Tuesday, July 26, 2011
eBook Readers
I just last week ordered my first Amazon Kindle ebook reader. I've had Sony Readers for a few years and bought my first of them about the time the first Kindle (the one I have coming is the Kindle 3, new this spring) came out. I decided on the Sony then mainly because my brother had one he had been using for a year or so and could give me guidance on using it. The Sony is a good system but I think the Kindle is becoming the 800 pound gorilla in the ebook arena so I finally decided to join their ranks. I ordered it a week ago tomorrow (Wed July 20) and hoped they would ship out of Seattle as I'd get it right away, but instead it was shipped Fri from Kentucky. It arrived in Kent, WA yesterday via FedEx but they transfer it to US Mail which was done this morning. It think (hope) it will arrive tomorrow.
I've already bought some books from Amazon for it's format that are on the Amazon.com site and I will be able to download them right away when it arrives. I decided to pay the piper and buy the third in the series of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" which I had been holding out for the paperback version due out this fall. It was $12.99 from Amazon in Kindle format vs something like $28 as a regular hardback book. I've read the first two in this series and really look forward to this final installment. I'd love to read more as it is a fascinating series but the author, a Swedish gentleman, died from a heart attack shortly after he sent the manuscripts for the first three stories to a publisher, I think in 2004, so there won't be any more in the series.
Many of the books that I had bought for the Sony were from a source called Fictionwise.com which is now owned by Barnes & Noble. I had bought those books in their Multi Format category, which means they can be downloaded in different formats to fit different ereaders. For the Sony, I used .epub but .mobi is also available and that is a format the Kindle can read, so I've downloaded those in .mobi format and they are sitting on my computer hard drive, ready to move to the Kindle after it arrives.
Amazon also has Kindle reading software that can be downloaded for computers, laptops, tablets and even smart phones, so these books can be taken with you almost wherever you go. Amazon says the Kindle will hold about 3500 books in its memory and you can move them on and off the device as you read them, so it really is virtually unlimited. You can also create collections so that you have, say, all your mysteries in one collection, making them easier to sort and find.
Needless to say, I am hyped up waiting for this new toy to arrive and looking forward to playing with it. I just hope the date Amazon told me for shipping the book cover I've ordered isn't right. They said between Aug 31 and Oct 31. That is a long time to wait, although I sure can use the device in the meantime but will just have to be extra careful with it. Pat liked the idea so well that she also ordered a Kindle the day after I did and hers seems to be arriving at the same time. Her book cover will be purple, mine blue, whenever they come.
I've already bought some books from Amazon for it's format that are on the Amazon.com site and I will be able to download them right away when it arrives. I decided to pay the piper and buy the third in the series of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" which I had been holding out for the paperback version due out this fall. It was $12.99 from Amazon in Kindle format vs something like $28 as a regular hardback book. I've read the first two in this series and really look forward to this final installment. I'd love to read more as it is a fascinating series but the author, a Swedish gentleman, died from a heart attack shortly after he sent the manuscripts for the first three stories to a publisher, I think in 2004, so there won't be any more in the series.
Many of the books that I had bought for the Sony were from a source called Fictionwise.com which is now owned by Barnes & Noble. I had bought those books in their Multi Format category, which means they can be downloaded in different formats to fit different ereaders. For the Sony, I used .epub but .mobi is also available and that is a format the Kindle can read, so I've downloaded those in .mobi format and they are sitting on my computer hard drive, ready to move to the Kindle after it arrives.
Amazon also has Kindle reading software that can be downloaded for computers, laptops, tablets and even smart phones, so these books can be taken with you almost wherever you go. Amazon says the Kindle will hold about 3500 books in its memory and you can move them on and off the device as you read them, so it really is virtually unlimited. You can also create collections so that you have, say, all your mysteries in one collection, making them easier to sort and find.
Needless to say, I am hyped up waiting for this new toy to arrive and looking forward to playing with it. I just hope the date Amazon told me for shipping the book cover I've ordered isn't right. They said between Aug 31 and Oct 31. That is a long time to wait, although I sure can use the device in the meantime but will just have to be extra careful with it. Pat liked the idea so well that she also ordered a Kindle the day after I did and hers seems to be arriving at the same time. Her book cover will be purple, mine blue, whenever they come.
Labels: Books, Computers, eBooks, Internet, Software
Monday, January 24, 2011
Hi Blog World!
I am still around although I haven't posted anything for some time. I think this last December is the first month I've not put up something since I started this blog in Dec 2005. I don't have much to add here but will do a little updating.
Christmas came and went. My Navy son enjoyed a month long leave between his assignments and is now getting used to a new job in a new location. He had never been with Navy Air before so decided to try it this time. He likes the job and the people he works with but they hope to keep their house in another town that is too far away for a daily commute so are trying to resolve that issue. He may end up renting a small apartment in the new town for $500 - 600 a month just to have a place to stay during the week, then go home on the weekends. An unforeseen expense as he thought he would be able to get BOQ type housing during the week.
