H.I.T.S.
We’ve certainly been having some strange weather recently, haven’t we? When people used to ask me what summer was like when I lived in England, I always told them that if you were sick the last two weeks of July and first week of August, you missed it. Well, I think those same rules might apply to us here this year. I must confess to liking the rain because it reminds me of England, but this last week, even I was getting fed up dodging it.
I am happy to report, however, that my eBay purchase of a used Scion owner’s manual/first aid kit arrived promptly, and as described. In fact, it looked like new. I have noticed lately on eBay that prices for items have dropped incredibly, no doubt due to the current “credit crunch,” which is probably why I managed to get the Scion stuff for less than $30, shipped. Previously, I’d seen the same item selling for $75 and up. On the other end of the spectrum, I recently put some things up for sale on eBay and was disgusted at the fraction of their true value that I ended up being offered. Of course, I didn’t sell them. It also seems that eBay has gotten very expensive with its fees.
Last week, I “talked” via e-mail to my former boss of years ago, Rainer, who lives in a town in England called Bolton. He was telling me all the woes of the rules and regulations for anyone in business over there. He added that the political party currently in power there might not make it to the next election due to the unrest regarding the economy.
As I haven’t actually seen Rainer since I was last in England (in ’87), I asked him whether he has a Webcam because it’s always fun to hook up that way. Currently, I’m awaiting his reply.
Speaking of waiting, we’re going to have two new operating systems released for our computers this year. On Oct 22, Microsoft releases Windows 7 (you can get more info at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/
) and Apple releases Snow Leopard sometime in September. This alarms me because they don’t specify a date at http://www.apple.com/macosx/
and Apple has a past history of delaying and delaying new system releases. This is really annoying when you’re champing at the bit.
Hopefully, in both cases, it will be a seamless integration packed with new, wonderful options and innovations. If you believe that, then let me say that the various Apple operating systems that I’ve bought like Tiger, Panther and Leopard have invariably been released with nightmare bugs, like causing your printer to no longer work or making something else crash.
These problems usually end up being fixed by updates by third-party companies, but I currently have a FireWire device that I got used from my friend, Jimmy, that will not work with the Intel chip Macs (one of which I have). Last week, I found an update that was supposed to make the computer recognize the device, which is a fancy recording unit with all kinds of dials and knobs, but it still wouldn’t work. Luckily, I got the thing cheap from Jimmy — but it originally sold for more than $300.
Thanks to the Internet and a quick search of the device’s name, I got to see all the other owners of the same device wailing and bemoaning the same experience as mine.
I’ve never yet been disappointed in finding a solution on the Internet to a problem, even if the solution is just realizing that you may not be able to use something again.
At least, you get a definitive answer.
The sheer scope of things on the Internet still boggles my mind on a daily basis. Without it, there would be things and places (for me, at least) that would remain as distant, dim memories. Thanks to computers and a ‘net connection, however, they burn as brightly as ever.
I must confess, in moments of weekend boredom, to looking for details on things like old bands that I saw in England. Occasionally, I look on http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/
at old British TV shows from the BBC or morbidly check to see which aging Brit actor has passed away. Sometimes, I even look on youtube.com, which surely has become one of the strangest things in our current society. Again, you can put key words for just about anything and find video about it.
It seems that the world has become so open due to technology and you can find out so much about it just by using the internet. By using Google Earth (at http://earth.google.com/), I can even see images of places I lived in England. It’s great to have the immediacy of it all and no longer have to wait for replies to letters for weeks on end — it’s all at your fingertips right now.
Another great thing is that the Internet is not the exclusive domain of the young.
Actually, I think so-called seniors can have a greater appreciation of technology now because we didn’t grow up with it like kids today, so it’s more of a thrill to use it. When I grew up in the 1950s, what we have now was unimaginable — things like portable phones, iPods or computers would have been considered impossible.
This makes me venture the final question this week: what’s coming in the next 60 years?
With that thought, have a great week and happy surfing!