Good luck man, hope they straighten that out and you get your old system back, working.
I love Bungie a lot. Halo 1-3 and CE are some of my favorite FPS's of all time. Halo CE has its custom modded 1337 sniper maps. Halo 3 with it's super sexy water effects, not to mention the series awesome storyline! I really hope they could somehow continue the series.
I just now finished patching that massive 1.2gb patch. Although it only took about 2 hours, it was still hefty. I'm personally excited about the new talents! Warlock transformations, mage bombs, retadins heal mana, that op shaman knockback thundershock or whatever, I can't wait until november 13! Which is also the day before my birthday =D
Blender is one of my favorite 3D programs out there. It's free, and extremely powerful! Version 2.48 was a great improvement mostly with the new text editor. Good job Blender!