Don't Back Down

For the first time in quite a while (we're quite likely talking a measurement of years here, rather than months), I decided that I wanted to build a new system. Inspired by two things - posts such as Building and Overclocking a Core 2 Duo System and the utterly abysmal performance of an off-the-shelf HP desktop that I purchased a few weeks ago - I figured it was time.

Up until perhaps three months back, I had been using laptops for the last three years (give or take). This is because I was on the road quite a bit. But since I don't really travel all that much any more, I figured it didn't really make much sense to worry about a laptop at this point. Sure, I have a laptop if I need one. But I want to make the leap to two identical monitors. I've been using dual screens for some time, and using two that are the same, rather than a laptop screen and an external monitor seems like a good choice.

So I looked about, and found what appeared to be a reasonable compromise - the HP. It came with a video card that had dual DVI outputs, allowing me to power the monitors of choice (more on those another time). Unfortunately, that's about all it did, and I rapidly determined that my measly single-core laptop seemed to have better performance, so I needed to do something about it. Here's what I did.

Read "How I Overclock My Intel Core 2 Duo E6300" »

Whenever my parents come to town, my father invariably wants steak. This has become something of a problem recently, as the Hereford Barn has closed down, and even several of the chain restaurants (Lone Star, Longhorn) have started closing too. So I started looking about to find somewhere new to try.

I finally settled on the Ranch House after reading some favorable reviews on the Internet. I'm always a little leery about somewhere that I've never even seen, but I figured if we didn't like it, we could always turn around and go somewhere else.

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My first exposure to Upstream was a few years ago at one of those "taste of" events, when all sorts of places from around town bring samples of their wares, and for a few bucks you can buy a little plate with something on it. We had teriyaki salmon, and it was just awesome. Ever since, we've been meaning to go by and try their real food.

So we went. I'd have to agree with a lot of others in that the atmosphere is just a little to stuffy for my own personal taste. It's a nice place, and you really don't have to dress up - we went in jeans - but it's just so "pretty". The staff is nice, they are relatively attentive and all, but it just seems so wrong. I'd much rather go somewhere that's a little grizzled.

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