I Learned Something Yesterday - My Own Christmas Carol

Lately I have been feeling blue about the short days, the economy and I think I am watching too much NEWS! The stock market is down, unemployment and crime is up, the list goes on.

The holidays are to be such a joyful time, yet I always feel somewhat depressed about them. This year my brother and his family join us - the first time in 13 years and tho I am excited, I still am feeling the pressures around me. Recently, something changed my outlook... at least for a while.

I went to a funeral yesterday. 3 days before Christmas. It was for a woman, (58 years old). Her name is Deb and I knew her years ago. Her husband, brother-in-law and I trained dogs together. I went to the service specifically, because her sister is also a dear friend of mine. (Sounds all tangled up, one of those 6 degrees of separation things, I guess.)

For 29 years, this woman fought a battle with MS and even when she was admitted to a hospice facility, her body still wanted to fight the fight, but finally her tank was empty and she slipped away.

Now that part is the sad part, but here is the part where I learned something-perhaps "Ebeneezer" (and Deb) were watching over me!

The service was a Catholic Mass, to which I am unaccustomed and wasn't actually clear on what was coming next. During the service, a good friend of Deb's delivered thoughts and shared experiences from their long friendship. Of course it made us all cry, though none of us were there to share in those times, personally, I connected on my own.

I have a circle of friends and I could identify with her friends' feelings. I could place myself within her warm words of memory with one or many of my close friends & family. I could feel how very special those times experiences in my life that I have shared with my friends and are so grateful to them for being part of my life. If any of them are reading this, know that you have made a difference to me and my life would not have been as full without you in it. Thank you to all my dear friends & family, those far and wide for making my life a special journey with laughs, hugs and moments to grin about even when things can seem like they aren't going my way!

I know this the title of this blog is "Techno Trapped In my 40's" and this REALLY isn't advice about technology challenges, but in a way it is.

Don't let the "Technology Scrooge" get in the way of what is valuable. TURN OFF THE NOISE IN YOUR LIFE and look around - get real (sorry Dr. Phil), stop and think what is meaningful for the long haul.

Christmas (or whatever you own brand of holiday celebration may be) needs to remind us about family, friends and the real things that are important. Cherish these times, cherish each other.

And make a toast "To Absent Friends."
(Thanks Deb for the reminder.)

"It's the economy, stupid!"

Is a quote uttered by Bill Clinton in 1992 in his presidential bid against Bush. (The first one!) Here it is 16 years later and we are in the soup again. We are all worried about unemployment and how our businesses will be effected. If you own your own, the sleepless nights become more frequent. Or the time lying awake is longer. (I have lots of experience and I am peri-menopausal !!)

So much we worry about we cannot control, and especially if you are in your 40's like me, your life is full of demands of work, family, dogs, school, whatever it is, it gets piled on the top of it all.

So let's think for just a moment of some things you can do to feel empowered rather than to feel helpless.

If you are currently employed and work for someone else, TAKE INVENTORY.

Taking Inventory of those items on the computer you work at in the office, phone numbers, contacts, passwords for any of YOUR OWN social networking sites like linked-in, etc. Often these passwords are saved in your company computer and you may not remember what they are, the computer there just remembers them for you.

DO NOT USE company email addresses as a sole contact mechanism for sites to "confirm password" back to - if you are "downsized" and lose that email address, cannot get into sites to update your profiles, the "password reset" message will go back to the email you provided and it may be that one at your work - in this case you don't work there anymore!

Make sure your resume is saved off and and deleted from the system and there are no traces of personal information on the company systems-period.

If you have all ready "fallen victim" to the economy ax, then hopefully you did this all ready.

Going forward, one of my new Compadres on Twitter just got downsized himself and one of his recent blog posts reminded me of something. Standard Classified Newspaper Help Wanted Ads are not the way to go. First off let me say, if you don't have a job, bookmark Dave's blog because he is very funny and will give you some comic relief, especially if you are in the same boat. If you do have a job, visit rhodester.net anyway. He has a unique perspective, even if he is a cat person!

Nationally, Monster.com is the most recognized website to look at. More locally in Maine, JobsInMaine.com is one we have as well as some of the newspapers have even decided to have their own (usually under a different name), but you can GOOGLE a term as simple as "Looking for a job in (my state)" and you will be surprised what you will find. For the employer, these sites are often more economical than traditional newspaper classifieds. So all the more reason they are more popular.

Finally, yesterday the Today Show had a segment on 7 Ways to Make Money, How To Give Yourself a Holiday Bonus. Some of the ideas I thought were silly, but some were really good. I thought I would pass on the link as well as a few of these, if anyone missed it. If you are interested in making money with Focus Groups and part of the Twitter community, look for FocusGroups and you will get a tweet everytime they update. If you dont participate in Twitter, here's another reason you should. Follow Me and I can help!

There is a blog that you can go to for Focus Groups, click here and you will go there, but you have to remember to do that on your own, with Twitter, it tells you automatically.

So take some stock in YOU and take control of what you can, it will give you piece of mind!

Save money with "Comparison" shopping sites?

I got an email from a reader that asked me what I thought about comparison shopping websites and of course whenever I (or anyone else) can save money, my initial answer was, "I'm all for it!"

