Web Duster

My office view this afternoon

Val — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:17:20 +0000

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My office view this afternoon is a post from: Web Duster

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Hard to tell I’m driving north…

Val — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:50:10 +0000

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Sent from my phone… Please forgive typos and brevity. The keyboard is tiny and my eyes aren’t what they used to be!

Hard to tell I’m driving north… is a post from: Web Duster

The Gift of Weight Loss Are there really people out there who have the guts...

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The Gift of Weight Loss

Val — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:46:35 +0000

Are there really people out there who have the guts to buy a Nutri System gift card as a gift? Wow!

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Sent from my phone… Please forgive typos and brevity. The keyboard is tiny and my eyes aren’t what they used to be!

The Gift of Weight Loss is a post from: Web Duster

Hard to tell I’m driving north… ——————— Sent from my phone… Please forgive typos and brevity....

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Seems Odd that All is Well in Japan at EPCOT

Val — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:35:19 +0000

Somehow I expected to see something in Japan at EPCOT that acknowledged the tragedy that is unfolding there. When I did not, I asked a Japanese cast member and was told there was nothing. I offered my sympathy to her for what was happening and inquired about her family and friends. They were alright.I guess this isn’t the first tragedy in a country represented in EPCOT and from what little I’ve read, they have never done anything to honor or memorialize a current tragedy or disaster. I guess that makes sense, as people are often trying to escape reality when they visit a theme park. Somehow though, it was impossible not to think about the images seen on TV from a world so far away having lunch in Japan at EPCOT.

Seems Odd that All is Well in Japan at EPCOT is a post from: Web Duster

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A Sign, a Test, or just Random Events?

Val — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:48 +0000

Early this year, I made a decision about the direction of my business. It required letting go (at least temporarily) of one aspect of the business and focusing my attention on another. In the past week or two, some positive things have been happening that are related to the part of the business that I let go. Although the part I’m focusing on has shown some growth, it has slowed in the last week or two. Today, something very positive happened on the “let it go” side and something negative happened on the “focus” side. Is this a sign that I should rethink my course… or maybe it’s a test of my commitment… or are they just random coincidental events? Even if it is just random events, it is at very least a test of my commitment and belief that I made the right decision. My conclusion is that I’ll forge ahead confident in my original decision, but keep an eye open to see if it needs re-evaluating in the coming weeks.

A Sign, a Test, or just Random Events? is a post from: Web Duster

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Easy Way to Back Up My Computer

Val — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:25:45 +0000

I’ve finally settled on an easy way to back up my computer! I’ve always been pretty good about backing up my stuff on an external hard drive, but there was always a nagging fear that if there were a fire in my house, both would be gone. I finally made the move to an automatic online backup. I set it to update every day and have greater peace of mind than ever before. I chose Mozy based on the recommendation of someone I trust and have found it to be very easy to use. They offer a free backup plan which includes up to 2GB of storage. For people who don’t do much with photo or videos, this may be enough. For me, the unlimited storage plan for $4.95 a month is perfect. In fact you can sign up for a year or two for even less than that.

Just a note, if you have a bunch of stuff to back up… my first backup took over a week. I thought it was never going to get through everything. Granted, I didn’t leave my computer on 24/7, but the process simply resumed what it was doing each time I did turn it on. Now daily backups take very little time.

Easy Way to Back Up My Computer is a post from: Web Duster

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Children and Adults, Learning, Lying and Spin

Val — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:09:52 +0000

One of the many things I’ve learned from young children is that lying is instinctive. Maybe it’s part of fight or flight… For example, one day I a saw a young girl pick flowers out of a landscaped area at our condo’s pool. The girl ran to her mom who hadn’t been paying attention to give her the small bouquet. She clearly thought she had done a nice thing and was excited about the gift. When her mother saw the flowers, she harshly inquired “Did you pick those flowers?” The child now instinctively knew from her mother’s tone that picking the flowers had not been “good” and responded, “No, they were just sitting over there.”

You can imagine how the scenario may have played out – either the mother recovers and makes it a positive teaching moment or the situation escalates because of the newly added lie. Either way, over time, the little girl will hopefully learn that when you make an honest mistake, you own it and take any consequences that go with it and most importantly, you learn from it. Ideally, we should learn that the long-term outcome of telling the truth outweighs any short-term benefits of lying. But as we know, that’s not always the way it works out.

In my view, it seems that as a culture, we’re evolving back to the place of not knowing that the truth is better than a lie. Just take a look at sports, politics and cable news. In most sports, it’s not only acceptable to pretend something did or didn’t happen, it’s expected. For instance, in football, if the official calls it a catch when you know the ball hit the ground just before it landed in your hands, your team and fans would find it unacceptable for you to report the truth. In politics and cable news, at best, the facts are taken out of context and manipulated to support a point of view and at worst, lies are stated as facts. The twisted facts and lies are lapped up by those whose views agree.

With the age of Internet, there is almost nothing we can’t read about, but when truth, facts, lies and spin are all given credence, how can we sort it out? I really don’t know and it worries me.

What would happen if before every conversation we had, every game we played and every speech or talk show discussion, all of the participants took the oath… I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As a culture, do we even remember what that means…?

