It’s not every so often you go shopping for higher priced items, such as new servers, or cars, but well, both of our new purchases are both coming together at around the same time!
1. A new machine
I’ve got myself my new machine up and running in the last 2 weeks, and I’m still loving it!
It wasn’t expensive like the those who buy Idiots By Me (IBM) or Dill (Dell), but it wasn’t cheap like my previous new builds that come in a little more less than 1K. The better side of this is it’s future proof, and is a great purchase.
2. Another server
No, I’m not replacing the OzVoIPStatus server, which has been running fantastically fine since it’s BIOS upgrade which cured a memory incompatibility issue causing linux crashes several months ago. In fact, I looked the other day and it had 40 something days on it. Rock solid.
This server is for a different operation, and will give me much more control over some problems that have been happening, and at least allow us to pinpoint and solve these more readily.
3. A car
I’m somewhat lazy when it comes to getting my P’s license, mainly because I don’t really go anywhere that often, generally just the regular food shop and that’s roughly it. Not that we don’t enjoy our home lifestyle however.
Anyway, the goal with the car is obviously to become less of a big spender on public transport, and instead drive myself, and it also opens a few more oppourtunities for us, and so will be a worthwhile purchase.
It’s such a tricky task entering a private used car buyer market though, buying from a dealer you are sure its not hot, but on the other hand, you can’t be sure its mechanically sound either, as there are a lot of poor dealers being exposed.
So, buying privately you can at least ask questions and measure the nerves of the seller to see if he is obviously sure of himself and the sale.
Ask for obviously papers to prove ownership, check license and then go do a REVS check to be 100% certain. Can’t go too wrong.
Another issue with private buys though is arranging a mechanic to check the car (or an NRMA check), from what I understand the wait times for that is something like 10 days. That’s a fair wait to ask for someone keen (or not) on a sale.
All that shopping however, is very worthwhile and money well spent, compared to spending money on Telstra services!
Enjoy!