My Town Monday: McPherson Hospital
Wordless Wednesday: Spuernatural Phenomenon?
What do You do on the Computer? (A look at Netbooks)
I admit it. I’m on my (or at least ‘a’) computer most of the day. It’s my preferred location, reinforced by events such as today’s “Adventures in Lawn Mowing” wherein our hero ended up with an angry, buzzing lawn. (Okay, so my youngest bother was actually doing the mowing, but, man, there were a low of hazard-striped flying things stirred up! My lawn currently has a mohawk until the lawn does some anger management.)
While on the computer, I do a great variety of things. MSWord is my favorite and most used program. I nearly always have a document (or three) in prgress and open on my computer. Novels, assignments, scripts, and other projects are some of the things I do. I admit that mainly, I type. Not too much fancy, in spite off all the nifty things Word can do. I totally underutilize this great program. (It’s worse with Word2007!)
I also use Excel, PowerPoint, and Picture Manager at least once a week. I use Outlook daily. And Media Player regularly. And a couple other programs for specific purposes.
And of course, the Internet. I love the Internet. I love Google. And I have my list of favorite haunts, places to visit, things to read or enjoy. I could spend days on the internet.
The more I use my computer, the more likely I am to do things on the computer these days.
Now, one of the big issues with computers is what you do– this relates to what sort of computer you need. My brothers play games on their computer and thus require machinea with some guts and go power. I collect parts and cobble together a machine from “outdated” parts too slow for my brothers’ gaming needs. I need something that is fast enough to multitask since I never have less than three programs running. Something with space to store my projects. And good internet access.
One of the hot new trends is “netbooks” which are small laptop-type computers. They’re usually pretty small in size and guts. If you’re only using the computer for Internet, email, and the occaisional Office application, very well may be the most economical choice, rather than buying a regular computer or desktop. One of the things to make sure of is, if you type a lot, that the small sized keyboard is adequate. Nothing like a crappy keyboard…
Same as the Mac/PC debate, the most important factor is whether the computer does what you need it for. It’s not worth the money, even if it’s cheap, if the computer isn’t used regularly.
My Town Monday: Name Game
Livingston County, Michigan is what is knows as a cabinet county. It is one of 10 counties in Michigan named for then- President Andrew Jackson and members of his cabinet. There is a Jackson county.
Livingston County includes a town named Brighton. Many settlers to Michigan in the early 1830s were from New York, searching for new farm land. There is a Brighton, New York. Most likely Brighton, Michigan was named after Brighton, New York, as settlers often named their new towns after some aspect of their former residence. When I google anything for Brighton, I type Brighton mi to ensure I’m reading about the right town.
To the east of Livingston County, there is a city named Novi. There’s a cute story behind this name. Apparently, on the Grand River Trail between Detroit and Lansing, Novi was Stagecoach Stop Number 6. That was the only name this place had. It would get written using the shorthand for Number, which is No. and the Roman numerals VI. Get some one with sloppy handwritting, leave out a period and No.VI becomes… Novi.
In the southern part of Livingston County is a little hamlet named Hell. Yep. I live just north of Hell, Michigan. There’s several stories about how this town got it’s name, but the most common is that the guy who first settled there was approached by state officials asking what the name of the town was. Allegedly, the curmudgeonly old feller replied, “You can call it hell for all I care.”
Michigan also boasts such fun town names as Climax, Christmas, Paradise, Parshalville.
What fun town names do you have?
Visit the My Town Monday Blog for more links and to share your own town!
Friday Fun: Seven Stages of Grief Video
Me v. ActiveSync
Once upon a time, before Palms were big and Laptops were small, I purchased an HP Journada. It was an oversized handheld computer that ran WindowsCE with stripped versions of Office. And– the reason I picked this little device– it has a nearly-fully size keyboard.
I loved my little Journada. I named him Snoopy, referring to how the cartoon Snoopy would type away into the night atop his doghouse. And I would type away wherever I was.
The Journada had this “nifty” program called ActiveSync. In theory, it would convert all the WindowsCE versions of files to normal Windows versions. In realty, it resulted in much cursing and finally in me just saving all my files as RTFs and using a flash card to transfer the data. In these early days, ActiveSync was a little buggy and a lot slow. My main problem was that it would refuse to sync, even though nothing had changed in the day since I last cybernetically connected the two devices. It would refuse, refuse, refuse. I’d unplug, plug, curse, kick, pull out hair, beg, clickclicklclick, run the troubleshooter. Then, sometimes, magically, the two devices would connect and sync happily. Sometimes, not. Hence the use of the Flash Card instead. And I didn’t have to wait for the files to convert.
Eventually, I abandoned my Jornada. It was the dawn of Flash Drives and the Jornada just didn’t have the software to run off a flash drive. With a flash drive, unlike my compact flash card, I could take my files everywhere and always have them ready to go. So, the Jornada was put into a box and the ActiveSync bid a joyful farewell.
