Update

This phrase changed my life today (is that sad?):

run a command prompt as Administrator and enter the following:
bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072

Basically I added RAM to my computer a while back but my computer and software was not taking advantage of it until I did the above. Basically I was having to render things out at 2 seconds at a time and then combine them later - that is pretty time consuming for a 5 minute long short film.

I'm still reading reviews of the Canon 7D that just came out, but am pretty sure that is going to be my next equipment purchase.

I'll be working on Tip's documentary short all this week . . .