problem solving

so i am really really bad at doing homework. or really any work that i am not forced to do. though when i am doing any kind of work, it is pretty much a prerequisite for me to have some kind of music playing in the background. which - as far as i can tell - is normal for most people.

just recently college started back up, meaning i have LOTS of work to do. i have work at my job, i have class work to do, i have my various programming projects i am working on (most of which i am HORRIBLY slacking on, look at my blogophone for evidence of that). and, as i said, i like to listen to music while doing those various projects. what is kind of nice is i was recently given a laptop. it’s nothing sporty, a simple 1.8 ghz celeron m processor w/ 1 gig of ram. it’s almost as slow as my ‘server’. (yes, my ‘server’ is slower than that, and it is a laptop too, with a broken screen).

so what does this have to do with problem solving? well, my laptops sound card is flaky. when i plug in headphones, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not (required if i’m not going to bother people, and i have better sound through headphones anyway). and i spent >2 hrs trying to fix the problem. unfortunately, i suspect that it is a hardware problem, and thus i am left with 2 options: have no sound, or get an external sound card. i don’t like either solution, especially since i have little money to spend on a sound card (if i had $$$ i’d have bought a spiffy laptop myself). also, i have lots of work i need to do for my classes and thus can’t futz with the sound problem for hours and hours on end making sure it is a hardware problem. and without sound… i am lost.

BUT THERE IS HOPE!!!

my main computer has sound. and all my music is stored on it. and it’s always on anyway, so, i’m tethered to my main computer though my headphones, and doing my homework on my laptop, with its bigger screen (and occasional freezes). so i have traded portability for sound & a bigger screen (and slower performance).

now all i have to do is figure out how to get me to actually do work, instead of just being lazy and update my blog all day long :P