I've been a little too crazy to do much with my leisure time lately other than build things in Minecraft. (The mod set we're using lets you build diesel generators and oil pumpjacks and distillation towers! So of course I have.) I've really just gone home, dealt with animals, made some perfunctory attempt at dinner, and logged on to the server we're sharing.

But I had Monday off because I'm working this Saturday, so I asked Erik if he'd like a visitor after work. After spending a little time at home, he saw me looking at graphics cards on my phone and said that if I was still looking at PC parts, we could take a trip to Fry's.

So we drove over there and walked inside to find a store devoid of nearly everything computer-related. Seriously, there were rows and rows of 95% empty shelves. They had a total of 2, *2*, video cards in stock in the entire aisle, which, at approximately $400 and $500, were not what I was looking for. At the nearby service desk, I commented on the dearth of video cards. The employee said that there was a reorganization happening of the way things were getting delivered and they were waiting on a shipment. On the way out of the store, Erik said it would take a lot more than one shipment to fill all of those empty shelves! There was basically nothing there!

We drove to the nearby Microcenter and found a much less disappointing selection, though that's hardly a high bar. I swiftly realized that video cards had become more complex than the last time I bought one new, which was just before starting grad school. They're like mini-computers in thmselves at this point, with differing processers, memory size, clock speeds, and so on. The card I was looking for because it was specced as the recommended one for Satisfactory, was in the 10xx series. That series is old news now, so I went with a 1660 which, at 6GB, has 3/4 of the amount of memory onboard as my whole computer does on the motherboard. Tech really changes.

That's the largest purchase I've made just for my own personal happiness in...I don't know how long. But Minecraft has been my best destresser lately, and I also want to be able to play things like Astroneers or Satisfactory, which my old 760 was not up to.

I had managed to leave my wallet on Erik's table while ordering food, so he was kind enough to briefly spot me the money until I could Paypal him back that evening, and I left with a fancy new graphics board.

I know video cards are big. I've had ones that take up the space of two expansion slots before. This one takes up three!

It was a pretty great day, though it could have used more cuddling. I ended up leaving not too long after that because I was tired (still getting used to the time change I think) and had work the next day. Next visit I want to plan snuggle time with a movie.