Finally Friday night had arrived, the time that FacelessJim had set aside to build my new computer, to try to get me online and begin training as a proper gamer. Unfortunately, Faceless and Vara’s dog, Hemi, had had a vet’s appointment earlier in the day, and a small tumour had been discovered, which is probably benign, but needs to be removed anyway, as soon as they can find the money for the operation (any donations would be gratefully accepted here). Hemi’s brother had died of a tumour a year and a half ago, and we don’t want that to happen again. Faceless wanted to go ahead with the build anyway, as it would help take his mind off Hemi’s situation.

Faceless set up his camera rig so we could watch over his shoulder as the build happened, and for the next 2 hours we watched him sit cross-legged on the floor (for the most part) as he put it together. When I say we, I mean myself and a few of his followers and subscribers watched the process. One in particular was really interested, and commented often. Turns out he builds computers for a living, and had some good suggestions as Faceless was doing the build.

I mentioned to my other son that Faceless was doing this build, and his immediate response was “you could have asked me to do that.” His second response was “I’m glad you didn’t ask me to do that because people always go to the person who built it for support afterwards.” Years ago I would have done it myself. When the library where I worked finally started getting computers I was the tech person, even though it had nothing to do with my actual job. That’s because I had an early computer (TRS-80) and had done all the upgrades and peripherals on that and subsequent computers. I’ll bet neither of my sons have installed acoustic couplers or built CD-ROM towers! When we started making internet available to the public I installed filtering software on the computers in the children’s department. I tested the different brands of filters by sitting in my office and typing in every, shall we say, impolite word that I could think of. Turns out I could think of a lot of them. Some of the filters were so effective they filtered stuff that they shouldn’t, such as whole medical websites because they discussed penises and vaginas. Surprisingly enough , I discovered that the White House site is not whitehouse.com but whitehouse.gov. Whitehouse.com was a porn site (not there any more, I just checked), but it did have a prominent box redirecting people looking for the actual White House site.

Anyway, Faceless took this picture of the components of the computer before he started the build. He had a few basic questions for me about the setup, and off he went. I was well impressed with his confidence and knowledge as he commented clearly on what and why he was doing, and when asked why he was doing something one way instead of another by the knowledgeable subscriber previously mentioned he could always rationalize and explain his choice, but also took suggestions. Hmm, sounds like I’m writing a job recommendation there. Well, he does need a job, & would make an excellent tech support person if anyone is looking for one (he is also very patient, kind, and polite!).

It was actually fascinating to watch Faceless build this computer from all of the components. I’m looking forward to getting it in person and starting gaming with it. I’ve linked to the video below for those who may want to view it.

Click here to watch the build video on Twtichtv

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