Sunday, September 30, 2007

Customized Desktop Today


To customize my Desktop I used RocketDock and a Yahoo Widget called MyQuickLauncher.

AT&T TOS: We'll cut off your internet service for criticizing us

AT&T has brought down new Terms of Service for its network customers. From now on, AT&T can terminate your connection for conduct that "tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries." So AT&T customers aren't allowed to write/podcast/vlog critical things about AT&T, its billing-practices, or its cooperation with illegal NSA wiretapping, on pain of having their connections disconnected.

AT&T's new adjustment in their TOS ironically pulls freedom of speech directly from those using AT&T's service to speak. In short, if you slam AT&T, they can pull your service.

From AT&T's Terms Of Service ( Below )

Link Here

5.1 Suspension/Termination. Your Service may be suspended or terminated if your payment is past due and such condition continues un-remedied for thirty (30) days. In addition, AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Still Customizing My Desktop


I'm still playing around with customizing my dual monitor ( LCD+TV) Desktop.

Friday, September 28, 2007

So Far Happy with HP


My sons Laptop that we ordered a week and a half ago was supposed to have been shipped from Shanghai China on the 25th of this month. I got an e-mail that day with a Fed-EX tracking number saying "Your Laptop has shipped". Since then I have been trying to track the laptop through the Fed-Ex website and the tracking number I had didn't show any shipment. After three calls to HP it was finally shipped out today and I can see that on the Fed-EX website. The first two people that I talked to at HP ( in India ) assured me that the Laptop had shipped out on the 25th and it just wasn't in the system yet. I know it takes a few hrs to get into the system but not several days... Today I talked to a gentleman in the United States and he promised me that he would find out what was happening and call me back. True to his word he just called and said that the Laptop was left on a pallet in China because of a storm. He was able to get it onto a plane and my son should have his Laptop by next Wednesday. The person in the U.S. at HP also credited my sons credit card back $50.00 for the trouble we went through. That's how customer service is supposed to work. Thank you HP

Sep 29, 2007 8:28 PM


In transit


SHANGHAI CN




Sep 28, 2007 11:54 PM


Picked up


SHANGHAI CN


Package received after FedEx cutoff

Dual Monitor with a TV set

My Desktop on the Left and the Image on the TV on the right.



Below you can see my TV on the left with Windows media player playing and my live desktop on the right.


To customize my Desktop I used RocketDock and Desktop Sidebar.

S-Video Cable

I was a little bored today and now that my son joined the Navy and moved out I have his old bedroom as my computer room. I have a television about 5 feet away from the computer and it has an S Video jack so today I hooked the TV up to the Computer's video card S-Video out to use it as a second monitor, It was very easy to do. The whole thing took me about 10 minutes and only required an S-Video Cable and now I am watching the TV show Sliders from VeohTV on the TV and typing this on the computer at the same time. This is nice. I wish I would have done it years ago. The TV shows my desktop background when I have it set to the S-video input and I can drag any window on my desktop over to the TV to view. The picture on the TV is Great...

The Primary monitor is set to 1152-864 Screen Resolution and 32 bit Color.

The Second Monitor, or in this case my TV set is set to 800-600 Screen Resolution and 32 bit color.




You also might want to read "Make the Most of Your Dual Monitors" at lifehacker for more info and tips.

Customizing my Desktop


Just customizing my Desktop

To customize my Desktop I used RocketDock and Desktop Sidebar.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Opera vs Firefox vs Internet Explorer

I saw this funny group of pictures over at Operawatch and thought it was hilarious. It is a visual comparison of how Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer would look if they were vehicles.







Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I had a good Birthday yesterday

I had a good Birthday yesterday. Several of our friends got together and gave me food and storage containers for presents. They all know that I love to cook. My daughter Cindy called from Great Lakes Naval Station and wished me a happy b-day and then said that she was sick and resting and couldn't really talk. My son John also called from Great Lakes Naval Station after he got back from having 4 teeth removed. He called a few times yesterday. The first time to say that he was ok. I could hardly understand him that time. He called again last night when he could talk and sounded great and said that everyone at dental was very nice to him. He is going to be SIQ until Friday morning, and then LLD until Monday. My parents also called and I talked to my Dad for a while. I had a great day.

