We won’t get back to the States until, well, in time for the BCS Championship game.
My blogging and uploading of photos will probably be slim to none until we get back. I may post while I’m there, but there’s no guarantee.
So until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Years, and Happy Fill-in-the-blank-to-make-you-happy!
Can you tell the photo below is a Christmas photo? (click image to enlarge)
Have a great and merry Christmas!
BTW, do you know why poinsettias are associated with Christmas? And did you know my home state of South Carolina was the first place in the US to have poinsettias thanks to US Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett?
And they look pretty even when green (and wet) like this one in our front yard.
Many of us have time during the holidays that we like to play with our computers. Or we’re looking for excuses to get away from family. Either way, I’m going to leave some ideas and tips for playing around with your computer during the holidays by getting rid of junk, getting new free cool things, and just general straightening up. Ready?
Get New Free Cool Things
Get Rid of Junk
- Run CCleaner
- Run Spybot
- Run Ad-Aware
- Check for unneeded programs under Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs (be careful not to delete things you aren’t sure about)
Organize
- Run Windows Update - get all the latest patches and updates from Microsoft
- RocketDock - creates a ‘mac dock’ on your PC to launch your favorite programs
- Re-organize your MyDocuments folder
- Re-organize your MyMusic folder
- Run Windows Disk Defragmenter (under “All Programs > Accessories > System Tools
- Backup your harddrive
- Turn on your Microsoft Firewall (under Control Panel > Firewall)
Optimize Yourself Online
Everybody loves gadgets. But do you want a list of 25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money? Here’s my favorites:
1. Filtered Water Bottle
9. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
13. Dance Dance Revolution
14. Self-Cleaning Electric Shaver
15. Espresso / Cappuccino Machine
23. TiVo
24. A Hybrid Car
25. A Residential Windmill
Of course, I’m not really sure how a car or windmill counts as a gadget, but, whatever.
Good to see the US Government has a new plan in place to keep immigration control to a minimum. Looks like the US Gov’t has teamed up with Google to keep’em out!
The largest view can be found here. It makes for a nice desktop wallpaper too 
Hamas. Hezbolla. Israel. Lebanon. al-Qaida. Egypt. The EU. The US. Iran. Iraq. Syria. The Palestinian Authority.
Who can get along? Who can’t?
Does the Middle East confuse you?
Check out this handy chart trying to make heads or tails of all the relationships.
I just signed up for the College Bowl Pick ‘Em, and I’m inviting you to start a team and play against me!
I’ve set up a private “buddies” page to track our team’s performance against each other, and against the rest of my “buddies” group.
To join my group, please click on this link. The College Bowl Pick ‘Em is really easy to play, and you can invite a bunch of people to play too!
