We got a new toy! I cashed in my points against an old credit card and redeemed it for a new Garmin Nuvi 255 GPS/Personal Travel Assistant. It's sooo cute! And, Jim already had fun downloading all sorts of extras - like waypoints for Geocaches, and different voices for the turn by turn directions.
Here's how geeks have fun on Halloween:
Like a long lost friend returning and giving me a big hug! I'm so happy to have my camera back. $130 to have it repaired, vs. 4-500 for a new camera body, seemed well worth it.
So, here's some photos from around the park. It's a *GORGEOUS* day. We woke up to 58 degrees! Clear and sunny. Life is good, money or no money!
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| From 200810 |
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| From 200810 |
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| From 200810 |
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| From Geeks on Tour blog 200810 |
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| From Geeks on Tour blog 200810 |
I don't take as many pictures when we're parked as when we're in travel mode. Besides, my camera is still being repaired ... it should be back this week.
But that doesn't mean there isn't plenty going on. Both Jim and I had appointments with long-time clients for computer work. Interestingly, they both had digital video on their minds. Computers and digital video has become a big thing and there is SOO much to know. In my appointment, we only use Picasa. I am so impressed with Picasa 3's new video capabilities. If you have one of those built-in webcams at the top of your computer screen, you can now use Picasa to record your video, save it to your computer, and it's one-click to upload it to Youtube!
On Sunday, I spent most of the day with my Mom. We watched the first couple hours of digital video that she took in her recent travels to Cyprus and Jordan. We just watched her raw footage from the camera tapes. The next task is to edit it. This is beyond Picasa. Picasa can manage short video clips. We use Adobe's Premier Elements to do the editing. That's going to take a while.
And, what was Jim doing on Sunday? Football! The Dolphins played at 'home.' Bill, the manager of this RV park, had an extra ticket and invited Jim to go watch the game live. What a treat. And, the Dolphins even won!
A good weekend all around.
Aw c'mon! You know you want to :-) Doesn't everyone want to throw $1,100 down a black hole every month? I don't want to be a hog, y'know. If someone else would like the thrill of writing a huge check every month for nothing ... I'd be happy to turn it over!
We are extremely healthy. The only thing that makes me sick is having to pay that health insurance bill! I've had health insurance all my adult years. I really needed it once - after a skiing accident in '89 when I had to have knee surgery - $40,000 worth - all covered! If I hadn't had that experience, I probably would feel OK about going without insurance. As it is, I just can't. I do have to find some alternative though.
I know I'm a crybaby. There are many others out there paying as much or more, and there are many who go without and may even be sick. We're healthy, we have no mortgage, no debt, and very marketable skills. We be fine.
Still ... health insurance cost sucks!
There ... I feel better now.
We had a knock on our door this morning from a guest in the park, Kevin, who was having trouble connecting to the Wi-Fi. Jim wasn't here so I gave it a go. Sure enough, something was very wrong with his internal adapter. The indicator light was off. When I switched it on, the computer responded with the 'blue screen of death.' I tried several things and always got the same result. I gave up on his built-in Wi-Fi adapter, installed a USB adapter and got it to work.
Then Jim came home, I told him what I'd done and he said, "Let me take a look." He got the Blue Screen of Death too. But he has a deeper bag of tricks than I do. He proceeded to delete the adapter from the Device Manager, then let it reinstall itself and, voila! Everything worked just fine. A happy customer!
Then we got to chatting. Turns out Kevin and his wife are from New Zealand. They're traveling in the states by motorhome for 5-6 months and, so far, they don't think they like Florida very much. Oh no! Well, they were in Miami and got off at the wrong exit. They're already uncomfortable driving a 38 foot motorhome on the *wrong* side of the road and then, they find themselves in a traffic jam of crowds attending a Miami Dolphins football game! And, this was after having brake trouble in downtown Miami and having to get towed. What they were doing in downtown Miami I don't know! But I'm not surprised that they have a bad feeling about Florida so far. Kevin wants to go to the keys but his wife just wants out. I told them this is the best time to go to the Keys and you can get there by going *around* Miami using the Turnpike.
They both asked, "What's a Turnpike?" One of the best parts about traveling is meeting other travelers! I sure would like to travel around New Zealand by RV one of these days.
