Awesome stuff you've just bought (+pics please)

[system11]

^ I see. It's a case of your possessions owning you somewhat!

Not sure if that's ever been a relevant way to put it, if you own so much stuff you can't buy a house to put it in, are you really better off selling/storing it and essentially living with nothing? I just don't think anyone should look at the things I buy and own and consider it any measure of success or something particularly to envy. Anyone could do this. On balance I'm not happy with the choices I made in most areas of my life, driving a car which makes me smile makes that easier to live with.

[Skykid]

Well I'm certainly not suggesting you sell your prized possessions... although in your case it would probably net you enough for a big enough deposit to land an enormous house.

[drauch]

^ I see. It's a case of your possessions owning you somewhat!

Not sure if that's ever been a relevant way to put it, if you own so much stuff you can't buy a house to put it in, are you really better off selling/storing it and essentially living with nothing? I just don't think anyone should look at the things I buy and own and consider it any measure of success or something particularly to envy. Anyone could do this. On balance I'm not happy with the choices I made in most areas of my life, driving a car which makes me smile makes that easier to live with.

I respect this, and I'm kind of the same way. I fucked up a bunch in life, but I always had room to have the shit that makes me tick. No kids, significant other, wear cheap clothes and eat cheap shit. Saves a ton of money to buy what matters.

[Skykid]

These days I'm sort of similar, except I closed a chapter on 10 years of hardcore game collecting to spend all my spare cash on partying with Chinese people. No regrets.

As an aside I was never under the misconception System11 was filthy rich.

Stealthlurker on the other hand... It's just a shame he's not really a gamer. I'd have mad fun with all that stuff, until I realised I hadn't seen daylight in thirty years and wept for the life that passed me by.

[rapoon]

this is pretty great. gonna get it framed?

I've been slacking on frames myself the past few months and have so many prints rolled up in their shipping container still haha.

i know how you feel. i have 4 or 5 tubes filled with movie posters, i can't afford to have them framed at the moment.
it's hard to tell from the pic, but the print is a decent size (13 X 19). the artist was a really
nice guy. i'll pick an inexpensive frame up this weekend.

[Immryr]

Bought specifically so I can play Xenoblade with something other than composite video on my 15" CRT

Down the road though, I plan on upgrading my computer so I can run it in Dolphin at full speed. Xenoblade at 3x native res with some FXAA and anisotropic filtering looks way too good, I must have it

is this thing any good? does it give you a better image than a component cable does?

[Xyga]

The majority of rich people aren't born rich or inherit money. They make the right choices. Slowly but surely, with careful planning, some sacrifice, and prudent investing, real wealth is created.

Yeah in a smoothly working, traditional capitalist economy that's how it's supposed to work.
But do you know what percentage of a country's national income inheritance flows can represent, and what the trend is in most parts of the world ?
Maybe you live in Disneyland but where I live and where billions of other people live hard work and choices definitely aren't the arms and legs to climb the social ladder, at best they're the fingers and toes.

[mnneurope]

If I made all the right choices during my life up until now, I wouldnt feel alive; but then again, thats me, and I like the choices I made, be they right or wrong, they are mine, and I wouldnt trade my life with anyone else. (and my life isnt easy, but, its mine)

not everything is in collecting or not collecting, its best if u can make a balance, when 1 thing is making u happy (collecting/what ever) and other thing sad (social life/finance/what ever), then u should make a balance and even it out; same way around, when 1 thing is making u sad (not collecting/not doing what ever) and other thing happy (social life/finance/what ever), then u should make a balance and even it out

[dingsbums]

And a second shelf .

[system11]

Are those in antistatic or at least resistant wrap? You should also stop them leaning.

[Xyga]

Are those in antistatic or at least resistant wrap? You should also stop them leaning.

About that, is there an 'how to safely store your pcb' thread somewhere ?

