new computer

After various parts blowing up, difficulties getting replacements, and even difficulty finding out which parts had failed: I have finally finished building my new computer. It's both the quietest and fastest computer I've ever used, and should be even better when I've finished downloading the more suitable 64-bit operating system for which the cpu was intended.
I also have welcome news for all the people who have been complaining that I'm never online: my landlady and I are getting the internet put on next week.

Oh, just in case any hardware geeks are reading this and want to know what kind of machine I've built: here are the basic specs:
CPU: AMD phenom quad core (forgot the clock speed, but it's fast)
Motherboard: ASI
Hard Disk: Greentech 500GB SATA
Ram: 1GB so far, might add more later.
Video card: NVidia compatible pciE.
Network: onboard ethernet or pci wifi
Sound: C-Media pci card (the onboard sound is probably fine, but my old computer had no onboard sound, and since I had to dismantle that anyway...).

Sorry I forgot to take a picture before I went to university.

And finally

Well anyone paying attention to this blog will have already seen most of the pictures taken with my camera. So for a change here are three taken with my phone. That phone camera doesn't take great photos, especially without full sunlight. But the GNU image manipulation program can turn bad photos into better ones.
She thought I'd given up trying to photograph her.

Here she knows she's being photographed.

Here she's the one holding my phone.

Shenzhen - last pictures and backfill

The first picture taken on my new camera: it's the Tasman sea as seen from really high in the air.

Wide shot of the golden business centre.

Closer shot of the golden business centre.

My girlfriend and I at her apartment.

A patriotic dragon waiting to be installed in the new Dongmen metro station.

The beach. I took some underwater photos here too, but they aren't interesting because they're just green.

Looking north from where I was swimming.

Buildings and hills, seen from our friend's apartment.

Near the entrance of Shenzhen people's park.

Cycads in Shenzhen people's park

Shenzhen people's park contains the national rose garden. Here's a bee visiting.

A bird is in the middle of this picture (click to enlarge)

You can't see any roses in this picture, but you can see information about the nearby national rose garden.

Musicians practicing in the Shenzhen people's park.

Chess in the Shenzhen people's park

The one butterfly that stopped long enough for me to photograph it. There was another type the same size that I failed to photograph many times.

When mountain dew is not mountain dew.

I went to this garden twice, which is why this series of photos might seem interrupted.
Looking for bees.

A ladybird.

Finding a bee.

Me in the national rose garden.

Me outside the national rose garden

Some interesting plants in the Shenzhen people's park.

An effective campaign to reduce litter in the city (the English and Chinese writing mean the same).

A boy feeding a cute puppy just outside the Shenzhen people's park.

Shenzhen (Part 2)

The construction site for the new Dongmen metro station.

The view from my girlfriend's bedroom at night.

I find the name of this shop and the mascot very humorous. I don't actually know what they sell.

Interesting architecture in Luohu district.



Some guys playing chess on the footpath. I presume from the gathered crowd that it was an exciting game.

A semicircular footbridge.

A lion.

A spelling mistake...

A dragon in front of a hotel.

A construction site for another metro station in Luohu district.

Another lion.

One of many busses in the Shenzhen bus service.

Li Dazhou in the Shenzhen hospital carpark.

An amusement park where I didn't go.

Looking down from a friend's apartment on the 27th floor.

A busker taking a break.

I've been informed that this is not a bell, but I forgot the correct word.

This guy sharpens knives for a living. I like his demeanor.

First photos from Shenzhen

My girlfriend and I on the fun ride where I bruised my knees.

I'm not entirely sure what this is, but it's very stylish.

It's a little known fact that in Shenzhen the streets are actually paved with gold.

Turtles, newts, and ant poison on sale on a bridge.

Golden business centre hotel.

This street has a gate. I can't read it.

A seafood shop.

Raw food. Frog tastes like chicken: I had some last night.