Well, I ended up spending the extra dosh and went for the 8800 rather than the 8600 or 7900.

Crikey! I don't think I've ever seen games look so good, F.E.A.R. and Bioshock running at 1680x1050 (my monitors max res) with every graphics option turned on and running smooth as silk. Seems my P4 2.8 Ghz is not going to cause too many problems after all.

I suspect its going to be an additional $150 well spent.

Now, lets just hope I don't blow my power supply. Box says minimum of 450 watt output is required, my power supply reckons it can do a maximum of 235 watts sustained.

I installed the Bioshock demo today and played it. At first I thought "this introduction video is running a bit slow", then I realised I was in the game and could move around! Very pretty.

Upon lowering the graphics to minimum, so that I could actually get the frame-rate somewhat playable, I really enjoyed it, and plan to purchase the game later this week after upgrading my video card to a slightly superior nVidia 8600 GT or GTS, which should allow me to play on medium graphics.

Even with the graphics on low, Bioshock oozes atmosphere and promises to be an even more enjoyable experience than it's predecessor, System Shock 2, was.

With all this shock hype around, I have also reinstalled System Shock 2, with the high polygon Rebirth mod and the High-res texture pack, to bring it up to a slightly more palatable visual standard. Hopefully there will be some multiplayer fun to be had again in the upcoming weeks.

The problem

I am running Windows XP. I don't have any easy (in my face) way of seeing what's coming up in my calendar. Ideally I would like to have Messenger (which is always there) show my a little "upcomming appointments" somewhere in the window, but seeing as there isn'y any suitable Windows Live Calendar (one that syncs with iCal feeds - more specifically - Google calendar) yet, I have to look elsewhere.

Options

Anything that will sync with Google calendar is an option.

Yahoo widgets, Samurize etc would be fine, in theory, but don't display nicely(check the Google calendar widget's interface).

Sheesh! I just want to stop missing/forgetting about appointments...