Since I really never used a comparison shopping website myself, I needed to look into some before blogging about the subject. After a bit of research my NEW answer is, "I'm for it, but for godsake be careful and pay attention."

Comparison shopping websites, I experimented MOST with pricegrabber.com and google.com/products, as well as these seem to be the most popular with those I have spoken to that comparison shop online often.

Here are a few guidelines I would use when using any of these types of portal shopping sites:

1. Take the time out to shop and read descriptions.

Getting a bargain has a price to it and that is TIME. Don't be in a rush, because it is likely you will be disappointed. How much money are you saving if you have to send the item back?

2. KNOW EXACTLY what you are “searching” for, aka the product you want to BUY.

Have all your specifics in hand, size, color, specifications whatever you can because any Portal shopping site, (this includes eBay) will serve you up whatever you ask for and MORE! If you choose to sort from lowest price to highest price, don’t get too excited! I was looking for a flat screen computer monitor and was extremely excited with one I saw for $59.95, the manufacturer was the right one and I was thrilled only to read on to see it was a glare screen for a flat screen monitor!

3. Understand WHO is actually SELLING the product. And WHO you are paying.

On some portal sites you jump right off that site and onto the sellers site and it is obvious. Some not so much! When you “check out” your confirmation as well as the confirmation on your credit card should read consistently with the online store you purchased it from. Unless you actually "CHECK OUT" on the portal site, it wont be the name of the portal site from where you started in the first place.

So keep track of where you are and who you are buying from – print the confirmation receipt for sure!

4. If you want FIRST quality, make sure it IS FIRST quality.

This goes back to the “make sure you have enough time to bargain shop.” Lots of bargains are easy to find if there is a “slight imperfection” and those are often difficult to “see” what that means through your computer screen.

5. User Comments are helpful.

Pricegrabber.com doesn’t have a feedback mechanism for user comments or experiences where google.com/products does. This objective feedback helps clarify the product as well as the experience of using the vendor.

I hope this helps and thanks for the question – again I don’t say “don’t do it.” I just say “do your homework” and you can save lots of money!

Cell Phone Battery ABUSE...Are YOU guilty?

I asked Paul-Hilchey Chandler of Central Maine Wireless to speak at my Marketing Class at the New England School of Communications, (which is part of Husson University) in Bangor, Maine last week.

Paul is my "Wireless Communications GOD!"
I count on him for everything. Like:

• Tell me my plan isn't right so I can save money,
  
• Helping me because I "lost my phone."
• Letting me know what technology I need and what I can live without because he knows I'll never use it.

Even though his presentation focused on how cell phones and other hand held devices are used in social networking, he also talked about cell phone and battery "health."

He had 5 things that even got the attention of my class of "20-somethings...."

HOW TO KILL YOUR CELL PHONE BATTERY...Cell batteries cost REAL MONEY!

#5. Not turning your phone "OFF" if you are in an area where reception is "if-y" - the cell phone is going to try over and over again to find a signal. EVEN IF you don't need to make a call - it doesn't matter. The phone still tries to find a way, thus your battery goes dead trying.

This also applies to those fancy bluetooth devices. (Hands Free things that hang on your ear) If you keep your bluetooth connection running even when you aren't using your bluetooth, the phone is trying to make a connection even when you don't need to. Draining your battery more quickly, requires charging more often.

#4. Never turning your phone "OFF" - ever. He mentioned we should do this once a week. Your phone and its battery needs to rest. Just like YOU do, turning the phone OFF overnight is helpful just to let it rest and regroup.

#3. Not letting your battery drain completely. It is good to let it go down as far as you are comfortable before turning off and charging. A few years ago I asked a different cell phone person about the NEW battery type in my NEW phone and was told it wasn't required to completely drain - well, apparently after a few years of history, that isn't the case, while it doesn't react so severely as the old batteries did, they still need to get into the RED ZONE before charging for optimal life.

#2. Not turning off your cell phone while it charges, while at home or in the car. The charging activity creates heat and it charges (as well as putting less stress on the battery itself) better while the phone is off.

#1. Talking on your cell phone WHILE charging it in your car charger. Apparently, this is the BIG BAD DADDY of killing a battery. I must confess, I do it all the time and I see people in their cars doing it, so I am not alone. The car charger is a kind of "fast charge" thing that heats the battery up even more than your home charger. If you have the phone "ON" or worse are talking on it while this is happening, it damages the battery and shortens its life.

A really good rule of thumb is the next time you feel your cell phone feeling warm, remember that isn't the phone, it is the battery. If the battery is warm, it needs a break, so turn off the phone and give it one!

Christmas Cards

A few months ago I wrote a post about storing and sharing photos. Click here to check it out again, it is a good intro to what I am going to expand on this post.

Again I am going to talk about photos. First I want to remind all of you to think back to when you actually printed off a bunch and made an album out of them. Most of us just slide them off to someone in an email and then hope that if they really want the printed version, they print it themselves- PHEW! You are off the hook!

But it is Christmas or Holiday time, excuse my reference is not meant to offend, we celebrate Christmas at my house that is all.

As I mentioned previously, I have been using webshots as a storage service and sharing service primarily. I don't know when they started offering cards, mugs, mousepads, etc. but they do have it and I must say I missed it.

