Computers

I wonder how much time is wasted messing with computers.  Jenna called me today describing all kinds of computer problems.  I have had my own space problems on this Acer.  And I spent most of Sunday evening cleaning up a Compaq notebook as it's speed has begun to crawl.  Computers are becoming this vast land of filling stuff with junk.  And because we are afraid and don't know how to clean it up - disks fill up.  Memory fills up with unneeded start ups.  And video, pdf, and other files just get bigger and bigger.  I'm a big culprit because of keeping (and filing) all my mail.  My outlook file must be over 4 gig. 

I hear so many people converting to Apples.  It caused me to sell my MSFT stock (along with the recent lower earnings and pessimistic outlook).  However, Microsoft tempts me again with a new operating system - Windows 7 which the early review say is great.

SO  - all these things converge into another temptation to buy yet another laptop.  I have 4 already if you count Jenna's laptop.  These 4 have been purchase since 2001.  That means one every 2 years.  Oops - I forgot about Susan's work laptop (now at home).  That is 5 for the family (3 people). Also I estimate about $6K for all of these laptops.  That's almost $1K per year assuming I am getting itchy to buy another.

Stay tuned for the Laptop saga.

Blogging Day 2

Well in thinking about Blogging, I discovered I blog manually regularly.  First as I mentioned before, I do a daily devotional each morning.  It all started with actually reflecting on the daily podcast of www.rbc.org  Our Daily Bread that I would listen to each morning upon first turning on my computer (started Oct. 13, 2006). Then it turned into daily readings and reflections on books - Like "Dad in the Mirror";  "One month to Live"; "The Second Half of Life";  "Halftime" ; Teasures of a Transformed Life;

Also after reading the book The Paradox of Choice I began a log of "Practice and Attitude of Gratitude" and each day would list 5 things I was grateful for. I started that December 3, 2007.

Also I have done a daily investment log since October 7, 2004.  This became primarily a way to monitor my emotions and decisions around investments to learn from the behavioral side of finance how to control my buying and selling habits.

So the question is - do I want to virtualize any of these manual Blogs?

That will be the subject of the next entry.

Entering the World of Blogging

So why would anyone ever blog?  Who has the time to blog?  What are the personal advantages (benefits) to blogging?  

Well GeoCities is about to enter the graveyard- October 26, 2009.  As an early GeoCities member (2001), I used this web site to provide an easy place for people to understand my background - a personal web site.  However I didn't use it to blog (that was before the term blog came about).  In 2004, I signed up to Linkedin and in 2006 signed up for Myspace and Plaxo.  Then like all the babyboomers, I created a Facebook account.  Oh - almost forgot signed up to Twitter about 6 months ago.  Something tells me that  this Social Networking is going to take off -but how and for what benefit?  I like the Netflix app on Facebook to keep a record of movies, and the Amazon app on Linked in for books.  Trying to remember that book title and movie I watched a year ago is tough. 

So why now blog.  I keep a daily spiritual journal - a form of blogging.  But I really wouldn't   want that stuff on the web.  I enjoy the email "blog" I get from Dean (Bridge Player). So I will try this blogging for a month.  I love www.madmoneymachine podcast which is really Paul Douglas Boyer's audio blog. 

Why did I pick Vox and how did I get here?  Well in a Vistage meeting Bill Ernst gave a presentation on Social Networking and presented a Utube entertaining piece on by and Internet Marketing Consultant that mentioned Pownce.  I decided to look it up and discovered it was shut down and purchased by 6A.  That lead me here.  I am always amazed on the randomness of the journey and how the journey connects - sort of like the principle of 6 degrees apart.

Enough for today.  Time spent - 10 minutes