Children and Adults, Learning, Lying and Spin is a post from: Web Duster

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Way to Go Saints

Val — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:38:25 +0000

I’ve been a fan of the Indianapolis Colts since Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning landed there. However this year, I found myself pulling for the New Orleans Saints, a team I have never cheered. (They are an NFC rival of my favorite team, the Tampa Bay Bucs). But I, like most of you, love a story of triumph after tragedy. The Saints are the team that plays in the Super Dome, a place that holds so many haunting memories from the days folllowing Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans is a city that suppored it’s NFL team even during all the rotten years. Now they will celebrate together! I remember the joy I experienced as a part of the Tampa Bay community when the Bucs won the Super Bowl after years of struggling. I can only imagine how they’re feeling on Bourbon Street tonight.

Way to Go Saints is a post from: Web Duster

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SkyGolf SkyCaddie SGX

Val — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:17:16 +0000

The SkyGolf Skycaddie SGX was just announced and does it sound like it’s going to blow the competition away. For years I have used the Bushnell Laser Rangefinders and it is terrific if you have steady hands and can see where you’re going. I can’t imagine the SGX will ever be legal in tournaments, but might just make the average player a little better. If nothing else, it will be easier to see and more intuitive. I don’t know what the retail price will be, but I bet it’s out of my comfort zone for awhile. Hopefully one of my computer clients will buy it so I can see what all the hype is about !

SkyGolf SkyCaddie SGX is a post from: Web Duster

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Smartphone Decision

Val — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:55:54 +0000

I’m ready to take the leap and get a smart phone. We already have one in the family, but it’s no longer under contract, so we’re free to fly. For me, it’s not such an easy decision. If I’m lucky and don’t lose or damage the phone, I’ll likely have it for at least two years. That’s a long time considering the speed at which technology travels. At least that narrows the field to the latest and greatest phones available. In my mind, there isn’t enough difference in price to convince me to buy anything doesn’t have a lot of industry buzz. With that in mind, I’ve actually narrowed the field to just a few phones…. Google’s Nexus One (when it comes to Verizon this Spring), the iPhone 3GS, the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Eris, the HTC Hero and possibly the Palm Pre.

Another consideration is whether or not I have a preference for one cell phone carrier over another. I’ve been with Sprint for a long time and the customer service used to be horrible, but has gotten much better in the past year or so. Although the price of Sprint’s lowest family plan for two phones is the same as other carriers, they do include texting as well as more minutes, so it would cost me a little less. The Sprint phones I’m considering are the HTC Hero and the Palm Pre. Verizon’s ad campaign about their 3G coverage is impressive, but it does make AT&T look worse than it really is. AT&T’s Edge network is pretty fast fills in its 3G gaps pretty well.

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HOLD THE PRESSES

Before I finished writing this blog entry, we decided it was time to go look again. Although we knew the two Sprint phones were not as exciting as the Verizon phones or the iPhone, we wanted to give Sprint one last chance to make a deal so sweet we couldn’t pass it up. At the Sprint store a pleasant young man told us there was really nothing he could do, but gave us the phone number to the cancellation department and told us they would probably try to keep us with some type of incentive. We called the number and immediately were connected to Kasha, a seemingly knowledgeable and helpful representative. After about 45 minutes on the phone (speaker so both of us could hear) with Kasha, we were signed up for a new deal with Sprint. Kasha not only promised us, but gave us a confirmation number for our new two-year deal. It sounded almost too good to be true. Kasha was letting us stay on our current voice plan with a $20 monthly discount plus letting us keep the $15 monthly data plan that we currently had on one line and adding the same $15 data plan to the other line. Our monthly plan total for two smartphones with data – $70!!! The plan would give us our existing 500 minutes with no roaming or long distance charges. It doesn’t have texting built in, but we don’t text much, so that’s a non-issue. It doesn’t include mobile to mobile, but we’ve never had a problem going over our minutes, so this was PERFECT! All we had to do was go down to Best Buy and buy the phones….

We spent quite awhile playing with the two phones and waiting in line for someone to be available to help us. Finally, we chose one HTC Hero and one Samsung Moment and began the upgrade process. Then came the glitch… although Kasha had assured us that everything was set-up and ready to go, the computer didn’t agree. Our Best Buy rep was unable to make the upgrade without bumping us up to the Sprint plan that would cost $130 monthly ($60 more than we had been told). We called the cancellation department back and the rep read what I had been promised and tried to set-up a work-around. It took some time for this to happen, but it failed. The Sprint rep on the phone finally called her supervisor who came on the line to tell me that I had been misinformed by Kasha. The only discount available to us was the $20 per month, which would bring this plan to $110 monthly. If you compare cell phone plans between the top three carriers, this plan gives you a bunch and $110 is a better price than I can get anywhere else even for lesser plans. BUT, I have had enough with Sprint. Over the years, I have wasted hours in Sprint stores and on the phone to their customer support getting inaccurate information and then have to sort and resort it out over and over again. I had two lines plus a $60 a month air card with Sprint and more headaches than I can count. Although I thought the customer service had improved recently, what happened last night was completely unacceptable. I told the supervisor that I was leaving Sprint and she seemed not to care. Within an hour we were enjoying our new iPhones.

I LOVE MY NEW iPHONE!!!

Smartphone Decision is a post from: Web Duster

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