SIQ: Sick in Quarters
LLD: Limited Light Duty

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Good morning everyone


Good morning everyone. I am just looking out at the thunderstorm and drinking my 4th cup of coffee. :) My son John called me last night to wish me a Happy Birthday. Today is my 43rd birthday and he won't be able to call, he is having 4 teeth pulled under anesthesia today so he will be kinda out of it after that. He told me that he took his oral boards at OS-A School at Great Lakes Naval Base yesterday evening and passed. He is now on Phase 2 Liberty. That means that he doesn't have to muster anymore at 21:45 with the other guys and he can stay out until midnight on weekends. He is currently studying radar systems. His shin splints are all better and he has no more leg pain. His laptop that he ordered shipped today. I have the Fed X tracking number and will give that to him tomorrow when I talk to him. He will be excited about that. He is going to buy an external hard drive this weekend and have it shipped here so I can put all of our music on it, we have 78.3 GB of music. No we didn't download the music in case you were thinking that. It all came from our CD's. We have everything from the 40s - through today. :) That's all the news from here. Hope you have a great day.

Monday, September 24, 2007

480+ Open Source Applications

I have mentioned some Open Source software applications in the past week or so and today I came across this list ( OPEN SOURCE GOD: 480+ Open Source Applications ). It list over 480 open source ( free ) software applications. Go take look before you decide to buy that next piece of software.

Link

Download Old Versions of Software Applications

If the newest version of your freeware application doesn't seem to work, OldApps.com might just do the trick. OldApps.com archives many previous releases of popular programs for such emergencies. The site is very much like the previously mentioned OldVersion, but it appears to include a slightly larger number of applications. This is Definitely a handy resource to have bookmarked.

www.oldapps.com

Friday, September 21, 2007

Congratulations Cindy


I just wanted to say Congratulations to my daughter Cindy for completing her FC-A school at Great Lakes Naval Base. She graduates today at 13:00. Her brother John " in his OS-A school " is going to try to go to the graduation but he won't be able to get any pictures ( no cell phones during the day ) We are very proud of you Cindy.

( UPDATE 12:00pm ) John just called and he is definitely going to Cindy's graduation today. After that they are going to hang out together for the rest of the day.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Talked to my son John, and my daughter Cindy Graduates tomorrow



I talked to my son John yesterday. He was studying morse code in his OS-A school at Great Lakes. Oh what fun.

John was also learning radar systems and was a little frustrated that that computer that does the simulations couldn't keep up with him. I told him to slow down. That will help him get a higher test score. He said that most of the people in his class are faster than the computers.

In other news my daughter Cindy will be graduating her FC-A school at Great Lakes Naval Base tomorrow and she had her 21st birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday Cindy and congratulations on a job well done. She doesn't know where she is going next but it looks like either Virginia or California for more school. Cindy invited John to come see her graduation and John is going to try to go. Her graduation is at 13:00 Friday. Don't get too drunk this weekend. :)

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Free TV, Movies, and more online

I found a really neat website tonight. I had missed Eureka Tuesday night on TV and came across this site today www.tv-links.co.uk They have almost every TV show you can think of online. They have listings for Shows, Cartoons, Documentaries, Anime, Movies, and Music Videos.

From their website "Welcome to TV Links, for your viewing pleasure we have compiled various links from the latest to some long forgotten TV shows, classics, films, documentaries and much more. How much does this cost you? Nothing, its all Free of charge! Please sit back, relax and enjoy the show."

Very cool. There are several other sites that I have mentioned in the past that are similar but this one looks like it has them all beat.

New Router


Last night our old router bit the dust so I went out and bought a new one today. I got it set up and running in about 15 min. I bought the Linksys Cable/DSL Router with 4 port switch, model number BEFSR41. The first thing I did when I hooked up the router was to change the default password. So many people don't do that and they should. I just ran a speed test and you can see my results below. We are on Cableone's 3 meg package so everything looks good from here so far.


