Seattle

We went to Seattle today and had our New Year's traditional breakfast with the Forbes.
Some good pictures of the families at the photo gallery.



Afterwards we went for a ride over to Shilshore and Ballard.



Flavia and I went to see Up in the Air with Kirsti and had a good time afterwards at Odd Fellows.

Picassa 200Gb for $50 per year.

Piccasa reduced the price for storage - Just bought the 200Gb for $50/year as a backup to my photo library. Will let you know how it goes.

Google Email on Outlook

Now this was just announced, and it is very cool!

Is an Exchange Server needed?

Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook lets you use Microsoft Outlook seamlessly (even pictures!)

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/06/use-microsoft-outlook-with-google-apps.html



More infor can be found at: Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.

Software can be expensive.

I have been looking at my purchases of software utilities and tools I've made over the past couple of years, and I realize that they can definitelly add up!

For example, a screen capture utility like SnagIt will set you back $49 dollars! and then you have to update every couple of years... Multiplicity Pro ($50.00) to use one keyboard /mouse to control mutliple computers . NeoPro ($50.00)for mail management. Trillian ($25) the multi-IM client. Why did I need to purchase again WinZip ($30)- when it is now recognized by the OS?

Now do not get me wrong, I love these tools and without them, frankly, I would go nuts (or maybe bananas!)

Over the next few weeks, I will try to get all of the same functionality with freeware and/or open source software -- I will let you know how I do...

Blog platform Decisions...

I contribute to several blogs - some for work, some for fun - most of them at the Wordpress.com site. Although sometimes slow, I do like their interface and have gotten used to it.

In my Move to Google article I explained my desire to consolidate things into one platform and began to use Blogger - It is faster, and simpler to user - I think. It has some features that are better - I specially like the Monetize one -- and some that, well, need to improve.
[ Side note: Support for posting YouTube videos for example! Argh! - WordPress does it so mych easier! ]

Both Blogger and WordPress have export / import features.

Little by little - I know! -

As an FYI here are a couple of tutorials I liked:



Kudos to chrisabraham for both tutorials - Thanks!

Move to Google

About a month ago, I began my move into Google platform -- It is a slow process, as I have many different online things -- (Confession : I have been a Microsoft guy for many years,) -- Although I've had my Gmail email address, Goggle Search and iGoogle as the home page for many years I really had not used many of the other services -- I started about 6 months ago with sites moving away from Basecamp's BackpackIt which I used for years. Google Sites - for me- is still vastly unexplored, but in my to do list... A couple of weeks ago, I consolidated all of my photos int Google Photos (Picassa) moving away from Flickr and PhotoBucket And now I begin my transition for my blogs. Slowly but surely - Mostly because of my slowness - Google's platform has steadily progressed to the point it is winning my patronage -

Commonly used Internet Abreviations.

I figure this might be helpful.

lol = laugh out loud (also spelled lawl)
rofl = rolling-on-the-floor-laughing
brb = be right back
bbl = be back later
bbs=be back soon
afk = away from keyboard
imo = in my opinion
imho = in my humble opinion
bio = bathroom break (not an acronym)
omg = oh my god (also spelled zomg, ahmg, and a variety of others)
wth = what the heck
wtf = what the #$@%
cul8r = see you later

w/e = whatever
ty = thank you
yw = you're welcome
np = no problem

bot = Back on topic
ttyl =talk to you later
tt4n =ta ta for now

I will update as I come across more, but add below if you want!