I haven't really got too much to say, but I'd better say something because a lot of you have signed up for email updates and are probably wondering what they look like! 

I've ordered all of the bits for Donna's computer. It will still look the same on the outside, but it will be completely new on the inside and lots faster. Prices have dropped heaps since Emma, Brad and I built my own computer so Donna will end up with a better computer than mine for a much lower price. I'll ask E&B to help out when it all arrives from Nintek in Western Australia and I promise to take some photo's and post a story about it.

I mentioned before that a mate of ours (TiM) is travelling all over the place with his girlfriend at the moment. I think he is in Egypt right now. I'm looking after his server in New Zealand whilst he is away because it is the same box that hosts Tasweb. I know you are dropping into Tasweb when you find an Internet Cafe TiM, so I thought I should say thanks for the excellent note you left me re php and eaccelerator. I upgraded/re compiled etc this morning and it all went off without a hitch.  

Emma and Brad are with me all of this week for the school holidays. I spent all of my spare money a few weeks ago when we went to Melbourne so we are having a quite one this time. I think we will probably go to Richmond for a picnic lunch today. Brad and Jake went to the sports centre yesterday to play table tennis. Apparently Jake is pretty good, but then he is pretty good at most sports.

 The PlayStation is getting a good workout. I had no idea when I bought it that they would make so many cheap or free games available for download via the PlayStation store.  Do you oldies remember Q*bert? I love that game! There was an update the other day that now allows me to store all of my photos and music on my crappy old server in the garage and show/play them on my stereo/tv in the lounge. I've copied all of our CD's over and now have hundreds of songs available and I don't have to change a single CD! It can also do video, but I haven't played with that yet.

Speaking of games, I'm deleting the ArcadeGuest scores pretty regularly now. I don't want to stop guests from playing, but I do want those that take the time to register on Tasweb to see their names on the high score lists So if you are a registered user, or you have been thinking about registering then now is the time to have a go at some of those high scores! I'm waiting for an upgrade to the game system that I use that will hopefully deal with guest users a bit better. 

Donna's computer started playing up a few weeks ago. The video would drop out and the light on the monitor would flash as if the computer had been turned off, even though the disks and stuff were still making noises. I lent her a spare monitor, but it still did it. We sucked out all of the dust and stuff but it still did it. I lent her a spare video card but it still did it. She took it to one of the local computer shops and all he could say was "I'll reinstall windows and you will loose everything" over and over again in a very rude and unfriendly manner. I grappled it back off him before he did anything stupid and had another look. I tried to boot it up off a CD to prove if Windows did need reinstalling or not, but it still failed. It was about now that it gave me a little hint. I smelt smoke. Computers don't work when their smoke gets out, so that had to be a bad thing. I disconnected the power, looked inside and found the main motherboard power connector to be a strange brown colour in places and it was "welded" in place. I had a real tough job unplugging it and when I did I found four of the pins all burnt out. It's stuffed! Have a look at the photo below to see what I found.