IBM big iron can be annoying

Unusual past few days, it's been. Quick summary:

I've been wrestling trying to get an IBM p690 "Regatta" going at work. Basically an IBM POWER system about as tall as me (6'5") that needs three-phase power and sounds like a hurricane when it's turned on. The air blowing out is also hot as hell, which means it must be drawing a hell of a lot of power.

32 CPUs, and supposedly 128 gigabytes (yes, *GIGA*) of RAM, it is quite a sight to behold. Unfortunately, one of the fans isn't working, AND it's not booting correctly, throwing firmware CRC errors. Alas, IBM is coming out to look at it tomorrow.

I've also been messing with a BladeCenter, which is basically a big chassis that takes blades, which are self-contained servers with their own memory and disk. Yup, a 2.5" 10K RPM SCA SCSI drive. Didn't even know they existed until recently.

So what's the deal with Best Buy and $90 DVI cables? I was there Wednesday shopping for a TOSlink cable for my new HDTV receiver, and I can't believe some people actually pay that much. I also saw an $80 TOSlink cable. It's pretty disgusting, when you can get similar cables for around ten bucks online, in some cases including shipping. Will folks really pay $70 for a cable just to avoid waiting a couple days for shipping?!

Oh, and by the way: ABC's "Lost" in HDTV is sweeeeeeeeeeeeee*EEEEEEE*eeeet. I can't believe I can watch it and other shows in *above* DVD quality, received over a plain ordinary indoor antenna! Amazing. I need to find a way to RECORD shows in that quality; unfortunately all the devices on the market that can do so appear to either require tape (Ewww!) or subscription fees (DirecTiVo). I don't agree with TiVo's ass-kissing the TV studios, either, so they can be without my cash.