redigitized

First of all, Congrats to the Chilean miners, thier families, and the news media consuming public. It would have been pretty sad to know those guys were trapped and then didn't make it out.

A week or so back, the computer at the house started making noises. I took a listen and it was the hard drive. It wasn't really in the 2010 October budget but I had to go out and buy a computer.

One thing that may have contributed to the demise of our computing machine was that I recently made the decision to get high speed internet. I had tried to sign up a couple of times before but I always got irritated at the process. The other thing was that I wanted to keep my same email address but enough was enough and there you have it, and so forth, an well, as they say, ect.

Once we got the better computer connection, I started watching more music vidoes and movies online and it seemed to be making the computer work a little harder and it seems like it was running a little hotter than it should have and I think that is what did the damage.

My plan was to go to Wal-mart and to Office Depot and just pick out the best deal. I went to Wal-mart and there wasn't anybody who worked there who knew anything about computers but I did come across a nice man named Santos. Santos likes talking about computers and I don't know why he was in the store but he took great interest in advising me. We finally settled on the right model and it turned out it was out of stock.

Next I went to Office Depot and a young lady, who was very courteous, was showing me the computers. I finally just asked her which one she would recommend. She said it depended on what I was going to do with it. I told her that we just do normal stuff and I didn't want to spend too much money but I wanted something that would still be up to date and compatible for at least the next six months or so. I asked her again which one she would recommend. She still sadi it depended on what I was going to do with it. I told her that if she would just tell me which computer to buy, I was in the mood to buy a computer. I asked her if she got paid commission and she said she did. I told her that she needed to go ahead and tell me what to buy. I am not exagerating. She flat out refused to sell me a computer.

After that I went over to Best Buy and they had a desktop model that came with a nice monitor and a printer, and the whole package was about $584. There was a guy assisting me and he kept talking into a wirless thing. It had an earpiece and and a mic and he was acting like a secret service agent. I would be talking to him and I couldn't tell if he was talking to me or who ever was on the other end. It turned out that it was "the manager" on the other end. I told him I wanted the computer and he kept fooling around and doing other stuff and finally when I got his attention I aske him a question about a back up disc and setting up the computer and he told me it would cost $84. I then asked him if it had a word processor and he told me it would cost another hundred bucks or so. I then asked him if I could plug it into my TV and he said that he could have a member of the "Geek Squad" install the correct piece of equipment. I had already told him I was gonna buy the thing but he kept on fooling around and the manager came over and told him to wait on somebody else also (at the same time) so I told him I would come back later.

I then went over to Sams Club and saw a computer I liked but nobody was there so after a while I left. I went over to Radio Shack and almost bought a computer there but it was a display model and I didn't like the idea of the keys being banged on by kids or whoever.

I went over to Conns and there was a lady who asked me which computer I liked the best and I told her I didn't know because they were all turned off. She then asked me between two specific models which one I would pick. She didn't know anything about computers but she did ask me to buy one. I appreciated that but I was tired and I she didn't seem to have a clue about computers so I left.

This all took place in the period of about an hour and a half but I was gettting hungry and tired and decided to head home and I was passing by Office Max and decided, what the hell, I will stop on in.

There was a guy working there named Freddy and he was helping a guy who was about to buy a computer but he was making a call so Freddy spoke to me for a little bit and told me which computer to buy. He advised me to buy an Acer that was on sale for $399. It was a laptop with 3 gigs of ram, 320 gigs of memory, an Intel Pentium processor and already came loaded with Microsoft Works which has a word processor, a spread sheet, and other Microsoft Office style programs but just not as up to date. He also advised me to buy a thing with a couple of fans to set the computer on to keep it cool as well as a particular program to protect against spyware and other computer virus type infections.

Freddy probably didn't know any more about computers than the girl at Office Depot but he was honest with me and told me what I needed to hear. He told me specifically which items to buy and also what not to "waste" my money on. I normally don't buy the extra warranty but he told me it was a good thing to have so what could I say? I am glad now that I did buy the warranty so I appreciete the fact that he recommended it with confidence.

Basically, He did what Zig Ziglar said was all that needed to be done to be successful in sales. Zig's advice is to help people get what they want. I wanted a computer and Freddy helped me get it. Thank you Freddy.

I am sure that in a few years from now this computer will seem slow in comparison but right now I am flying through the digitized universe and consuming it at a rate that I have never experienced before. It is really too much for me. I have watched several movies, documentaries, and other stuff also. One movie in particular that I enjoyed was called "Play it Loud" which has Jimmy Page, Jack White, and the Edge. Check it out. I also watched a good part of a Rolling Stones Concert from a couple of years ago produced by Martin Scorsese (sp?). Those guys may be old but they still rock. I don't care what anyboy says. It is a free country and and as long as they can draw a crowd and everybody has a good time, I don't see the harm in it. Mick Jaggar is crazy and a high energy entertainer. Keith Richards may have lost his boyish looks but he is still an amazing riffmiester. The dude adds so much to the sound and knows when not to play also. They are really a tight band and they have a pretty good catalog of songs to choose from.

OK, that is all for now.