Allstate's Menu System

I didn't want to buy or change coverage.  I didn't want to make a payment.  I didn't want to file a claim.  I didn't want to locate an agent.  I didn't want to know about my account.  There was no choice for "Other" or "None of the above."  I forget how but I finally reached a person who knew the difference between a Policy enewal Declarations and a Policy Form the latter of which I wanted mailed to me.  I hope I receive one and not another copy of the former.  At the end a survey came up asking two questions:  What I thought of their system (not much) and whether my problem was solved (remains to be seen, but that wasn't one of the choices).

Kindle: The Missing Manual

As far as I know, it still is.  My daughter has had a Kindle for about a year but was unaware that she could play Minesweeper, a game she likes, on it.

An Open Letter to Amazon Com

I bought a Kindle Model D00701.  I bought a book titled "The Complete User's Guide To the Amazing Amazon Kindle" by Stephen Windwalker.  Pages 25-27 describe "Kindle Keyboard and Menu Shortcuts" mostly involving the ALT key.  Most of those don't work on my Kindle.  I wondered whether the problem was with my unit, my operation of the unit, or the book.  I asked support in an e-mail but their response was the suggestion for phone support.  The person I talked to had an accent and didn't seem to understand the question.  When he finally tried to transfer me the connection was lost.  Why couldn't they just e-mail me the answer?  I sent another request but got the same response.

from my basement

NEC/PC-8201A

This unit goes back to 1984.  It runs on four AA batteries.  The screen is eight lines by 40 characters.  Basic and text programs are built in.  It weighs 3.8 pounds.  It has a variety of interfaces including RS-232C, parallel printer, and floppy disk.  A tape cassette reader is built in.

Bottle Brush

Where the time goes

Monday, March 22, 2010     11:41am     McDonald's     Wt.:  175

A dillar a doller, a ten o'clock scholar, what brings me here so soon.
I used to come at ten o'clock, but now I'm here at [almost] noon.

After coffee, browsing, and walking, I may get home at three.

No matter what I choose to do then, I will be putting off six other things.  Plus everything takes longer than expected.  As Phyllis says, "There are no five minute jobs."

Weekly stuff:  laundry, shopping, bills.

Part of the problem is that I sleep more than I used to, and I move slower.

At night I watch Wheel of Fortune and often more.

And I read.

Yesterday, I tossed some more clutter and printed a few pictures for the photo club.

My Network

I have five [!] computers on my home network using the at&t modem-router and their DSL line.  All now run on Windows XP.  Two of them were on Windows 98 sitting side by side.  When one of them had a hard-drive failure I managed to replace it with a similar refurbished unit with Windows XP.  Then it was time to install XP (that I bought some time ago) on the other one.  A third desktop sits upstairs in my bedroom.  It uses a Netgear wireless adapter.  I have a laptop which also requires an adapter.  Not long ago I bought an Acer netbook which I love.  It uses XP and has wireless built in.  Finally I have a MyBook external hard drive attached to the bedroom computer which backs everything up. By the way, the two side-by-side computers have Ethernet connections to the router.