Among the Computing Again
Ah, the joy of liberation. It’s as if a soldier, after months of subsisting on MRE’s, sat down to a sumptuous steak dinner at Ruth’s Chris. It’s the repeal of the 55 mph speed limit, the freeing of our plumbing from federal gallons per flush limits, and the return of the incandescent light bulb all in one. It’s the end of tedious composition by thumb. It’s a 17.3” monitor, a comfortable and quick keyboard, blue ray, mega gigabytes of memory and speed, and sweet music too. After weeks, nigh months, nigh an eternity, of writing posts and essays and emails and everything else on a little virtual keyboard, it’s the newest addition to the family. For those who provided technical assistance and advice, thank you.
The difference in writing at regular speed versus tapping things out with my thumbs while arguing with the word predicting thingamajig about exactly what word I intend to write is the difference between a bicycle and a corvette. With plenty of space to see the material I’ve already written and a machine that will handle all of the particulars for me, I can go rollicking along, clickety clackety through a continuum of thought, of point and counterpoint, tempted to blast through grammatical standards of sentence length or punctuation voraciously gobbling up one idea after another like Michael Moore at the all you can eat buffet at Circus Circus without even slowing down because the hands move so smoothly and quickly over the keys as to induce euphoria over the fact that the other eight fingers can now get in on the act of writing without even pausing to take a breath which you would surely need to do at this point were you to try and read this sentence aloud, see?
I look forward to getting back in the conversation here.
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Jul '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
So...what machine did you buy?
Re: Among the Computing Again
By the way, anyone know how to divide the screen on Windows 7 so that word processing can take place in one section with another section open to view research material on the internet or another document?
Re: Among the Computing Again
It was a tough decision. Sony had a great model, but it was a bit too far out of my price range. There was a Sony on sale, but the screen was too small for my tastes, it lacked the numeric keypad on on the side, and just didn't "fit" in some intangible way. I came close to getting a Samsung, but I believe they are new to the laptop business.
In the end, it was a Dell Inspiron 17R that had the best feel (keyboard), the best monitor, nicest layout, best sound and assorted other doodads. Chiefly, what I like about it is how much more quickly I can work on the keypad. The keys have a light touch, making writing almost physically effortless. I got it through the Air Force base nearby, which means it was tax free to boot. I know Dell has mixed reviews,..but so does almost everything else under two grand. A good warranty, and the fact that I bought one of their better models, gives me some comfort.
Jun '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Dave, reduce your window size manually. In the upper right hand corner of your web browser or your Office 2010 window located between the "--" and the "X" is the windows cascade symbol. Click on it and the current window reduces in size after which you can adjust it manually with your mouse by dragging its borders. You can then set two or more windows into the available unused space. Hope that helps.
Jul '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
I use a butter knife.
Jul '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Dave Carter
It was a tough decision. Sony had a great model, but it was a bit too far out of my price range.
Surely, Dave, there must be funding somewhere in the Obama stimulus to subsidize computer purchases by truck drivers.
Oh....wait...I just looked it up. There is a computer subsidy program....
Um, you don't happen to be transgendered or Samoan, do you?
Aug '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Do people moan alot after the operation ? And please refrain from making Dave a democrat with a free computer ? Great oppo for the enemy to hack into Ricochet and start controlling the conversation.
Kenneth
Dave Carter
It was a tough decision. Sony had a great model, but it was a bit too far out of my price range.
Surely, Dave, there must be funding somewhere in the Obama stimulus to subsidize computer purchases by truck drivers.
Oh....wait...I just looked it up. There is a computer subsidy program....
Um, you don't happen to be transgendered or Samoan, do you? · Jan 9 at 1:45pm
Jun '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
You forgot to mention one thing: After a long hiatus from and return to that sumptuous steak dinner, the soldier will have the most wrenching and goddawful gastrointestinal distress ever visited upon a poor son of Adam, bad enough to return the revenge to Montezuma. I pray that is not in your future, Dave.
Welcome back!
Edited on Jan 9, 2011 at 4:30pmAug '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
How do I do that nifty trick that makes my links look like a neat blue "here" when posting comments?
Jun '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Charles Mark:
Hope that helps.
Edited on Jan 9, 2011 at 6:32pmJun '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
I always turn off that blasted word predictor on phones and PDA's. They drive me nuts. Look forward to your more efficient literary bounty, but I'm sure you gotta get back on the road soon!
Aug '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Thanks Cas- by the way I'm just about to start reading "The Moviegoer" on your recommendation some time ago.I'm finishing "Innocent" by Scott Turow which is not my usual type of read but is actually quite good- a"page-turner" you might say and much better-written than any of the few Grishams I ever read.
Re: Among the Computing Again
Thanks Cas. Sounds a little less radical than the butter knife option.
Re: Among the Computing Again
Kenneth
Surely, Dave, there must be funding somewhere in the Obama stimulus to subsidize computer purchases by truck drivers.
Oh....wait...I just looked it up. There is a computer subsidy program....
Um, you don't happen to be transgendered or Samoan, do you? · Jan 9 at 1:45pm
Well, no I don't happen to meet either one of those requirements, but I am holding out hope for a Cash for Carters program. And don't call me Shirley.
Re: Among the Computing Again
Casey Taylor
You forgot to mention one thing: After a long hiatus from and return to that sumptuous steak dinner, the soldier will have the most wrenching and goddawful gastrointestinal distress ever visited upon a poor son of Adam, bad enough to return the revenge to Montezuma. I pray that is not in your future, Dave.
Welcome back! · Jan 9 at 4:21pm
Edited on Jan 09 at 04:30 pm
Casey, I don't think the gastrointestinal problem will be an issue. Like truck stop food, these things pass. And thanks, Casey. Nice to be back!
May '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Dave, glad to see you upgraded and retooled. If you wish to have to permanently adjust the screen size on a single monitor you can try doing the following see first few steps in the link below (Click Change display settings in the Display window On Step 3)
http://maximumpcguides.com/windows-7/extend-the-desktop-to-multiple-displays/
If you want to have multiple desktops for the one physical screen (IE say one desktop for word-processing, one for browsing, another for Ricochet only, each of them at full screen resolution) you can try the following freeware (no guarantees on its safety from viruses etc) which allows you to move from one virtual desktop to another.
http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/
Also BACKUP, Backup, backup - Dave, And verify you can recover some random files from a backup to see that it worked (IE restore some files to a temp directory so you don't overwrite the existing ones, and then open them to see if they are OK)
Edited on Jan 10, 2011 at 6:05amJun '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
Good to see you posting again. Bring your computer by and we'll teach it some tricks.
May '10
Re: Among the Computing Again
*sigh* I explained this to you when you were in town.
Click your word processing window. Hold the Windows logo key +Left Arrow or Windows logo key +Right Arrow. This will put that window on the corresponding side of the screen.
Now you can do the same (with the opposite arrow key) for your browser window.
If things get complicated, call me and I'll walk you through it. LoL
Good luck!