• Case: LIAN LI PC-A05NB Black Aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case- $89.99. $92.58 after tax and shipping, -$10 w/ coupon code @ NEWEGG
• Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3- $109.99 @ AMAZON
• Processor: Intel Core i7-870- $229.99. $251.26 after tax @ Micro Center
• RAM: G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL9D-8GBSR- $60. $65 with shipping @ NEWEGG
• HD: WD Black Caviar 1Tb 7200 RPM SATA- $79.95, $87.35 total with tax @ Central Computers
• Power Supply: Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550w- $60, $65 with tax @ FRY'S ELECTRONICS
• GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670- $370 @ AMAZON
• WIFI Card: $32

Total: $1073

Pumpkin Risotto with Chicken

Ingredients:
-2 cups of pumpkin puree
-3 cups of cooked rice (I used purple/brown rice)
-Pinch of cayenne pepper
-1 chicken breast
-3 garlic cloves
-1 tbs of Maxwell House Instant Pumpkin Spice Latte
-1 tbs sweet basil flakes
-1 cup of water

Directions:
-Chop up the chicken breast into 1in cubes
-Chop up the garlic cloves into a fine dice
-Fry the garlic and chicken for 3 minutes
-Add the cooked rice into the pot
-Add the water
-Add the pumpkin puree
-Add the cayenne pepper, Spice Latte, basil flakes, and salt
-Cook until chicken is cooked through

YAY.

Update: Hackintosh Wireless Card

Okay, so after realizing that I would essentially have to use a 50ft ethernet cable to get internet to my desktop compy, I decided- I NEED a wireless card. I didn't want to have a dongle because as it is, I'm pretty limited to both cash and USB ports therefore, I finally did THIS. Exactly did the instructions. The only thing I'd elaborate on a little more is that in that second picture under Install, to make sure to hook the two wires coming from the antennae into the top corners of the card. It looks like a small white circle with a gold circle and dot in outlining it.

Yeah, I totally didn't do it and then was wondering why it wasn't working.
It makes sense.

Anyways, so that came out to:
$9.99 for the wireless adapter (free shipping)
$16.99 for the BCM94322MC card ($5 shipping)
= $32. I paid more for the wireless adapter for shipping because I needed it ASAP.


So yeah, there you have it. (:

Condo in LA

I finally finished moving in! It's so nice- no carpet, just tile floors. The tile floors get dirty so easily... but otherwise it's really clean. My room is getting messier just because I'm trying to get settled in some more and packing for school! I'm so nervous about starting at UCLA...

Rent is so expensive! But the condo is so lovely. (:

Hackintosh Build

Sooo~~ with my MacBook overheating so often at 179ºF and more while running on max RPM, I've decided to build my own hackintosh. The specs rival a MacBook Pro, or whatever. I wanted one that was good and would be reliable for a long time, upgradeable, and good as a hackintosh.

Specs:

• Case: LIAN LI PC-A05NB Black Aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case- $89.99. $92.58 after tax and shipping, -$10 w/ coupon code @ NEWEGG
• Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3- $109.99 @ AMAZON
• Processor: Intel Core i7-870- $229.99. $251.26 after tax @ Micro Center
• RAM: G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) F3-10666CL9D-8GBSR- $60. $65 with shipping @ NEWEGG
• HD: WD Black Caviar 1Tb 7200 RPM SATA- $79.95, $87.35 total with tax @ Central Computers
• Power Supply: Enermax EG565P-VE 535W (though it may be an EG 465. I didn't really check)- $0, I salvaged this from my other computer Had to return it because my family wants to use my other compy.
• Power Supply: Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550w- $60, $65 with tax @ FRY'S ELECTRONICS
• Optical CD Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS- $20.99 @ AMAZON
• Graphics Card: nVidia quadro 380- $0, I got this from Boyfriend, though I may decide to switch it to my other graphics card from my other computer later on. NOTE: It IS compatible!
• Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS 258MB- $0, from my other computer.

Misc: 

Zip Ties 100 pack-  $3.99 @ AMAZON

Snow Leopard- $0, borrowed Brother's disk

In total, it is about $696.18. A lot of the things I bought I got lucky- most of them were on sale. I still need a video card, but I might initially use the onboard graphics with the Mobo or borrow my boyfriend's video card for a while... or take it from my other desktop's build. I took it from my other desktop. I also need an optical drive, but that's $20 or I can also take it from my other desktop as well. I did take my old one from my other desktop, but it's pretty old and still uses Serial ATA cables. So bulky! So I bought the ASUS one (and it will be coming soon in the mail.)

Installation:
The main concern I had with the power supply was that the Mobo had an ATX and a 2x4 ATX 12V. Apparently 2x4 is rare or something? But luckily, my power supply had a (4+4)P 12v CPU connector.

I double checked that all the wires were in the right place and cleaned them up a little bit to make the inside pretty. Turned it on after some apprehension and it worked fine, went into BIOS pretty okay though I did run into a small problem. I couldn't use a USB keyboard, I had to use the PS/2 keyboard (luckily I have both). Enabled USB controllers later on, though my PS/2 mouse doesn't work still. ): I'll figure that out later.

For installation, I'll used iBoot using instructions from here. I won't be able to start until probably mid next week. I'll update once I have everything done.
Here is your update:


Started iBoot. The instructions on the actual website, iboot.org sucked and the download didn't want to burn on my CD drive. I got the burnable copy on tonymacx86's blog, burned it... The only issue I had found out was that my keyboard worked, but my mouse didn't. Bummer! The mouse wasn't USB, so I had to borrow my sister's little itty bitty USB mouse. The keyboard is also USB. Both work, though the mouse I had to plug back in after reboot or else it wouldn't work.

