Thumbs up!
I just have to give a shout-out to some of the things that I have recently found to make my life especially nice!
1. USPS APC. As seems to be the case a lot of the time more recently here, I needed to send some large envelopes with varying numbers of pages inside. Additionally, I needed a book of self-adhesive stamps to replenish my supply. So when I arrived at the post office in Bowling Green several days prior to Valentine's Day, I was dismayed to find half of the local county standing in line, waiting to send their Special Someone an I Love You package. The line was so long, in fact, that despite a very creative curl to the line, I couldn’t even step inside the glassed-in waiting area. I was instead left standing out by the post office boxes. I weighed my options. I saw the usual machines with postage booklets in them, but unfortunately, they don’t take any method of payment other than cash, and cash is something that I usually don’t have much of with me.
And then around the corner on the far end of the building, I saw a kiosk called APC (Automated Postal Center). Upon closer examination, I saw that this nifty little thing was digitized and not only took credit cards to buy postage stamps, but one can literally weigh items to mail right there and print any type of postage desired, including delivery confirmation and content insurance. AND this delightful little APC is accessible 24 hours a day—no more need to coincide my visits to the Post Office with their less-than-accommodating business hours!
I took care of my business in short order, completely bypassing that long line of sentimental package senders.
Way to go, USPS!
2. My Dana Wireless. When my Palm was stolen on the third day of class, I bought in its stead a Dana Wireless. I had been dissatisfied with the less than predictable connection of my wireless keyboard with my Palm, and so the Dana seemed like a good option to try. It is roughly the size of a piece of paper and is about ¾ in. thick. It looks like a small keyboard with a wide screen at the top. It weighs about 3 pounds. The Dana actually runs a Palm operating system, and therefore, it can run any program that the Palm can. The screen is not color, however, which means that it can hold a charge of up to 25 hours before it needs to be recharged. Just like a Palm, it can be synced with my computer, and all documents are compatible with Word and Excel. Furthermore, you are supposed to be able to surf the Internet and check email on it with its wireless feature. I haven’t taken the time to figure out that aspect of it yet.
The thing that made me decide to actually buy the Dana was having to sit in one of my classes for an hour and twenty minutes and having to write notes that entire time. I would average 4-5 pages of notes every time. Unlike a laptop, there is no boot time—it’s just on or off. Your typing is saved automatically, and so there is no loss of data. There are no cords or accessories. And it fits right into my backpack and doesn’t make the weight of it impossible to carry on my back! In short, it has become my best friend! I do a lot of writing in my major, and that will only intensify when/if I’m accepted into graduate school, so I believe this is the beginning of a long and sustainable relationship.
The first day I had my Dana in class, I became somewhat of a hero. I sit with my friends Natalie, Brad, Brandon, and Adrian. After explaining what it is and what it can do, class began. What took my classmates five minutes to write, I was done with in one. In fact, I could study for something else while everyone else wrote and wrote and wrote… We take a break midway through the class, and I found it quite comical when in unison Brad and Brandon turned around and asked, “Now where do you get that?” Natalie immediately declared that she would be willing to pay me for my notes. “You could make money off that thing,” she said.
Needless to say, I am indeed the absolute envy of my classmates wherever I go. And I become more and more fond of my Dana with every passing day. While it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that a laptop does, it is literally this student’s best friend. I love my Dana so much, in fact, that (as I told Sharon) I am surprised I didn’t invent it myself!
3. Logmein.com. Logmein.com is an exceptionally great service. When Alvin was here for Christmas he introduced me to this little tool. This service is FREE, and it allows one to log into your home PC remotely. In other words, I can be on campus in the computer lab, and this service allows me to bring up my home desktop as if I were right there at home. The first day in one of my classes, our instructor told us that we would have to meet on alternate dates because of a scheduling discrepancy. I do not carry a planner with me, and because we were in a computer lab at the time, I just logged into my home PC to check my calendar on Outlook. Natalie and Justin were on either side of me, and Justin especially about “spazzed out.” He thought it was really cool. Which it is.
Alvin told me about it, I told Sharon about it, and Sharon told Sara about it. Good news travels quickly! We have also set Mom’s PC up on it so that we can deal with her “disappearing files” without having to move from our little underground nest.
So thumbs up to Logmein.com, to the Dana Wireless, and to the smart moves of the USPS!
1. USPS APC. As seems to be the case a lot of the time more recently here, I needed to send some large envelopes with varying numbers of pages inside. Additionally, I needed a book of self-adhesive stamps to replenish my supply. So when I arrived at the post office in Bowling Green several days prior to Valentine's Day, I was dismayed to find half of the local county standing in line, waiting to send their Special Someone an I Love You package. The line was so long, in fact, that despite a very creative curl to the line, I couldn’t even step inside the glassed-in waiting area. I was instead left standing out by the post office boxes. I weighed my options. I saw the usual machines with postage booklets in them, but unfortunately, they don’t take any method of payment other than cash, and cash is something that I usually don’t have much of with me.
And then around the corner on the far end of the building, I saw a kiosk called APC (Automated Postal Center). Upon closer examination, I saw that this nifty little thing was digitized and not only took credit cards to buy postage stamps, but one can literally weigh items to mail right there and print any type of postage desired, including delivery confirmation and content insurance. AND this delightful little APC is accessible 24 hours a day—no more need to coincide my visits to the Post Office with their less-than-accommodating business hours!
