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	Why build your own computer?
	Posted on Saturday, May 22 2004: Dan's Mood: weird I've often been asked by a variety of people, why on earth would you want to build your own computer? When I don't have the time or the will to get into a potentially long and drawn out discussion with someone, my standard answer is: 'I'm a computer geek'. Usually, people won't press much further than that. But the real reason boils down to a common business catch phrase... better, faster, cheaper. Why better? Well, this is simple, if you know what you're looking for you can get good quality parts. Unfortunately this isn't the case with your average off the shelf computer. Business have one main goal, to make money, so if they can cut a corner by putting in a less than stellar video card or sound card, you can bet that they will. In addition to that, by choosing your parts carefully you can further fine tune your system for either maximum compatibility, or just plain old rip roarin speed. Which brings me to faster. When I use faster, I'm not nessicarily using it in the traditional business sense. I'm speaking more about the computer's speed, not time spent getting the products. If you're smart, you're probably buying your computer equipment online from say newegg or some other online store. Why? Simply because it's cheaper than going to the store, and usually they have a wider selection than your average mega-mart computer store. However, getting the product is a bit slower, thus the trade-off. At any rate, once you've selected your components, 9 times out of 10, your computer is going to be light years faster than a comprable off the shelf system. Cheaper. It's very simple, by building it yourself, you cut out the middle man. You don't have to pay for some guy in a factory to build your computer for you, nor do you have to pay for the marketing expenses or some company executive to run the company into the ground and then get a multi-million dollar severance package. For instance... I built my tower for about $800... to get a system that could keep up with it off the shelf at that time, you'd be looking at about $2000. There are other benefits to building your own computer, if you do it right. The biggest is that you've learned something new, and you'll likely be a bit more careful with it (not picking up viruses etc...). Anyhow, if you're planning on buying a computer in the near future, do yourself a favor and consider building one instead.

	Testing
	Posted on Thursday, May 20 2004: Dan's Mood: Just thought I'd give this a test run and see if it's going to work the way it is. This will be my new blog... horray beer! http://anti-aol.org/dan/pics/sucktoblow.jpg