Last Sunday (Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving) I designed my own Christmas Card for the second year through shutterfly.com. I was happy with the service last year and the quality was terrific. This year with the economy the way it is, if you cut back on sending out holiday cards, cut out going to the local Hallmark store and buying just "any old" card, or believe that people don't get through those family letters you may be eager to send!

Go to Shutterfly and you can very easily do it yourself. With your photo and your design, you pick from some templates-plop your photos in, retry if it isnt what you think it should be and then approve the proof. You can save it in a draft form and finalize whenever you want!

Surprisingly, these cards are a lot cheaper than the plain old (yes pretty- but not customized) Christmas Card. Building a house, or remodeling? Have photos of a vacation, pets or kids to share? These make wonderful memories for your friends & family to see. I also made some calendars with my photos of sunsets from our camp overlooking the water that would give some family (that moved away) some relief from stress at work. They were very reasonable - like $15.99 or something! It is a custom gift and when we all agreed to cut back on Christmas this year, I wanted to make sure that each gift was unique and special - Shutterfly helped me do that - WHO KNEW?

AND I told you it was last Sunday I placed the order? They arrived on Tuesday (2 days later!) and that was standard shipping and they looked just the way I wanted them to. I even have half of them addressed!

I recommend Shutterfly and Webshots because I use them. I know there are many other services out there, so if you have an experience to share, please comment and let us know, we would love to hear it!!

Watch those gift cards...

If you have them, cash them in now, if you are thinking of giving them for Christmas, make sure the store will be open AFTER you give THEM your cash!

Interesting that stores like Sharper Image & Talbots will close ALL stores. So please make sure when you spend your "hard earned" you spend it in a place where your family can redeem it!!

My niece sent this to me!
It seems there are lots of stores that are closing due to the "recession" and the fact that people are not shopping. If you have any "gift cards" from these stores, make sure you use them, or you will lose them !

Here is a link to a well known website that helps "smoke out" what is 'fact or what is crap!'
Here is another link.

Watch those store money cards and gift cards.. and credit slips! Stores that informed the Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

• Circuit City stores... most recent (? how many)
• Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered
• Lane Bryant,, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close - 150 store nationwide
• Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
• Cache will close all stores
• Talbots closing down all stores
• J. Jill closing all stores
• GAP closing 85 stores
• Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
• Wickes Furniture closing down
• Levitz closing down remaining stores
• Bombay closing remaining stores
• Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.
• Whitehall closing all stores
• Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
• Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
• Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ (New Brunswick)
• Macys to close 9 stores after January
• Linens and Things closing all stores
• Movie Galley Closing all stores
• Pacific Sunware closing stores
• Pep Boys Closing 33 stores Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores
• JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
• Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
• Wilson Leather closing down all stores
• Sharper Image closing down all stores
• K B Toys closing 356 stores
• Loews to close down some stores
• Dillard's to close some stores.

PS. Interestingly enough I received an email from the PR Department at Home Depot and I asked if I could post their reply and here it is!

"Hi Kelly –
I work for The Home Depot and I saw the post about store closure rumors. This is old information (at least the part about Home Depot is). We announced the closing of 15 stores back in May, these stores have been closed for at about 6 months now and their communities are well aware and have planned accordingly. Please clarify for your readers – Thanks!"

Boy am I feeling pretty cool that the folks from Home Depot are using social media to stay in touch! Says something good about them, don't you think?

HELP! I don't know what is wrong with my computer?

The other day I was at a political event (imagine it was early November!) and a young woman I knew came up to me and told me she loved my BLOG!! I always get excited when someone tells me that, it makes me feel like I am helping someone.

This blog is about giving out some advice from the point of view of a late blooming baby boomer (maybe I should say, late - exploding!) and the challenges we face trying to stay in step with technology. If you have some advice or comments post them here, or email me, I would love to hear from you.

Back to my friend at the political event...her mom often calls her and asks for help because something weird has happened with her computer. This has happened to all of us. Not only is it frustrating to YOU because you cannot make your computer work, but you have to explain to a person that truly WANTS to help and cannot really SEE what is going on. So everyone gets a little short tempered!

Here's her answer !
A free application called, www.logmein.com

The free version, is a very simple remote-control type of assistance...the person that you designate as your helper, can simply view your desktop and help you....just like they were sitting next to you. They see what you see.

VERY IMPORTANT ADVICE that she gives me about this is that you DO need to trust the person who has the ability to access your computer since they can log into your computer at anytime it is turned on. It's not like you hand over controls or anything, it's an "always on" when your computer is on line.

If you need something more robust, my friend has purchased her own "PRO" version and spend s12 a month to use that so she can transfer files between her home computer and her work computer.

For her, she says it saves a TON of space and instead of weekly file backups and the time to transfer files (much less the times that you didn't think you needed access to that file you worked on), between work and home. She can easily select the one or two files from one computer and transfer them to wherever she is - without having to copy everything back and forth between hard drives or carry a silly stick with files on it around her neck.

This is a great idea! And a helpful tool for sure. I like the idea of being able to test out the free version and then make the decision if you want or need the other features.

If there is something you use and you want to tell us about it, we would love to hear it!!

HELP THEM, HELP YOU!

My friend Kelly (it is amazing to me how many Kelly's I know!) sent me this in an email and I thought it was worth sharing with all of you.

