It's News to Me

While visiting Carole here in Georgia for the New Year's holiday, I only have access to the Internet through a dial-up connection, and boy am I reminded of how thankful I am for my connection through Comcast. Dial-up access is agonizingly slow! It helps me understand why Carole is less enthusiastic about accessing the Internet than I am, even taking into account the differences in our level of experience with being online. The occasional problems she may experience caused by clicking on the wrong link are far more difficult to recover from than they would be if she had any kind of reasonable broadband connection. As they say, «you don't appreciate the water until the well runs dry.»

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My friend, Juan Gutierrez, asked last night «what is the best all-in-one printer to buy,» and I gave him the best advice I have probably ever given. I said, «you should ask someone who knows.»

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... to all of you who read this blog. Here is my Christmas card to you.

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Connor, who is 19 months old, shows us old hands how to appreciate a Christmas gift.  I think his reaction is priceless.

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Apparently technology does have some limits.

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Could anyone wish for anything more for Christmas?

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I don't go to the movies much any more, and certainly not with the frequency I did as a child when you could get into a movie for $0.25.  Usually I wait until a movie comes out on DVD and, if I am really interested, I rent and watch it.  And no, I'm not such a movie fan that I have a Netflix account.  However, I have a friend or two who are really movie buffs and who like to see the movies as soon as they come out.  Tom is one such friend, and he and I plan to attend a movie this coming Saturday afternoon as a way to celebrate the holidays together. 

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Long ago before the World Wide Web came to be, I, like many others, became fascinated with the fact that I could use my computer to communicate with people from across the country and around the world by participating in a BBS.  Using a dial-up connection, I would connect to a BBS System here in Knoxville and login to one of its SIGs (Special Interest Groups) called ILink Writers.  This particular SIG was populated by a diverse and talented group of people who enjoyed the act of writing about an almost unlimited number of subjects.  It was during this time that the writing of one Paul Moor, who has since that time become a dear friend for about 15 years now, first caught my eye.  Not all the writers in that group were professionals (after all, I was one of them), but all of them were quite skilled at their craft, and I derived hours of enjoyment getting to know them and having the chance to interact with them. 

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As I've mentioned many times, I love Skype. My friend, Paul Moor who lives in Berlin, and I talk almost every day using its computer-to-computer connection. During 2006, the good folks at Skype made calling any phone in the U. S. or Canada, regardless of whether the other party had Skype installed, free until December 31, 2006, and I've used that feature a number of times with good results. The sound quality is good and the ability to talk with my hands free to type or otherwise use my computer is something I really appreciate. In addition, I have used Hot Recorder to record some of those conversations and use them in audio blog posts.

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Here's the text of the first email I sent out today. (Names omitted for the usual reasons.)

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