I survived without

a computer for 81 hours (yes, I counted, lol). Sometimes I wanted one, like when I was waiting at the airport and saw people with their notebooks, Blackberries, iPhones. But really, I didn't need to be connected. I just wanted to be.

PSA - Back up your photos

Anyone who has a computer knows you're supposed to back up important information. And anyone who takes digital photos knows you're supposed to back up your photos. And I thought I did. Obviously, I can't find my photos and I'm just sick about it. I'm okay with no having them, but I promised copies to someone and now I can't come through.

I know I printed some of the photos (but I can't find them now, of course), so I assumed I copied them to my hard drive. But I can't find them. So maybe I used my PictureMate to print them, which doesn't involve the computer.

I looked on my work computer, I looked on my home computer, I looked on every memory card I have. I even downloaded a recovery program and ran it on every card I have. But no luck.

So before deleting photos from your memory card, be sure you've copied them to at least two different places. I never thought I'd be the one giving this PSA.

The trauma of being off line

We were offline for 4 and half days and we survived! Of course, we turned on the computer as soon as we got home, but honestly, we were too busy to get online while we were gone. We could have gotten online, but the hotel would have charged us $9.95 (or was it $9.99?) for 24 hours. Totally not worth it since we were out and about for most of the day, not getting back in until after dinner. It was good to be disconnected for a while.

Communication

It is so interesting how communication has changed over the years. I remember when we would make a long-distance phone calls and time them because we didn't want to spend too much money. I remember comparing long-distance phone plans to get the best deal. Now, with free long distance on my cell phone, I don't worry about long-distance calls anymore. And when Mom calls me, I ask her to hang up and let me call her back so she doesn't have to spend any money on the call.

I communicate with some people by e-mail, others by snail mail, some by phone, some by IM or PM, but none by texting. Don't know how to, don't care about it either. Mr. Fix-it isn't interested in texting either so we don't have it on our phone plan. One problem with all these communication methods is everyone has their favorite and if you don't use that method, you might not hear back from them. And I think that's rude.

Entering the modern age

It looks like 2008 will be the year we enter the modern age of technology. I'm writing this from our new notebook, and that means we have a wireless network at home too! Woo hoo! It's about time! It amazing how impatient one can get with technology when you get something new. The computer boots soooo much faster than our desktop.

This is really Mr. Fix-it's computer, but I've been testing it out the last few days. The history and bookmarks are all scrapbook and cooking pages. I think he'll be surprised the next time he logs on, lol.

I tried to set up our network myself. Really, it should have been very easy. But I couldn't get the router to connect to the internet. The manual was useless. The router forums were almost useless because most of the solutions assumed you knew how to set up a network so the one line answers just lead to more questions. I set the MAC address, blah, blah, blah. But still no go. One of the techies at work offered to check out the router to make sure it wasn't bad so I took him up on his offer. He called me a couple nights later to get some network settings from me and it turns out there were two settings that should have been the same, but were one digit off. He didn't even ask me about those settings because he assumed they would be the same, but I noticed the difference and told him. Guess I am detail-oriented, ha! ha! So he set up my router, brought it back, and Houston, we have a wireless network! The only slightly annoying this is, he brought back my router, told me he set it up, but wouldn't tell me what he did. Guess techies like to always be one up on their colleagues. I can't complain too much since he didn't charge me anything and I trust him more than I trust geeksquad.

We're also planning on upgrading our cell phones since we want Bluetooth. Actually, I don't really care about Bluetooth, but it will make it easier for me to multitask if I don't have to hold my cellphone in my hand. Gosh, think I'll ever get an iPod someday? (I'm coveting an iPod Touch.)