H.I.T.S.
Hello, again, and welcome back, to quote Doren’s catchphrase on the H.I.T.S. show. This week, while channel- surfing (and watching channel 19, of course), I saw Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visiting the town of Blackburn in England.
I used to live there before I moved to Uniontown in 1978., It was fascinating to see a quick clip of her, walking up the steps of Blackburn’s town hall, and it further proved my point about nostalgia and how technology can really help sometimes with links to your past.
After watching the TV clip, I quickly got online and Googled to find some pics of where I had lived for so long.
It also spurred me on to try to remember the names of more of my friends from school at a href=”http://www.friendsreunited.com/ http://www.friendsreunited.com/ end
.
As I mentioned last week, this really is a great site for trips down memory lane and the immediacy of the Internet gives you the ability to contact long-lost friends, sometimes in just days.
Another really cool aspect of the “friends reunited” site is that they allow you to post pictures from your school days, which, thanks to technology, we can click on and save to our own computers.
I found some new ones at the site and I also emailed a few more people that I remembered. I should add that it’s not only for old schoolmates, but it also covers streets where you lived and even friends from the armed forces or college — so check it out. It’s also worldwide.
Who knows? It may put you in contact with an old friend or two.
At Micarelli’s this week, owner Carl Jr. has been involved in what can seem to be an impossible task: finding the right computer for you and your needs.
It really is a confusing area if you’re not used to it, and he was asking me about various aspects of what he should look for, especially as he has now has some very specialized needs.
He is an attorney and uses some unique software in his daily job.
It really is mind-boggling, trying to sort through all the claims from all the companies about their products.
It’s not unlike looking at the pain-reliever aisle in the supermarket.
Any way, Carl did all kind of research online for days about various laptops and asked some savvy family members. along with me. what we thought.
I think he finally settled on an IBM laptop with specs that sounded perfectly adequate for his needs.
He also ordered an USB external hard drive to back up all his data from the laptop.
Also this week, the mom of one of my students asked me some questions about selling on eBay and I told her about our new show, which I’m sure will answer some of her questions.
Some of them pertained to the actual shipping part of a transaction and how to calculate shipping costs, etc. It’s amazing how eBay has become a part of the average person’s life and how many times I hear it mentioned.
In addition, we get quoted Internet prices on a daily basis for musical instruments, since Carl will match these.
Well, my wife has thankfully decided not to buy a GPS unit for us. Initially, she had seen one of her co-workers using one and was really impressed with it.
If you’re in the dark as to what I’m rambling on about, GPS stands for global positioning system, a small device that uses space satellites to determine where you are at any time.
They’re made for vehicles and even for hand-held use.
The one that my wife saw (the Garmin StreetPilot) really impressed her with its ease of use, and, as I have a terrible sense of direction, she ordered one online.
Much to her disgust, the distributor later sent her an email, saying it was out of stock.
Fortunately, things like this sometimes serve as a godsend and allow us to rethink some spur-of-the-moment purchases.
At this point (as she edits this weekly column), I’ll add that I’m far guiltier of this kind of thing than she ever is and I’ve paid the price (pardon the pun).
There’s nothing worse than having that adrenalin rush of buying something that you knew you really didn’t absolutely need, only to be crushed a few days later when an email tells you its backordered for two weeks and then you wonder if you still really want it.
I think it all comes down to being like a kid at heart and tearing open packages at Christmas.
At least, that’s my story — and I’m sticking to it.
Hopefully, you’ll be sticking to watching our show and reading this weekly column, which we like to think not only gives you some information, but also a chuckle, as well, because that’s what life’s all about.