Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I Never Knew That Sending A Fax Could Be So Hard!

I know that I have done it before with my Lexmark All-In-One because the activity log shows that I did and I rember about that fax. It was quite a few documents and they were all received successfully!

So this particular night I had some documents that I wanted to fax and I went about setting them up to be faxed. The problem with the fax number though was that it went through a tirade of messages and menus before a fax could be sent and my fax sending mode would beep and I guess that the fax got tired of waiting and the call would disconnect!

After trying again a few more times I came upon the idea of dialing the number myself and waiting for the faxing mode to kick in. The only problem with that was that when I pressed "send fax" the fax would dial the number while I had already dialed it!

Frustrated I got out the manual for the fax program and thought I could change the settings to when I wanted to send the fax. The only problem with that was that I didn't know how long it would take until the recipient's fax mode kicked in!

Then I thought that I would try another fax program. The only problem with that was that it didn't allow me to send multiple documents and it had the same problem as the other fax program in that I couldn't delay the time that the fax "kicked" in!

How did I solve this problem?

I simply looked for another fax number for the recipient that was only their fax number and I sent the fax THAT way! So far it looks as though it "took" but I'm going to call the place to check to make sure that they got the fax!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Can It Really Be THAT Easy To Guess Someone's Password?

I was watching this movie on tv last night and to make a long story short the main character had to get into another person's computer so that he could stop a catastrophe from happening. Of course the clock was ticking and he had to get into the computer right away! But the computer had to have the password / code typed in to gain access to the computer and of course the main character didn't know what it was so he had to guess.

He tried a couple of times but it didn't work. Then he thought about what the person loves and then typed that in - that didn't work. Then he typed in what the person hated - and that worked!

Even though I kind of enjoyed watching the movie I thought to myself that it couldn't possibly be THAT easy to guess somebody's password!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Listening To The Radio

Is this a lost art?

I am currently listening to one of my local community radio talk stations. While I'm also at the computer it can be a bit distracting but I am becoming very interested in this local radio station. To make a long story short the station that I used to listen to got their format changed and the staff was let go and this came as quite a surprise to me! Luckily I was able to find the current radio station that I am listening to now which is WURD - 900 AM.

I talked to one person who has told me that they don't even listen to the radio anymore which I kind of found shocking!

I have my favorite jazz station that I use for background music and of course I listen to my local news station and I have a few other radio stations that I listen to including my local PBS (Public) station. I have even started listening to my station on the Internet when my AM reception is bad.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I've Forgotten How!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I was going to make copies of one of my W-2's. I have a flat bed scanner along with a printer that are both connected to an A/B switch. But its been so long since I used it that when I tried to make copies from my scanner the scanner wasn't recognized!

I looked through my notes hoping to find some information that I saved about what to do when my scanner wasn't working properly. I'm sure its in there somewhere - I just can't find it - I think I'm trying to hard.

Another thing to complicate the issue is that the scanner has 3 ports - one goes from the scanner to the A/B switch. Another is from the scanner to..............NOWHERE! Now I can't remember whether or not it worked like this before - my mind is totally blank!

So my first thought is that the cable got loose when I was hooking up my new computer monitor so I went back to the back of my computer but I really couldn't find where to connect this cable.

The printer works fine when I switch the A/B switch - but not the scanner! (I even got out the manual to see if I could find some help!)

So I have come to the conclusion that I'm not going to let it drive me crazy for today!

I made the copies of my W-2 by using my All-In-One printer (which doesn't have any printer cartridges that are full - my ink is low)and scanning it and saving it and reducing the number of colors to get it to a more manageable size and then printing it out on the printer that is connected to the A/B switch!

Whew!

Of course I know the solutions here:

  • I do have to find out why that scanner isn't working - its a matter of principle!

  • I also have to get some new printer cartridges for my All-In-One


Of course I wanted to make copies using my own equipment as opposed to having to go get copies made (even though the copy store is such a short distance away - actually its within walking distance!).

Well I managed to do that - with some effort!



2/27/08 Update! - well I turned the computer on and I could hear the scanner warming up so I though that I would give it a try. It was working!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Microsoft Wants To Buy Yahoo!

I wasn't going to blog about this because I figured that it was on the news so much that everyone probably already knew about it. But today that headline was staring me in the face so I decided to post a blog entry about it.

Just in case you haven't heard - Mircosoft wants to buy Yahoo for $44 Billion Dollars! First of all this online article says that Yahoo was never even up for sale - Microsoft made them an unsolicited offer!

Here is what is also kind of surprising is that (so far) Yahoo is not selling! The article says that while Yahoo's stock is going down they are still very popular and are still generating advertising revenue.

Just because someone offers you Billions doesn't necessarily mean that you have to take it! And that's what it seems Yahoo is doing. The article goes on to say that Microsoft could still be able to buy Yahoo by going to Yahoo's board of directors.

I have often read about and seen on television stories about big takeovers but in this case - so far - Yahoo is refusing to sell.