Tuesday, September 18, 2007

IBM offers Free software tools for creating and sharing documents, spreadsheets and presentations


A week after IBM announced that it would join the OpenOffice.org developer community, the company has launched its own standalone office application suite. Like OpenOffice.org, IBM Lotus Symphony includes a word processor, spreadsheet application, and presentation software. That shouldn't be surprising, as the software was developed using technology from the open source OpenOffice.org.

Lotus Symphony, which is currently in beta is available as a free download. This strikes yet another blow to Microsoft Office's dominance on the office space. Not only are Excel, Word, and PowerPoint facing competition from downloadable programs like OpenOffice.org and Lotus Symphony, but there's increasing pressure from online software like Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Zoho.

Download Lotus Symphony here.

I talked to John ( My son in the Navy at Great Lakes ) today


I talked to John ( My son in the Navy at Great Lakes ) today. He is doing great. He will get some dental work done Sept 25th at a hospital off base. He will have several teeth ( I think he said 4 ) extracted under anesthesia. They will give him a driver and take him there and bring him back and then have someone assigned to watch him over night.

He is doing well in class and might even get the "Best of the Best award" this week. His last test score " yesterday" was a 99.7% in Morris code and on the test before that he got a 97%.. He said that unless someone gets a 100% he will get the award this week. He will get to wear a special badge in recognition of this. He said that he would get a picture. (UPDATE on 9-21-07 John did not get the Best of the Best this week, they gave it to a fleet-returnee, he was kinda bummed about that but I can understand ) His laptop that he ordered is scheduled to ship on Sept 25th too so he is happy about that. He sounded exhausted this evening when he called us and was falling asleep while talking on the phone. He had a busy day will Navy Drill Team practice ( he is on the Navy Drill Team ) and school. I asked him what time he had to get up in the morning and he said 4am. He called at 7pm. I told him to get some sleep. It's kinda fun to hear him talk to the other guys. He kept calling this one guy "Hea New Guy" go do this or that. LOL. I asked John what his name was and he said that the guy was just a Bootie, just came from boot camp ( like John is a veteran now ) I got a kick out of that.

His friend Heather is going to come back up to see him again in three weeks ( John is on duty the next two weekends. ) He said they had a great time in Chicago and then he took her to the base and they played pool and just hung out together Saturday. John said that she was surprised at how big the base was. We have met her several times when she was staying out here with a cousin of hers last year. She is really nice.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Two pictures taken Sept 15th



My son John met up with a friend, Heather in Chicago yesterday. They originally met here in Kansas a little over a year ago. He said that they went to a mall and hung out in Chicago and then he took her back to the Navy Base to show her around. John took these pictures with his phone and said that most of the pictures didn't turn out because they were too dark. Here are two that he sent today.

My son John ordered his Laptop today



Here is what he is getting.

HP Pavilion dv6500t customizable Notebook PC Click there to Read the review at Laptop Magazine

* Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)

* Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7700 (2.40 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)

* 15.4" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)

* 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)!

* 383MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

* HP Imprint Finish (Radiance) + Webcam + Microphone

* Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)

* 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

* SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support

* 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

* System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)

* Microsoft(R) Works 8.0

* HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Grand total with tax was $1,247.12

Read a review of this Laptop at notebookreview.com

I bet the first program he puts on his computer is PC Decrapifier to get rid of all the preloaded garbage that comes on most new computers these days. :)

Free Software that I like

Free Software:

AVG free Antivirus

Windows Live Messenger

SMPlayer It's better than VLC media player and Media Player Classic. It's able to play the most known video & audio formats without the need of external codecs.

OpenOffice free office suite

GIMP GNU image manipulation program ( Like Adobe Photoshop, but Free )

Foobar2000 Great Free Media Player ( I like this better than Winamp, Itunes, and Windows Media Player )

Opera ( Probably the best Web Browser )

Firefox ( Another great Web Browser )

smartftp, the free secure FTP client for Windows

CCleaner CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool.

Linux Operating System ( Ready to dump windows? )

30 Essential Pieces Of Free (and Open) Software for Windows

If that's not enough to get you started go to The Free Software Foundation ( Tons of Great Stuff Here )

Saturday, September 15, 2007

View recently uploaded Blogger images with Blogger Play


Like looking at random photos? Blogger Play guarantees you'll almost never see the same photos twice. That's because this photo slideshow shows only images that have been recently uploaded to Google's Blogger. And recent means pretty much in the last 15 minutes or so.