[Some-Mist]

None of our parents had much money. It's all choices. Even within a family choices can lead to vast disparity, I waste on entertainment more than my sister earns in a year.

same exactly, but in the US. entertainment is what oddly keeps me happy and truckin' so in my shoes it's a wise investment. I can sell my console game collection (which is absolutely ridiculous now) and my PCBs (a newfound hobby for me) to get into a more stable spot, but that entertainment medium also keeps me happy and in a working life. this is also coming from a movie collector with an insane game collection, almost a dozen pcbs (I know your library is much more impressive), and now an art collector.

buying a home makes sense in certain suburban areas (where I'm from), but it's not ideal for the work commute. And then if you're looking at purchasing downtown, it's typically 1mil+ (at least that's what a lot of the places across from me cost whereas I'm paying cheap ass rent across the street).

Are those in antistatic or at least resistant wrap? You should also stop them leaning.

About that, is there an 'how to safely store your pcb' thread somewhere ?

I'm 99% sure I learned this from system11 in a handful of threads, but it's typically perfectly upright to prevent bending/pressure which would occur from stacking or laying horizontally.

i'll pick an inexpensive frame up this weekend.

art to frames (vendor) on amazon is my best friend. very cheap but classy looking frames in almost any size. my employer (who has no issue in sparing funds) even uses 'em for the workplace art. I bought about 6 frames about $20-30 a piece which is pretty decent.

[604_degrees]

Gift from the old friend:

[Ex_Mosquito]

I recently took the plunge and got a mortgage. I was a little late to the party being 35 but I knuckled down and me and my wife moved back to my Mothers for nearly a year to save for a deposit and we bought a house in April. It made sense really. I'm paying less now than I was paying rent and in 25years my living budget will be drastically cut. One thing I wondered about renting is what happens went you retire, how does the rent get paid? Fortunately I don't have a need for a videogame collection really. I'm 100% gameplay focused these days. I am happy with x1 arcade cab + GroovyMame, a modest PCB collection (2) and a chipped original Xbox for the old console stuff, it keeps my gaming urge fulfilled. Technically I could go the rest of my life without buying another videogame and still have new stuff to play.

[broken harbour]

I recently took the plunge and got a mortgage. I was a little late to the party being 35 but I knuckled down and me and my wife moved back to my Mothers for nearly a year to save for a deposit and we bought a house in April. It made sense really, I'm paying less now than I was paying rent and in 25years my living budget will be drastically cut. One thing I wondered about renting, is what happens went you retire, how does the rent get paid? Fortunately I don't have a need for a videogame collection really. I'm 100% gameplay focused these days. I'm happy with x1 arcade cab + GroovyMame, a modest PCB collection (2) and a chipped original Xbox for the old console stuff keeps my gaming urge fulfilled. Technically I could go the rest of my life without buying another videogame and still have new stuff to play.

I will be in the market for a house in the next year or two and I've been considering punting my NES, SNES, N64 collection of CIB and carts and just buying some Everdrives, to raise some cash and prevent me from spending money in the future. Kinda torn as I like boxed stuff on my shelf but... money.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'm not rich, I wish I was.

I have a fairly average wage for an experienced tech worker (and until recently, underpaid), I'm a team leader for a UNIX admin team. It's all about choices. I didn't choose a house and children, I don't choose expensive clothes (in fact half of them I got from Lordstar) and I didn't choose to buy a brand new car, which allowed me to choose an older but much better one. Fast expensive luxury models lose money like nothing you've seen before. The XFR is 5 years old and already shed $60k of value which the previous owners picked up the tab for...

You summed it up beautifully.
The majority of rich people aren't born rich or inherit money. They make the right choices. Slowly but surely, with careful planning, some sacrifice, and prudent investing, real wealth is created.

