When I bought a DVD player a number of years ago, the first DVD I purchased was the “Hell Freezes Over” from the Eagles. The DTS version is just amazing.

Hotel California makes the list of the 20 Greatest Guitar Solos from CityRag.

Our family has used the MyFamily website going on eight years. We pay $109 a year for their service and enjoy it a lot. I was invited to test out an updated beta version of their service. They only way I could figure out how to contact them was through email which I did on January 2, 2007. They got around to sending me a reply today.

It it too much to ask for a prompt response for a product I’m paying to use? Here’s the email. I love the “Dear member” greeting! This isn’t the first time I’ve waited over a month for a response. I wonder how many people send email to MyFamily and forget what they asked by the time they respond? I don’t think I’ll email them anymore questions when it takes over a month for them to respond.

Dear member,

We appreciate your message.

Currently, as the site is still in beta form, we do not have way move content from one site to the other. Any content would have to be manually moved from one to the other.

If there is anything else with which we might assist you, please let us know.

BreAnn
Member Solutions
MyFamily.com

“Connecting and Strengthening Families through the World Wide Web”

MyFamily.com Technical Support:
http://www.myfamily.com/

—–Original Message—–
From: brett@nordquist.org
Date: 2 Jan 2007 21:33:47 -0700
To: mf2suggestions@myfamilyinc.com
Subject: MyFamily 2.0 Feedback – suggestions

We’ve been MyFamily users since 1999. How can I move the content from my existing site over to the beta version?

I’ve wanted to upgrade our Canon point and shoot camera for quite some time but never felt the time was right. I started looking at DSLR cameras a few weeks ago and did a lot of research online. I spoke to my brother-in-law who is a fantastic photographer and asked for his opinion. I spoke with co-workers and visited several stores to hold a number of models in my hand to see how they felt. It’s not hard to find side-by-side comparisons of the various models but it’s a whole other experience to hold the camera in your hand. Some cameras felt awkward while some felt made for my hands.

My brother-in-law gave me the best advice when he said, “Pick a camera that feels good. What matters most is that you have fun with it”. I tried to remember that I tested a few models. I looked at the Canon XT and XTi as well as the Nikon D40 and D80 models. I narrowed it down to the D40 and the D80.

I usually prefer to purchase most things online, especially electronics. But I’m not sure why I didn’t feel that was the right decision when it came to the camera. Maybe it’s because I don’t know much about them. Sure, I knew a lot of the specs but didn’t know what many of them meant in practice. I also appreciated how helpful the people were who worked at Kits Camera. I was shocked when the young man didn’t try to upsell me on more expensive models. I explained to him how I planned to use the camera and he obviously was able to tell I was a novice based on my questions. He didn’t make me feel stupid for asking, and he took the time to show me the differences in the various models.

I went into the store feeling I should get the D80 but I ended up purchasing the D40 after spending some time with the salesperson. I can’t think of the last time someone has tried to “down sell” me anything. Well, I got the camera home tonight and couldn’t be happier. I love the responsiveness of the DSLR. The D40 feels made for my hand too. So far I’m very pleased with the camera and was pleasantly surprised at how helpful the photography community has been. Are photographers really this helpful all the time?

I have a lot to learn about photography and even the D40 is probably more camera than I can use. But I plan to take some classes and learn how to use it as well as pickup basic techniques. I’m really excited to get started.

Here’s the first picture I took with the new camera. This is our youngest daughter, Anna Lynn, who dressed up in her brothers Superman costume and terrorized the house tonight.

I thought so. TotalIdea has released a free version of their venerable tweaking tool made especially for Windows Vista called Tweak IV. This slick utility gives you access to dozen of hidden areas to tweak and customize. The free (basic) version comes loaded with 13 free plug-ins. Others can be added through a subscription service. But I’ve found the basic version covers a lot of ground and is worth the download.

Two of my favorite tweaks are the change “system default folders” and a one click Firefox optimization. There are a number of handy Outlook tweaks as well. Highly recommended for those who aren’t content with the default, lowest common denominator settings from Microsoft.

–Download link

On the train home this week I heard the following conversation take place between two men, probably both in their mid 30’s:

Man #1: Did you hear Windows Vista is out today?

Man #2: Yes, I saw the article in the Times.

Man #1: Are you going to upgrade?

Man #2: I don’t see the need. Windows XP works fine. What will Vista do for me?

Man #1: Hmmmm……..I’m not sure. I think it just looks newer.

I don’t think these two guys are very far from the norm. Windows XP is good enough for a lot people and they won’t go Vista until they buy a new machine and have no choice. I work in the computer/software business and am around technology all day. I read probably 30+ magazine and even I am hard pressed to tell people what they gain by upgrading to Vista. That the backup options have been beefed up substantially is important to me but many people won’t care. Updated icons, Sidebar, thumbnail preview are minor updates.

I remember the excitement surrounding the Windows 95 and XP launch. The reasons to upgrade were easy to understand. One main reason to upgrade was to stop your computer from crashing. I don’t think that’s a reason to upgrade to Vista now that XP is so stable for most people. Will you upgrade to Vista or stick with XP?

I went to Fry’s Electronics this afternoon to look at portable CD/MP3 players for the kitchen. They had the largest selection of players, speakers and portable boom boxes I’ve seen. I spent about 20 minutes looking at all of them and decided on a JVC model after testing out the display model. Underneath the display case was where all the real product was boxed and organized. But there was no JVC box to be found. I spent another 10 minute looking around again and found a Sony that would work. I went looking for it, but no such luck. I did this for three more models and none were in stock. At no point did a single sales associate approach me and ask if they could help. Maybe they had stock in the back, but I wouldn’t know since nobody was around to ask. So I spent over 45 minutes struck out. Maybe I’ll have better luck looking at iPods.

I walked over the iPod section. Fry’s keeps all their iPods in a black cage about three feet off the floor. I stood near the cage for about 10 minutes playing with the display iPods they had hooked up to several speaker systems. Not a single person approached me. But I counted 6 employees no further than 10 feet from me who were talking about their vacation time. I walked over to one of them (the one wearing a black suit as I figured he was the manager) and asked him what the price is for one of the iPods. He told me the price. But he didn’t ask anymore questions. He didn’t ask if he could take one out of the black magic cage for me. He didn’t make any attempt to sell me anything! All he said was, “If you want one, just ask one of the guys with the keys and he’ll get you one”.

So not only do I need to (again) approach a sales person but I need to find one with “the keys”? Well, it’s Friday and I’m tired and that just sounds like too much work to do right now for the privilege of giving you my money.

To be fair, I’ve purchased a lot of products at Fry’s and usually they are very helpful and kind. But they were not on their A-game today. And they lost a couple of sales because of that.

When I open Outlook to ready my email, the first two things I notice are the recipient and subject of the email. Check out the email below which I received from Viewsonic. They probably got my email address off a mail in rebate from a Viewsonic LCD monitor I purchased last year. Now, every so often they spam me.

I’ll bet this same email was sent to thousands of Viewsonic customers. I wonder how many noticed the problem with the subject line. I’ll bet this email was written on a Windows PC because doesn’t Apple have a system wide spell checker?

BBSpot helps you chart your Windows Vista upgrade decision. Of all the articles out there trying to help people decide whether to upgrade to Vista, this is by far the most helpful I’ve come across.

–Link to Windows Vista Upgrade Decision Flowchart