Most of the tool was written about two years ago, shortly after Blogger added the ability to upload photos. But it was just a toy for in-house workers to see what people were uploading. Now, the team has added some controls that let you adjust the slide speed and move forward and backward. You can also click an image to see the original Blog post, or click the "show info" button to see an excerpt from the Blog post and the time it was written.

Blogger Play uses Google's SafeSearch to block out adult images, so it should be safe to use at work or when your kids are around. If you have a Blogger page and you'd rather not have your images appear on Blogger Play, it looks like your only option is to remove your page from Blogger's listings.

If your ready go take a look.

Just waitiing for a Call and relaxing

I talked to my son John this morning. If you don't already know it, John is in his OS-"A" School with the Navy at Great Lakes. He was in Chicago today waiting for a friend that he met out here in ( S.E. Kansas ) last year. Her name is Heather and and she lives in Wisconsin, they are going to spend the day together today. John is going to try to get some pictures so hopefully I will have some to post later tonight or tomorrow.

John is also planning on buying a laptop tonight. He is either going to buy the HP dv2500t or the HP dv9500t. He will get a military discount thanks to HP. He is going to call me when he gets back to his room and we will order it then. I will post the specs after he decides which one he wants to buy. Until then we are just relaxing with the Heat turned on for the first time since last winter. Last night it got down to 47 degrees and this morning it was 59 degrees in our house. Right now it's only 52 degrees outside. I love this weather. :)

Microsoft downplays stealth Windows Update

Microsoft has sought to downplay the recent, but unpublicized, automatic update of system files on Windows XP and Vista machines as "normal behavior."

A Microsoft spokesperson said, "Windows Update automatically updates itself from time to time to ensure that it is running the most current technology, so that it can check for updates and notify customers that new updates are available."

"The point of this explanation is not to suggest that we were as transparent as we could have been; to the contrary, people have told us that we should have been clearer on how Windows Update behaves when it updates itself," said Nate Clinton, Program Manager Windows Update, in a blog Friday.

For the curious, the updated files on Vista are:

* wuapi.dll
* wuapp.exe
* wuauclt.exe
* wuaueng.dll
* wucltux.dll
* wudriver.dll
* wups.dll
* wups2.dll
* wuwebv.dll

And on XP SP2:

* cdm.dll
* wuapi.dll
* wuauclt.exe
* wuaucpl.cpl
* wuaueng.dll
* wucltui.dll
* wups.dll
* wups2.dll
* wuweb.dll

All nine files are system files related to the XP and Vista versions of Windows Update (WU) itself.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Microsoft updates Windows without users consent

Microsoft has begun patching files on Windows XP and Vista without users knowledge, even when the users have turned off auto-updates.

In recent days, Windows Update (WU) started altering files on users' systems without displaying any dialog box to request permission. The only files that have been reportedly altered to date are nine small executables on XP and nine on Vista that are used by WU itself. Microsoft is patching these files silently, even if auto-updates have been disabled on a particular PC.

Read the entire article about this here.

I was talking to my son about this tonight and he said that when he went to the pharmacy on base today to get a prescription filled that the computers updated and restarted and it resulted in a delay. Now he won't be able to get his medicine until tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Take a moment to remember 9.11


Please take a moment to remember the 2973 people killed including 246 on the four planes, 2602 in New York City in the towers
and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon 6 years ago today and their families affected by the 9.11 attacks.






Saturday, September 08, 2007

Can Michael Dell Refocus His Namesake?

After a year of sluggish growth, financial disappointments and a high-profile safety recall, re-engineering the Dell model will be a daunting challenge. “Some of our competitors jumped over us in a Darwinian way,” Michael S. Dell says. “Now it’s our turn.”

read more | digg story

Friday, September 07, 2007

Dell CEO Blames Laptop Delays on Poor Planning

Dell Inc.'s CEO this week blamed too-conservative sales forecasting for the long delays in getting new notebooks to consumers, but he said nothing about problems in painting the laptops, the main reason other executives have given customers.