I started back to work. Sort of. I have been on the Citizen's Advisory Council for our local transit agency (SKAT) for a year and a half. It seemed to be a natural fit for a volunteer opportunity for me, what with my background in transit. Last month I was asked if I would be a passenger count surveyor over the year 2011. It is a paid position although just barely. I told them that I would as long as it was not enough of a job to make me fail retirement. I was assured it would be no more than ten hours or so a month, so I said I'd do it. I went on a test ride early this month and since then have done three on my own and it seems to be going pretty well. I will sure learn the local system this way!
Pat and I both bought Internet Tablets last month. We are not Apple people so bought two that run on the Android operating system. It has been interesting learning how they work. Pat asked the other day what they will do that our desktop and netbook PCs won't do and I said nothing. But they are easy to carry and fun to play with. Mine is a 10.1" by View Sonic, hers is a 7" by Archos. She thought the 7" would work better for her as it will fit in her purse. We don't have smart (Android) cell phones but that may end up finding its way to our house before too long. But again the question, Why?
I am ready for summer. We were told in the summer that this was to be a La Nina weather pattern year and it was supposed to be worse than the last one two years ago. That one brought us about two feet of snow around Christmas time and we usually don't have any snow. So far we have had the stuff three times but a lot less than 2' and none of them have lasted as long as it did then. Right now we are having way tooooooooo much rain and that has caused some river flooding as well as hillsides sliding down in places. Our Skagit River went about three feet over flood stage last week which caused minor flooding but it looks like cooler temps in the mountains (less snow melt) and less rain now have them receding. By Wednesday we are supposed to have sunshine and 50 degree temps although with the clear skies that temp will drop a little below freezing overnight. Sounds good to me. And when we look at what is happening weather wise in other parts of the world, we sure can't complain.
Christmas came and went. My Navy son enjoyed a month long leave between his assignments and is now getting used to a new job in a new location. He had never been with Navy Air before so decided to try it this time. He likes the job and the people he works with but they hope to keep their house in another town that is too far away for a daily commute so are trying to resolve that issue. He may end up renting a small apartment in the new town for $500 - 600 a month just to have a place to stay during the week, then go home on the weekends. An unforeseen expense as he thought he would be able to get BOQ type housing during the week.
I started back to work. Sort of. I have been on the Citizen's Advisory Council for our local transit agency (SKAT) for a year and a half. It seemed to be a natural fit for a volunteer opportunity for me, what with my background in transit. Last month I was asked if I would be a passenger count surveyor over the year 2011. It is a paid position although just barely. I told them that I would as long as it was not enough of a job to make me fail retirement. I was assured it would be no more than ten hours or so a month, so I said I'd do it. I went on a test ride early this month and since then have done three on my own and it seems to be going pretty well. I will sure learn the local system this way!
Pat and I both bought Internet Tablets last month. We are not Apple people so bought two that run on the Android operating system. It has been interesting learning how they work. Pat asked the other day what they will do that our desktop and netbook PCs won't do and I said nothing. But they are easy to carry and fun to play with. Mine is a 10.1" by View Sonic, hers is a 7" by Archos. She thought the 7" would work better for her as it will fit in her purse. We don't have smart (Android) cell phones but that may end up finding its way to our house before too long. But again the question, Why?
I am ready for summer. We were told in the summer that this was to be a La Nina weather pattern year and it was supposed to be worse than the last one two years ago. That one brought us about two feet of snow around Christmas time and we usually don't have any snow. So far we have had the stuff three times but a lot less than 2' and none of them have lasted as long as it did then. Right now we are having way tooooooooo much rain and that has caused some river flooding as well as hillsides sliding down in places. Our Skagit River went about three feet over flood stage last week which caused minor flooding but it looks like cooler temps in the mountains (less snow melt) and less rain now have them receding. By Wednesday we are supposed to have sunshine and 50 degree temps although with the clear skies that temp will drop a little below freezing overnight. Sounds good to me. And when we look at what is happening weather wise in other parts of the world, we sure can't complain.
Labels: Christmas, Computers, Family, Pat and I, Weather
Friday, April 30, 2010
Off on a road trip!
We are about to head off on a road trip to the Oregon Coast, to celebrate our third anniversary last Wednesday. It will be another trip in the Prius and over roads that don't include any high mountain passes so I expect our mileage will be pretty good. The best we have had so far was about 53 miles per gallon on the trip last October from Spokane, WA to Chelan, WA. I don't know if I'll be posting while on the road or not. We will take my new netbook laptop (that I am using now) and will be able to log on but I don't have photo editing software on this machine so will be limited in what I can do with photos until we get back home. My camera takes large files and I always reduce them in size as well as usually tweak each image a little before uploading them to my Flickr site. I use Flickr to host the photos that I put on the blog. I'll see how the photos look unedited and may try one or two, just to see how it does.
