HITTING THE ROAD AGIAN

Here we go again, hitting the road once more. This time in the RV heading east. The plan, which can change on a whim, goes something like this. At the end of the week we'll make for Colorado, where we will spend about a week doing some hiking and exploring the Central Rockies. Then we'll head into the Midwest spending some time in Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois before making a left turn around Chicago and heading north into Wisconsin. At Sault Sainte Marie will cross into Canada, make a right turn head east towards Nova Scotia, exploring parts of Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick along the way. From Nova Scotia will make another right turn head down into New England before heading back home. Our route home is anybodies guess.  We could return through the middle of the country or head for the southern route.  Only time will tell.

As is our custom we will attempt to travel on roads less traveled, finding interesting places to stay along the way. If some place is not to our liking will move on. More interesting places we find may require us to hang around a little longer. We have about 3 months, so as long as the money lasts, we can be flexible. As always I'll keep you updated on the blog posting weekly, or when Internet is available. Stay tuned.......

Posted with Blogsy

iPAD UPDATE

I can imagine that all of you been wondering how's it going with the new iPad. Well it is better than before but it's still a big learning curve going from a Windows system to an Apple system. Apple provides you with some training such as workshops that are offered at their store. So I figured I just sign up for some of their workshops, because sitting at home and trying to figure this out myself was just getting me more and more frustrated. And I figured that if I'm going to be swearing at something I might as well be swearing at someone.

One of the first things overcome with this iPad is that Apple uses a different language than PC. They've come up with new words for the same things that are on a PC, but it's like learning a foreign language, which I have difficulty doing. I signed up for several of their workshops and when I arrived for the first one, the thing that stood out was that all the others who signed up for this particular workshop were my age. I guess that means if you're young you can figure this all out on your own. One of the neat things I learned at this first workshop, which basically dealt with the keyboard, was that there's a microphone function where I can dictate what I want to type to the iPad.

That's how I'm writing this entry to the blog. I'm not actually typing it but I'm speaking it. Of course you do have to go back and correct some things because the iPad might misunderstand your pronunciation of some words. So I wondered if the iPad could differentiate between there as in over there and there as in their car. As you can see it didn't do too bad but got the third their wrong but now they're right.

At the Apple store they've also got a bar. It's called the Genius Bar. I found out that you didn't really need to be a genius to go there which was a good thing because I needed a drink after my workshop. It turns out it's a place where you can go to talk to a genius, not get a drink. I noticed that all the geniuses that were standing behind the bar were just kids. I wonder if when they get to be my age if they will still be geniuses. My guess is, no, they'll be stupid like the rest of us. Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to get my address book from Cox Cable and give it to Apple. I think that's called exporting and importing. So I made an appointment with a genius to find out how to do it.

I went and met my assigned genius and to see if hew was really a genius I figured I would ask him a test question. I asked him how to operated an 8-track tape player? He didn't know what I was talking about. I deiced to give him another chance and explained my issue with the address book. So he did a bunch of stuff with my Cox account and my iPad, but he couldn't get the addresses to transfer. He said he would be right back and disappeared through a door behind the bar to a secret area where the geniuses hang out. He was gone a long time, so I guessed he was stumped and was probably having a drink. After about 10 minutes he returned and my address book was now in my iPad. I think he must have conferred with the Genius Boss or made a phone call to tech support at Cox.

Posted with Blogsy

NOT ABOUT TRAVEL BUT THOSE %^*#@& COMPUTERS

Computers, computers and computers. You can't live with them and you can't live without them. Earlier this year Microsoft stopped their support for Windows XP. I firmly believe the reason was to get people to buy new computers or operating systems. I did replace my desktop, but my old Dell laptop with XP keeps on ticking with no problems, at least so far.

For Christmas the past year Cathie, knowing that I was in the market for a tablet, enlisted the help of our daughter Julie in picking out one. They chose a Lenovo Yoga 10 tablet with a wireless keyboard. It was light and had an 18 hour battery life which was great. The main reason for choosing this tablet was that it came preloaded with a photo program allowing me to upload photo from my camera. So far so good. So while on a trip to the Central Coast in January I hooked the camera up and.........nothing. After fiddling with it and adding a few choice words I finally got it to upload the photos. All was going well until the next time I tried to upload more photos.

It took a little time but I managed to find the phone number for the helpline and gave them a call. The Good: It didn't take long to actually talk to a person and although they were located in some foreign land, for the most part I could understand them. Their fix was to re-boot the tablet, which meant that everything I had saved was lost. But it worked, at least for a while. Soon I was on a first name basis with the folks at the helpline, which I had on speed dial. Finally they agreed to fix my computer and I was to send it to Texas for repair, at no cost to me. More good. There was an issue with the return and more phone calls to the helpline with promised returned calls that never occurred. Bad.

About a week later I had my tablet back (good) but it wasn't fixed (bad). I began the phone calls again and started asking for a refund. Answer: No. (bad). They finally agreed to send me a new computer and I started dealing with Cris in North Carolina. (good). Within a few days I had a new computer (good), the photo program worked (good), it wouldn't receive a WIFI signal (bad). A call to the helpline did not help. (bad). So since I was on a first name basis with Cris and I had her phone number and I called her and explained my problem and told her I wanted a refund so I could buy a mini iPad. Answer: YES! (really good)

Julie tracked down the receipts on Amazon and I sent them off to Cris. I talked to her today and she will be sending me a check for both the tablet and the wireless keyboard for the full purchase price. (really, really good). They just need to wait until I send the second tablet back to them, again at no cost to me. (good) Cris says I should have a check within two weeks. I'll wait to declare if that promise is good or bad.

So, yesterday I went to the Apple Store and bought a mini iPad. Now a new learning curve for me as I've never owned a Apple product, so we shall see if this is good. Apple offers classes at their store, so I will be there tomorrow night as I've tried to talk to the Apple helpline, but they don't have the answers I need. (bad).

Something else. I purchased an app called Blogsy, which I have heard about from other bloggers. I am writing this post with Blogsy and it has some nice features. Of course with me I had questions, so I sent Blogsy an e-mail. Within an hour, Lance, the CEO of Blogsy sent me an e-mail with the correct answer. (good)

Posted with Blogsy