PC

Unless you build PC once a year, otherwise there is no way you are going to know what the latest and greatest processor, MB, peripherals are.  It's a rather steep learning curve.  The last time I built my PC was in February 2002, and I am telling you, NONE of the equipment fails (touch wood, keep my fingers crossed).  I think it's just about time to get myself a souped up desktop in preparation for all the processing power I need to suck out and process 16MP pictures and 1080P video.

Paralysis By Analysis

I don't build my computer every three months or six months or even every three years.  The last time I built something from the ground up so to speak was more than seven years ago when single core AMD Athlon 1.4GHz was respectable.  Fast forward to 2009 and a quick trip to newegg, AMD AM3 is the top dog and Intel i7 is the top of the very top as far as desktop build is concerned.  Once the kind of processor is decided, then the case, the kind of motherboard, the memory.  If I opt for micro ATX case, then what I gain on space saving, I lose out on choices of motherboard and expandability.  And even for individual components, there are always mixed reviews, the more you read it the more confused you got.  And it can get numbingly complicated.  But I guess at some point I just need to pull the trigger (or totally give up) as there isn't one perfect computer, there got to be some compromise.  Even I sound like I am a bit frustrated, but I still think I will enjoy more by building my own computer than simply buying one online or from a store.  It's just too easy.

Data Recovery

The 857th picture recovered. Camping 2009. The Canon SD880 IS, though is not water proof, but it did survive our 4 hour grueling white water rafting trip on Lehigh River. (the grueling and white water parts are of course my exaggeration, but the camera did get wet inside my pocket)

I thought I protected the last 23 pictures before I erased all the pictures in my camera. But apparently I didn't protect any pictures at all. When I pressed Play, it said no images. I am now enjoying data recovery from my SDHC card. The data recovery is in chronological order so I am recovering my earliest pictures which I actually don't need. I just need the last pictures. I am letting the program runs its course, so far I've recovered some 300 jpeg files. Not bad at all.

UPDATE 8/31/09
I almost recovered all the jpegs. Of the 857 files, only the first picture got corrupted, the rest are all safe and sound. Here is my experience.
I inadvertently erased all the files from the SDHC, thinking that I protected some of the images. I did not.
I didn't do any write to the card, that is, I left the card alone once I found out I made a mistake.
I searched online and found a freeware, called PC Inspector smart recovery. It took a minute to download and install.
I ran the program, then plugged in the SDHC card. The program didn't see the card. I exited the program, and re-run it, then the card was seen by the program.
It took 7.5 hours to recover the 857 files from the 8GB SDHC card and wrote to my notebook HD. All the files I wanted to recover were recovered.

hp Compaq 6910p

The notebook is chugging along pretty nicely.  The pointing blue nipple thing fell off already even though I am not known as a rough nipple player ... but I can always put it back, though it isn't like secured anymore.  On the other hand, my century old Thinkpad's red nipple is still firmly, snugly and securely erected in between keys like the first day I got it.  Note, hp calls it a "pointing stick," how inappropriate to refer a thingy this length a stick?

Wishlist

Computer:-
A MacBook with a least 1GB of RAM, scratch that, make it a MacBook Pro with 3gb of RAM...
iPod:-
A 30GB iPod video is nice.
Camera:-
A Nikon D2Xs or A Canon 1DsMkII, or both
Lens:-
Only professional prime lenses or zoom lenses. A half dozen will do.
Tripod:-
Some Bogen or Gitzo will do.
Ballhead:-
Some Bogen will do, Arca Swiss or Really Right Stuff would be great.

BREAKING: MacBook just updated the Intel processor to Intel Core 2 Duo, whatever that means. It's said to be 25% faster. Details see http://www.apple.com