The three cats will be at home and cared for by one of Pat's daughters. We are not brave enough to risk taking even one of them on a car trip.
Okay, I've got lots to get finished today so will end this & get it posted.
The three cats will be at home and cared for by one of Pat's daughters. We are not brave enough to risk taking even one of them on a car trip.
Okay, I've got lots to get finished today so will end this & get it posted.
Labels: Computers, Our cats, Trips to see things, Wedding
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The new Netbook computer
I ordered my "new" computer on eBay on a Friday night. The seller shipped it the next day, Saturday, from Kentucky to me in Washington State and it arrived on Monday. I liked it from the start although the info posted on eBay said it had Windows 7 Starter Edition but it didn't- it came with Windows XP. I was planning to install Windows 7 Professional but it having XP made that a bit more complicated as you have to do a full install rather than being able to upgrade. And I had to wait for the external DVD drive that I ordered that Saturday from Amazon.com to arrive, which it did on Tuesday.
I like Toshiba brand portable computers so all of my newer ones have been that brand and these are no exception. Here are a few photos comparing the size of this computer with my regular laptop.
Here are the two of them on the table in our sunroom. The Netbook is on the left, the laptop on the right. You can see that there is quite a difference in their size.
Here they are open and running. The Netbook has a 10" screen and is running Windows 7 while the laptop has a 15" screen and runs Windows Vista. I will move the bigger machine to Win 7 before long as I really do like Win 7. As you can see I haven't yet changed the desktop photo from the standard Windows one on the Netbook. The photo on the laptop is looking downriver on the Wenatchee River about 6 miles west of Leavenworth, WA along US Hwy 2. I don't plan to keep a lot of photos on this new machine as it really isn't intended to do graphics and its internal hard disk is a fairly small 160GB size.
This view is looking down on the two of them. You can see that the keyboard on the Netbook has smaller keys and they are what I've heard called "chicklet" type keys. But, it does seem to be fairly easy to use. My main complaint about both machines is that I really don't like the touch pads for mouse control. The big machine has four USB ports so I just plug in a USB mouse to it. The little one has three USB ports but it also doesn't have a DVD drive, so two of those are used to plug in the exterior DVD drive that I bought. That only leaves one USB port clear. But, it also does have a Bluetooth system and came with a Bluetooth mouse, so I use it without tying up that one extra port. I don't use the DVD drive all the time, usually only when installing programs, so much of the time the two ports it uses are available, too.
A closer view of the Netbook. I do like its bright clear screen which is easy to use although much smaller than the big one I have connected to my desktop machine or even the one on the laptop. The battery in this little guy is a fairly large lithium ion battery that will give up to about nine hours use of the computer on a charge. That would be reduced if I have the DVD drive or an external hard drive hooked up and am using them a lot, but I don't think I will be doing anything with this PC where I will need either of those hooked up all the time.
So far I'd say that I like this machine. It is quite a bit smaller than a regular laptop so will be easier to carry while traveling and it's long battery life per charge should be a help, too. We will be going to the Oregon Coast for a week in May and I'll plan to take it along and give it a bit of a workout on that trip. The built-in WiFi works well and Win 7 makes it a breeze to connect to hotel servers. I may end up not keeping the bigger laptop although this sure won't replace my desktop computer.
I like Toshiba brand portable computers so all of my newer ones have been that brand and these are no exception. Here are a few photos comparing the size of this computer with my regular laptop.
Here are the two of them on the table in our sunroom. The Netbook is on the left, the laptop on the right. You can see that there is quite a difference in their size.
Here they are open and running. The Netbook has a 10" screen and is running Windows 7 while the laptop has a 15" screen and runs Windows Vista. I will move the bigger machine to Win 7 before long as I really do like Win 7. As you can see I haven't yet changed the desktop photo from the standard Windows one on the Netbook. The photo on the laptop is looking downriver on the Wenatchee River about 6 miles west of Leavenworth, WA along US Hwy 2. I don't plan to keep a lot of photos on this new machine as it really isn't intended to do graphics and its internal hard disk is a fairly small 160GB size.
This view is looking down on the two of them. You can see that the keyboard on the Netbook has smaller keys and they are what I've heard called "chicklet" type keys. But, it does seem to be fairly easy to use. My main complaint about both machines is that I really don't like the touch pads for mouse control. The big machine has four USB ports so I just plug in a USB mouse to it. The little one has three USB ports but it also doesn't have a DVD drive, so two of those are used to plug in the exterior DVD drive that I bought. That only leaves one USB port clear. But, it also does have a Bluetooth system and came with a Bluetooth mouse, so I use it without tying up that one extra port. I don't use the DVD drive all the time, usually only when installing programs, so much of the time the two ports it uses are available, too.
