There's a promo going on right now with Microsoft where if you buy Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Edition, it's only 50 bucks starting today and lasting until July 11. So I bought it from Amazon specifically. I won't get it until just before Halloween (accounting for the 5-to-9 day ship time after Oct 22 which is the official release date), but it is bought. The shipping will be free.

This is the third time I've ever actually bought a copy of Windows.

The first time was Windows 95 Upgrade, which ironically I bought for about the same price as the Win 7 Upgrade.

I never bought Windows 98. It came installed with the crappy Compaq Preasrio I was using at the time.

I never bought Windows XP Home Edition. That came installed on the Dell box I bought after the Compaq, and ran it for several years.

I did buy Windows XP Professional Edition. That cost me $149. In fact the exact date I bought it was March 12, 2007. I know this because I have the email receipt from Microsoft archived from the date of purchase.

I'm really glad Microsoft had this sale because it saves me $150. And that's a lot of cash saved at this point in time. I am running Windows 7 RC right now on the big box PC and have been since its release. It beats the ever-lovin' crap out of XP. My laptop still uses XP. Every time I use XP I can't stand it now. Yes, Win 7 is just that good.

The ones I skipped

There are not one but two versions of Windows I completely skipped. The first was Windows Me, the second being Windows Vista.

I used Windows Me years ago on a then-friend's PC and that version was truly a complete piece of crap. Microsoft should have never released this and it boggles the mind why they did in the first place. It barely lasted over a year. Windows Me was released September 2000. Windows XP on the shelves October 2001.

Windows Me was so bad that it is in PC World's top 5 of the 25 worst tech products of all time. 'Nuff said.

Vista literally scared me. If I had dared run that OS in pre-SP1 days, life would have seriously sucked. I never had any intention of buying it at all, much less using it.

I'll be looking forward to getting my boxed version of 7 in October.

***Tons of guitars under $500 right here

If you haven't watched this movie, you should.

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dermatologist appt part 2

Earlier today at noon I went to see the derma dude.

I had expected a consultation and and appointment set at a later date to have the work done, but then he asked, "Want to do this right now?"

I said, "Sure."

After that I financed the thing (total cost: $600, everything included), got prepped and laser'd. Took about a half-hour to get done. What I have now is a black spot where the bump was that I was told should heal in two to three weeks.

I'm happy to have had the work done, but am obviously nervous because of the black. However my skin does a good job at healing itself and I've been told by a few already that the black is totally normal after you have a laser procedure.

I'm honestly surprised that I didn't freak out completely because I've never had anything like this done to me before. Maybe it was all that time I spent at the dentist getting me teeth drilled that "seasoned" me? No idea.

Well anyway, this bump that has been on my face for years is now gone.