Category Archives: Technology

Online SAHMs

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I have a friend who would love to start blogging but she has no internet connection at her house. She is a stay at home mom, which is an important job, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t pay the bills. So I recognize the sacrifices that she and her husband are making for her to stay home and be a full time mother to her kids.

Still, I can’t help but think that there might be ways to help her without chipping away at her dignity. If she had access to the internet she could do so much – save money on things by comparison shopping and printing coupons, finding lots of free entertainment and activities for her family, blogging to stay in touch with family, and even taking some online college courses if she wants to.

Laptop Defects

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My last two laptops – really good brands, high end – have both failed for the same reason my son’s just failed. The little connector piece in the back where the power cord plus in gets loose from the inside connection  to the motherboard. Once the motherboard loses connection, the laptop is basically toast. You cannot reconnect the motherboard and you can’t solder it back together. This is obviously a design flaw inherent to may different types and brands of laptops.

If someone wants to start up a class action suit against the laptop manufacturers for this defect, I’m on board. I’m about sick of spending about $3,000 every year on a new laptop because one little connector piece breaks. Just once I would like to feel that my investment in a laptop will last for 3 years. Mine haven’t even reached one third of their tax depreciation value before they have to be thrown out.

Sugar and spice

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Having spent the day with my sister and her kids, I knew that I could be the most help to my sister while she dealt with the funeral home and all the calls from family and friends if I took her daughters out for lunch and got them out of the house for a bit. Even though it was a very sad day for everyone, we managed to enjoy the time together. I took them to a Ruby Tuesday to eat, and we sat in a booth, in the back by the restrooms, and sat around for a couple hours just talking.

I decided that some of the things I could to do to help my sister get through this would be very practical and I wanted to take care of a lot of details that she might not have the time or energy to deal with. I took the girls shopping after lunch to get new dresses and shoes for the funeral home stuff, and I went ahead and bought a couple other more fun outfits for them so they would have something nice and feel a little special.

Last Minute Savings

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Yesterday started off like a normal Sunday, woke up and made coffee, walked the dogs, turned on the computer to check emails. That’s when everything went downhill really fast. I had an email from my sister that her husband had died the previous night, they had tried to call but my cell phone went right to voicemail, so they resorted to email to get the word to me.

Of course, I dropped everything and made arrangements to go to Maryland to be with the family. Thankfully, I was able to find some coupons online to take care a lot of the details for this unexpected trip and I saved some money.

End of the Year Games

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Thinking ahead to Christmas and electronics, I think I need to take a survey between family members and see what kind of game console and game systems they have or want. Christmas is the best time to get new games and nowadays you have to make sure you get a game for the right system. There are some exciting new games coming out at the end of the year – just in time for Christmas!

An article in the New York Times had a sneak preview of some of the games expected to be the greatest hits:

  • Fallout 3 to be released in October (for PC, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3)
  • Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2 to be released in November (for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3)
  • Guitar Hero World Tour to be released in October
  • Rock Band 2 to be released in September for 360 and later for PS and Wii
  • Left 4 Dead to be released in November
  • LittleBigPlanet to be released in October
  • Spore for PC and Mac now on sale