Bogieblog

Electronically Challenged no Longer

I spent most of the day on the road today. I had taken it off to use up a vacatin day without any idea of what I would do. Then I ended up having to have a medical appointment, so I left this morning at 8:30 for that. I accomplished that, stopped at WallyWorld and Where the Pets Go, to pick up a few things. I also had to pick up my dead laptop along with the backup hard drive that the contents had been transferred to. The old laptop was in Concord, I was in Amherst and right across the street from Staplers.

So, I stopped in and looked at laptops. I really miss being able to listen to the news while doing computer related work, so thought maybe I could find a deal. I did. I found an HP Pavillion (that is what the old laptop was) with a big discount. I also needed Office and Antivirus, so I got to dickering with the sales guy. Office, I got on discount because I got it with a computer, I also got a discount on a triple pack of Antivirus for the same thing. However, I didn't need for multiples (I had renewed my subscription on the other computers recently) and told him that although it was only a $10 difference, I didn't like it. Then, he said I also could get a $40 discount because I have a Stapler's reward card.

SOLD. He had issues getting the system to take in the multiple discounts for the Antivirus, but finally got it to 5 cents less than he had quoted me. SCORE! I also saved by installing the software myself. So I was really happy with what I got.

I then headed to Concord to pick up the old laptop and the backup. When I got there, I discovered that the salesman at Staplers had not given me my credit card back. Fortunately the charges for retrieving the info off the HD wasn't too much so I just used my debit card. Once that was taken care of, I called up Staplers and explained how I lived miles away and it was a huge inconvenience to spend another  hours on the road to go back and get the credit card.

Whining works - they gave me a $20 certificate for my troubles.

Yeah, I spent a lot of extra time on the road that I could have used doing other things (mowing, stacking wood - neither which have been done in 2 weeks), but the extra credit doesn't hurt as a soother in that regard. Plus, since I was in Concord when I discovered the issue, and not at home, I spent less time than I could have (not to mention mileage and gas).

I finally got home about 4:30, took care of animals and household chores, then settled down to set up the laptop. I immediately took it out of Windows 8 mode and set up the wireless network. Then loaded software, transferred some files off my zip drive, and set up for wireless printer use. Guess what I computer I am typing this post on?

All in all, I would call it a lucky, and good day!

My Lucky Week

I've had a run of good luck in the last week, so thought I would share them:

1. Read in the Sunday paper that by downloading the DD app, I could get a free small coffee. I was totally in - and it worked!
2. Went to buy a coffee maker last weekend. I have never owned one, WS never liked the smell of coffee, so I just bought coffee on weekends (the only days I drink coffee at home. So I went store to store looking, but not finding the perfect size, type etc. Finally went to Sears, and was looking at their large selection, when I found one that was acceptable. It was $34 and I was trying to justify the cost to myself (never mind that that is only about 17 weeks worth of coffee - well, more adding in the cost of the grounds). As I was standing there, an Associate walked up and put at sale price sticker of $17 on it. Woohoo - my lucky day! Needless to say the coffee pot came home with me.
3. After breaking my brand new phone back in July, and buying a refurbished on (at more than 1/2 off the price of repair), I have two batteries. That is great, for when the phone runs thru the juice more quickly than I want, but that still meant my useable phone was on the charger a lot. Then early last week I asked myself, "I wonder if the broken phone works well enough to use as a charger for the spare battery?. To my delight - it did, and does. Now I can change out batteries and not have to chain my phone to a charger!
4. Yesterday I went to Staples and bought an external hard drive to back up my desktop (Yes DCE - I had been thinking the very thoughts you and Cop Car expressed). I also bought it before taking my dead lap top to an independant computer guy. I didn't neccessarily want the thing fixed, but wanted to see if I could get the pictures off the hard drive. To make a long story short, he called me up last night saying he had bad news and good news. The bad news was the mohterboard was fried and at 7 years old, he wouldn't suggest trying to replace it. The good news, was of course, was that he was backing up the hard drive to the new external hard drive, so all my stuff is saved! He also gave me a list of suggested laptops to look at for replacement, based on what he DOESN"T see at his shop. It did not include HP, which makes me sad because that laptop had been a rock and really, I got way more life out of it than anyone (especially the computer guy) could reasonably expect. So, since I am getting the pictures back, I am counting that as totally good luck!

That is 4 in a row, in a week's timespan. I am definitely on a roll. Hope it continues!

Whatever Can go Wrong . . .

I had a pretty good week, so naturally the fates decided to take me down a peg. The laptop died tonight. Used it last night to reconcile all the accounts (personaly and household), but decided not to back up. Also, it holds the majority of pictures - some backed up, some not. Went to start it up tonight, and lo and behold, it doesn't get past checking the CD drive, then it shuts itself down.

I'm so used to shit going wrong this summer that I didn't even get upset. Thought a couple of swear words, but that was it. Will have to take it to the shop next weekend and see if anything can be salvaged. Can't do it tomorrrow as I am going to NASCAR race. Even that isn't going as planned (although better than it could). I was supposed to go with Jimmy and Justin (the kid across the street that takes care of the animals when I need it). Jimmy had to cancel Thursdaynight.