Had to restart once- my computer, I think, froze at the initial language setting after iBoot so I had to hard restart. Followed the rest of Tony's instructions. I got stuck after Multibeast's installation-- restarting the computer only gave me the gray apple screen and then a "You need to restart" screen. Sad panda. ): Restarted  a few times. I tried to then boot from iBoot- got a restart again. Tried to do boot order from HD primary and then disk drive secondary. Didn't work. Switched it back, restarted with iBoot in the disk drive but not running and it worked! (Wtf but anyways).

Installed some more stuff from Multibeast, installed updates EXCEPT 10.6.8. Restarted.... got the error message again to restart my computer. SAD PANDA. ): Verified and repaired Disk Permissions in Disk Utility. Didn't work.

THE FIX:
Basically, I have to insert iBoot, then choose my HD from there- iBoot would not work. Kept on getting lots of panics, so at this point I switched my graphics card to a known compatible one. Decided I did something wrong during installation so this is what I did:
1.) insert iBoot, restart.
2.) At bootup screen, I took out my iBoot CD and inserted the Mac OSX installer disk.
3.) Erased the partition that had all of the OSX on it.
4.) Reinstall Snow Leopard in the HD partition
5.) After booting, I used Multibeast + 10.6.8's update. With Multibeast, I used this website/guide to help me after I realized that the Kernel Panics were due to drivers not being there with my other graphics card (so... probably, my other graphics card would have worked. Sigh...).
VOILA! It was fixed. If I knew this beforehand, it would have saved me 3 hours of my life. Oh well.

I changed my graphics card to the other one that I wasn't using because my GeForce one is loud. I didn't have any problems whatsoever.

Sound: it initially didn't work in the top port of the case, but the fix was both Multibeast's audio drivers and toggling with the settings in System Preferences. Works! (:

Wireless Card: I'm planning on doing this later on as well, once I'm finished with my build for wireless connectivity, but that's about $75? If even, so at least if I can keep this build under $800, I'll be happy. Since I'm at home, I can easily use ethernet since the router is in my room.


Keyboard: I have a few crappy keyboards at home under my bed, so I'll use that for the time being (or, yeah, take it from my desktop at home).  Bought the Logitech Illuminated Ultrathin Keyboard with Backlighting for $42 off of Craigslist and used DoubleCommand for Command to act as Option key and vice versa- basically, the Home/windows key becomes the option/alt key, and the alt key becomes the command key. Yays! (: I fking love this keyboard. You really can't use a Ps/2 keyboard with this mobo, it doesn't work well. USB is your best bet for both mouse and keyboard.

Screen brightness controls: So after a while, after sitting in the dark, I realized my eyes hurt. I put the brightness on my monitor all the way down- didn't help. Tried downloading sooo many other hackintosh-specific applications that would help- shades, etc. Didn't work! So I went on the App Store and downloaded the free app, Dimmer than Dim. So useful and it totally works.

I'm still having trouble with this computer and the whole sleeping issue. I tried using SleepEnabler.kext but ohmg I really didn't understand how to use it. Even after installing it (I think?), it didn't work. I'll try later though. I'm uber tired today. ):

Contacts!

So I bought 3 sets of gray contact lenses. Luna and Vassen I bought were from www.koreabigeyes.com and the other one, Beaucon, I bought from www.honeycolor.com

Luna King Gray
(Vassen) Hyper Size Gray
Beaucon Vibrant Match Gray

Both were $24/ea and shipped pretty fast. They came in really cute bottles.

Luna King (L), Vassen (R)
With light

Luna King (L), Vassen (R)
With less light

If you click the pictures, you'll be able to see the difference more clearly. As you can tell, the Luna King is a circle lens, which makes the eyes look huge, and has a lot stronger gray in it.

Luna King Gray (L), Beaucon Vibrant Match (R)
Less light

Luna King Gray (L),  Beaucon Vibrant Match (R)

Both Luna King
Less light

Both Luna King
With light

So many changes!!

So as a second year at UCR, I decided to try my hand at transferring to a UC closer to home. I applied to UCD, UCBerkeley, and UCLA.

I figured I might as well, since my grades were pretty good- I applied with a 3.7 GPA with Honors, Chancellor's List and Deans List for some consecutive quarters, as well as multiple extra-curriculars. I was worried because I didn't have a math (UCR only required me to take either a math or a computer science class. I opted for CS.) and my units at the end of my second year were going to be a projected 130.5- 30.5 over the maximum transfer limit. Knowing this, I tried not to hold my breath.

The date for knowing if I was accepted or not loomed closer- the end of April. I was nervous- I couldn't search for housing for UCR for the next year if I wasn't staying. I refreshed the pages every so often until my boyfriend, whom I was IMing during class, told me that UCD's acceptance website is up. I checked and waited with anticipation- UCD was my first choice. I scanned the page- REJECTED!

A week later, I checked my other ones. My boyfriend again IMed me when UCLA came out. I was dejected and I felt like my chances were pretty slim, especially since UCD had rejected me. Whatever, I was a UC to UC transfer student, chances with that were already pretty slim. But again, I scanned the page and saw the words "CONGRATULATIONS!" I was in Geology class, but my heartbeat quickened and swelled- wtf, wait what? I reread it again and again. All I could think was "wtf."

UCBerkeley, of course rejected me. I hear that they switch off and it's rare for someone to get both UCB and UCLA.

I'm stressed now, I have many things to think about. Housing, scholarship (if I even get it), financial aid (if I get it), and friends/family/boyfriend.

Congrants to me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lately, I've been trying to destress myself by perpetually doing my nails, looking at nail polish (blogs), and bikes, even though I have them. Oh well.

I'm going to dye my hair hopefully sometime this week to destress. Change is needed! (: