Some questions – would love it if you have advice.

1) So, I blew a couple of capacitors on my motherboard and now I’m looking for a deal on a new computer. I’d like a dual- or quad-core processor and 2-4G RAM and lots of disk space. I also need a monitor because mine is snapping and crackling and it’s only a matter of time. A built-in webcam would be kind of neat, too. Post links if you happen to see anything. No Celeron anything.

2) To keep myself busy this weekend, I purchased a pressure washer and started in on the layers of mold and other crud on the deck. It was like painting a house with a calligraphy brush. I spent… oh… six, seven hours on the first pass – just with water. I don’t want to use bleach on wood, and I also want to protect the plants and the fish in the pond, but I also want to kill the mold. Recommendations?

3) Besides monkeygrass and pachysandra and vinca, what other groundcovers do well in drought, and on a hillside, and in scorching sun or mildrew-y shade?

4) What color should I paint a room that has orange couches in it? No yellow.

5) Is this a really bad time in Atlanta to trim back azaleas and other shrubbery, or can I do my Kali dance with the hedge-clippers?