Since this blog is really focused on the sharing of technology (when it makes sense) in a non-technical way. Picture this, your child is in a car or snowboard accident and they are unconscious. The "first responder" or EMT goes through the cell phone in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and they have no idea the codes your kid may have for you or another relative that could give medical consent or need notification.

This is so simple and if using this EMT speak helps them when you cannot do it yourself to say to them, "John is my point of contact in an emergency and here is his number."

It costs nothing and it is a great idea - especially on your kids phones!

Paramedics are asking that everyone add at least one additional entry to their cell phone contacts list. Please add an ICE entry. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency.

This number should dial the person in your family that can respond to medical decisions if you (or your child) is injured or needs assistance.

If there is an accident, paramedics know to check cell phones for emergency contact information. Imagine taking a look and trying to figure out who to call out of the twenty (I have 178!) or more numbers on your phone?

By adding a contact entry that's designated as an emergency contact number (ICE), you can make their job much easier and possibly save your child's or your own life.

So program an ICE entry on your cell phone today, as a matter of fact, pull it out right now as you're reading this entry. If you have more than one person the paramedics can contact in case of an emergency, you can add additional ICE numbers to your list. Your primary contact should be listed under ICE, then you can add the other contacts under ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, etc.

After you program ICE into your phone, have your spouse, your kids, your parents, and your friends do the same thing. If there are people in your life that you care about, they should all have ICE on their phones.

What the heck do I do with this old cell phone?

Let's not even start on why they have to constantly UPGRADE when you are just getting used to working the one you replaced the last time!

Let's talk about being green? Green is good, but really, let's just think for a minute.

2 years ago you bought a cell phone, maybe your "significant other," (S.O.) kids or whatever you have in your life and you not only have an out of date cell phone that no one will fix, can't replace the battery or just plain wont work with the new technology on the towers.

I know at my house, I have a charger plugged in, my office I have a charger plugged in, my camp I have a charger plugged in. I also have a charger in my cigarette lighter of my car and my (S.O.) has one in his car for my phone and he is one in mine (we don't have the same phone- NATURALLY) for his and on and on and on it goes!!

So of course I go off and "GROUSE" to my favorite cell phone dealer, Central Maine Wireless. They hear it from people like me all the time and have no power with Nokia or Motorola to have this nonsense stop. Central Maine Wireless has a program in place where your phone is donated and any money from it goes to a cause they support, in this case a local Project Graduation.

BUT there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just like GOODWILL or Salvation Army, there is a home for your previously LOVED cell phone and all the components that go with it.

Here is a link for you: http://tinyurl.com/3vugzj this goes to an EPA website that gives you some tips. We also have a domestic violence shelter in our town called Spruce Run and they also can use these old phones. USAA and other veteran organizations often send out envelopes with the postage prepaid to return phones that they can reuse for families that need them.

So even though you have to learn a new phone all over again, you can be sure someone can use your old phone for a good cause. The first place to start is your favorite wireless dealer, pack up all the phones, chargers, earphones in a box and they can make sure they go to a good cause!

Let your computer remember those Birthdays!

Sure you remember your own kid's birthdays or your siblings, but can you remember all those grandkids or in-laws?

I have a man in my life who has a million kids, grandkids, daughters and sons in law, step kids and step grandkids. I have no "organic" children - only my sweet brother and his family, so all this record keeping is new to me!

HELP!!??? How can I keep up??

So Hannah Mae, one of the daughters told me about birthdayalarm.com.
It is a God-send. AND it is FREE!! You login and create an account. Get your birthday list book ready and you can enter 10 at a time on one screen. They want name, date and year. One week before the birthday you get a reminder in your email box!!! It is wonderful and so easy to use!! They also have eCards if you want to send them.

PERFECT I say! If we have to use this crazy "BOX" called a computer all the time, we may as well make it work for our lives as well as our work!!

Bienvenue au Canada? I don't think so!!

This isn't meant to say, Canada (or Canadians) is bad - It is a great, beautiful place with wonderful people - I go across the border as often as possible, but remember it is a different country and they have different rules.

I live in Maine, and though the province of New Brunswick is closer to my house than the State of New Hampshire, you cannot treat it the same way as the rules in the United States, because it isnt.

I learned a couple of weeks ago from a newscast on Daily Buzz about a family from NJ that got a wireless bill after a trip to Canada of $18,000+ for ONE month.

How the heck did that happen?
It has to be mistake.

NOPE.

Well, it seems that these folks took a vacation in Canada to "get away from it all" and didn't realize that their kids were" texting" their way through their vacation from the back seat of the car to their friends back home.

How the story goes is that between roaming charges and taxes charged to you by the Canadian carrier (and you have no choice in the matter who that is), you can rack up some serious fees that you wont know about until your next wireless bill long after you have returned.

Do your homework. Go see (or call before you leave) your cell phone people, I go to Central Maine Wireless they have a grip on what I need to do (or not do) before I leave. It takes 2 minutes and it is well worth it.

Think that is a fluke? It happened also to someone in Portland, OR going to Vancouver, BC - click here to read the story. The difference here is that this one is $19,000+ !!

When you talk to your cell phone partner, here are the questions I would ask.

• Is there some temporary solution that I can use for the time I am there?
• Are there things that we don't do on our phones for the time we are traveling?
• Should I just put the phones away (except for emergencies) while we are traveling?

