Category Archives: Technology

College Bound and Down

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My step daughter had decided to become a professional student. She goes to school for a bit, then quits. Then a few months later she regrets having quit and signs up again. Then she find a reason to not go. Then she hears about a scholarship program or student loans and she goes again. I think she will be 30 before she ever actually finishes school.

My son is much more serious about getting a college education and we are in the process of evaluating the different colleges and universities to see where he would like to go. Of course, I would prefer an in state school to help save on tuition and take advantage of the scholarships available to residents through the lottery funded programs. But if he gets his heart set on an out of state school then I’m down with it and will find a way to get the money for him.

There’s a cool website that helps kids with their college applications. Here are their top tips:

  1. Proofread your applications for spelling and grammar
  2. Read the instructions carefully and all the way through before beginning
  3. Type the applications and write legibly
  4. Apply to several schools
  5. Don’t use a silly nickname in your email address – get a free email account using your first and last name to appear more serious and professional

Going for a Spin

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Normally I don’t read Spin Magazine. I’m not into the grunge rock and punk music, and that’s what they seem to focus on. I think it’s great that some of these kids have a shot at a singing or performing career, but since I don’t have college age kids I just can’t get my head into what they are singing about or how they look. The extreme hair and makeup, the tattoos, the piercings – it’s so boring. Really boring. What I’d like to see is kids that are clean and groomed and take music seriously along the lines of lyrics meaningful to more than just 13 and 14 year old spoiled brats.

But I do like reading the ads in this magazine. You can learn a lot about a variety of things in today’s pop culture by reading the ads. Especially if you have an interest in liquor and electronics. You’ll read about things you aren’t exposed to in any other popular medium. That’s the downside of targeting ads to narrow demographics. The slick marketing pros in NYC and LA don’t always get it right.

Making it Harder to Get to California

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Can’t believe that Southwest Airlines is starting to knuckle under. They announced today that they are cutting back on flights. Of course, one of the routes getting the axe is the one I take – the only nonstop from Nashville to Oakland. All the other flights add 2 hours to that trip and it’s long enough as it is. And changing planes always puts you at risk of missing that connection. To be honest, the most I am comfortable on a plane is the 4 hour flight to Las Vegas from here. Anything farther than that and I start feeling cooped up and get really restless sitting on a plane – especially when there are crying babies on board.

On a good note, Southwest is the only airline this year that is still operating in the black. All the others are in the red. That says a lot for Southwest’s excellent management practices and their customer service. They’ve always been good to me and I can’t say that for the other airlines, especially with some of the horrendous experiences I’ve had with American and Northwest. So I’m glad to see the good guys are still winning.

When I fly, I always check Southwest for an available flight first and it has to be an extreme situation for me to fly on a different airline. There are only a few cities that Southwest does not service from here, and most of the time I don’t have to go there, thank goodness. I love their website – its so easy to make reservations and check in online – I can’t believe we used have to make long phones calls and stand in line for everything that now just takes a few clicks.

I Spy

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One of the guys at the warehouse works for us part time and for his other job he works security for a chain of local convenience stores. I gave him a call tonight and told about my concerns in the neighborhood and he suggested I put a couple cameras on the exterior doors and the driveway. He has a bunch of that kind of technical stuff in his garage and he’s going to bring some of it with him tonight to let me borrow the cameras and controllers. He says they are easy to mount and are wireless, so I can have them up tomorrow in just a few minutes. They run the video feed to a regular CD or DVD player or to a personal computer. So I can record any activity and have a record of it to show the police. This is cool – I’m totally up for this little spy game.

Who Are They Really?

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With my little incident of my car getting egged last night, I happened to chat with a couple of my other neighbors this afternoon and mentioned my troubles. They both have noticed little problems like mine.

My neighbor across the street says that his trash can that was put out for pick up was knocked over and the trash strewn across his yard a couple of weeks ago. He thought at the time it might have been animals that did it, but it could have been kids trying to pull a prank.

My next door neighbor says that her boyfriend’s car was left parked on the street one night and that the next morning it had been broken into and all the personal items gone through, although nothing seemed to be taken. We doubt that the CD’s with titles like “Country Hits of the 80’s” and “Best of Travis Tritt” had any value for the punks down in the ghetto.

All three of us suspect the new renters down the street or their friends.