head pastor because he was a snowboarder as well and we were about at the same level. Anyways, one time we saw a ski school going down one of the closed slopes and so the head pastor, Brian, is like, "hey, how come they can go on those and not us, forget that, we're going!". So we get to the top and I get my binding on while one of the guys that work there is yelling at us for going down a closed slope. We just kinda shrug our shoulders and say, "do you speak English??" Heh heh. It finally came in handy not speaking the language. Then as we go down, I think to myself, I'm following the head pastor of my parent's church down a closed run, ha ha. That's the Italian way though. Rules are just guidelines so for the rest of the week we just determined that "closed" meant "optional". Those runs were really good too. I have no idea why they were closed, but it didn't stop us. Suck on that Italians! So we mainly did closed runs after that cuz they were better and less crowded, too. Funny thing was later on that day, Brian lost his pass. (The passes have our name and picture on them.) By the time we got to the hotel, the owner had his pass waiting for him saying someone had dropped it off saying that "they were very familiar with the people from our group". How creepy, so we think there was some sort of ski mafia or something and we definitely stood out since we didn't seem to follow any of the rules. The other rule we broke often was buckling our bindings on the lift. There were no benches to sit on at the top and Brian showed me it was way simpler to just be buckled in and come off and then just go right down the slope. So we got yelled at for that too, ha ha. It seems that when skiing in Italy, you get yelled at for something once, after that, it's your own fault if you get hurt. I also noticed a lack of "SLOW" signs where runs converged. Safety is definitely not priority in Italy. Ski at your own risk! Ha ha. Anyways, so I guess we were known as the Americans on the slopes that didn't follow any rules.

So my last story occurred yesterday. As I was getting out of one of my bindings so I could get on the lift, I see this flash as all of a sudden my legs are knocked out from under me and I get knocked on my back. I sit up and there is this little tiny girl in my lap who says, "sorry". Then we get up and one of her skis are missing. I have this though that maybe the missing ski is impaled into my back and I just haven't realized it yet because of the shock, but I guess she hit my brother first cuz the ski was with him. Man, she must have been hauling to hit my brother first and then knock me over. She couldn't have weighed more than 50 pounds.

Anyways, so that's a compressed version of the events that week. So snowboarding in the Alps was cool, but it's not like it's better than any place in the U.S. It sounds exotic, but the experience is really the same. I can't believe my body held out for 6 days of snowboarding. My legs aren't sore at all, but from the waste up I'm pretty sore. I definitely got better this week. I can't wait to try out my skills on the California slopes again.

Yesterday, I didn't do very much. I just went shopping with my mom. Going to a mall in Paris is a lot like going to a mall in Beverly Hills. There's just a bunch of French clothing stores everywhere you look.

Today, we leave for Italy for some snowboarding in the Alps. We're taking a train which will take us to our destination in about 4 hours. I forget the name of the city, but it starts with a B and it's in the north part of Italy. So for the next week, it won't matter a bit that I don't speak French, ha ha.

Bon jour! Just arrived in Paris this afternoon. What did I do today? Just tried to stay awake. I think I slept maybe 2 hours on the plane. When we came in for a landing we were about 200 feet from the ground and then all of a sudden, we just shoot back up into the air to about 4000 feet. Then the pilot came on and said everything is fine and that we were just being rerouted. If we were that close to the runway and got "rerouted", I think it's more than likely that something was on the runway and that's when the tower realized it. Reroute probably really meant "whoops, pull up, pull up!". Anyways, I got here safe.

I totally have the hardest time with jet lag. It usually takes me about a week to get used to it. The best way to get over it is to tough it out. So I made it until about 4pm until I just passed out on the couch for about 4 hours. You're probably wondering why I just didn't go somewhere. Well, I'd pass out no matter what. Last year, I fought my jet lag in London. I fell asleep on the bus once and another time on the subway. Anyways, tomorrow I'm doing stuff. Au revoir!

The Skit DVD FAQ

Wow, so I didn't think I would get such a big response on the "frequently asked questions". Anyways, I was thinking that I would save the answers for the DVD, but then I was thinking I'd give my blog readers an extra something by answering them now. Besides I don't know if I'll be able to use them all. It depends how much space I have so I didn't want to diss anyone. So here are the responses:

1. Is it cool? Or is it awesome? If yes, is it very yes?
A: It is definitely awesome. It's not very yes, but very plethora which is better in my opinion.