Read the rest at PC World

This is exactly why I am reluctant to ever buy a Dell again after the problem my son had with trying to order the XPS M1330 a few weeks ago.

A Call from Navy OS "A" school. He has Shin Splints


My son John in the Navy just called from his OS "A" school at Naval Station Great Lakes. He has been having pain in his lower legs for about a week and finally went to Medical today. He could have went earlier but didn't want to. He found out that he has Shin Splints and was placed on LLD ( Limited Light Duty ) for the next week and given 800 milligrams ibuprofen tablets. He will go back to Medical next week to see how he is doing. Next Tuesday he has Dental and will have some molars removed and he will be SIQ ( Sick In Quarters ) and LLD that day. He laughed about that. He is going to get new soles for his boots and inserts for his boots and shoes to lessen the impact when he runs. That should all help. He said that this will give him more time to study... :) Oh and by the was he also has laryngitis. Poor guy. I have to say one thing about all this, he still loves being in the Navy.

Read Here: Great Lakes Has New Formula for Fitness

UPDATE: Allot of people come to this post to find out about OS-A School at Great Lakes. Here are some other post about that subject. My son is now on his Ship and loves his job in the Navy and is doing well.

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2008/02/last-day-at-great-lakes.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/12/more-pictures-from-great-lakes-navy.html


http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/11/happy-thanksgiving.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/11/cindy-john-went-to-chicago-yesterday.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-son-john-went-to-chicago-again-today.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/11/john-went-to-chicago-again-yesterday.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/09/two-pictures-taken-sept-15th.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/09/chicago-for-dinner-navy.html


http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/11/cindy-john-went-to-chicago-yesterday.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-two-kids-in-navy-spent-day-together.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/10/talked-to-my-son-today.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-son-john-got-started-on-his-own-blog.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/09/naval-station-great-lakes-school-and-my.html

http://kansasdad.blogspot.com/2007/09/naval-station-great-lakes-school-more.html

New HP Elite m9000 Series Desktop PC


The new HP Elite m9000 Series Desktop PC sports an Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600, a DX10-happy NVidia GeForce 8400 GS card, and a dual-format blue-laser combo drive that will playback both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. The system also features “unlimited” storage expandability, starting with double-HDD bays for secure mirrored disc arrays.

Read more about it here.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Tomorrow we will switch away from ATT's phone service to Cableone's VOIP phone

Tomorrow we will switch away from ATT's phone service to Cableone's VOIP phone. It will save us about $55.00 a month. That's because we have a package deal with Cableone. Our normal phone bill with ATT ran about $67.00 a month and with Cableone we will only pay $29.00, that combined with the package discount for having our Internet and TV through Cableone will make up the $55.00 savings.

Now for the problem. My neighbor has VOIP with Cableone. For the last week she has not been able to call us. Well, she can call us but then she is greeted by a message that says you have reached ext # so and so please leave a message. This all started last Friday ( the day I started to make the switch ). When Cableone Techs researched the problem they found out that no one with Cableones VOIP anywhere in the country could call our phone. We can get phone calls from other land lines, cell phones and such, just not VOIP through Cableone. As far as I know the only problem seems to be with Cableone's VOIP service. It seems to me that Cableone & ATT don't play well together during this time ( In the middle of switching our phone number over to Cableone from ATT ).

I will have to have someone else with another VOIP service ( Not Cableone ) try to call our house tonight to see if they can get through.


UPDATE: I talked to my Father this evening and he has ATT Callvantage and the same thing happened to to him when he switched from ATT phone service to the VOIP so it is not just Cableone. In other words when he was switching to the VOIP my Uncle that alreday had ATT Callvantage at the time could not call my Dad. When my Uncle tried to call him he got my Fathers voice mail system. I wonder why it does that? I guess it's just some kind of in network problem while switching. My Dad called me from his VOIP phone with no problem. I will look into this more and see what I find out.

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Beta 2 released


Make sure you take the check marks out of all the boxes.

You will have to make sure you take the check marks out of all the boxes again at this screen. Thanks for all the crap Microsoft. The boxes are all checked by default.




Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Beta 2.

It's that time again. The Windows Live Messenger team has released Beta 2. This beta is available in 35 languages. So what's new? Well nothing really noticeable, just bug fixes according to the official Messenger blog. Nevertheless, the build is just really to attract users to the new installer as there is no separate download at the moment.

