Back when I worked tech support, I had at my disposal a treasure trove of information. I could call one of the four partners who owned the business to find out just about anything I needed to know about technology. Those four guys amazed me with all their knowledge.

So today I was thinking about that because I’d really like to ask them if there’s a difference between Cat5 and Cat6 cabling. I just want to know the advantages of disadvantages of them. I’ve read a few things online but I really want more simple answers than what I’ve found.

If anyone can tell me the difference, in very simple terms, I’d be grateful.

With my birthday right around the corner, I thought I’d show you all an easy way to get rid of a few years. All you need do is hop the next space shuttle for one of the other planets. Well, except for Mercury and Venus, since that’ll make you older.

If you don’t have the funds for a space shuttle ride, then head on over to Your Age On Other Worlds. Just enter your birthdate and calculate. Even though I’m creeping very close to that half century mark, if i were to relocate to Mars, I’d be just 26. Ah, yes. That was a very good age. And if I head just one planet over from there to Jupiter, I could go way back and be just a little over 4 years old!

The site is really just a simple javascript but my kidsenjoy it. If your own kids are studying the planets, this simple exercise gets the point across because you can see the relationship between the planets and their rotations and revolutions with the day and year count. I found this one quite a while ago and I’m just happy it’s still around. Enjoy!

Online shopping princess is at it again. Winter is around the corner and my costruction workers (husband and son) are needing to “warm up” their work clothes. I hope they head to Hawaii before it gets so cold they’ll need a North Face jacket, though. Yes, that means I get to take a trip, too. I’m pretty smart like that, you know.

I think a few hoodies, some thermal shirts and new carharts should do the trick. Online shopping, here I come!

It seems all I’ve done this week is run around. I haven’t had nearly enough time to blog, yet there are ideas running through my mind, demanding to be blogged.

I think I’m going to sit here all night and not move until I’ve typed out every singer idea I have. I guess I’ll have to take a few bathroom breaks, unless I can find some protective underwear for this all night blogathon. Just don’t ask if I’m wearing them because I’m not telling.

I’ve got my office very much the way I like it. I’m not really an organized person but I do try to maintain an appearance of organization. It’s more for me than anyone else; I trick myself into thinking everything is neat and tidy and that makes me want to work. Don’t laugh. I’m weird like that.

The part of my office that’s giving me a problem now is the “spare parts” area. I have two boxes, a pretty blue one and a nice Sephora one, holding most of my spare computer parts. I’ve had to get things from those boxes a few times and now they’re just all messed up and unorganized.

I started sorting through them but gave up. Everything is in those boxes! I found a baseball, Kendyll’s binky, my hair clip and a couple kitchen sinks, too, I think. Sheesh!

So now I have my job for this week. I have to go through those boxes, remove stuff that doesn’t belong there and throw away at least 25% of the stuff I have. Because seriously, if I haven’t used it in the last year, why keep it?

Score another point for technology. My husband, the man who doesn’t know a mouse from a jump drive, has once again requested the services of my computer. Seems he’s looking for various truck accessories and isn’t happy with the local offerings.

This may not seem blog-worthy to some but to me it’s huge. Every time he asks for information from the internet, I make a mental or blog note. Then, when he makes one of his comments about “computers are junk” I can remind him of these moments.

Not to worry. It’s become a game for us. And it’s all in good fun.

So sorry for the delay in approving comments to this blog and responding to legitimate comments. I got hit hard by some comment spam and I’m having trouble digging through it.

Please note that if you enter a link in your comment, I’ll definitely check it out and usually remove it. Also, if you are part of the “pay to comment” network, there’s a very good chance that you’ll have your link to your name removed also. I’m being very careful about this. If I remove your link by mistake, please let me know.

All legitimate commenters: I’m working hard to approve your comments.

Several years ago I signed up on a site that sent out invitations to friends and family that you had listed. You could fill out the details of your event and check off those from your address book that you wanted to be included and the service took care of the rest.

I think there are several services out there that do that but the one I remember was really easy to use with a great interface. I thought I had it bookmarked but I can’t seem to find it. Of course, even if I could find it, I’m not sure I would remember my username and password.

Maybe I just need to find a few similar sites and test them all out. Any suggestions?

The best thing about the internet? Well, today, it’s being able to search for ideas for our next vacation. Let’s face it, I love my travel agent and wouldn’t trade her for the world but it sure is nice to be able to do a little digging on my own.

My husband is all about driving and camping. I’d rather fly to a beach area and check out the cruises that are available. Right now, with the help of my online detective work, it looks like we might be able to drive to a beach area to board a cruise ship. Now wouldn’t that be a nice compromise?

Way back in the beginning, I had a computer. It was a hand-me-down and when I got a “new” hand-me-down I got rid of the old one. And then I bought my first brand new, not a hand-me-down Windows95 machine. There was something about buying my first new computer, that I configured myself, by the way, that put a lot of sentimental value on that old Gateway2000. Yes, Gateway still had a 2000 on the end of it back then.

Well, that computer is still here, still running, although it’s loaded with Linux now, not Windows. And over the years, I’ve accumulated more and more computers. One by one I’ve added them to my network, some by Cat5 and others wirelessly. Now, though it seems that I need to rethink my network so it isn’t so pieced together. I’m going to pick up some network cables, a new router, and maybe look into some software to bring this all together.

I wonder if any of my kids will be interested enough to help me out.