2. If Goofy and Pluto are both dogs, why is it that Goofy can walk on his hind legs and he can talk, and Pluto can't? Why is it that Mickey OWNS Pluto as a pet, but he doens't own Goofy? How is this fair to Pluto?
A: I would have to say this is the same reason why those American movies that take place in a foreign country yet all the actors possess different accents and none of those accents are from the country they are supposed to be in. Mickey owns Pluto probably because he's an indentured servant or something. That makes it fair, right? Perhaps Pluto walks on all fours out of humility?

3. Why do we have armpit hair?
A: Hair is a mysterious phenomenon. Why is it the hair on my head will grow indefinitely, but the hair on my legs only grows a certain length and then knows when to stop?

4. Who has been the best villain of all the skits?
A: Invisible Mute Man by far. On stage, he is obviously nothing cuz how can any actor play him? You can't see him and you can't hear him, yet he is so notorious. He stole the Internet and then he stole Christmas twice and then he stole love once, too. Clearly the most crafty and elusive villain of all the skits.

5. What is your favorite skit of all time?
A: Ha ha, funny thing when I ask people this question, they always tell me it was the one we did previously probably because they can't remember any of the other ones. I guess I'm no exception here either. My favorite one ever is the last one I did for GOC, Nerds in Love 2: Dance Trance Revolution which is on the DVD. A close second would be the roommate skit I did with Rojas, Hieu, and Antoine where at the end we wore Zorro masks and danced to Milli Vanilli in unison (that one didn't make the DVD unfortunately).

6. Where do you get your inspiration from?
A: I'm not really sure, but I think it has alot to do with watching alot of television and not taking myself very seriously. Usually, I come up with ideas from stuff that has really happened to me and then I just exaggerate it a whole lot. Like the Pirate Roommate skit came up when I was stressing over finding another roommate in college. Or like any nerd skit where I pretty much get the dialogue from listening to ridiculous conversations at work and then I just try to imagine what an outsider would think of this conversation and then I make it more ridiculous. I've always had a big imagination...maybe too big, ha ha.

7. What do you think God thinks of your skits?
A: Dude, I think about this all the time. I would hope He thinks they are funny. I imagine God has a great sense of humor. Laughter sure isn't sin and we sure didn't make it up on our own so I'm sure God loves to laugh. Although I don't have any clear Scripture references to back me up, but just look at most of the animals in Australia. Anyways, I ended skit team once because I felt it wasn't the best use of my time for ministry. I then started on it again when I was told I didn't have to do them every week. I think they were a ministry asset to the Bible study because it made the night more fun, but I don't think there is really a place for skits on a Sunday morning. The Foundry wanted me to do skits and videos, but I felt it wasn't the best use of my time since I wanted to learn other areas of ministry. You never read about anyone in the Bible who ministered through skits or entertainment. I think it's primarily an American cultural influence so I put skits in the same category as any cultural aspect of the church.

8. What is the best prop you've ever worked with and why?
A: Oh definitely the fake hand. You'll see it alot in the DVD. It's my favorite cuz it was such a good prank toy. I would bring it to Bible study a few times and try to shake people's hands with it. It totally freaked them out. I'd also work it so someone would slam the hand in the door or something or I'd bend the fingers backwards when some was trying to talk to me. I would just listen to them intently and then just start bending each finger back one by one to see if they would notice. Oh man! Good times! The funny thing was it was a left hand and about half the size of my real hand so some people caught it when I tried to shake hands. Anyways, I don't do it anymore. It's still tempting, but I figure I better leave it behind if people are ever going to consider me an adult.

9. Which skit makes you wish real life were actually like the one portrayed in the skit?
A: Probably the Pirate Roommate skit. Can you imagine how interesting life would be if you had a pirate roommate? Ha ha, ok but seriously, I think most of the skits are pretty much dreamlike or nightmarish versions of real life. Probably the Time Travel skit. I always wanted a time machine.

10. Ever thought of making a movie version of any of the skits, like an Asian Brady Bunch Reunion Movie? Ever thought of making a promo trailer to appease the restless masses? Ever thought about who you would like to play you if they ever made a skit about the Skitguru story?
A: I did attempt to make a Asian Brady Bunch sequel skit, but all the best material was used in the first one. It never got beyond a brainstorming session. I can't take too much credit for Asian Brady Bunch since Rojas wrote it, but I did write like three lines in there somewhere. I can't remember what they were though. I'm sure it's possible I'll do more videos. I have a computer good enough for editing now and Harrison has a good camera. It's amazing I had gotten anything on video considering I had neither of these in college. Actually, I always wanted to make Flash cartoons of some of the skits and then sell merchandise for them like Homestar Runner, but again no time and I'm not an artist and I can't take 100% credit for the skits. I got help from lots of people.