A closer view of the Netbook. I do like its bright clear screen which is easy to use although much smaller than the big one I have connected to my desktop machine or even the one on the laptop. The battery in this little guy is a fairly large lithium ion battery that will give up to about nine hours use of the computer on a charge. That would be reduced if I have the DVD drive or an external hard drive hooked up and am using them a lot, but I don't think I will be doing anything with this PC where I will need either of those hooked up all the time.
So far I'd say that I like this machine. It is quite a bit smaller than a regular laptop so will be easier to carry while traveling and it's long battery life per charge should be a help, too. We will be going to the Oregon Coast for a week in May and I'll plan to take it along and give it a bit of a workout on that trip. The built-in WiFi works well and Win 7 makes it a breeze to connect to hotel servers. I may end up not keeping the bigger laptop although this sure won't replace my desktop computer.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
iPad fever strikes
Okay, I like small portable computers and that new Apple IPad does look pretty good. I have been toying with the idea of buying a newer, smaller portable laptop, something smaller and easier to carry around than my 15" screen Toshiba laptop. I've been looking at those Netbook machines with their 10" screens and thinking that it would be easier to lug around and now that they have fairly large Lithium based batteries they do have a good long operating time on a charge- over nine hours or so depending on how many other things you also are powering on the battery.
Well, I really am not an Apple computer guy and from what I've seen on TV that IPad is mainly a toy, not something that you can also use for serious computing. With all this tumbling around in my brain and a strong wind & rain storm going on outside on Friday evening, I logged onto eBay. When I brought up Netbooks on their site, there was a coffee brown Toshiba NB205-N325BN computer that had only been used about four months and the guy replaced it with a desktop machine. In the meantime, he had expanded it's memory from 1Gb RAM to 2Gb and added a Logitech V470 Optical Bluetooth Mini Mouse with cases for the mouse and the computer.
He started the bidding by asking $99.99 but after 12 bids it was up to something like $275, not a bad price for a package that would probably cost at least $475 to duplicate. I couldn't resist putting in a bid for about $3 more than what had been bid but it was immediately overbid by someone else who had put in a higher bid that he was willing to pay than what was listed. I should also mention that when I first logged onto this auction, there was only four minutes left before it would be done.
With less than a minute left, I quickly decided that I'd be willing to pay up to $325 for this and taking out the $18.45 shipping charge, I entered a bid of up to $306.55 and punched the button with only a very few seconds left in the auction. Mine won for a price of $286.55 plus the shipping charges. The seller is in Elizabethtown, KY and he promptly shipped it via USPS Priority Mail on Saturday morning and it should arrive here tomorrow, Monday, in my mail delivery!
Here is a link to the Toshiba web site, right to their page for the Netbook computer that I have bought. Mine is the brown one. I'll get some photos after it arrives tomorrow and do another post before too long with my thoughts on the machine. It will take a little time before I'll have it fully operating as these machines don't have a DVD drive built in and the one I have on order from Amazon.com won't be here until probably the end of next week.
It is all Apple Computer's fault.
Well, I really am not an Apple computer guy and from what I've seen on TV that IPad is mainly a toy, not something that you can also use for serious computing. With all this tumbling around in my brain and a strong wind & rain storm going on outside on Friday evening, I logged onto eBay. When I brought up Netbooks on their site, there was a coffee brown Toshiba NB205-N325BN computer that had only been used about four months and the guy replaced it with a desktop machine. In the meantime, he had expanded it's memory from 1Gb RAM to 2Gb and added a Logitech V470 Optical Bluetooth Mini Mouse with cases for the mouse and the computer.
He started the bidding by asking $99.99 but after 12 bids it was up to something like $275, not a bad price for a package that would probably cost at least $475 to duplicate. I couldn't resist putting in a bid for about $3 more than what had been bid but it was immediately overbid by someone else who had put in a higher bid that he was willing to pay than what was listed. I should also mention that when I first logged onto this auction, there was only four minutes left before it would be done.
With less than a minute left, I quickly decided that I'd be willing to pay up to $325 for this and taking out the $18.45 shipping charge, I entered a bid of up to $306.55 and punched the button with only a very few seconds left in the auction. Mine won for a price of $286.55 plus the shipping charges. The seller is in Elizabethtown, KY and he promptly shipped it via USPS Priority Mail on Saturday morning and it should arrive here tomorrow, Monday, in my mail delivery!
Here is a link to the Toshiba web site, right to their page for the Netbook computer that I have bought. Mine is the brown one. I'll get some photos after it arrives tomorrow and do another post before too long with my thoughts on the machine. It will take a little time before I'll have it fully operating as these machines don't have a DVD drive built in and the one I have on order from Amazon.com won't be here until probably the end of next week.
It is all Apple Computer's fault.
Labels: Computers
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Problems with bad comments
Is anyone else but me having problems with junk type comments being posted on your blogs? I have the system set to require my approval on comments put onto posts that are older than what I have it set for and that is working pretty well but still more active than I think it used to be. Today I told it "No" on a couple of comments on an old post that were all in an Asian language and there was a fairly innocent looking one from Anonymous left on my current one that I really didn't think was from a real reader so I deleted it. I'd rather not have to turn on the thingy where those leaving comments have to type the graphic letters in order to leave a comment as I really think it makes it harder to comment, thus cutting down on the number of them that do get left, but I sure can see why people get pushed into doing that!
