Thankful #28

I am thankful for the Internet.  I can find just about anything on there.  There is so much information out there, and I love finding obscure facts.  I am pretty darn good at searching, and have found things in seconds what my mom or my boss had been looking for for hours.  When The Doctor was working on his Doctorate, he stayed home and did his research on the internet, instead of having to go to college libraries and spend hours there and pay for photocopies. 

Thankful #14

I am thankful for computers.  They are a huge blessing.  Especially in my work.  When I first started working, we were filing the majority of taxes by paper.  It was a time consuming process, not to mention all the paper we went through.  Now, it is all electronic.  I click a few buttons, send an email, and I’m done.  I don’t dread taxes like I used to. 

7 (well, 6 really)

We have 7 computers in our house.  We have our desktop computer which is the main computer that the whole family uses.  Then each family member has a laptop.  The boys each have an old laptop that my dad salvaged (he works as an STS in the elementary schools).  And The Princess has a Princess laptop.  Not a real one, but she loves that she has a laptop like everyone else!

Google

I have a question. 

You know how when you “Google” something, and it gives you the results, it has the sponsored link, and right below it is the same link, but not sponsored?

My question is this…which do you click on?  Knowing that if you click on the sponsored link, that website will have to pay money to Google. 

I am always debating what to do.  So I want your opinion.  Now is the time to speak up and let your voice be heard!  Well, read anyway!

MapQuest

I love MapQuest! I will never get lost again. I love plugging in an address and it showing me how to get there. I use it all the time.
I use it a lot for work too because when I go to a client's office, I can write off the miles, so this tells me exactly how many miles I went, and I don't have to remember to check my odometer when I go.
There is one thing I read on someone's blog about it though. How about the directions start on #5? Because I am pretty sure we all know how to get out of our neighborhood! LOL

Facebook

I have been thinking about posting about this for a while, and now JustRandi beat me to the punch.

I don't get it. Yeah, it's been great because I have been able to reconnect with two friends from high school and college. But then we exchanged emails and there is no need for Facebook anymore.

Practically everyone in my ward are on it, and more are joining all the time. We sisters have discussed Facebook etiquette and how if we are going to be "friends" with the husband, we must become "friends" with the wife first. You know, to avoid any misunderstanding! LOL

However, I don't understand when people send me "stuff" requesting stuff back. Why? What's the point? And becoming fans of things? And honestly, I don't care to know what you are thinking or doing right now. It seems kind of silly. If I want to know, I will call you. What, you haven't gotten a call from asking what you are doing right at this very moment? It's because I don't care! LOL

I'm not trying to be rude, and if you enjoy all this stuff, more power to you. I just don't get it.

P.S. I do love the flair! There are some really funny ones out there!

Facebook

So, I finally joined Facebook. I don't know why, I just did. So if you are on there, add me as your friend! I only have 3 right now, and that makes me feel really nerdy! LOL

I am in love...

...with my new computer!!! Isn't it beautiful?! I would marry it if I could. Now, there is a story as to why I want to enter matrimony with a metal box. Come, let me share.

Five years ago we bought a new computer. I loved that computer as well, but I was more in love with the store we bought it from. Totally Awesome Computers. Remember Del Schanze, the freak with the even freakier commercials? Well, he knew how to run a business. We bought the computer there, and never paid them another dime. Got a virus? Bring it in and they would take care of it for you. For free. Got so much spyware that it takes 15 minutes to load up? They fixed it for free. Any problem I had, I knew I could just take it in and they would fix it for me.

And then, gasp! The unthinkable happened! They went out of business. Apparently Del went off his medication and shut down all 8 of his stores in one afternoon. Crazy! So we heard that PC laptops was honoring the lifetime service guarantee. So we took it there and they just weren't the same. They were pushy and tried to get us to pay for all these upgrades. I don't think so.

So over the last couple of years, my computer has been getting slower and s l o w e r and s l o w e r. To the point that when I was getting on the internet, I would bring a book to the desk with me because I would have time to read a page while it was loading. It was worse than dialup! And I have Comcast high speed! My dad figured out that it was running with 121 MB of ram. And if you are not computer savvy, just know that that is really slow!

We held off as long as we could, but it was affecting my work, so something had to be done. But where do we go? Who can we trust? We took part of our tax refund and we bought a computer from Office Depot, one that they had advertised for a really good deal. But the video card went out after 12 hours. We called manufacturer and they wanted us to ship it to them so they could fix it. It would only take a couple of weeks. Are you kidding me? We returned it.

So then we waited and tried to figure out what to do. The tax refund was gone and T lost his job (I still haven't found it, have you?). Then we got our tax stimulus payment, and I discovered http://costco.com/

Lovely, lovely site. You can customize your own computer! Start with a really basic unit and you can upgrade just about anything with several different levels at different prices. I upgraded to 4 GB of ram. That is fast! And Costco has concierge service for tech support should anything go wrong! And it was free shipping! And even if it wasn't, they will refund your shipping if you have to return something you bought online! How cool is that?

I received the computer on Tuesday, it's now Friday night. I have spent so much time reloading programs and music and pictures. But it's almost done and I love it. It is so fast!

Since I am already married, I guess we will just have to live together. But if we are going to be that personal, I need a name. I am stumped at what to call my wonder machine, so I would love your suggestions. So give me a name, any name. Because I am seriously leaning toward "Pete." And I really don't want to.