Let's Say Thanks

Just found this web site: Let's Say Thanks. You can select a design and personalize the message. They'll even send a copy to you. If you are looking for a way to support our troops, check out this site.

Cards and letters from home always make things a little brighter. So brighten a soldiers day by praticipating in this web sites mission. All of this is made possible by Xerox and Give 2 the Troops.

Google Vision?

Found this link thought it was interesting. "What If You Could Google Objects, Not Just Words?" WOW! that could be a big help when cleaning out the garage. You know you could use it. If you've ever found something in the garage or under the couch and said, "What in the world is this?". The item inevitably ends up in the Junk Drawer in the kitchen or in a box in the garage. With this you could Google to see what the item was. Cool idea! Not practical yet, but I WANT IT!

Computer. On. and Monitors

We all want to be able to speak to our computers and and have them do what we say. Or at least I do.

Whether you are a hunt and pecker or just want to get more done quickly, using voice commands to use your computer is the Killer App. Nuance - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 has supposedly gotten better at recognition.

Having used these types of programs in the past I'm always skeptical. But they claim to have eliminated the need for the WORD. BY. WORD. way of speaking that was needed for the previous versions. Speaking normally using a microphone the program can translate your voice on the fly. Cool idea, just not sure it's ready just yet. But I'll keep watching because it's going to happen eventually.

On the subject of increasing productivity... I was reading an article about adding additional monitors to make things easier on your PC. Recently, I began using a dual monitor set-up. If I could afford it I'd buy 3 identical 17" Monitors and have a little wrap around action going. But, even adding one monitor has made it easier to do many of the things that I do. It's also nice to have my e-mail open while I'm surfing or a Word document open while researching a praticular problem. All and all the best investment for increasing productivity is buying additional monitors. I love having multiple monitors even if they are mismatched. If you spend a lot of time on your PC do yourself a favor and get another monitor.

I Love the Google Logo's

The link below has a cool link about the artist that creates all the cool logos for Google.com.
If you love all the cool logos it's worth at least a glance. Check it out.

CNN.com - Google's unknown artist has huge following - Jul 19, 2006

Is it HOT or is Just Me?

Man, it's hot! Since I'm staying indoors until it cools a bit outside I stumbled across a web page about How to Cool Yourself Without Air Conditioning - WikiHow. Now, I know most of you are going to say DUH! I knew that. But, I thought some of the items listed on the page were a nice refresher. Stay COOL! I'm going swimming.

Summer and Packets?

Went on a family trip over the weekend. My brother and his wife and 3 kids, and Sherri and myself and our 4 kids spent 3 days in the St. Louis area. We hit the St. Louis Zoo friday, my first time in a very long time. If you haven't been in a while it's time to go back.

Then on Saturday we went to the NASCAR SpeedPark, St. Louis, all I can say is WOOOO HOOOO GO-CARTS! This place was well worth the price of admission. The Adults and the Kids in our little group were EXHAUSTED by the end of the day. ( a little tip: DON'T GO on a SATURDAY during a HOLLIDAY WEEKEND :) There were things to do for kids of all ages. Plus it's all in side of St. Louis Mills.

Sunday we decided to drive back up north and visit one of our local amusement facilities. KNIGHT'S ACTION PARK in Springlield. Pretty cool place .. should have used more sun screen.

Recent news about Google Checkout has been creating quite the buzz. They are aiming square at PAYPAL with this one. I haven't signed up yet for Google Checkout but I probably will soon, at least to see if it's better. One thing to note is that Auction Giant EBAY is not allowing Google Checkout to be used by sellers on it's site. It's in their Safe Payments Policy. Should be interesting battle.

Here's where the packets in the title come in. With all the talk of Net Neutrality I've been thinking more and more about packets.. GEEK :^) why Yes I Am. Well with that I found a video I had seen awhile back that was about... You Guessed it Packets. The move is called Warriors of the Net. The Warrior's web site desribes it this way "The movie is 12 minutes long. It is about an IP packets journey through net past routers, firewalls and transatlantic cables." If you are even remotely curious check it out. You might just enjoy it.