Vacations are to be memory makers for the family to cherish for years to come, don't get a "surprise attack" with your cell phone bill coming in the mail! I know a $19,000 unexpected bill- I would certainly remember for the rest of my life!

Other tips are listed here for Canadian travel, not just for cell phone usage from About.com

How many numbers are in your cell phone?

It must seem to my regular readers (and thank you by the way~XXOX) that I get on a subject and I cannot let go of it - well most of the time, I do it on purpose. The subjects have so much information that I think maybe you are like me, you can handle it best in "bite sized" pieces. Also you have a life and don't sit and stare at a computer all day clicking links that are supposed to save you from the ruins of technology!

How much can you learn at "one sitting"? How much time do you have for "one sitting"?

I have been writing about backups and online storage options lately. Well, in the past week, I have had 2 friends tell me random scenarios about their cell phones. Both of these phones are older models and both of them are loaded with numbers - or in the case of one friend " WERE LOADED" with numbers. Let's concentrate on that one.

It is beautiful weather here in Maine and my best buddy was fishing with her brother and as she was getting out of the boat her phone took a dive into the Lake. (UGH!) Dead Phone. They found it, but took to the folks at Central Maine Wireless and it was confirmed.

I have been lucky to have the folks at Central Maine Wireless look out for me and protect me from myself. They know me. They know that I lead an active lifestyle, my phone may go flying off the roof of my car because I am late for a meeting and forgot it there or I dropped in the woods when I am out hunting with my dogs. And if there is one thing you learn from this post, is that. Find a local provider that keeps YOUR needs in mind, suggests things that make sense without selling extra "goodies" you have no need for. Seriously, I don't know what I would do without them.

A few months ago, they suggested to me My Contacts backup. And Paul set it up for me in 5 minutes. You can do it yourself too, but like I said, "they know me," and they know I need the extra attention. Each day at noon (or whenever YOU decide) AUTOMATICALLY it backs up all your information on your phone to a remote server and you don't have to think about it! If you have a call or you need to use your phone at the scheduled time, it wont interfere. And if something ever should happen to your phone, then your new phone can be loaded quickly with the data from your old phone from the remote server that has it.

If you are like my friends and have an older phone you can still protect your data by going to this link: Click here.

But like everything, this is about planning ahead. You don't buy insurance for your car because you KNOW you are going to have an accident, you buy insurance IN CASE you have an accident, the data in your cell phone is the same and you should never have to figure this it out when it is gone.

"My computer crashed and I started crying - My whole LIFE is in there!"

The other day one of my buddies called me out of breath and left a message on my voice mail. "OH Kelly, I don't know what to do..." the rest of what she said is the title of this blog entry. When I called her back, she was still in panic mode. Did I know anybody that could rescue her data from her computer? She took it to some computer guys down the road and they couldn't retrieve anything from the drive, they suggested she send it away.

She wanted me to tell her something I couldn't. She owns her own business and she is right, her life IS in that computer.

So I said, "You have a backup, right?"
She said, "C'mon that was what my sister asked me." (I don't even know her sister.)

Of course this means, "No."

Don't let this be you. Even if your whole life isn't on your computer perhaps some other important stuff is. Photos, presentations, emails, stuff that you would miss if something happened. Stuff you couldn't recreate or would take forever to recreate. But you know this all ready - so how many of you back things up?

With me, my rules, are pretty straight forward. It has to be simple and it has to remember things for me - cause I don't stop and think, "When did I back this thing up, last?"

Since I have a MAC, I use the Apple utilities on the website, I can schedule the back up as well as store things remotely, which is pretty darn handy when I am on the road or I don't have my computer with me, I can store email contacts and calendars too. Before I back up, "it" asks me if I want it to. So if I am going out to an appointment and don't have the time for it to happen right then, I click "NO THANKS" - simple.

But also I am learning I don't want EVERYTHING on my computer ALL the time and I am not connected to the internet ALL the time, so again I went to Best Buy - I know, but it is MY PLACE that I like to go- and for less than a hundred dollars (they are on sale now) - I bought a Western Digital - My Book Essential 500GB External Hard Drive. 500 GB! WOW! They have all sizes for more or less storage.

I can drag photos over to it, I can save my tunes to it and back up to it all in one compact thing that looks just like a book. This helps my computer from getting bogged down with photos from 2006! I still want them, but I dont NEED 3,116 photos on my computer - which reminds me - time to move some over to "My Book"!

Don't take chances on the next lightning storm or a computer virus, or just a dead drive - you will spend a lot more than $100 rebuilding your life!

Web Browsers

Okay, if you never have turned on a computer or never listened to the news, you may never have heard the name "GOOGLE." So if you fall into one of the above categories, this post isnt for you and probably none of my posts are for that matter.

We all know when GOOGLE does something, they do it BIG !

Since I don't live under the veil of most developers and don't really see this stuff until it is being used, I find out about it when you do. Today is the launch date for GOOGLE's browser - CHROME. (Chrome is only available to date for PC's since GOOGLE is going after the big Microsoft market share.) If you are unfamiliar with what a browser is, Alan from my company wrote a great post a while ago and if you click on this link, you can read it here.

I personally, TODAY am a FIREFOX user. I have a lot of friends that use PC's and MAC's and they have turned to Firefox from Internet Explorer because of all its security flaws and other issues. MAC or other Linux users (these are the real geeks) will have to wait for their own GOOGLE CHROME.

