High Tech

I remember the first time I was on the Internet. Aaron & I were in his office at work in Texas. I think Ethan was a baby. I sat at Aaron's computer while he logged on. He said, "There you go. Now you can surf the Internet." Then he left the room. I just sat there. I didn't know how to "surf". When he returned some time later, I was still sitting with my hands on my lap staring at the same screen that was on the computer when he left the room.


Since then, I have learned that I can not live without the Internet. We found our car and house on the Internet. I pay most of our bills online. We both have email accounts. When we first moved to Texas we kept in touch with our families by writing letters. Yep, the kind with stamps on them. We would write longhand for both families. Now I've had this blog for several years. It has been a great way to keep up with family and friends.

I order all our photos online. Remember film? I take bad pictures especially now when I know I can edit the picture when I get home. I have boxes and boxes of bad pictures taken on a film camera but, I figure they are better than no picture.

I google things all the time. (When did the word google become a verb?) I can't imagine not having the answer to any question about any subject at any time. One of my favorite searches are for new recipes. If I want to make a new dish, I just look till I find the recipe that has the ingredients that I want to use.

Then there is the cell phone. I remember as a teenager talking on the phone to friends with the phone cord strung from the kitchen to my bedroom so I could have some privacy on the phone.

I have to mention the ipod. I remember when CD's came out. No more stacks of CD in the closet. My kids will never know music stores. They buy any song they want within minutes. Searching for music on itunes is fun for our family. We searched for the top songs in each year that our children were born.

Anyway, there are a lot of high tech things I'm learning about. I chatted online for the first time ever the other night. Someone contacted me. I thought I had it all figured out until I pushed the wrong button and didn't know how to get the conversation back. I still haven't learned to text. I know that day is coming that I'll have to text but, I think I'll put it off as long as possible.

I recently signed up on Facebook. I know, I'm behind the rest of the world. I have enjoyed finding people I haven't talked to for years from high school, members from old wards and branches, and missionaries we worked with in Texas. I liked Facebook so much that I recommended it to Aaron. I even set up his account (I spelled his password wrong. Ooops.) Soon after, his profile was better than mine and now he has more friends. We are a competitive family (which is why boardgames around here are so fun). I'll just call this a little Facebook "friendly"competition between spouses.

So you ever wonder what is next high tech device to make our lives better (or get addicted to) will be?

Contact Me, Please!

My yahoo email account died recently. I don't know all the technical mumbo jumbo to explain what happened (actually I don't know what happened). It just died.

The problem is, with it, my list of contacts died . Please go to my profile for a new email address. Contact me through that email so I can add you to my list. It has been lonely not being able to email.

P.S. If you sent me an email recently, you'll have to re-write it and send it to my new email address. Sorry.

So Cool!

I know of several people who are surprised that I have a blog. I have often heard comments about "bloggers" that make us all sound like menaces to society. Maybe my profile of a stay-at-home mother of five doesn't fit the "norm". Then along comes Holly. She is my newest niece born at 4:30 this morning. She had a blog before she was 12 hours old. She is the daughter of my sister Monica and her husband Scott. He is the computer genius that happens to be my personal tech support. He is always great to answer my emails and explain things in "layman's" terms. Whether or not Holly and I fit the usual profile of a true blogger, I've found that for us, blogs serve their purpose. Our blogs announce to the world that we are here.

Limited Time

One of the reasons my blog is not always updated daily, is that I have to compete for time on the computer. I don't compete with Aaron, or the boys, but my little girls.I made the mistake of introducing the girls to nickjr.com. Now, all they want to do is watch videos on the Internet. Just like I do with the boys, I have to limit their time on the computer. The problem is, every time I am on the computer, Vanessa gets the idea it is her turn. I can't believe I have to fight my two-year-old for the computer.

Crash & Burn

The hard drive on our computer crashed last Saturday. We were able to replace it without buying a new computer. Yeah!!! I am so grateful that I finally followed my brother-in-law-computer-guy's advice and bought an external hard drive in January. I have years and years of photos stored on our computer. I would have lost every single one of them. The sad thing is, the photos and our money management (the two things important to me) were saved. Everything else (that was important to Aaron) is long gone. I feel just a bit guilty.

We are now in the tedious process of reinstalling all our programs and starting completely over. I know it could be worse so, I'm not complaining. The good thing is, we are starting with a clean slate.

The moral of the story is.... follow my advice even though I'm not a computer guy, it is worth the investment in an external hard drive, but use it to back up everything.

This Time is for Real

It took what seemed like forever (1 week) to get the internet connected to our new house, only to find that our computer wouldn't recognize the modem. We were going to replace our computer, but our budget "decided" just to replace the ethernet. I don't know what that all means. I just know that everything is working now I can finally post pictures. This time is for real. I'm back!