The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Author: Hillary

Technology

My new netbook – Asus Eee PC 1215T: Initial impressions

I’ve been in the market for a new laptop for a little under a year, looking for a replacement for my growingly fragile Gateway laptop that I got in 2006. The Gateway served (and continues to serve) me well, but a fatal flaw in the design of the power jack and how it attaches (and tends to detach) from the motherboard, combined with a failing battery further drove my need for a replacement. Spec-wise, my Gateway is actually quite competitive with some of the higher-powered netbooks and subnotebooks on the market right now. It handles my occasional multitasking abuse very...

Conventions / Random

Surviving Convention Season: Part 4 – Conventioning on the Cheap

I’ve been seeking a good topic for a new part to this series for awhile (see parts one, two and three), and a discussion on Facebook finally yielded the idea I’ve been looking for. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before; I even touched on in briefly in part one: how to go to a convention when you really can’t afford to go to a convention.  The first option is actually quite obvious: go to free conventions.* Some free conventions, such as MomoCon (which is among the largest free conventions in North America), are fairly large and...

Personal / Random / Technology

Cutting the cable

My experience with cable, why I canceled and what I use now instead When I moved into my apartment in 2006, I signed up for high-speed internet and digital cable with Comcast. In Atlanta, the only other cost-effective alternative is DSL through AT&T bundled with satellite through (I believe) DirecTV, and it really wasn’t as good of a deal. Not to mention, because of the location of my apartment, mounting a satellite dish would have been a problem. So in short, Comcast was really my only option. Over the four years that I was a Comcast subscriber, the problems I...

. / Personal / Random

Why I will never donate my hair to Locks of Love (or anyone else)

As someone with very long hair, it’s a guarantee that at least a few times each year someone will say to me, “You have such pretty long hair! You should donate it to Locks of Love!” The juxtaposition of these two statements never fails to make me boggle a bit. You think my hair is pretty, so you think I should cut it? Ok, ok…I know that’s not what they mean, but how is that any different than me walking up to a person and telling them, “That’s a really pretty dress! You should donate it to Goodwill!” Either way,...

Conventions

Surviving Convention Season: Part 3 – Your Con Box

I had every intention of writing this before Dragon*Con, since all five of you who read this blog regularly go to Dragon*Con and probably could have used it. But alas, school. But convention season isn’t over (is it really ever over?), and even though I’m also a little late for those of you going to Anime Weekend Atlanta, I introduce to you: the con box. This handy little invention is not mine; I first came across it on ConSluts, which has a wonderful entry about them. I’m probably going to repeat some of the information in that article, but I’ve...