Here are some facts about the update:

* Windows Live Installer has come under very heavy criticism, all comments tend to be negative, I believe a lot of this comes down to the speed and ease of use of the program.

* It is not compatible with x64 editions of Windows. Unless you try this hack.

If your into Betas and use Messenger you can go here to download it.

System Requirements

Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista

Minimum 800 MHz processor

Minimum 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or more recommended)

Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 SP1

Minimum 800 x 600 screen resolution (1024 x 768 or larger recommended)

Windows 2003 Server (Win2K3) and Windows Vista x64 are not supported.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Caffeine content in select soft drinks


I just came across this graphic that shows the Caffeine content in select soft drinks. I love my caffeine. I am already on my second pot of coffee today. :)

You also might want to read this: Citrus sodas' caffeine content tops cola

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

TO Sherrie W: About Navy Boot Camp

You can relax. It is normal not to hear from your son for a few weeks. If your son got to Boot Camp Aug 21 he has not had time to write you yet. The first week to ten days are processing days. They are getting shots, seeing the dentist and allot of paperwork. He will not be able to call you again for several weeks. If he does real well you might hear from in another 2-3 weeks by phone. He can only write letters on Sundays and he also has to do allot of other things that day e.g. ironing, cleaning, washing clothes and so on, along with studying and possibly being on watch. That first Sunday was probably too busy to write and I suspect that you will get a letter soon. My son and daughter both went through Navy Boot Camp this year so I know where you are coming from.

No news is good news. :) If your son got in trouble you would hear from him right away. Then they have to call home to tell you that they are being kicked out. Both of my kids said that.

Don't worry about the PT part. We didn't think either of our kids would be able to do it and they both made it through just fine. They both love the Navy now. If you sign the guestbook again and leave your e-mail address and put a check mark in private we will e-mail you directly with our e-mail address and phone number. Then you can also call us and my wife and I would be happy to talk to you.

John

My son is going to Start his own Blog

My son John is going to start his own Blog. The address is going to be navygeek.blogspot.com. He said that he has about 30 post ready to put up as soon as he gets a chance. He still has to buy a Laptop computer and really wanted a Dell but after going to their site and building several laptops to his specifications, all the ship dates are a month away. If anyone has a good suggestion for a laptop with the following minimum specifications let me know.

* $1700.00 max Price, that's with tax and shipping.

* 160 gig 7200rpm hard drive ( he would go down to a 5400rpm if needed )
* 256meg dedicated graphics card
* 2 megs system memory
* Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 (2MB cache/1.8GHz/800Mhz FSB)
* Windows Vista Ultimate
* Wireless 802.11a/g/Draft n
* CD/DVD burner
* Bluetooth
* Webcam
* Built In microphone and Speakers

* A reasonable build and shipping time. ( 1-2 Weeks at the most )

I found several at HP well within the specifications and price that he wants but I would love to hear what other people have to say. He wants to use it for school and some gaming. This will be his only computer and he will be using it all over the world. John was majoring in Computer Science in College before joining the Navy.

Monday, September 03, 2007

"Naval Station Great Lakes" "A" School and My Son John



John, currently in his "A" School for "OS" at Naval Station Great Lakes just sent these pictures. They were taken on Base. He is wearing his Dress Whites in the top three photos. Now if I could just get my daughter Cindy who is also in her "A" School for "FC" at Great Lakes to send some pictures of her that would be great. :) I am so proud of them both....

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Folgers® Gourmet Selections™ free sample offer. I just did this

Folgers Gourmet Selections. Get A Free Sample

Chicago for Dinner... Navy


My son John, currently at Naval Station Great Lakes "A" School went to Chicago last night with a friend of his from Boot camp and had dinner at his friends Aunts House. This is a picture from her place. He said that Dinner was great "Real Italian food" with ingredients fresh from Italy.


"Naval Station Great Lakes" "A" School More Pictures

My son John, currently in his "A" School for OS at Naval Station Great Lakes took these pictures. These pictures are of his room, the NEX (Navy Exchange), and his Building which is the USS Decatur.