Statistics say that about 75% of browsing (down from 88% last year) is done with Internet Explorer so there are a lot of people out there still using it, perhaps because they do not know they have other BETTER and safer alternatives.

I am looking into the CHROME browser and here is a link if you are so inclined to check it out yourself. This is a Barron's post NOT a way to download the software - I am just researching it and I will keep you posted on "if and when" there is a GOOGLE CHROME for MAC and I decide to change!!

But those mavericks out there - certainly comment on your PC experience if you decide to take the plunge!

OK -LAST post about iPODS...for a while

You are sick to death of hearing about my love affair with the iPOD - but has it made you go get one yet?

I just wanted to end this string of posts about iPODS and ways that you don't have to be anti-social to have and to USE them and a few inexpensive things you can get to really make it part of your life as opposed to something you plug into your ears and block out the rest of the world. Thought it would make sense to have these thoughts reasonably close together, so you can easily find them.

So, here is a quick post about an iPOD adapter that you can plug into your car and play through your car speakers. Actually this particular one that I have is made by BELKIN, (from Best Buy of course), picks an unidentified radio signal, you tune your tuner to that station and your iPOD actually goes through that frequency while the sound comes out of your speakers as if it were on the radio. PLUS this one I use charges your iPOD at the same time.

Remember the days of the portable CD player that had a little fake tape that you put in your cassette player in your car? If you still have a cassette player in your car and have been wondering what to do with that "dummy tape", just plug the fake cassette into the player, then the little gizmo that you used to plug into the CD player, plug that end into the headphone jack of your iPOD. It doesn't charge the iPOD, but it plays great just the same.

So enough about iPODS, atleast for a while, I promise!!

More on iPODS

I know, I know you just think these things are gadgets that encourage anti-social behavior in public places and I cannot say that I blame you. When your kids "tune you out", when that hot guy at the gym "tunes you out," you look at them head on and they all have earphones in their ears and they are paying attention to IT and NOTHING else that is going on in the real world. NOTHING! So you hate iPODS.

It is a myth that you have to be anti-social to really USE an iPOD. I had a recent post about why I like them and how the average 40+ "Jane" or "Joe" can make real use of them. For stuff REAL people like us- like, you know, learning a language, listening to that book in the car you never had time to read. Click here to check that one out.

There are several things - none of them very expensive that can help you remove the anti-social piece from iPODS I promise it can work for you and easily!

SPEAKERS! Now here is a way to use your iPOD like a stereo. Remember it is better than carrying that stupid boom box that you finally embraced after the "Let's Get Physical" era! Or those books of CD's and you never have the one you really want to listen to!

Just like me, you are probably not an isolationist. You want to play your music or books so everyone can hear it. Or so you can cook dinner and listen without headphones on. There is also have a way to plug it into your iPOD into your car speakers and everyone in your car can hear it.

I went to Best Buy yesterday and found these speakers with the help of some very nice people there. I really like a "techie-type" store where I enter the place and there is somebody as old or OLDER than I am as a greeter. Then when I get to the area someone that actually cares about what I am looking for and doesn't try to sell me something I am not looking for and don't need.

I was looking for three things:

1. Sound Quality
2. Battery Power for when I take it on the road
3. Portability, easy to carry and safe to travel - doesn't break!!

I had all ready learned that having battery capability was important. You go on a picnic, you end up being in some camp with no power or there is no plug where you want the music to be. So flexibility was important. If I can only use something "sometimes" I won't use it. I get out of practice and it lands on a shelf some place and I have forgotten about it.

My pick for speakers is the Sonic Impact. (as pictured above) It is perfect and you need to get one. You can tuck it away, take it to camp and share your music or take it on a picnic. The hardest thing about it is you need to keep it from your kids! They will take it to the beach and fill it with sand.

Photo Sharing, Exchanging, Printing and Storing

Like you, I have many people in my life that love to send me photos. These photos come in all sizes, shapes and of course quality. But when was the last time someone sent you a snapshot that WASN'T a Christmas Card?

I remember my mom's Kodak Extralite 110 Camera. When the flash was turned on, you could hear the sound of it coming up to speed. I think there were more pictures taken of us swimming and at camp on this camera with a finger in the viewfinder that anyone wants to count! Lots of photos that came back from the developer that had to be thown out.

There are digital cameras, tons and tons and I am not going to discuss all the types of them out there, there are plenty of websites and information for that.

What I want to talk about is the photos themselves. These are memories and worth much more than the money is costs to protect them. If you have a fire, flood or ex-spouse in your life you come to realize how important they can be. How you store them, how you share them and how you print them, needs to be easy, reliable and safe.

If you don't have consistency in photo sharing and storage or don't like how anyone else that you know works, then here are some questions you may want to ask yourself before you look at other options.

• How many photos do I want to save in one place?
• How long do I want them to be saved there?
  
• How much memory do I have in my computer?
• Do I consistently "back-up" my computer or will I save them on CD's?
• Do I want to use this photo storage area to generate gifts - calendars, mugs, t-shirts to send to my friends?

Keep in mind, some services are free, some services have a fee and some are both.
BOTH?
Some services allow you to save so many (depends on space) and then charge you a fee when you exceed the free space limit.