I have changed both Pat and my desktop computers to run on Windows 7 and I'll say that I really like the new operating system. It seems to be faster and easier to use than any of the previous editions. On both of our conversions I had to do a complete install of 7 rather than just an upgrade so it was a bit more complicated than an upgrade but like a friend said, it gives the computer a good cleaning out of some of that old stuff that is rarely or never used. Now I have to get our laptops done. So far it looks like most of the programs we use regularly will run under 7 although one of Pat's may not. It is a card making program that dates back to 2002 so being that it is as old as dinosaurs it is probably due to upgrade it, too.
My new bike is due to arrive at REI in Bellingham by tomorrow. Maybe I'll be riding it by this weekend. See how much of an optimist I am?
I have changed both Pat and my desktop computers to run on Windows 7 and I'll say that I really like the new operating system. It seems to be faster and easier to use than any of the previous editions. On both of our conversions I had to do a complete install of 7 rather than just an upgrade so it was a bit more complicated than an upgrade but like a friend said, it gives the computer a good cleaning out of some of that old stuff that is rarely or never used. Now I have to get our laptops done. So far it looks like most of the programs we use regularly will run under 7 although one of Pat's may not. It is a card making program that dates back to 2002 so being that it is as old as dinosaurs it is probably due to upgrade it, too.
My new bike is due to arrive at REI in Bellingham by tomorrow. Maybe I'll be riding it by this weekend. See how much of an optimist I am?
Labels: Computers, eBikes, Griping, Software
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Will Blogrolling come back?
I guess I have been tardy at updating things on my blog. Today I decided it was time to update some addresses that I have in my Blogroll, so tried to log onto their site. It seems they have taken it offline to change to a newer version and it sounds like it has been that way for a couple of months or longer. I don't know when or if it will come back, nor if it will be as a free service as in the past. Perhaps it is time for me to move to something different.
So, I am asking other Bloggers what are you using to list your contacts on your blog, in a form that allows those reading your blog to click on the listings and be taken there? I use Blogger so it does need to work there as I really don't want to try to change to another system at this point. Any suggestions?
So, I am asking other Bloggers what are you using to list your contacts on your blog, in a form that allows those reading your blog to click on the listings and be taken there? I use Blogger so it does need to work there as I really don't want to try to change to another system at this point. Any suggestions?
Labels: Computers, Griping, Internet, Software
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Installing Vista seems to have worked
The UPS delivery guy really surprised us by arriving at 18:45 hours last Wednesday night to deliver my package with Microsoft's Windows Vista Ultimate inside. It took two tries but I did get it installed on my desktop machine and it is working fine. Of course I have a lot to learn as it is different from XP. I have had Vista Home Premium on my laptop but haven't done very much with it in the past. This time I have had to get some new drivers (I never printed from the laptop so didn't need new printer drivers) and even the sound system driver that came on the CD supplied with my computer, that I just bought in mid-November, would not work. But the computer manufacturer did have what I needed online to download and it did the trick.
I have reinstalled quite a few of my programs and did have the data files backed up to both the internal D drive (two internal hard drives) and an external hard drive. About the only thing that is really going to take some time is getting Photoshop Elements Organizer up and running. I decided that there was a better way to organize my photo files on the hard drive so made those changes during this move. I didn't even try to reinstall one of the backups of my old albums as I'd have to go through all of the photos and reconnect them to the data files. I think it will be easier to just start over and re-enter all of them, then redo the tags and comments. But it will be quite a chore as I think there is something over 5000 photos and that is just in the album I made up since I've met Pat. The older one I may just reuse as I haven't changed many if any of those locations in the hierarchy of my hard disk.
We have been doing a few things in addition to working on resurrecting my computer. Yesterday we went to a before noon ($5 admission fee) showing of the movie, "Frost/Nixon." It is one that we've been waiting for and yesterday was it's first day in our town. It is good and that makes the second good movie we have seen recently in the theater, the other being Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino."
A couple of times a month some of the area musicians from the Washington Old Time Fiddler's Association meet at the Mount Vernon Senior Center, on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month, in the evening to jam. It is open to the public. This is something I've wanted to go see for quite awhile and we finally made it and will go back as these are fun.
Summer has not yet come to northwest Washington State. Not even Spring! Our forecast for tomorrow shows a high temp of only 32! I don't even want to think about the low, but it's in the lower 20s range. Then, if it is an accurate forecast, come Tuesday it will start warming up and probably get wet again, but we should be back to more normal temps. A week from tomorrow we are into February and then flowers should start blooming. It has to warm up for that to happen, doesn't it?