I took care of my business in short order, completely bypassing that long line of sentimental package senders.
Way to go, USPS!
2. My Dana Wireless. When my Palm was stolen on the third day of class, I bought in its stead a Dana Wireless. I had been dissatisfied with the less than predictable connection of my wireless keyboard with my Palm, and so the Dana seemed like a good option to try. It is roughly the size of a piece of paper and is about ¾ in. thick. It looks like a small keyboard with a wide screen at the top. It weighs about 3 pounds. The Dana actually runs a Palm operating system, and therefore, it can run any program that the Palm can. The screen is not color, however, which means that it can hold a charge of up to 25 hours before it needs to be recharged. Just like a Palm, it can be synced with my computer, and all documents are compatible with Word and Excel. Furthermore, you are supposed to be able to surf the Internet and check email on it with its wireless feature. I haven’t taken the time to figure out that aspect of it yet.
The thing that made me decide to actually buy the Dana was having to sit in one of my classes for an hour and twenty minutes and having to write notes that entire time. I would average 4-5 pages of notes every time. Unlike a laptop, there is no boot time—it’s just on or off. Your typing is saved automatically, and so there is no loss of data. There are no cords or accessories. And it fits right into my backpack and doesn’t make the weight of it impossible to carry on my back! In short, it has become my best friend! I do a lot of writing in my major, and that will only intensify when/if I’m accepted into graduate school, so I believe this is the beginning of a long and sustainable relationship.
The first day I had my Dana in class, I became somewhat of a hero. I sit with my friends Natalie, Brad, Brandon, and Adrian. After explaining what it is and what it can do, class began. What took my classmates five minutes to write, I was done with in one. In fact, I could study for something else while everyone else wrote and wrote and wrote… We take a break midway through the class, and I found it quite comical when in unison Brad and Brandon turned around and asked, “Now where do you get that?” Natalie immediately declared that she would be willing to pay me for my notes. “You could make money off that thing,” she said.
Needless to say, I am indeed the absolute envy of my classmates wherever I go. And I become more and more fond of my Dana with every passing day. While it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that a laptop does, it is literally this student’s best friend. I love my Dana so much, in fact, that (as I told Sharon) I am surprised I didn’t invent it myself!
3. Logmein.com. Logmein.com is an exceptionally great service. When Alvin was here for Christmas he introduced me to this little tool. This service is FREE, and it allows one to log into your home PC remotely. In other words, I can be on campus in the computer lab, and this service allows me to bring up my home desktop as if I were right there at home. The first day in one of my classes, our instructor told us that we would have to meet on alternate dates because of a scheduling discrepancy. I do not carry a planner with me, and because we were in a computer lab at the time, I just logged into my home PC to check my calendar on Outlook. Natalie and Justin were on either side of me, and Justin especially about “spazzed out.” He thought it was really cool. Which it is.
Alvin told me about it, I told Sharon about it, and Sharon told Sara about it. Good news travels quickly! We have also set Mom’s PC up on it so that we can deal with her “disappearing files” without having to move from our little underground nest.
So thumbs up to Logmein.com, to the Dana Wireless, and to the smart moves of the USPS!
posted by Kris at 2/18/2007 08:34:00 PM
4 Comments:
You have me laughing on the eye-to-eye remark and sold on the Dana and Logmein. I've just been accepted into grad school, so if I follow through with it, I'll need a laptop or something like that.
Re the GRE, I'll bet anything that if you take a diagnostic test before you even begin studying, you'll find you have nothing to worry about. I'd say taking the test before it changes is a smart move, though.
If you get the Dana, make sure you get the sleeve to stick it in to protect it while in your backpack. I really don't think you'll regret it. And it's cheaper than a laptop too.
GRE: Unfortunately, I know I have something to worry about because I've never had geometry. I know the basics, but nothing like what they ask on the exam. I'll fret my way through it, I reckon.
I've been researching the Dana and debating its merits versus those of a laptop with my husband. When I asked about the Dana at Staples last night, they downplayed its merits, saying it technology is underdeveloped. (No, they don't carry it right now.) Funny enough, its target audience--the educational community--seems to love it! I'm eager to hear how you find its web browsing and e-mail capabilities.
I am surprised that Staples even knew what a Dana is. I think it really depends on what your primary purpose is in getting it. My primary purpose was to be able to take notes in class, i.e., prevention of hand-writing notes. My gut tells me this will become more important than ever when I get to graduate school, although I certainly have put it to good use as a Senior.
I am hoping to get my brother to set up its wireless capabilities today, and then I'll let you know what I think of it. However, I know in advance it will not hold a candle to a laptop as far as web browsing goes. Email is email. I have a nice PC at home and I have regular access to the computer lab at school, so accessing the web on my Dana is not as important to me as being able to take notes in class with less trouble than hauling out a notebook.
If you want more than word processing capabilities in a portable device, you'll probably want to get a laptop. If you do, I would go with the smallest available. My laptop has a whopping 17" screen and makes academic use practically impossible.
Hope that helps. You can email me direct if you want to check back in with me on it at any point: krisks75@bellsouth.net.
Post a Comment
<< Home