Homeschool Computer Center

We are in transition right now, but the boys needed their own computer center set up
Outside my husband is lowering the floor in the loft to create the office/ man cave so in the mean time the office soon to be bedroom for N is on hold and the office (still to remain office just becoming Mommy's) is the center of all things computer and networking.
Two weeks ago I moved the bookcase from the bedroom to the office to start setting up books in a more organized fashion. This past weekend I realized I needed to get the boys' computer center up and running , so quickly converted the middle of the bookcase to a computer station. The monitor and speakers are sitting at the center most spot on the bookcase, leaving 2 shelves above for Mommy's Bible study shelf and Teacher's manuals on a shelf with a 3 drawer piece to sort loose papers in for now.

The end table setting in front of the bookcase include a drawer where I hope to store the keyboard (not the one pictured) so we can use the top of the table for the music keyboard as we begin a new music program with the boys. Thankfully there is also a shelf on the bottom to hold some school books, making it easier for the boys to find some of the community books. Since the whole set up in very short, I added a wooden step stool as a temporary chair. The Computer itself is set up next to the bookcase out of sight but still accessible.

I am hoping to set up a small desk for their computer once I have the layout of this small room figured out, but for now this will work.

No Power , No Play

UGH! the power supply to my main computer died! I thought I had a spare but it didn't work out... So I'm taking the machine apart and am going to move the hard drive to my linux box so... I guess I'll be living a dual boot lifestyle... annoying as it is, I'm glad I have the other computer to work with... I can work on my laptop but it is old and slow... locks up often and is generally just for writing/ blogging... can't really do my graphics work on it... Oh well, guess I will have to start saving for a new machine (hopefully I can find something XP and less than 3 years old... for not a lot of cash...)

First Blog on the "New " computer

I plugged the new computer in tonight and only ran into a few glitches... I am currently typing this blog on the new computer so all is good for now... I am running updates to Ubuntu and installing all my firefox friends, but all is good in my world... well in my computer world.

I'll post tomorrow regarding the Mommy life (I'm trying to recover emotionally from today on the Mommy front..) Raising boys in more than a full time job, it is hazardous to one's health.

Old Computers salvaged and running smoothly...

You guys know I don't have new computers.... so today I pulled out my laptop (vintage Windows ME installed originally) and started tweaking... I am deleting as much of the Windows as I can (I still will have Windows on the machine for 3 programs that depend on it...) but hope to run Ubuntu as the main OS. Currently I'm running Ubuntu from CD (amazingly enough my CD-Rom drive is actually working today...). I can't believe how much smoother this poor laptop runs even running from the CD... I have 3 tabs of FireFox open and haven't seen any slow down... I don't have much else running and I'm working my graphics stuff on the desktop today (can't run anything else or it will overload... )

Next project, try to reclock the processors in both machines to see if we can't get a little more speed and response out of them... Some day I will be able to afford a newer machine (custom built to my specs with lots of RAM, and lots of Graphics RAM, tons of Harddrive, and a quick processor...)

Computer Help and Training

So I've decided to start offering Computer Help and Training Time. I've been helping friends and family on their computers for a while now and realized that this could be a way to fill in the gap money wise... People that know me , know I am a borderline computer geek. I like to figure out what is wrong and fix it when I can . I only call in for help once I've tried every angle I know. So starting this last week I began charging for my services $20 an hour on-site $40 and hour phone service... I am teaching computer basics (how to send attachments, burn cd's, basics using WORD, EXCEL, etc.., and general computer help. ) as well as general system maintenance. I am also going to help get people on board with some of my favorites in open source (Open Office, Firefox, and Thunderbird as well as ClamWin) I figure going Open Source saves all of us some money...
If you are local to me an need some computer help or training give me a call...

Hackers Suck!

So, my computer got hacked and a virus and I'm not happy about it...
Do people (hackers) have nothing better to do with their time? It isn't like my computer is full of money or great valuable information... It is full of photos and digital scrapbooking stuff along with story notes...

Today I am using my husband's computer to get caught up a little... I have managed to reformat my computer to take it back to the begining and add a new virus scanner... I decided while I was doing that I would run scanners on this machine as well as my laptop... Keep in mind my laptop is from college so it is about 10 years old (it had Windows ME on it if that helps in dating it..)

So, today has been spent fixing and creating something from nothing on these old machines because some dork had nothing better to do then send me a freaking virus!!!

Sleep off the grougies...

Sometimes sleep is a necessary, but sometimes I feel like I need to "no sleep" grougies (I think that is the word) to do my best work. It may sound like ramblings when I write but if I don't start somewhere I won't have anything to edit and work with...

Hey, hope everyone remembered to set the clocks forward... I did one of the clocks (my night stand clock) It looks like the computer reset itself so we are ok there... I will go around and set them all this morning.

I'm sitting in my office (It is choas) while my younger son (2 1/2) plays his Easy-Link game. If you haven't seen this thing in action, go check it out. I love that he can play games and not mess up the computer... He is learning his ABC's and counting and is recognizing colors and shapes as well as order... We have most of the characters (decided against the Barney/ Wiggles set since we aren't Wiggles fans)... Today he is playing Lunch o Matic with Arthur... he is actually making good food choices... It lets me do my blogging and know where he is at the same time... Glad we rebuild the older machine for the kids...

Computer Joys and Woes

It is crazy!
I love working with them, but some days I just hate these dang machines... I've been working with computers for a long time (since age 10 to be exact), from my first machine.... a Vic20 (yes I had one, and I think it is still in my parents' garage somewhere) to my current XP machines (all are at least 4 years old...) I enjoy the challenge I guess, but at the same time the frustration with the simple stuff can really drive a girl nuts!

Of course my husband loves the fact that I can take a machine that most people would throw out and resurect it and make it go and better yet, I seem to find the best components at goodwill... Last week is the perfect example... My laptop is almost 8 years old (we have a history....ha ha) and I was complaining about the networking issues I seem to be having... well at goodwill I found a brand new in the box PCMCIA card with ethernet connector.... (I had been eyeing one at Staples for $34.00) anyway, the card was only $4.99...!! yippee, I got it home and mazingly enough it works... (I'm on the laptop connected to the home network now...). Also found an older zip drive (parallel port) and an HP scanner that just need a plug (which I happen to have)... how exciting... so with my awesome deals found at Goodwill I was able to restore some digital files I had saved on zip disks (lost my old zip drive) and scan some scrapbook pieces (die cuts and stickers) that I want to use in my digital scrapbooking... all in all those were the computer joys...

And so far the Woes have been working themselves out... Now just need to find a couple of odds and ends to add to my desktop computer (needs a little more life and spunk) and we will be ready to go... Of course I still need to try and fix the older computer that was smoking so the boys have their game back....

Computer Craziness

So Mike's computer started "smoking" the other morning.. not exactly smoking but smelling like burning electronics.... this began the journey through new computer adoption and the fun games that go along with it... I've spent most of today working on tweaking and setting up his new computer to mirror his old computer... I don't like the new design of Office!!! it is too distracting... so I'm going to try and locate the Office cd's from the old computer or simply move it by hand... What a Pain!!!
The boys have now been with out their Fisher Price Insta-link game for 3 days now ( they are 2 distraught little men...) so Mommy has been doing double duty to keep them entertained.
Other than a couple of emails and the 2 blog entries today, I haven't seen my computer much... I so wanted to spend some time digi scrapping but doesn't look like it is going to be today... Maybe tomorrow...

I hope to share some of my creations here this week as well as lessons learned in my ladies' Bible Study...

For now , I'll call it a night and put these poor computers to bed..