Bing!

An interesting point was brought up today about the glory wisdom of Bing. I know Microsoft wants to recreate Google and have their own verb in the marketplace, but Bing?

Who in their right mind is going to Bing themselves? Hey, how about we Bing that? Did you Bing it? How about a pre-date Bing?

Nice, I'd say a swing and a miss.

A Little Housecleaning

Well I finally took some time to work on this thing. I changed the colors of this blog a few weeks ago to reflect that it is now fall. I've added some new widgets. Some will stay, some will go. It was fun making Blogger do things it didn't want to do. Look for more changes to come...

Rebuilding

While the new computer is nice and fast and pure...

... Having to install all the stupid software I need sucks. Finding the CDs sucks worse. Must.Get.Organized.

The Saga Continues...

So I was flying high when I got my new camcorder the other day. Well that lasted until I tried to burn my first DVD. And my second.. and the third.. and well you get the point. Notice I said 'tried'

After a half-dozen coasters, the new camcorder was about to get chucked out the window that was so conveniently placed in my office for just these occasions. I consulted the book. And the digital manual. And the web. Well, then I got a little smarter. I read the freaking box. Turns out my dinosaur (circa 2005) of a computer didn't have enough (insert male anatomy part here) to handle it. We're talking Sony proprietary software -- not even something made by Pinnacle or Adobe. Nice. Thanks, dear hubby, for talking me into the AMD back then to save a few bucks.

So then my options were to (1) take back the camcorder, (2) keep it and never watch the movies I recorded, or (3) get a new system. Guess what I picked? HELLO Core 2 Duo :) So, since I haven't had a chance to install any software to bog it down, I feel like I'm flying. And the videos.. look great on DVD.

The only problem is getting the kids to get off their butts and do something video-worthy.

On Getting Older

A few years back, right after divorce #1, I started a tradition of buying gifts for myself. I had never allowed myself selfish purchases before because, well we were poor. My first gift was a digital camera for my first Valentine's Day alone in 2003. It was a Kodak LS 443 and yes, I paid $500 for it. That was an enormous amount of money for me, but I saved and paid cash. I was ROCKIN' with 4MP and a great zoom. I still have that camera today.

This year for my birthday I traded my MacMini to the husband and some cash for a new camcorder. I wanted the Sony SR300, but they didn't stock it in the store and I wanted it today, so I settled for the HDR-SR5. I'm still deciding if it will make it past the 14 day period when I can take it back, but so far so good. Now I need a new processor because these videos make mine chug ;)

It helped that I used the excuse that my little brother is getting married next month and I'd like to tape it for him.

EnV

I finally bit the bullet and replaced my phone tonight. It was hard because (1) I'm really bad with change and (2) I'm really hard on phones. My current phone phone no longer charges a battery, drops calls, and barely get a signal. This is, no doubt, a response to the frequent trips it has taken to the pavement.

I knew I didn't want a Motorola. I used to have one and hated the menu and the phone. I was lukewarm to Samsung, having had one bad experience with a battery hog. I have always enjoyed my LGs. Problem is? The phones out right now suck. Unless you want a Razr (they are junk) or a Chocolate (junk), you are pretty much SOL. I briefly considered the shock-proof one, but is was made by Casio and ugly.

So, I let my friend be the guinea-pig. She got an EnV about a month ago. She still loves it. So I'm giving it a 15-day run. So far, so good. I'm texting, which I have never gotten into before. We'll see how long the novelty lasts. I purchased insurance based on my track record. So far my disappointment is shutter-lag on the camera. I'm used to shooting with a Nikon D200, so I am not surprised.

I even bought the husband a new (albeit cheaper) phone. And I hid the receipt.

Conspiracy Theorist

Today one of my Google Ads was for Jenny Craig. Think it was a subtle hint? I almost deleted my blog out of spite.

Random Obsession

Some people collect stamps, some people collect cats, some people even store food for winter, me? I stockpile ink cartridges for my photo printer. At least I used to. I loss interest before I used them all.

Kudos to Logitech

I use this mouse and keyboard at home: Logitech LX700. I've always loved it. A few days ago, however, my mouse stopped working. Yes, it was charged. I emailed Logitech and got a canned answer, asking me to do what I already tried to remedy the situation. My keyboard still works great. Today I called. I explained the situation and that I'd already tried the usually solutions.

They are sending me a whole new combo without any hassles or questions! It will be replaced with the MX3000 in less than two weeks. However I do not believe the new set features rechargeable batteries in the mouse. I will not have to send the old set in, so maybe I can get my original one fixed. Either way, I am pleased with their service.

We Lived

Well, I made it through Christmas with relatively little pain. Everyone was happy. Santa comes a day early to our house, so we spend actual Christmas day in sweats and never left the house. The girls got new cameras lots of great pictures. My camcorder died that morning so I have no video. Unfortunately Santa had already gone and it was too late to ask for a new one. He did, however, leave me this:

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/xseries/vx2235wm/

It is beautiful.

Image Recall 3

A few months ago my 200GB storage drive went bad. On it were years of home movies and every picture I had taken for the past 2 years... the vast majority not backed up. I finally took the time to try to recover the priceless pictures. I used Image Recall 3 to do the job. I hooked up the drive externally through another device that uses USB. This software ran for 91 (yes, NINETY-ONE) straight hours. That's why I've been quiet. In the end, it recovered 11,260 images and had more than 30,000 read errors. I think it got everything. Or at least the majority of what I remember - and some stuff I didn't. The drive itself only showed having about 500 pictures on it and everytime I accessed it though Windows Explorer the whole computer locked up. I am very, very impressed to say the least. I also tried it out on some memory cards and it got most of those photos as well - after the cards had been formatted and used again it still found stuff. If you've lost images off a card, or a drive, I'd recommend this software without hesitation.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Well the new DVD burner arrived a few days ago. I finally had time to unpack it today. It seems pretty sweet so far. Installation was smooth and the first couple DVDs came out great. I've been going through what is left of my movies after my miserable HD failure in July (note to others: a back-up hard drive SEEMS like a good place to store stuff, but don't be lazy, make a permanent copy). I LOVE the ease of iMovie and iDVD...beats VideoStudio and Pinnacle hands down. Even though it did crash (as they always do), at least it stored all the clips in a trash can and saved me a lot of reconstruction work. I thought Macs didn't crash?

I think I have a lot of movies left on my miniDV tapes because I always forget if I've stored them and just buy new ones. Once I track down where I put the DC cord for the camcorder I'm going to try some more movies.

Incidentally, Blogger Beta doesn't work with Safari, neither does Yahoo Mail beta. Also, I do not like the generic Mac keyboard or mouse. I'm used to my wireless Logitech. I'll be putting the Mac version on my Christmas list. And yes, I ran out of wall outlets a LONG time ago!