Until now.
ActiveSync is back on my computer. My new phone, which has Windows Mobile 6, includes ActiveSync for syncing calenders, contacts, documents and files. Well, it’s been a few years, so it can’t be as bad as it was. Heh. So I thought.
The good news is, after several hours and some internet research, my ActiveSync is happily installed and, so far, working as intended. Why so many hours? Because Microsoft Products don’t play well with Limited User. Yup. I run my computer in Limited User mode to reduce the chances of some data-munching or zombie-making virus. This is a Windows-included setting. But I couldn’t install or run ActiveSync on my Limited User account.
My web research (google: activesync limited user) found that in order to install the ActiveSync on my Limited User account, I have to turn the Limited User to Administrator, install the software, then switch the account back to Administrator. Really. Microsoft products… are the worst when it comes to playing nice with Limited User accounts. Which is probably why so many people run as Administrator.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I like Microsoft products. But I’m not going to pretend they’re perfect. Neither is the Hubby and I still keep him around. 😉
Word… to Go
I got a new phone this week. My graduation present for completing my graduate certificate. Decided to get a fancy one. Or rather, I fell in love with the idea of having Microsoft Word with me at all times. Everything else was secondary.
After all, my last cell phone is six years old.
I’ve never really been interested in the newest or fanciest gadgets. Even the iPhone didn’t impress me. Now, if someone had told me that I could have my MSWord with me at all times, that gets my attention.
I purchased the LG Incite. It runs Windows Mobile 6, with Mobile Word, Excel, OneNote, and a PowerPoint Viewer. It also has GPS and internet, but those require the data plan that I’m too cheap to buy. While there’s some coolness factor in looking up things online wherever and whenever (esp. to prove to Hubby that I am, indeed correct), it’s not cool enough for me to spend much money on. Esp. not $20 or $30 a month of what is, for the cell company, pure profit.
The phone has a camera and a full touch screen interface. It charges off USB and (eventually) AutoSyncs with my Limited User Windows XP Account. And in the first 12 hours, I had my phone crash. It mysteriously shut off and required a soft reset to even turn on. Weird. But then again, my old phone had a habit of randomly taking a vacation day. I’d go all day then go to check my missed calls and see that, oh, it was… off. Besides, it’s an electronic device. They require regular appeasement of the technology gods– along with a healthy dose of know-how.
So far, I love my phone and the possibilities. As a writer, the idea of always being able to write, no matter where I am, are just lovely. While I always carry a pen, I don’t always ever carry a purse. And finding places to write in a manner that’s legible compounds the problem. We won’t talk about how my handwriting, which wasn’t great to begin with, has degraded the more I just type things on the computer.
Oh– the other reason I like the Incite better than the iPhone? I’m a PC. 😉 Not a Mac.
My Town Monday: Dairy Queen
Posted: 23 Aug 2009 05:12 PM PDT There are four Dairy Queen locations in Livingston County.
I grew up about 5 minutes from the one in Hamburg. Unfortunately, since it was on a busy road and this was in the days before the Lakeland trail, so I wasn’t allowed to walk or bike there. Curses. This location has always been a Brazier, meaning they sell burgers, chicken, and other things along with their ice cream. (Well, one of my friends maintains that that it’s not “ice cream,” it’s “soft serve.” Anyway.) In downtown Brighton, there’s a Dairy Queen near the Mill Pond. When they put in the Tridge and the walkway along the edge of the Mill Pond, they wisely connected the Dairy Queen to the path. This seriously cut down on young folks hopping the cemetery fence to reach the sweet treats. This Dairy Queen has room for about 10 cars in it’s parking lot and a drive-through with room for about half that before it starts backing up on Grand River. In the summer, it’s best to park by the Mill Pond and walk. And it’ll burn off those Blizzard calories. Hartland has a DQ as well, on the main drag. This is the only local DQ that I have not been to. But, overall, the best Dairy Queen ever is the Howell location. This Dairy Queen is located in an old building on the corner, beside the county Courthouse. The building was constructed in 1889 and may have been a druggists shop. Then later it was a jewelers. Then a druggist again. Then a shoe shop. Some where along the way, it became a Dairy Queen. Inside is small with just a couple tables. And sitting there, you look out on the lovely streetscape of a historic town. Across the street was Howell’s hotel. As I mentioned last week, the county Courthouse lawn is often home to concerts and other events. Howell’s farmer’s market is nearby. It’s right in the downtown, where the shops, the Howell movie theatre, the opera house, and only a few blocks from the library. It’s a popular place. But my favorite part is the architecture. In fact, I love the architecture in down town Howell. I mean, look at the sloping ground… I love how the building kind of shifts at ground level to step down the hill! They don’t make ’em like that anymore. Check out the My Town Monday site for more links. And feel free to joins us– share your town! |
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