I thought about trailers all the time. I definitely wanted to make one for Signs of the Apocalypse since there was so much interest in the project. I didn't have enough time though and the project itself was daunting enough.

I guess if anyone made a movie about me, it would have to be an actor considerably younger than I am cuz it would take that long for me to be that interesting to make a movie about, ha ha.

Still Waiting for the Skit DVD?

I'm still working on it. Actually, I'm still waiting too. I'm trying to get that last skit I did. I think it's worth the wait to have it on there plus it's probably the last skit I'll ever do. Anyways, that mixed with too many trips to North Dakota has left little time for the Skit DVD. Be assured, it will come. I also still need to get the labels done for the discs as well as the box art done. Ooooh, sounds so cool, huh? Well, the box will be much like the skits...low budget and silly. I'm also working on a FAQ for the Skit DVD. I think it would be really funny, but so far I've only made up questions that no one has asked. If you have a good (or better yet silly) question, let me know and I'll put it on the DVD. Actually, Harrison has done most of the work on the DVD. I just provided the content and some creative input. So instead of "I", I should be saying "Harrison". Harrison is threatening to just deliver now, but I'm holding him back. On this DVD, "never before seen footage" is going to mean something cool!

UCLA vs. USC

Doh!

Computer Buyer's Guide

Yesterday I bought a computer. For those of you who don't know, I'm pretty computer savvy, but not nearly as savvy as I was in high school. People always ask me what kind of computer they should buy. For years I've always given advice to people that I've never followed myself. I always recommended a package deal WITH support at some major retail outlet like Dell or Best Buy or CompUSA while I have always gone to the small town shop somewhere far and custom built mine after researching every little individual part. Well, that's what I did for my last computer and over the last 5 or 6 years I've observed that computers have changed quite alot. I also realized that I probably paid too much for my last computer. Even though it had lasted me this long I probably paid double what it was worth because it was the newest technology at the time (most of which I never took advantage of). I've always been a sucker for the fastest best everything as if I could actually tell the difference. Well not this time. Last night I went to Best Buy after looking at the various computer models they had online.

I would have to say that the process took longer than it took to buy my car. Computers may be mainstream, but they are no easier for people to buy than 10-15 years ago. I was getting confused even with the knowledge I had. I had been out of the loop for a couple years. Evidently there is a new kind of video card out there called PCI Express that is twice as fast as the fastest AGP, but cuz it was PCI I kept thinking it was old technology until I read up on it a little bit. Once I figured out what hardware specs I wanted for my PC, I began to do the price comparisons. Some just didn't make sense at all. They are really pushing this Media Center thing for the PC, but if you have no plans to make your PC replace your entertainment center in the living room, there is no point for it, and from what I hear the software isn't that great yet. If you think you're going to do it down the road, it's more likely your computer will be too old for the streamlined features they will have developed by then. You'll need a new computer to do it anyway so my philosophy is "don't buy it unless you plan to use it right now". You can save about $600 by ignoring the top tier and looking at the computers right below it (which were the top tier about 6 months ago). Another thing to look for is what parts are upgradeable and which parts you're stuck with. Stuff like the hard drive and video adapter are easily changed so why not cut corners on the base system that includes cheaper versions of these. Their value in the system is next to nothing. Some systems come with a cool graphics card for quite a bit more, or you can save the money and buy the computer with the integrated graphics card and then pick out the graphics card you want separately which is what I did. Also buying a system that comes with a small hard drive could save you quite a bit and its still probably more storage then you will ever need unless you plan to work with lots of video. You can always add more hard drive space later, too. The last is memory which is kinda insignificant in my opinion. You will probably never need to upgrade your RAM because by the time that more RAM is going to come in handy, it will be time for a new computer anyways so don't bother with the upgraded RAM. I lucked out here on my system and I ended up getting alot of RAM anyway, but 512MB is good enough if you're wondering. I finally narrowed it down to two Gateway models. One was $800 and one was $950. Both had pretty much the same specs (3.0 GHz Pentium 4, 1GB PC3200 RAM, 800 MHz front side bus (whatever that is), and integrated video adapter, blah blah blah). It seemed like the only difference between the two was the hard drive. The cheaper one had a 160 GB hard drive and the costlier one had a 200 GB hard drive. I only get 40 GB more for $150! I can get another 160 GB for that much just buying a second hard drive separately if I wanted. So I took a close look at the specs of each one and I couldn't believe it, the ONLY difference was the hard drive! So I got the cheaper one, and then I bought a sweet video card (ATI Radeon X700) for $200 making a pretty awesome system for about $1000. It can play the most CPU intensive games and do video editing, pretty much anything you want. It also came with a DVD burner which I really didn't need, but it came standard.

