laptop training wheels

The newest person on my team here at work, is Kim. She is a very welcome addition to our team. When she was hired, she had no real ColdFusion experience, but LOTS of Java experience. She went to CF training and right away was productive and contributing to the team. It also helps that she is extremely smart and motivated!

The best part is that she has a great sense of humor and can put up with all the guys on our team. We all like to goof around and have fun at work, because if you aren't having fun at work, why are you there?

The latest escapade was Kim's laptop, which is old, having hard drive issues, so she had to switch to a different, and still older machine. TJ, a member of our team, and probably the biggest prankster, added training wheels to Kim's laptop, so now she should be able to "handle" it.

usb bluetooth adaptor recommendation

A few weeks ago, I ordered a laptop for my wife. She is now writing curriculum for a college and will be teaching as well, so she needed a laptop.

Well, I built the thing like 10 times on Dell's site, until I got the features I wanted at the price I wanted. But, being the idiot I sometimes am, I forgot to add Bluetooth to the system!

So, I started looking for a Bluetooth adapter. I found one that fit in the PCMCIA slot, but it was like $45. I kept searching. I asked one of my team members, Chris, to look for me too, because he can literally find anything. He got back to me in about five minutes with a few links. I wanted the adapter to be low-profile, because the laptop already has an extra-large battery, and it has a hard time fitting in backpacks.

Chris found exactly what I was looking for! It is a USB Bluetooth adapter that is extremely low profile! It only sticks out from the USB port a quarter of an inch! It is from Cirago and is only $25! You can see more information on it here. I actually ordered it from NewEgg.com but I can't find it on their site any more.

I installed it the other night with no problems. Just put in the CD (it installs some Toshiba drivers), then plug in the adapter, and it just works! It seems to have the same range as an internal Bluetooth adapter too. I am very impressed with this product and would recommend it to anyone who wants to add Bluetooth to a system. You will be impressed with the size of it! I haven't seen anything else like it!

external hard drive recommendation

After my laptop had to get wiped, because of some virus I couldn't get rid of, and after losing almost all of my MP3s, I decided to get an external hard drive. I did some research and went with a Seagate FreeAgent Pro (320 GB).

I checked out prices on NewEgg and found it for $139. But, I didn't want to wait for it to ship, so I went to Best Buy (even though I am mad at them for laying off like 3000 IT people) and asked if they would match the NewEgg price. After some haggling, because they "Only match local vendors' prices.", I got the same price and bought the drive.

It has been nothing but spectacular! It comes with some great backup software, and is of course plug-and-play. I have all my MP3s and digital photos on it now. I would highly recommend this drive!

BlogCFC was created by Raymond Camden. This blog is running version 5.7.002.