I have reinstalled quite a few of my programs and did have the data files backed up to both the internal D drive (two internal hard drives) and an external hard drive. About the only thing that is really going to take some time is getting Photoshop Elements Organizer up and running. I decided that there was a better way to organize my photo files on the hard drive so made those changes during this move. I didn't even try to reinstall one of the backups of my old albums as I'd have to go through all of the photos and reconnect them to the data files. I think it will be easier to just start over and re-enter all of them, then redo the tags and comments. But it will be quite a chore as I think there is something over 5000 photos and that is just in the album I made up since I've met Pat. The older one I may just reuse as I haven't changed many if any of those locations in the hierarchy of my hard disk.
We have been doing a few things in addition to working on resurrecting my computer. Yesterday we went to a before noon ($5 admission fee) showing of the movie, "Frost/Nixon." It is one that we've been waiting for and yesterday was it's first day in our town. It is good and that makes the second good movie we have seen recently in the theater, the other being Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino."
A couple of times a month some of the area musicians from the Washington Old Time Fiddler's Association meet at the Mount Vernon Senior Center, on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month, in the evening to jam. It is open to the public. This is something I've wanted to go see for quite awhile and we finally made it and will go back as these are fun.
Summer has not yet come to northwest Washington State. Not even Spring! Our forecast for tomorrow shows a high temp of only 32! I don't even want to think about the low, but it's in the lower 20s range. Then, if it is an accurate forecast, come Tuesday it will start warming up and probably get wet again, but we should be back to more normal temps. A week from tomorrow we are into February and then flowers should start blooming. It has to warm up for that to happen, doesn't it?
Labels: Computers, Entertainment, Software, Weather
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Computers - a Love/Hate relationship
My new camcorder arrived last Friday and I got its battery charged and actually took a short clip that evening in the living room at home. Boy, is it small in size. Then I wanted to see what it would look like in my new video editing software, Adobe Premiere Elements 7. I took my new software package to the computer room to install it on my desktop PC Saturday morning. That started out well but I soon noticed that it was trying over and over again (it tried 4 or 5 times) to set some value to a system program called .NET Framework. It then failed to install.
Let me back up a bit. Last November I bought a new desktop computer. I have not been a fan of the operating system Windows Vista (I have it on my laptop but haven't used it much) so I paid an extra $100 to get the new machine with Windows XP installed. It also came with a program that I wasn't familiar with called Move and a cable from LapLink, a company I've heard of that I think is primarily involved in designing & selling software/hardware systems that allow a user to keep his or her desktop computer and laptop in sync with each other as far as data used by the same program on each machine. But Move was supposed to move programs and data from the old PC to the new PC. Sounds good as anyone who has gone through the problem of getting a new machine all setup with the programs & data from the old one will know. I decided to try it.
Well, it worked, sort of, but after taking about ten hours to move my "stuff" I found that it all didn't move very well. Some programs and drivers wouldn't work so I ended up having to uninstall & reinstall many of them. At least I still had the data on the old machine. But there was one thing that balked and gave me the message that it had a conflict with a program called .NET Framework. It suggested that I uninstall .NET Framework, so I did, and then my old program worked fine.
I soon discovered that every time I turned the PC off my Auto Update tried to install two updates to, you guessed it, .NET Framework! I tried to reinstall that from the XP disk that came with the new computer but by then XP had updated itself from the Internet and I got the message that I was trying to install an older version to a newer one, so it didn't work. I tried to download the newer one online from Microsoft but their newest version failed to install. This was mainly just an irritant to me, something that slowed down turning my machine off. Until last Saturday when I tried to install Premiere Elements.
So, what to do. I tried a number of things, including the rescue disk that I made that didn't work, either. I even got out an old never before installed full copy of Windows XP that I tried to install, figuring that I'd have to setup all of my programs again and wait through many updates to the OS, but nothing worked. And then finally I got the infamous "blue screen," after which nothing worked. I couldn't boot up into Windows. The machine just wouldn't do anything.
Since then I have ordered a full copy of Windows Vista that is due to arrive tomorrow and I will again, with it, try to boot the machine from a DVD drive. Then I think I'll reformat my C drive, install the operating system and have to start over setting up all of my programs. At least I do have all of the needed data on both of two hard drives in addition to the C drive that will be wiped out by reformatting. I hope I can remember all of the passwords that the machine "knew" so that I didn't have to remember them!
Am I a happy camper (computer user)? No. I paid extra money for this machine to get it with XP, whereas I could have bought it for less with Vista in the first place. And now I am paying out more money to buy a full (I can't just use an upgrade version) copy of Vista. The good news is that all the programs I use plus any new ones that I will be buying in the future should work fine on Vista. I even have a couple of old DOS programs that I wrote and compiled that work on this laptop under Vista. Both my brother who is retired now but was a computer systems manager for our State and a good friend who is a Microsoft retiree have said that the bugs and problems with Vista have been worked out and it is now a stable platform. It is a little different from XP in appearence but I've learned that from using this laptop which came with Vista. I know that I will learn it and I guess I'll be better prepared for the future by having it on my machine. Maybe by the end of this week I'll be able to install and use Adobe Premiere Elements 7.
