The holiday season has barely arrived, but I decided to treat myself to a few new gadgets to replace my aging hardware and gear. Our adventures in Orlais & Ferelden became much smoother with a new Sapphire Radeon R9 280x graphics card, which features three tandem 12mm fans that barely fit into my tower. Taking advantage of Black Friday specials, I also replaced my 4-year-old not-so-smart phone with a new Samsung Galaxy S5. The new phone is not much of a looker, but certainly has the specs to keep my mobile experience lag-free at least for the near future. Meanwhile, we’re also joining in the holiday spirit with some Christmas decorations and a new tree from Emigh’s. Last week, the ALTA holiday dinner at Asian Pearl featured a talk from a Buddhist monk which fortunately did not interfere with the full-on HK banquet-style meal. The food at my department holiday party was less interesting in comparison, but at least featured a DJ and raffle.