I finally got my replacement graphics card from XFX. It is working great but not for mining bitcoins as it is now to slow. With difficulty increases over the past few months with the advent of ASIC miners coming online graphics card mining has become far too slow to be worthwhile. As for my order from Butterfly Labs, well that is still some way off. I might get it for Christmas if I am luck. Though BFL are sending out pre-orders they aren't really catching up on all the back order very quickly. What does that mean for me? Probably by the time I get mine I might see my investment returned in a year as the difficulty will have risen to make my ASIC as slow at mining as my graphics card is now. Slowly but surely bitcoin mining is becoming the reserve of those with the money to invest in the equipment of the future squeezing out the little guy like me. Well it was bound to happen as it became more successful.
While I was unable to mine I have been play the speculative game through MountGox.com. Though I did make early gains those are now slowly being eaten into over the past week or so. That is the danger of gambling and that is what speculating is really. My reason was that I had some spare coin left from mining but not enough to buy anything with. So I thought what the heck. I didn't take all of what I had left though just in case. Well you never know the price may rise to make what is left a good longer term investment. It is always wise not to have all your eggs in the one basket as they say.
My garden has been yielding strawberries all week. Magz has enough now to make some jam. Not sure when she plans to do so. I have also been harvesting one or two small baby lettuces as well as some coriander. The coriander makes great mayo. You chop the coriander, soak it in some lemon juice for about half an hour, and then just add the mayonnaise. It is great in wraps or on a sandwich. Remember to leave the mix to rest for about an hour before use. My family love it as do I.