But it still bugs me.
Let me back up a bit. Last November I bought a new desktop computer. I have not been a fan of the operating system Windows Vista (I have it on my laptop but haven't used it much) so I paid an extra $100 to get the new machine with Windows XP installed. It also came with a program that I wasn't familiar with called Move and a cable from LapLink, a company I've heard of that I think is primarily involved in designing & selling software/hardware systems that allow a user to keep his or her desktop computer and laptop in sync with each other as far as data used by the same program on each machine. But Move was supposed to move programs and data from the old PC to the new PC. Sounds good as anyone who has gone through the problem of getting a new machine all setup with the programs & data from the old one will know. I decided to try it.
Well, it worked, sort of, but after taking about ten hours to move my "stuff" I found that it all didn't move very well. Some programs and drivers wouldn't work so I ended up having to uninstall & reinstall many of them. At least I still had the data on the old machine. But there was one thing that balked and gave me the message that it had a conflict with a program called .NET Framework. It suggested that I uninstall .NET Framework, so I did, and then my old program worked fine.
I soon discovered that every time I turned the PC off my Auto Update tried to install two updates to, you guessed it, .NET Framework! I tried to reinstall that from the XP disk that came with the new computer but by then XP had updated itself from the Internet and I got the message that I was trying to install an older version to a newer one, so it didn't work. I tried to download the newer one online from Microsoft but their newest version failed to install. This was mainly just an irritant to me, something that slowed down turning my machine off. Until last Saturday when I tried to install Premiere Elements.
So, what to do. I tried a number of things, including the rescue disk that I made that didn't work, either. I even got out an old never before installed full copy of Windows XP that I tried to install, figuring that I'd have to setup all of my programs again and wait through many updates to the OS, but nothing worked. And then finally I got the infamous "blue screen," after which nothing worked. I couldn't boot up into Windows. The machine just wouldn't do anything.
Since then I have ordered a full copy of Windows Vista that is due to arrive tomorrow and I will again, with it, try to boot the machine from a DVD drive. Then I think I'll reformat my C drive, install the operating system and have to start over setting up all of my programs. At least I do have all of the needed data on both of two hard drives in addition to the C drive that will be wiped out by reformatting. I hope I can remember all of the passwords that the machine "knew" so that I didn't have to remember them!
Am I a happy camper (computer user)? No. I paid extra money for this machine to get it with XP, whereas I could have bought it for less with Vista in the first place. And now I am paying out more money to buy a full (I can't just use an upgrade version) copy of Vista. The good news is that all the programs I use plus any new ones that I will be buying in the future should work fine on Vista. I even have a couple of old DOS programs that I wrote and compiled that work on this laptop under Vista. Both my brother who is retired now but was a computer systems manager for our State and a good friend who is a Microsoft retiree have said that the bugs and problems with Vista have been worked out and it is now a stable platform. It is a little different from XP in appearence but I've learned that from using this laptop which came with Vista. I know that I will learn it and I guess I'll be better prepared for the future by having it on my machine. Maybe by the end of this week I'll be able to install and use Adobe Premiere Elements 7.
But it still bugs me.
Labels: Computers, Griping, Software
Friday, December 12, 2008
Christmas parties and computers
Every year our community holds a Christmas Party for the residents on the second Tuesday of December. This was the third one for Pat and I to attend together and she was one of the table hosts. I don't have a lot of photos to post but here are a couple taken this year:
This shows the room before the party started. It is held in what we call the Mirror Room. The decorations and table settings were beautiful. There is enough room for eight tables, each set for eight to be seated. The party committee members prepared turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy while the other foods were brought by those who attended in potluck style. There was plenty of food.
Here the tables are filled with happy people, eating a great meal. The table in the foreground is the one Pat hosted and if you look carefully you can almost see her in the lower right corner of the photo. It was a fun evening and I think everyone was home by 21:00, after cleaning up.
I've fallen a bit behind on posting here but we have been busy. I've got my new computer up and working- I'm using it now to write this. I love the machine- it is very fast, even at downloading files from the camera memory cards. It came with a program called PC Move that involved hooking a special cable between the two machines through their USB ports that transferred not only data but program code and the necessary registry information. I have had some struggles to get some of the programs working and still haven't tried my two flight simulators. It may turn out that I'll want to remove them and reinstall each in order to have them work right. I did order the machine with Windows XP as I am not fond of Vista after fighting with it on my newer laptop. I've made the jump from Microsoft Office XP (2002) to MS Office 2007. It is a lot different but so far hasn't been as much of a problem as I was afraid it would be. You know the idea of trying to teach an old guy new tricks. Well, the menus are different but so far, even with MS Word which has more changes than about any other of the programs, they seem to be pretty obvious. I'd say that there are definitely some things I like better about it. I almost have my other computer ready for Pat to move to it, probably will have that completed by the end of this weekend. Now to go wrap some more gift packages.
