Oh Yeah...

I forgot to mention yesterday that last week, when I had to use SIL's computer to do a little work, I was able to hook up my external hard drive and retrieve whatever passwords and info I needed.  It was about a month out of date, but it sure was better than nothing.

So BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE.  You never know when you will need it.  Go.  Go back it up now.  Like today.  Don't wait, go do it.

And I haven't decided what the "I" in PANIC should stand for.  Got 2 great suggestions from you girls....imagination (or imagine) and inspire (or inspiration).

Should I imagine my life being stress free?  Or use my imagination to make things work?

Or should I think of my inspiration?  What inspires me to work so hard here at home.... Or how can I inspire others through what I do?

Hmmm....tough choice. I'll keep thinking about it.

Fantastic Friday (sorta : )

So last week my monitor died. It worked earlier in the morning, and then it just wouldn't come back from sleep. My daughter was home with her laptop, so I used that to see about ordering a new monitor. First, let me tell you that my stubby fingers are not made for a laptop keyboard. At least not hers. Maybe there are larger sizes....

Anyway, after surfing the net for an hour or two, I found a monitor at Staples.com. A flat panel, LCD, 19" widescreen monitor. It had pretty good reviews and the price was excellent. Only $169 with FREE next day shipping. It was at my house within 24 hours.

"WooHoo!" I thought. Got it unpacked and plugged it in, fired up the old PC and....ugh. I hated it. The colors were slightly off, the letters weren't very clear and I absolutley hated the widescreen. I guess I don't take to change very well. I like the regular, not widescreen, monitors. Since I was getting a new one, I thought I would go bigger, but I didn't know wider would be so different.

I wasn't happy. Nope, not at all. Not the monitors fault, really. When I was looking at them at first, I was looking for a good price and speedy delivery (go Mr. McFeely!). I got that in this monitor. I didn't realize there were different pixel ratios and contrast ratios, etc. And those can really make a difference in the quality of the picture.

As a wahm, I spend a lot of time on my computer. I want to be happy when I am sitting here. So I researched and looked and surfed and found a different monitor that had the shape I wanted. In the size I wanted. And it has a great 2000:1 ratio (can't remember what that exactly means, but the first monitor was only 800:1). I want things to be clear. I want colors to be bright and vivid. So, I ordered it : ) Yes, I ordered a second montior within a week of the first. It is a business expense afterall. And I have been busy. And my birthday was in a couple days.

It was delivered today (making my friday fantastic). All I can say is I LOVE IT! It is exactly what I wanted in the first place. The picture is so crystal clear it is amazing. And the colors are just beeeautiful. It makes me happy : ) I am glad I got it. It is an LG 19" standard size LCD monitor. It was just over $200 with shipping. Isn't is pretty???? Oh yes, I am a happy wahm!

I'm not sure if I can return the first one since I opened it and used it for a week. There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't like it. So I am giving it to DD so she can hook it up to her laptop and watch her dvd's at college on a larger screen. She is exceited. It is now her early birthday present.

And this is just a random post about buying monitors....do some research and find out what you can get for your money. Know what you are looking for. And try not to be impatient. Take your time and get exactly what you want. You will be happy that you did.

Whooooa....Back It Up Baby!

I posted this a couple weeks ago over at After The Dust Settles... There is still lots of severe weather around, so I thought I would post it here too.

Have you backed up your hard drive lately? With summer storms in full swing now, power outages are inevitable and sometimes power surges come with them. Bad news for computers that aren't on a surge protector. Or maybe you have a surge protector that needs reset or replaced. Unfortunately, surge protectors do not last forever.

Last year my computer broke. It was acting up before we had storms, but then it bit the dust after a big storm. Turns out it was NOT storm related, but it did get me to really think about backing up data. I have a lot of files on my pc that I would hate to lose. So I got a battery back up surge protector and an external hard drive.

The battery back up surge protector is cool in the fact that it will allow your pc to stay on for 15 minutes, I think, even if your power goes out. This allows you to save anything you were working on and shut the computer down properly. After 15 minutes, on battery back up, it shuts the computer down itself. I don't know about your area, but out here in the sticks, our power is constantly flickering as any storm goes by. Last year, the computer would go off. This year, the surge protector keeps the computer going and switches back to household current when the electric is stable again. It's been a lifesaver. I got mine at the local computer store. I was desparate and paid top dollar. You can find them online for under $50 w/free shipping. They are very heavy, so free shipping is a must.

The external hard drive I use to back up my enitre hard drive. I have had computer problems in the past and have lost files as well as my hard drive. Each time I back up a few more files. Last year I found a reasonably priced external hard drive and began backing up everything. This will make it easy to start over if something were to happen to my computer. My biggest problem is just remembering to back up the hard drive every so often. I am going to do it today. Oh yes I am.

At the very least, if you are running windows, you should create a system restore point. It only takes a minute and will create a point on your hard drive that you can go back to, in case, say your computer gets a virus or something. I believe you can go back to that point before you had the virus and voila, it will be gone. If I am wrong there, please let me know. But I think that's how it works.

So, if you haven't lately, go back up your files! Do it now. You never know what is going to happen when. Trust me, it is way better to be safe than sorry.