Justin got his phone taken away for bad grades. the only reason his parents are letting him go to NASCAR with me is because they don't want me going alone. Nice of them, but not necessary.At least we will have lots of room; I have 4 tickets and only 2 of us going. Also, have 2 pit passes so Justin and I will still have a great time. Oh, and it is supposed to rain until about noon tomorrow, which may mean I just eat the tickets with nothing to show for it if the rain decides to stay (not supposed to, but the way things turn out for me . . .)

A well, another day in paradise with my mantra being tested (and so far not on the winning side).

First Full Day of Leisure

My first full day off from work actually worked out well. First, I went to get all my books and stuff from my former employer as I had my bike yesterday and couldn't fit it all on (especially the flat screen monitor I had bought for the laptop they gave me - yes, it was mine, they didn't reimburse me for it). I woke up around my regular time, but took my time and left about 30 minutes later than usual. Would have sworn I was moving an entire appartment's worth of stuff - had 4 boxes, a bag of workout gear and two shoe boxes (oh, and the cooler of food). Tells you how much time I spent there I guess.

The old desktop was 10 years old and groaning and grinding something terrible, and I was afraid that it wouldn't last much longer, so I ordered a new computer last week. I had recieved the new computer, a refurbished higher end HP Thursday, and prior to the lay off I didn't know when I was going to find time to migrate all the stuff from my old computer plus install all the new software (Office and Antivirus plus drivers for printer and wireless mouse/keyboard). So, I spent a lot of today getting it all set up. Just in time for Monday, when I will be filing for unemployment and hitting the interwebz in search of a job.

Also, now have time to take Tory to the vet for his annual physical (I made the appointmet today; he'll go in Tuesday), and I ordered oil as the tank is darn near dry. We figure prices are as low as they'll get, so might as well fill it up. All that and two loads of laudry done, on the line, and folded/hung after they got dry.

Probably won't have time to post this weekend, so wanted to update all as to a few of the doings around here.

Bother

Why does Norton's insist on telling me whe the CPU has high useage from Interned Explorer? If I am using a good percent of my CPU resources, I don't need a program to use even more of those resources to tell me I am looking at several content rich pages. Thanks, I knew that, that is why it is so slow. Quit slowing me down even further!

Kindle Fire Price drop?

Is Amazon set to drop Kindle Fire price to $149?.

Dang, I bought a refurbished Kindle Fire about a month ago for just slightly less than that (and let me tell you, the refurb's do not stay in stock long - I missed out the first offering I heard of). I certainly would have bought a new one for that price.

Future Style

You've seen them in futuristic movies, you've seen limited use in commercials. Pretty soon, I'm guessing, they'll be in general use; glasses that make our electronic gadgets hands free. That means we can take photographs while driving or carrying in the gorceries, without holding a camera, phone or other device. People will be making phone calls, writing in their diaries (or blogs), adding items tp their grocery and to-do lists, all thru the use of these glasses.

I don't kow whether to think that it's a great invention that will keep us from having pocket loads of stuff with us, or to be totally aghast at what is going to be distracting drivers and people walking the aisles in the grocery stores.

Blogger Book Sale

Forgot to mention that John Eddy (part time blogger on Weekend Pundit) has a special price on the Kindle/Nook versions of Methuselah's Daughter for only 99 cents. I downloaded my copy from Amazon (I can read such things off my phone when in line at the store) - I would assume you can download your copy from whatever is your favorite retailer. Really, for 99 cents, you can't go wrong.

I'm unsure of how long this special will last, so download today to ensure you get the best price and help him raise money for insurance for his youngest.

Face Booking It

I created a Face Book acount 5-6 months ago as I wanted to see some pictures from a friend, and I couldn't without being a member. In my first post there, I explained what I was doing, and I would be doing all my posting on my blog.

Thursday I got on to my FB account for only the second time and found that I had friend invites from 5 people (all of them months old). All were from family members and friends, so I accepted, finally.

And before you ask, no, I didn't get the emails telling me of the friend requests. Why? Because I gave them another email account that is only used by that - something I didn't think I ever needed to monitor. So now I guess I have to monitor that one too - 3 email accounts I have to keep up with. Fortunately my phone has several different email programs; I didn't like either of the 2 that came with it, so downloaded K-9 Mail, which is what I use for my normal, every day, email (you can get it thru the Android Marketplace too). I don't really have to monitor the blog email, so that is done thru the desktop anyway. I set up one of the crappy mail apps that came with the phone for the FB mail account so I don't miss anything important.

So, now I guess I need to post to FB every once in a while. Somehow I just don't get their layout at all. I had one conversation from my SIL (she asked me a question) and I couldn't for the life of me find it on the site. I finally had to respond from the email I got - and FB is the poplular method of communication why? Blogs seem so much more user friendly and intuitive.

Guess I'm just showing how flexible I am not.

Sometimes They Do Listen

The local radio station hasn't advertised the IHeartRadio app for several weeks. This morning, on my way in to work, they started advertising it again. I figured that meant that they had a new version out, so I went to the app download page and saw that it is up to version 4.0.2, with "bug fixes", and downloaded the app.

Clear Channel must have gotten enough negative feedback that they performed bug fixes because this time it is working. Haven't used it but a couple of minutes (am listening to it now), so can't say it works as well as the old version did, but it is a huge leap forward over the version I couldn't get to load at all!