The debate between Mac lovers and PC lovers has never been more intense than it is now. For anyone that knows me I land on the PC side, and the story I am about to tell will show you exactly why (but will also add fuel to the fire for Mac people). I guess you'll have to keep reading to understand.
After Christmas we decided our 4 year old computer was ready for a complete overhaul. I call our computer Frankenstein because our case is green and I built him from parts instead of buying a PC at the store. Frankenstein has had his share of upgrades, but eventually it's like putting lipstick on a pig, as the saying goes, and more drastic measures were required.
Buying parts for a computer is not simple, unless you know what you are doing. You have to get pieces that are made to work together. Just like you have to get the right kind of parts for your car. What we needed for Frankenstein were new guts. A new Motherboard and CPU, which meant I had to also replace the memory and graphics card. You can't do this kind of upgrade on a Mac. Luckily everything else was still good, Hard drive, DVD burner, case, power supply, fans, etc.
Now my story is getting long so let's jump ahead. I ordered the parts and they came. Now the part Mac lovers will enjoy... there was a problem, one of the parts was faulty and it was very hard to diagnose since none of my old parts worked with the new parts (hence the need for all the upgrades). Days went by as I got advice and tried things, but one thing was clear we needed a computer to use. I could reassemble the old one, but I didn't want to remove everything from the case just to check e-mail and get on the internet. So I got creative...
This is my crate PC. Assembled using a plastic crate and twist ties, some electrical tape to hold things in place and a little twine just for safe measure on the hard drive. It isn't pretty, but it works like a charm. Since I have no case I have to use a screw driver to start it. You have to touch two little pins on the motherboard that connects a current and tells the machine to come on. 
If there was a such thing as Nerd Scouts I am sure I would have received a patch of some kind for my vest. Maybe Geek Squad would make me an honorary member...