Not to mention investing in your workplace's 401k plan if it's offered. I was asked if I wanted to join in on it and asked what was the maximum amount allowed at that current point in time (which was at 14% -- {chmup change when I realize that I could spend it easily on useless junk} but since I never see it nor touch it, it's money socked away for 'em golden years/retirement). When the U.S. recession hit in late 2007 - early 2008, it did affect the company that I still work for which lead to a reduction of hours (not to mention my wages as well). It wasn't until about a year or so ago, that I got back to working 40 hours a week (which lead me to think that the company is doing well post recession-wise). I have had some co-workers ask me about the company's 401k plan and say to 'em, try to contribute to it as much as possible even if it's at a meager 10% of your income + you aren't taxed but will be when you do make withdrawls from it (down the road). Earning the first $100,000 into one's 401k plan can & is a long time coming but earning the next $100,000 (going into the $200,000 range & beyond won't take as long in hindsight). Of course, one's 401k plan is subject to risk at any given time with the rise and fall of the stock market -- but the golden rule to invest in your 401k plan for the long haul despite the valley and peaks with the stock markets as usual. My company doesn't do matching 401k contributions but it would be nice if it did (then I'd definitely have more $$$ in the 401k indeed).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[cicada88]

Gift from the old friend:

Looks amazing. OG Famicom + Disk System is one of my absolute favorite looking setups. The quantity of quality games goes without saying...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I had one co-worker who had over $200,000 in his 401k and to have it depreciate to 50% overnight is a bitter pill to swallow during the recent 2007-2008 recession. He told me that we're in it for the long haul and that's true.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[rapoon]

new case. fractal designs ARC midi R2. i love it. inside is a new board: 990fxa-ud3 which replaced
a msi 970a-g46 (shit 4+1 power phase design vs the 8+2 on the gigabyte).




haven't touched the playbook but RTFM is the best $9 i've spent on an IT book. basically
a 95-page cheat sheet. recommended for anyone in IT.

[shmuppyLove]

is this thing any good? does it give you a better image than a component cable does?

I'm not able to make a direct comparison at the moment, as I don't have an HDTV with component input to test with, but the output is pretty good.

The adapter outputs a 720p60 signal, and upscales the Wii output to that. I'm using it with my 22" LCD computer monitor, so I don't really notice any blurring.

The problem with the Wii is that the resolution is just too damn low to start with. There probably isn't much difference between component or this HDMI adapter, but I imagine it's possible with a better quality external upscaler you might get a cleaner picture, especially if you're using RGB output from the Wii.

If you're using a really crappy HDTV that has a horrible upscaler, this adapter might do a better job, who knows.

For the price, it was worth giving it a go. It was a damn sight better than composite video on a 15" CRT. I've since switched to Windows 7 64-bit so I could run the 64-bit build of Dolphin,and can emulate Wii stuff now with full speed at much higher resolutions, so I'm not really using my Wii any more

[CIT]

Thought it's a good time to finally get a Wii, now that most games can be had between ¥500-1000.

[Jonst]

^ excellent games! The wii is pretty underrated imo, sure, it dosn't have much in the way of shmups but it does have other great games... Brilliant choices there. Two of my favourites for the system!

[Strider77]

 On balance I'm not happy with the choices I made in most areas of my life, driving a car which makes me smile makes that easier to live with.

I can completely relate. I think that quote sums up the story of my life best if I am limited to one sentence.

[Skykid]

 On balance I'm not happy with the choices I made in most areas of my life, driving a car which makes me smile makes that easier to live with.

I can completely relate. I think that quote sums up the story of my life best if I am limited to one sentence.

You guys are depressing! You're young, you can change what you don't like any minute of any day. If it means making that leap you always talked about, handing in that resignation - whatever - do it. I promise you'll be ok. You only live once and it's fucking short.

[drauch]

Being young just means more time to be miserable.

[Stealthlurker]

Had this sweet custom Megadrive logo sign made








Also thanks you know who for this!



And a ton of stuff from Japan yet to fully process...

[BIL]

That MD sign is beautiful.

[Stealthlurker]

That MD sign is beautiful.

Thank you sir. I love to stare at it when I'm waiting for the computer to do something haha

[Ex_Mosquito]

Yeah that looks 'bloody lush!' Must've cost a bomb. Do you own a shop or is all your gaming stuff a personal collection?

[cicada88]

MD sign is awesome.