What do I think?

Computer equipment upgrade, tomatoes, and the Freak

by Barry Bauer

I’ve been upgrading my computer system. I bought a 250GB portable hard drive about the size of a whiskey flask only much thinner and without a cap on the end. It’s meant for a laptop but can also be used on a desktop.

I have what seems like a gazillion photos on my computer, and they suck up memory like you wouldn’t believe. I’ll be able to off load them and still have them reasonably accessible.

I also have an OCR (Optical character recognition) program to help me read printed materials and put them in a format that Word understands. I can then edit them as I need. It saves on a lot of typing. I did 50 words a minute in high school, but I’ll bet that’s dropped a bit since then.

I’m trying to talk my son-in-law, Jake, into setting me up with their older laptop computer again with Windows 98 on it so I can load my software for the hand-held scanner I have. Then I can make a trip over to Dewitt to the Clinton County Historical Society building where there are a lot of books housed including old bound issues of the old Clinton County Republican News. There’s a lot of information to be gathered there, and it’s available to the public.

* * *

We just bought a new DVD/VCR player/recorder last month. It’s the second such device we’ve had. It comes in handy for converting old VHS tapes to DVDs. That way we won’t lose our visual memories.

Betty started noticing what sounded to her like a motor running. We finally tracked it down to our new video recorder. The damned thing vibrates. Obviously there’s something out of balance inside and one more thing in the house that Mr. Fix-it shouldn’t mess with.

I called the company, but they don’t get up until noon (at least it seems like it). I then sent an inquiry via e-mail, and they promise they’ll get back with me.

I don’t like the idea that the device will soon open one of its two doors (or both) and start shooting spinning things at me. I don’t type very well when I’m under fire.

I waited until late afternoon and didn’t get a reply back from them in my e-mail box, so I called them again. The tech support person, after listening to what we had wrong, asked me to remove the tape or DVD from the machine. We had both in it. When the tape was out, the machine kept vibrating; but when I took out the recently purchased DVD movie, it quit.

Problem solved. Apparently this particular DVD is out of round, and we found our receipt so it’s going back to the store.

Never throw away your receipts, at least for two months.

* * *

Betty’s hanging tomato plant is flourishing!

While mine is making some kind of move – finally. You’ll have to look closely to see these fuzzy little things called tomato blossoms.

These plants were both labeled, “patio tomatoes;” but other than reading they’re a smaller plant more suited for a container, I don’t know specifically what the tomato variety is.

What I do know about tomatoes is that they mature anywhere from 52 days to 100 days. I think we have that covered in our garden except to say that 100 days of growing time in Michigan is a stretch.

* * *

Because we import a lot of goods from China, we’re inundated with steel shipping containers. They look a lot like a semi-truck trailer without wheels. Apparently it’s not cost effective to ship empty containers back to them, and they don’t buy much from us to send back in them so the question came up. What should we do with them?

Enter good ol’ American ingenuity. They’re building homes out of these things. To see the finished, product we’d never guess what they were made out of.

I don’t suggest that we want more containers, but you know what they say. When life gives you lemons . . .

* * *

I first learned of a new golf ball, the “Freak,” last week. Somehow with my game, I felt it was fitting for me to buy some. I’ve been called “Boomer” before, amongst other things, on the golf course. That means on occasion, I can hit the long ball. I’ve only had one chance to hit this ball; and I pulled it left, just off the green. Not a bad place, but not the best either. Who wouldn’t like to land it a foot from the pin. I thought it had a soft feel, but that happens a lot whenever I hit the ball in the sweet spot.

It’s called, “click and gone.”

Other guys in the group didn’t agree with me that it was a soft ball. They do think that it’s the longest ball on the market right now. As Top-Flite even advertises, “You’ll impress them on the tee.” I love that.

The trouble is the money is made around and on the green, and not by how you got there.

Anyway, I bought a dozen balls and of course the only reason I buy Top-Flite balls is because they fit me, and they’re cheaper.

Look out golf fans, Boomer is coming with the Freak!

Until the next time . . .