What I've been up to... (rambles and catching up)

Hello Fellow Steemers!

I'm not much for blogging these days. I don't know. Maybe I'm just worn out on all of this? I know I still have other interests as well, and I've been trying to make up for the last 5 or so years of not being able to be myself.

My ex-girlfriend's mother once told me that in order to be with her daughter, I had to give up video games (I'm a PC gamer). I have been gaming since I was very young; 8 or 9 and I beat the pants off my now brother-in-law in Pac-Man. lol!

That's not the only thing I was asked to give up. Basically, I was expected to also destroy myself with cheap food while she ate organic and other premium foods. No, just no... I'm ashamed to say I tried... Coming back from Ohio poor didn't help as I had to continue to eat poorly until I gained employment. As a result, I'm now battling higher blood pressure and I'm probably on the verge of becoming diabetic. This is no way to live, so I'm doing something about it.

I'm finally at a point, albeit temporarily for now, at a decent place in my life that I can eat well. I'm cutting out wheat products and cheap junk food out, and going more for the real food again. I'll probably be cutting out most carbs for a while and hit a more Atkins approach to eating. I already feel about 50% better. My back isn't killing me as much as it has been, but I've still got a long way to go over that. My over all pain factor is much better.

I mentioned I was working. I'm contracting with a local hospital to help their IT department and do some tasks that they didn't have the manpower to do. It's familiar and comfortable, and I could get used it, but it's just a contract. It's up in a couple of months and I'll be looking for a job again. Who knows? If I can get back into blogging again, maybe I'll go full-time at it? ;)

Most of all, I've been gaming. This last weekend I finally finished upgrading my computer to the point where I can play most of my games smoothly. More importantly though, it runs. Among the things I forgot in Ohio was the power cable to the TV I was using as my monitor, the fan I was using to keep my video card cool, my gaming mouse, and wireless adapter. I got a replacement 24" monitor off Craigslist and purchased a new Radeon RX 560 from Best Buy over xmas.

Nothing goes right for me the first time! Come to find out my Windows 8.1 doesn't support my video card, and visa-versa. So not I have to upgrade to Windows 10, which I did. What good is all that metal if I'm stuck with crappy hard drives that were starting to age? So I ended up with a 240GB PNY SSD and a 4TB Toshiba performance hard drive. Windows boots in about 8 seconds.

The old Athlon x3 2.9GHz was really starting to show its age. I got on eBay for a cheap and easy upgrade. I decided upon a Phenom II x4 3.0GHz with an after market Cooler Master heatsink and fan. It was easy enough to pop the old one out, put the new one in. Oh the overclocking that has happened! It's now at 3.6GHz stable and fast enough to play Star Wars: Battlefront II and every other game I have smoothly! Success!

So here are my system specs to list them all out:

Windows 10 Pro
MSI 870A-G54 Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 3.0GHz, OC to 3.6GHz
Cooler Master T4
AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB
8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
PNY 240GB SSD
Toshiba 4TB x300 performance HDD
750 Watt PSU

Oh wow... I guess I've wasted plenty of your time! Just had to jabber I guess! lol! Take care and maybe I'll yap at y'all again soon! Until then stay safe!

--NoRez