Photo Storage and Sharing:
Sending a bunch of photos via email is easy but tricky, since most photos are quite large as well as sometimes these messages get refused all together or sent to a SPAM file.

If you have a friend, a child or somebody in your life that uses a certain service, likes it and can help you learn how to use it, then it may not be a bad idea to use the same one they do, you can be part of the same network and you can help each other use all the whiz bang features that are part of the service.

Online Photo Services can be presented a few different ways.

First way, (I would never recommend this one) is a software program to add on to your computer, I don't recommend it because it means all your memories are trapped in a box that can be struck by lightning, flooded in your basement, invaded by a virus or just slow down everything else you are trying to do on your computer. Your computer has to churn through these photos plugging up your drive. NOT to mention if this is your WORK computer and not your own computer!

If you still want to store them locally, save them off to a hard drive - this is the one I use it is from Best Buy and it hold 500GB!! Photos are big and for $99 bucks it is worth it. You can keep them in one place, but it really isnt perfect for sharing them the way photo services are.

Second way: Is the external software service - or some call it "web-based" and all of them I know of allow for storage, sorting by multiple albums, searchable key words and the ability to invite people to view or to keep your photos private.

You can access your photos with your user name and password from anywhere you have internet access. It does not have to be on your OWN computer.

I started using webshots, which I just realized I have been using it since 2002 and have multiple albums with a bunch of photos and an address book that I can send to people that I want to see my photos. Every time I go to upload more photos, they tell me something new that they are doing. I can make my photos public also though I have not done that yet. It costs $30 a year, which is very reasonable as far as I am concerned, for all the options that I have (most I don't use, but I could if I wanted to.)

Other photos sharing services people use that I see are: Flickr which alot of my geek friends use, but have no fear it is also very easy to use! Shutterfly was a service I used for Christmas Cards last year, because a friend of mine told me about where he had his made and I was very happy with how they turned out- only to realize that webshots has the same service!!

My brother and sister-in-law as well as a bunch of friends have Kodak Easy Share Cameras and they swear by the Easy Share Service.

Printing Your Photos
I have a home HP photo printer and I must say I find it a pain. More cartridges, more types of paper, now that I have it, I use it. The paper and ink is expensive. I know lots of folks that just save their photos to a memory stick or set up a Walmart or Sams account email the photos and go to the place and pick them up all ready to go. These are secure websites and the quality of the photos I have seen are as good as the ones I have printed at home.

Remember that all these things change and get easier to use, but also don't let your years worth of photos pile up on a big memory card and find out your new puppy has chewed it up or it is corrupted somehow.

Memories are precious, if you took the time to take the photos, find an easy way to keep them!


*Thank you Best Buy for the MyBook photo and to this website Dial 11o cameras for the kodak photo.

Blogging ABC's

Sometimes people just think this BLOG thing is a fad and I really cannot blame them for wishing it to be so in some ways. Maybe if you wait long enough it will fade away like that avocado refrigerator you had in your kitchen growing up.

In some areas of the country blogging is a way of life when it comes to stuff going on in your kids school, scout troop, or things that a person might be interested in. My sister-in-law knits. Like REALLY knits. She reads several blogs that she finds are very helpful to her and brings her into this tight community of people that have same interests that she has. Her online "Stitch and Bitch" session.

That really is what blogging is. There is no mystery to it.

I also have a friend with cancer. She blogs with people around the world for support and suggestions on things she is going through and strangers help each other deal with the daily trials of a fight for life.

But how do you start? I wrote something in the Sephone blog about this very thing and there is a demo if you are interested in starting your own and these tools are all free and out there for the world to use. I also read a blog from one of the social media guru Chris Brogan that also had some very interesting perspective.

Personally, I started with the basics. Somebody told me about TWITTER. Here is a very easy way to learn about what is happening in an interest you may have. Twitter is about individual entries or "tweets" (see very non-techie cute) about what's happening. The question at the top of the screen is "What are you doing? " People fill it in and it posts to all the people that are following that individual automatically. If you click on the above link, you can go to mine and look at who I follow and see if there is someone on that list that you may want to follow or search for a topic. It is like a bulletin board with lots of links on it from people you choose to follow and if you see something tweeted, that takes you into directions onto other sites that you never heard about or never even thought about searching for.

iVillage is popular and mentioned on the Today Show a lot. It is a lifestyle blog that seems to be clued into young professionals, stay at home moms, families etc. I read it occasionally, but since I have no children and that seems to be central, it isn't one that I check often.

One of the frustrating things I must say with some of these "social network types ." They are so busy cross-selling you on their latest book, seminar or whatever, it can be a bit much. Also the social networking "gurus" can be a bit intimidating because of the jargon they use. The first thing I say to myself is, "Well obviously they aren't talking to me!"

But I am talking to you. And if you are a beginner, this advice is for you. Get a twitter account (again free) and try it. You'll be surprised at what you may learn from complete strangers or the connections you can make around the world.

Facebook, Myspace and other things you should understand "For the Children!"

If you have children that spend time on the computer, no one can tell you enough that there are weirdos lurking on the internet and it is up to you to parent and know the details of where your kids are going when they are on line, just like you know the details when they are going out on a Friday night with their friends.

