Tuesday April 11, 2005

There is nothing more awesome than family. Do you know what I mean? It feels good to be at home surrounded with my family and watching them go about their daily lives. It is good to be at home this evening sitting here at the computer listening to praise and worship music on the computer and writing in one of my blogs.
I can listen to the praise and worship cd because Katy and I fixed the computer recently. Katy diagnosed it and I fixed it. LOL... How do you like them apples? The sound magically quit working several weeks ago without warning. We are running Windows 2000 Professional on the pc here at home because the BIOS does not fully support XP Professional for some reason. Anyway, one day the sound just quit working and when I went into the device manager I noticed that the audio controller had a red x on it and was not working. So, I tried to uninstall the driver and reinstall it to no avail. So, I figured that the audio controller on the motherboard was toast and just gave up. I NEVER thought to check the sound card and give consideration that it was bad. After all, I have had this computer for 5+ years.
Yesterday Katy told me that she ran the Windows troubleshooting wizzard and it told her that the sound card was bad. So, on a hunch I went to Wallyworld and purchased the new sound card and installed it. Well, since I am listening to music on the PC you can figure out the rest. Sometimes it pays to go back to the basics and not assume that the problem is more complicated than it really is. It sure is good to have sound on the computer again. Thanks Katy!!
Katy went to an interview today at MUSC in hopes that they will hire her which would be just in time for summer break. So, if you would, say a prayer that the interviewer and powers to be at MUSC will find favor in Katy and she will get an offer soon. I too am trolling the waters for a BETTER paying job. I am thankful for the job I have but I am still way under employed with regards to the salary that I am used to making and NEED to make in order to get the finances back on track. So, I suppose that is also a prayer request for me.
Gosh will American Idol ever end? LOL It seems as if this has been going ON and ON and ON. Justin and Kristina (and Katy) just LOVE American Idol..
Well that is it for now. Chow !!

Wireless Networking and mobile computing

I am finding that wireless access points are really becoming more common place than they were a year ago. Last year when I first got hooked on wireless networking I had to search pretty hard to find a business that had wireless access and then of course you had to pay for it by signing up with Thinkspot or whomever to get access while you sipped on yoru favorite latte. That is not the case anymore as it seems that you can drive down most busy business park and find FREE wireless access points broadcasting a signal. More often than not the business WAP will be locked down and you will find that most home owners take their Linksys WAP out of the box and plug it in and just use the default settings for their wireless networking setup. In an effort to make Wireless more appealing and accessible to the masses Linksys, Dlink, Motorola and other manufacturers have set their hardware up so that it is pretty idiot proof. No, I am not saying YOU are an idiot when it comes to technology but what I am saying is that most if not all end users WANT and NEED to USE the technology and could really care less about reading the manual or God Forbid get caught up in some sort of Voice Mail Hell or spend hours on the phone with someone from India that can barely speak our language (English) and has a hard time understanding our questions IF it is outside of the script that he or she has been given to follow. Why is it most, if not all , support people assume that everyone is an idiot? LOL...

Last night a friend of mine and I zoomed down to Myrtle Beach to find the nearest Fudruckers Hamburger joint and during our trip we used the GPS receiver and Microsoft Streets and Trips to see where we were going and we fired up Net Stumbler version 4 so that we could browse all the Wireless Access Points that popped up all around us. All in all we had a very enjoyable trip and had a blast eating good food and playng around and talking about technology in general.

One of the things that I am learning is that I would whole lot rather access WAP's and surf the web and get my e-mail on my laptop vs trying to do this on my Pocket PC. What a major pain in the keister that is. Tap tap tap tap until you have carpal tunnel syndrome if you ask me. LOL... It just takes me longer to do things vs having a full sized keyboard and a mouse to use which makes things oh so much faster in my mind.

Well, lets see, what would be heaven on earth to this propellerhead? Constant supply of all the foods I like, a card game with my friends and wireless access so I can chat with my Internet friends and family. What else could a guy want?