Hey all!

I'm back! After an overly, crazy long hiatus, due in part to computer failure, a HECTIC first semester (which is finally done!), and some minor (but draining) surgery...I'm glad to have the time to blog again.

I'm going to make this one a relatively quick blog, just so I'm sure that I actually finish and post it, but I'll be sure to check back in soon with a longer entry. If this entry seems a little disjointed, I blame my multi-variable calculus final. That stuff hurts the brain my friends.

Knowing I'll be pretty much WAY late on all of this, I'll give a quick breakdown on what I'm playing/watching/listening to/ lusting after, to give some idea of what I've been up to... (If you don't care too much, please at least do me the favor of skipping to the question at the end. Thanks!)

Gaming: Still running my old clunker PC (but see below!), so I haven't gotten to most of the hot new titles, but the Orange Box is still providing me with oodles of entertainment. And whoever thought of putting Peggle on the iPod owes me hours of my life. (I think I'm sufficiently late on both of these I don't need to go into too much detail).

Movies: If you haven't seen Juno yet, you really owe it to yourself to go see it. One of the funniest movies I'm seen in a while, it not only has great performances from Michael Cera and Ellen Page, but Allison Janney (C.J. from the West Wing) and J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson from Spiderman) are absolutely HILARIOUS as the parents. As an added bonus, the soundtrack rocks.

Music: I've gone back to listening to a lot of The National (especially Alligator and Boxer). Those guys are definitely worth checking out for some good indie flavored urban alienation rock (yea, that sounds weird, but trust me, it's good). And, as I mentioned, I'm really digging that Juno soundtrack, as well as, strangely enough, Huey Lewis and the News' Sports album.

Lusts: The clunker rig of mine is destined for the graveyard in my basement, and I'm going to be buying myself a new laptop for use at college. I have about a $3,000 budget, and I'm looking at getting either the new Alienware m15x or the m17x whenever that comes out (and if costs are not uber prohibitive). As someone entirely new to shopping for laptops (I've always had desktops), I was wondering if any of the enlightened Gamespot readers (or at least all 2 that are still reading...) have any suggestions before I make my final choice?

Thanks to those who read this far, and I look forward to posting again soon!

Back at last,

Good Juju