Starting a blog in the week before Christmas has to be one of my more idiotic moments! I had been planning to start a blog for over a year, but one night a week or so ago, I just plunged, signing on to Blogger.com and setting up a template I liked.
All went smoothly for a few days, but after two entries…I couldnt get log onto the site to make additions or changes. This appeared to be some confusion over having two accounts with Google…one for checkout at various merchants (saved me some big bucks) and the blog account. With two user names and two passwords and two sites owned by one company, I couldnt find the combination that would get me into my blog! I could see and read it, but couldnt make additions. The blog just lay there lamely with two entries.
So today, I discovered that my domain account included the ability to host a blog. This one I will own and it will be at my address and I can name it whatever I want and maintain it or neglect it as I want. I like control.
My first entry in my first blog was called Day One, so this appears to be Day 1.1. I hope to comment on tech news and info that I come across in my daily attempt to keep current. I read a lot and I often have opinions (imagine that!) or thoughts or find information I believe my customers would appreciate or could use. Look for that here.
Problem solving is my life, so I thought I would open with this little stumble at the creation of my blog. Im going to try to copy my original posts and include them, but blogger.com owns them, so well see if I can solve my own problem.
Here we go…Ill keep you posted! By the way, below are my two original posts from that first attempt at blogging:
Day One
Just because my mom has taken a big step and tackled learning the computer, I thought I should finally start a blog which I have threatened to do for at least a couple of years. She says learning new things is supposed to keep you young. She’s also been going to Jazzercize (I’m not sure of the proper spelling, but it is a brand)…I just hope I’m that young when I’m that old!
New word of the day: irenic. This was used in this week’s issue of Time magazine to describe the Pope’s visit to Sultan Ahmet Mosque during which he silently meditated while facing Mecca. The word means “conducive to peace” or “fitted or designed to promote peace; pacific; conciliatory; peaceful” and perhaps we should use it more…practice it more. Recognizing another person, religion or country can be a simple act that opens doors and does not have to compromise our own beliefs. Let’s all be a little more irenic.
Day Two
Prices in the computer world are just, well…interesting. I’m not that old (!) but I remember when having a 2 gig hard drive said several things about one: 1) serious geek, 2) rather have computer equipment than eat, 3) more storage space than sense. Now, you can’t buy anything smaller than 40 gig and standard size has become 160 or 250 gig.
Printer costs have come down as well. When printers stop working, no one even calls for repair, they just go buy a new one. And then there is the cost of ink. I found an interesting commentary on the price of ink in Network Computing Magazine. I reprint it here with their permission:
Ink Costs More Than Blood?
Blood may be thicker than water, but it appears ink is more expensive than blood. The per-milliliter cost of an HP 45 printer cartridge is 71 cents, while blood comes out to 40 cents per ml, according to a posting on Gizmodo.com.
Heres the math. A 42-ml cartridge of black ink costs $30, while a 500-ml unit of blood from the Red Cross is $200. (A quick Web search confirmed the ink price. Redcross.org doesnt have pricing info for blood, but other sites showed pricing to be within that range.)
The poster also calculated the price-per-ml of other precious fluids, including oil, bottled water and vodka. Ink tops them all. This does a lot to explain HPs $110 billion market capitalization. -Andrew Conry- Murray, acmurray@nwc.corn
You can find the article and other interesting tidbits at: http://www.networkcomputing.com/showitem.jhtml?articleID=194400172