New Phone? Rebuild the Desktop? Need to scratch the itch

Some people have a sweet tooth.  Some people like to shop.  We all get an itch sometimes that just has to be scratched.  Mine has been baseball cards in the past.  The feel of an old pack of baseball cards in my hands was as good of a rush as smoker gets from lighting up a cigarette.  I have wasted more money on that habit than I want to think about.  My present habit is my computer and tech stuff.

I tried to scratch the itch this weekend by reinstalling Windows on my SSD drive on the computer.  I followed a procedure I found at overclock.net.  It lets you have all your big files and program go to your 2nd hard drive instead of taking up space on the SSD.  It is working fine and was fun to do.  It did not scratch the itch.  I need to find something to take care of the itch.

The last time I had the itch this bad was when I finally broke down and bought my netbook.   I am very glad I got it.  It has been a very good purchase.  I enjoy having the mobility and it has enough power to do all the non-gaming computing I do.  It allows me to be on the net anywhere in the house and frees up the family room for the boys in the evenings.  It kept the itch in check for almost 6 months.  

I really do not know what will be the next itch scratcher.  I have been looking at some of the new Intel Cpus.  The new Sandy Bridges coming out look very cool.  I just do not want to a total rebuild again.  It has been less than 2 years and the desktop is still kicking butt.  I do not need to do a rebuild.  Beth will not let me mess with her laptop.  It really has been a good addition to the family's computer network.  I still can not see how she likes Vista as much as she does but hay.  

With the desktop and Beth's computer out that leaves the boy's.  It is running very well and does everything they need so far.  It needs a bigger hard drive and hooked up to the printer but neither of these will scratch the itch.  This leaves my Blackberry.

I really do not need a new phone.  My Blackberry works just as well now as it did 2 years ago.  It is just a 2G phone so it is not nearly fast as the new ones that are out there.  It does not have a touch screen but it has a great full keyboard.  I can use it with my netbook as a modem without having to pay for a tethering fee with ATT because it is an older phone and I have an unlimited data plan.  The email and apps work great.  The phone part does as well.  My battery life is almost a full day (as long as I am not on it constantly to check FB and twitter).

So with all of that said, anyone with a suggestion of how I can scratch the itch?

Thanks everyone and I hope you have a great week

Tonights Snow

Strange week so far. I really have not had a lot to write about this week. Nothing big or pressing. Doctors appointment went ok. Just some fluided on the knee and olds scars. So no surgery which is a good thing.  Dentist appointments on going. So far 2 finished with no cavities (now its the boys turns so not sure if that stat will hold). E's teeth falling out keeps from having them pulled this trip.

 Beth has finished Gmans science fair project. It is very interesting showing how much iron is in breakfast cerals. You actually see the iron bits when they were done. I will try to get pictures of it when he gets it back. Beth really gets into doing these and I am glad. I was terrible at them.

 Report cards came out. E got all pluses or better. Gman got all A's and B's so 2 straight honor roles. 2 B's so no princible list but getting close. Everyone have a good week.

President Obama's Full Speech at Tucson Memorial

I was going to show 2 videos but changed my mind after watching the President again.

Anyone who reads my post regularly know I am very vocal and liberal in my politics.  I have been trying to think about what has happened in Tuscon over the weekend and not be political about it. I am not sure how I will do that.  This post may not make a whole lot of sense and I know I will edit it a lot over the next few days.

I will  say I have been praying for everyone involved in the shooting.  I keep thinking about the shooter more than I wish.  I have prayed for him.  Prayed for his family.  Prayed for his attorney.  Prayed that he will come to trial.  Prayed for all the people who will be involved in the case into the future.  I hope that our nation will let them all be.  Let the system work.  I know it will not happen but I hope it does.

I will keep working on this post.  Thanks to all my friends and family for being my friends and family

Netflix after 6 months

We started using Netflix a few months back.  Beth and I decided to try it after we got the new BlueRay player for the TV in the bedroom.  The BlueRay player has built in WiFi that I have connected to the wireless router in the house.  I have written in the past about the tech stuff getting the Wii, BlueRay, and all the computers hooked up with the network and Netflix.  I want to write a little about the actual service from Netflix. 

Setting up an account was just as easy as most online web sights.  Name, address, age and a valid email address were the only things needed to make an account.  Payment options are limited to credit cards or paypal.  The plans range from just online streaming to having out 4 dvds at a time.  They will also ship BlueRay discs for and extra $2/month on any plan with disc rentals.   We are using the 1 disc at a time plan and I have not tried the BlueRay yet.  It usually takes 2 days between sending in an old movie and getting a new one in the mail.  The disc listing is very large and I have been able to find some old movies and mini series to watch again from years ago.  The online streaming list is much more limited but is still pretty good.  They have lots of old TV shows as well as movies on the lists here as well. 

My only problem with the service is the search and recommendation systems.  Having a chance to rate movies I have watched is nice but having to do it so the system will recommend new titles to me seems a little odd.  Why use this instead coming up with a better search system.  The search is not the best.  Fairly simple with a box at the top of the page.  It does not let you include or exclude items form your search. As an example you cannot search for just streaming titles and exclude disc only titles.  Or just search  for new arrivals instead of looking at the newly suggested for the user.  The new arrivals tab helps here some but it could be better with a search option inside the listings in the tab.   When you have more than one person watching movies the suggestions get very mixed together.  I would like an option to list the kids movies in a section just for them.  The boys would have their own list to choose from that would have very good parental controls.  

Over all I am happy with the choice we made.  I really like that it cost a lot less than having HBO on the cable bill.

Happy New Year

Good evening everyone.  The year is about over and it has been very long one.  Yeah I know 364 days just like 3 out of 4.    It did not start out very well as last year ended very badly.  Missing them both now hurts.  I wish I could have helped mom and everyone more.  I have nothing really pressing on my mind or my heart this week.  I am not even sure if I should write anything but I have promise myself to do this at least 1 time a week.

Not sure what the New Year will bring but I hope it brings to you and yours a blessing.