This shows the room before the party started. It is held in what we call the Mirror Room. The decorations and table settings were beautiful. There is enough room for eight tables, each set for eight to be seated. The party committee members prepared turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy while the other foods were brought by those who attended in potluck style. There was plenty of food.
Here the tables are filled with happy people, eating a great meal. The table in the foreground is the one Pat hosted and if you look carefully you can almost see her in the lower right corner of the photo. It was a fun evening and I think everyone was home by 21:00, after cleaning up.
I've fallen a bit behind on posting here but we have been busy. I've got my new computer up and working- I'm using it now to write this. I love the machine- it is very fast, even at downloading files from the camera memory cards. It came with a program called PC Move that involved hooking a special cable between the two machines through their USB ports that transferred not only data but program code and the necessary registry information. I have had some struggles to get some of the programs working and still haven't tried my two flight simulators. It may turn out that I'll want to remove them and reinstall each in order to have them work right. I did order the machine with Windows XP as I am not fond of Vista after fighting with it on my newer laptop. I've made the jump from Microsoft Office XP (2002) to MS Office 2007. It is a lot different but so far hasn't been as much of a problem as I was afraid it would be. You know the idea of trying to teach an old guy new tricks. Well, the menus are different but so far, even with MS Word which has more changes than about any other of the programs, they seem to be pretty obvious. I'd say that there are definitely some things I like better about it. I almost have my other computer ready for Pat to move to it, probably will have that completed by the end of this weekend. Now to go wrap some more gift packages.
Labels: Computers, Events, Photos, Software
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Kite flying from our ocean RV trip
One of the things we did while at the ocean on our RV trip to Ocean Mist RV Resort at Ocean City, Washington last August was take our kites along and fly them. Here at home the winds seemed a bit fickle whenever we wanted to go kite flying but there is usually a steady breeze on the coast that comes off the ocean. The day these were taken was no exception.
Here is Pat flying my kite. Hers is a frog but my owl was up so I asked her to take its controls while I took some photos. This patch of grass is behind the RVs that were across the roadway from ours and between the RV park and the ocean itself. It was a great place for kites what with the steady wind, no trees nearby and plenty of open space.
A closer view of my kite. They are pretty inexpensive kites but actually fly pretty well when there is enough wind and it is fairly steady. I think she got them at Walmart for $5 each and that included the string. Pretty cheap fun!
My new computer that I ordered from Costco.com came last Wednesday. The monitor to go with it came a week sooner but it only came from California while the computer itself came from New Jersey. I ordered an extra 500GB hard drive and an extra DVD player/writer from Amazon.com and of course they came from different places and the HD didn't arrive until Monday this week. I only wanted to crack the case once so waited for both of them to arrive before installing either. I started setting it up on Friday, installed the two drives yesterday and finally got Microsoft Office 2007 installed last night and just today got Outlook setup with my addresses, past emails, etc. from the other machine. I have this new one sitting on a small RV table beside the other one but am about ready to swap the two machines. I'll put the other one on the laptop counter near Pat's computer to move her things to it, then put it in place on her computer desk. One of her daughters will take her old one home so all of them will be in use. I've now got enormous storage space with almost 2 terabytes of storage on hard disks, counting the external drives. What a change from 25 years ago when I first started playing with computers!
Here is Pat flying my kite. Hers is a frog but my owl was up so I asked her to take its controls while I took some photos. This patch of grass is behind the RVs that were across the roadway from ours and between the RV park and the ocean itself. It was a great place for kites what with the steady wind, no trees nearby and plenty of open space.
A closer view of my kite. They are pretty inexpensive kites but actually fly pretty well when there is enough wind and it is fairly steady. I think she got them at Walmart for $5 each and that included the string. Pretty cheap fun!
My new computer that I ordered from Costco.com came last Wednesday. The monitor to go with it came a week sooner but it only came from California while the computer itself came from New Jersey. I ordered an extra 500GB hard drive and an extra DVD player/writer from Amazon.com and of course they came from different places and the HD didn't arrive until Monday this week. I only wanted to crack the case once so waited for both of them to arrive before installing either. I started setting it up on Friday, installed the two drives yesterday and finally got Microsoft Office 2007 installed last night and just today got Outlook setup with my addresses, past emails, etc. from the other machine. I have this new one sitting on a small RV table beside the other one but am about ready to swap the two machines. I'll put the other one on the laptop counter near Pat's computer to move her things to it, then put it in place on her computer desk. One of her daughters will take her old one home so all of them will be in use. I've now got enormous storage space with almost 2 terabytes of storage on hard disks, counting the external drives. What a change from 25 years ago when I first started playing with computers!
Labels: Computers, Flying, Pat and I, Photos, RVing