But the store won't give it up without a fight, there are other things to consider (so they say). You're going to want software with that, right? Here is where buying from a retailer is better over building one yourself. The operating system comes with it which will save you $100-200 right off. Oh, but what about Microsoft Office? That's pretty expensive (about $350). Well, I think I used Word a handful of times on my last computer and I never used Excel, so I guess I don't really need it. Then they try to stick you with the fear factor. Do you have anti-virus software or Adware? No, and I don't want it. This is where being computer savvy has its privileges. If there is a software related problem, I'll be able to fix it. Plus you can do virus scans for free on the internet and if for some reason I can't, I can always go buy anti-virus software when I actually get a virus. And the best way to avoid the need for adware is not to download all those silly free applications from the internet. What about internet access? AOL is offering 3 free months with purchase of a computer. I have DSL, nuff said. That ends that discussion. Then they try to stick you with the 3 year warranty. If anything this only provides you with warm fuzzies and convenience. I usually recommend warranties for people who can't fix their own computer. Something isn't working, you take it back to the store and they figure it out while all the time and money you spent was the effort in getting to the store. But would a car mechanic take his car to another mechanic? Certainly not! The truth is about electronics is if they are going to go bad, they go bad in the first couple weeks. If they make it that long, they'll last for 10 years at least (much longer than you'll want your computer). So if you turn on your computer and smoke pours out the back (which happened to my last new computer), it's completely covered under the manufacturer's warranty which is usually 1 year. So they weren't going to get me on the warranty either (another $200 savings).

They tried one last trick. They saw that I was buying a video card for the system. They said if I installed it myself, I void my warranty. That is just so ridiculous even if it is true. If anything, you just void free Best Buy service on it for 90 days or something like that. The manufacturer's warranty is still good. Besides, what's to stop me from taking the card out of the computer and taking it back to the store? There was no sticker on the computer that said, "by breaking this seal you void your warranty" which means Gateway would honor their warranty even if Best Buy wouldn't. It's pretty silly to think I would not be allowed to open my own computer.

So if you're interested in a quality computer for a good price, I recommend the Gateway 503GR (the bigger hard drive one is the 505GR, but just buy a bigger hard drive separately for a better value). If you're really serious about buying though, I think the price is only good until December 4. I'm kinda disappointed that Best Buy pushes the sales so hard now. They used to advertise to come to their store so you won't get hassled. I know cuz I used to work there. It's kinda funny to think those sales people trying to bully me. Man, they don't know who they're dealing with, moo ha ha! So don't get bullied by those guys. They may have some knowledge, but their interests are not your own. It was kinda funny actually going up to the counter and saying what computer I wanted like I was ordering a hamburger at McDonald's. "I'll take this video card and a Gateway 503GR...to go please." The guy was kinda stunned like no one had ever just ordered a computer by name. I guess they are used to telling what computer the person should buy after a consultation. The guy was so stunned, he was stammering through his checklist of other stuff (mentioned earlier) that I had to buy before getting a computer. "No, I just want those two things, thanks."

So during this whole ordeal, I kept thinking about how this was so much more difficult than buying a car which was strange since a car costs so much more. Here are 8 reasons why buying a computer is harder than buying a car:

1. The car dealer has only a few models to choose from and even if they look the same, they can explain the differences quite easily and it makes sense.
2. Usually a more expensive car is clearly better for alot of reasons while 2 computers can be sitting right next to each other in the store very similar in every way yet one is $600 more than the other.
3. You don't need a consultation to buy a car while it seems every person who wants to buy a computer is expected to go through a consultation.
4. When you buy a car, you get free drinks.
5. When you buy a car, people see it as a nice car for many years. When you buy a computer, people see it as a nice computer for about 3 months.
6. Cars don't need anti-virus or adware software or a firewall (not yet anyway).
7. You don't have to worry about buying a really fast car so that it will still run at the speed limit a few years down the road.
8. No matter what decade you buy a car, they pretty much all work the same way, while with every new computer it seems you have to learn the latest version of Windows all over again.

How funny, 10 years ago, I would never have owned a Gateway computer. The times sure have changed.