Computers in bedrooms where kids can remain on line for hours with little or no supervision is a bad idea no matter how SAFE the computer is. Kids need to interact with humans - person to person and not use the "tube" as a playmate. Also, there could be bullying on line from someone at school and you need to know that too! (The preceding link helps you understand issues with cyberbullying.)

Software subscriptions may be purchased (just like virus subscriptions) and here is a link to a website that gives you reviews of the different kinds available and how they work. Don't forget before you choose one to buy, make sure you know if you want it on a PC or a MAC or if you use Internet Explorer or Firefox, as these matter.

Also remember that your kids may have Myspace accounts, or other social networking sites or even aol's instant messenger, that you may want to watch and understand how they use it and who their friends are. Just when you think your kids Super Mario game is safe, did you know that Nintendo DS is a wireless gaming center that predators or bullies can instant message your kid from across a playground!

You can be sure of two things: Your kids will know more about how these work than you do, and the predators will know more than they do.

Text Messaging - What do those "words" mean?

I have no children, but I do hear horror stories from my friends that have them about the text messaging phenomena. This post is not about how bad your cell phone bill is or if Johnny or Suzy got into trouble in math class because they were "text-ting" their friends.

This post is how to understand what they are saying to each other when they text. If your child tells you they cannot learn Spanish or French while their fingers are flying on the keys of their cell phones, they are just NOT motivated to learn it. Text messaging is just like a foreign language or a type of shorthand and they are motivated to learn that because there friends are all doing it and they want to be in the loop.

You don't have to learn all the words, but wouldn't it be good to know if your kids are talking about a party and someone's parents leaving town? My fathers biggest fear was having to learn Aerosmith on an 8 Track, boy have things changed!!

I found a pretty neat page on internet.com that has a list of all the terms. Click here to check it out. It even includes what all the smiley (emoticons) faces mean.

But if you are looking for a word specifically, click on this link and you can type it in and it is pretty good on finding the word what means for you.

So click away and take a look, once you get the pattern it will be more natural than you think and if you really want to throw your kids for a loop, text them yourselves and keep them guessing as to how much YOU know!!

Keeping up with "THE NEWS" with Google Reader

We are in a 24 hour news cycle and have been for a while, so even tho I am pretty used to all that "noise," I like to sift through what I like and don't like to listen to, watch and definitely what I have TIME to READ!

Most nights, I was driving home and I say, "SHOOT! I needed to look that up!" Of course by the time I could I had forgotten it all ready.

What I was finding was that the list was becoming endless and I was becoming more frustrated. One of the guys in my office suggested "Google Reader" which of course they got the trademark blank stare, "HUH?" from me. There are others and certainly tell us if you like certain ones by commenting.

They showed me how to sign up (pretty painless) and I must say I am "hooked" so at that time, I put it on the Sephone blog, here is a link back to an "ABC's" page that may help complete with screen shots.

I made this post short so you can go back to that link and sign up yourself! You can start putting your favorite news sources (this includes blogs) in one place that you can log into each day and see what is happening!

Why Ipods and Podcasts aren't JUST "for kids"

Your kids or maybe your niece or nephew have them. Or maybe that intense guy at the gym on the treadmill, but you dont need an Ipod...or do you?

Ipods are great tools and not toys -- no kidding. You don't need to own a mac to have one. You also don't need to own a mac to subscribe to Itunes which is the most robust and complete music, audiobook and podcast service there is, I also think it is fun to use.

So that being said, listen to - oops read this:

1. You can have an Ipod or mp3 player to play music for your personal use with head phones, sure. But you can also buy an inexpensive adapter to plug it into your car sound system to play your songs, because you are tired of the same stuff radio. Some adapters allow you to charge your Ipod at the same time!

2. You can download audiobooks so you can listen to those books you never have time to read or learn how to speak spanish on the way to work, all by using your Ipod, plugged into your car!

3. You can subscribe to podcasts (almost always free) of your favorite subjects or your favorite NPR program like Car Talk, Deadliest Catch, Fresh Air or something like that. I download them when I know I will miss a show so I can listen later.

There is always something new and it is so easy - believe me, if it wasn't I wouldn't be telling you about it!! There are all types of players, I had an mp3 player that frustrated me so much I cannot recommend that anyone go out and buy one. But if you have an abandon one around, go for it, why not?

I like Ipods. You can use them one handed when you are listening or browsing your selections AND they are easy to link up and transfer files when you have them plugged into your computer. There are many different sizes - by different sizes, I mean how much information they can hold. If you can spring for the video Ipod it is worth it and it really puts everything in to ONE thing. PLUS, the Deadliest Catch is my favorite thing and those extra episodes not aired on TV are fun to watch at camp on the weekend!

Folks in my office have the Ipod Touch which is a whiz bang rig, but I am not ready to go that far yet, but you can start small and work your way into what is most comfortable for you.

Here Now! - Techno Trapped in my 40's

I am working on a new blog especially for people like me.

I am a "40 something." I am too old to know how to understand text message talk, too young to retire. I think I am in a big group of folks that are trying to learn everything and just dont know where to start.

I just bought my first car with automatic windows and it practically talks. I try to embrace technology and explain it to people in a way that shows them why it is a good thing for them, but first I need to understand it and use it myself. Yes I have an iPod, yes I subscribe to podcasts, yes I know some things, but this trend of stepping away from the intimacy of person to person contact is a little disturbing, yet I know I need to learn to do it.