Devon, Jim’s son, came by today. I haven’t seen him in many months, and it’s the first time I’ve seen him with facial hair!!
He says he’s growing it for halloween.
He’s going to the party as his Dad! He looked good.
Anyone who knows Jim knows it’s ‘Love Jim, Love his moustache.’ I put together a little moustache collage by way of explanation.
Last year, on a dare, he shaved it off. That poor upper lip looked so naked, white, and vulnerable :-( I told him to grow it back right away.
What a kick! As one friend said upon receiving our invitation, “You’ll use any excuse for a party!”
Well, duh!
I can’t think of a better way for geeks to party. And, Microsoft provided some fun stuff. There was the Windows 7 puzzle.
We had a great room. The Rec hall here at Paradise Island has undergone major improvements since last year. With a ceiling mounted projector and a huge screen – it’s a great place to present computer seminars … or movies.
Everyone there was a good friend, so we also did plenty of partying.
Notice the 2 guys in the background in the photo above – we had two computers with Windows 7 for people to try. Jim upgraded his computer to Win 7, and he went out and bought me a brand new computer today. $800 for a near-top-of-the-line Sony Vaio (500 GB hard drive, 4GB RAM plus 2GB on the video card, and a Blue Ray player) … hard to believe.
Microsoft even sent us Windows 7 napkins :-)
And, everyone got a Windows 7 goodie bag.
Here’s the completed puzzle.
So, today, Jim is setting up my new computer with all my old software. So far, so good. In addition to this being Windows 7, we also got the 64 bit version. I’m expecting some of my software to have problems … Dreamweaver and Fireworks to be specific. If you’re wondering about compatibility of any of your software or hardware, you can visit the Windows 7 Compatibility Center. And, here is our take on ‘Should you Upgrade to Windows 7’
So, here’s my new computer. Isn’t she pretty?
My old computer is working just fine, but it will be 3 years old in January. Our first rule of buying a new computer is to get one *before* your old one dies. It’s just so much easier to get a new computer going when you still have the old one to work on and get stuff from. See the rest of our 7 Tips for Buying a New Computer.
We *are* Geeks y’know. So, while we’re parked and not doing too much traveling, I’ll be writing a little more about the geeky stuff.
Today is the official release date for Microsoft’s new operating system, cleverly named Windows 7 :-) We are hosting a Windows 7 Launch party tonight. If you’re in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area – we invite you to attend. It is a free event.
Jim has been using the pre-release version of Windows 7 for several months now. He just received, and installed the commercial version this week. Tonight, he will be demonstrating the product and taking questions. We have reserved the rear Rec Hall at Paradise Island RV park for our event. It will start at 7pm and last about 2 hours. For more information, you can call us at 954-83-GEEKS.
What’s with the ‘Launch Party’? Well, I think Microsoft is trying to take a page from Apple’s playbook. They’ve been building up hype for this product launch more so than ever before. Jim visited a computer store earlier in the week and saw computers on the shelves advertised as having Windows 7 installed, but you couldn’t buy them until the launch day – today. And, the store would be open starting at midnight for your shopping pleasure!
Apparently it’s worked. We see reports from Amazon that pre-release orders for Windows 7 has exceeded the record set by Harry Potter! At least in the U.K. – we haven’t see the stats for the US yet.
What is Windows 7?
It is the successor to Vista. It looks like Vista, and works like Vista, but it works better. It’s been streamlined. See Microsoft’s website for further details. If you have Vista now, upgrading is a pretty simple matter.
If you have XP, it’s more complicated. It depends on your hardware. Generally, if your computer is more than 3 years old, we don’t recommend upgrading. Wait till you’re ready to buy a new computer with Windows 7 pre-installed. If your computer is up-to-snuff, you will need to wipe everything off to do a ‘clean’ install of Windows 7.
Well, we’re back in Fort Lauderdale. Same park where we’ve stayed so many times before. Different site.
We have a busy week planned already! Kayuba Dive Club meeting on Monday evening. Women’s Executive Club luncheon on Tuesday. Happy Hour on Tuesday night, Toastmasters on Thursday morning and our own event, Microsoft Windows 7 Launch Party on Thursday night. Dinner with best friend, Chris and Richard on Saturday night.
I was about to write how lucky we feel to have such strong ties to a community at the same time that we have the consumate freedom of the RV lifestyle. … but I realize that I write about that every time we come back to Fort Lauderdale. Like this past post, “The Best of Both Worlds.”
We also have a *lot* of catch-up work to do. For the last month, with my Mom with us, we’ve been in tourist mode. It was all I could do to answer the most pressing emails and get our newsletter out. Now, I really need to concentrate to update our ‘Beginner’s Guide to Picasa’ for the new 3.5 version. I’ve promised to have the new version out by the end of the month and that’s only 1 week away. Then, next month, we’ll be flying out to California and visiting Google’s headquarters! More about that later – gotta get to work now.
We’ve made this our last stop before Fort Lauderdale for 2 or 3 trips now. Florida has a lot of great State Parks and, in this one you can walk to the beach.
We took a little walk to toast the sunset last night.
There was a distant thunderstorm turning the sky all sorts of ominous colors.
Mom got all snug in her ‘room’ where she could watch the action.
Then, this morning was beautiful. I made everyone go for an early morning walk.
Ok, time to go. On to Fort Lauderdale.
Well – the weather was a little dismal so we didn’t see too much here. But, I can tell you that the campground with the huge trees and hanging spanish moss is quite dramatic.
We did take a little drive to the beach in order to walk on the beach.
It’s off to Florida today. And we’ll be in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow.
All right, enough of cold weather. Seems like we’ve been a little chilly all summer long .. and the forecast is for the 40s in Virginia this weekend.
Time to head for Florida. Take Mom home and settle in to Paradise Island for the season.
It’s I-95 all the way.
We see some fall colors. We’re not going to stick around for the full show!
Our original plan for this spring was to go to Jekyll Island in SE Georgia for the Country Coach rally. That didn’t happen because of Country Coach’s bankruptcy. There’s some kind of divine symmetry in ending our summer with Jekyll Island.
We came to the Chesapeake area to attend the wedding of my friend Liz’s son – Anton.
What a gorgeous setting – the family farm of nearly 30 acres on the Piankatank river right off Chesapeake Bay. We took a walk down on the beach first.
The first night was the rehearsal dinner. You had to walk down a long path in the woods to get to the ‘glade.’ On the way back the path was lit with candles in mason jars.
Here’s me and Liz
And here’s her son, Anton, and his bride, Kendall.
The next day was the wedding. You can bet we’re not going to get dressed up without taking a couple pictures!
What a setting!
and then came the party. Good food, good drink, good music, good friends. Notice the clear tent.
Thanks for a great time guys. And, Congratulations to Anton and Kendall!
We belong to the membership campground system called Thousand Trails. There are about 40 of their ‘Preserves’ in the US and we’re always happy when one is near. You can peruse past blog posts where I’ve mentioned Thousand Trails.
We are currently in the Chesapeake area of Virginia because the son of my friend Liz is getting married at their family farm here. We were happy to find that there was a Thousand Trails preserve within 15 minutes of the farm.
Here’s our view when we go for just a short walk.
And, here’s Mom taking video of the scenery.
Here’s our site – you can see the water in the distance.
*Lots* of water in these here parts! We’re on a stretch called the Piankatank river.
And, what a treat to get to see my friend Liz with all her family around her. I think she likes being a Grandma!
