Good weekend, series comments

Instead of the usual at my desk all weekend trying to get work done, I actually went outside!!  We had a new porch put on the front of the house last summer and I knew I would have to stain it soon.  I had a little extra cash so I bought the stuff yesterday and scrubbed down the porch.  This morning the wife and I then put on two coats of stain and cleaned up the driveway and garage.  I guess it was nice to spend time with her?  Too bad my office is still a mess and I have A LOT of work that needs to get done tomorrow morning before work.

For some stupid reason I wasn’t expecting the Wings to be this tough?  For some reason I thought the Penguins could handle them better this year?  I did notice that the ref’s have been letting them play and I can appreciate that.  However they are going a bit overboard and not to sound like a cry baby  but I think it cost the Penguins the game tonight and possibly last night.  Last night there should have been a penalty shot, but oh well.I’ve also noticed a little something about most of the Wings players.  It’s fine to be aggressive and play hard, but honestly they are just being cocky jerks.  I really don’t know what else to say about that.

I should be in Detroit!!!

So far I’ve hidden my love of the NHL here.  My love of Detroit and Pittsburgh.  Really not too much has happened for me to discuss sports here on my blog.  Anytime I mention sports on the UBCD4Win site or in the forum, it is greeted with SILENCE.  I’ve honestly been a bit “ticked” because most “computer nerds” do not seem to care about sports?  This blog was started well after yet another great win by the Steelers in a recent Super Bowl.  Anyways, back to the NHL.  Weeks ago I had thoughts of posting about a rematch of last year, deep down I thought and knew it would happen!  Didn’t want to jinx it though, so I kept my mouth/fingers shut.

So today we start the amazing journey of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings fighting to win another Stanley Cup.  It was difficult and still is difficult to decide on who I want to win.  I’ve been a Penguins fan since the early 90′s when they won their last 2 cups, but then started rooting for the Wings because of family and their late 90′s cup wins.  Fast forward to last year: the Penguins were very good and I hoped they had enough to get past the Wings.  History tells us they did not but this year it is a lot different.  I think the Wings are almost as good as last year, but the Penguins have more experience and are a little better than last year.  So I really expect them to win and really if they lose, it will be in a 7 game series.  Maybe, maybe not?

As the title suggests, I should be in Detroit!  I went to my first NHL game with my wonderful wife Amy this past February.  It was an awesome experience for a number of reasons.  I met and shook hands with Gordie Howe, it was the day after the Steelers SB win, the game went into OT then a shoot out, and the Wings won!
BUT, I should be in Detroit.  I was late for work on Thursday in the attempt to get tickets for today’s or tomorrow’s game but was disappointed.  I had the chance to get tickets, but was NOT close to having the funds.  I was a bit naive because I didn’t realize tickets would be that much, but hell…..it’s the finals!!  For “crappy” tickets, it was $200 each and for decent ones they were $350 each.  I was also stupid in attempting to get 5 tickets, not gonna get good tickets with that request.  Really wanted to take the whole family though, but didn’t have $1000 to do it, not to mention the trip up there, and buying more Penguins jersey’s for the rest of the family!  In hindsight though, I’ve thought man…..It would have been a damn good chance of us being on national television because of the lack of Penguins fans in the stands.

I generally do not like to do this but I’ve been pretty good over the past year.
So here is MY prediction: Penguins in 5 games.
I’m not sure about their first win though.  I really think it’s going to be today, but maybe the “old” Red Wings will be tired tomorrow and give up a game at home then.  Anyways, Penguins win tonight, the Red Wings will bounce back tomorrow, but then the Penguins will sweep the 2 games at home, and then take the next game in Detroit.  But maybe they’ll have to do it in 6 so they win the Cup at home?!!  Either way, I’m still a crazy hockey watch’n fan til the end!  The best part of this weekend though…..wearing my Sidney Crosby jersey all weekend long with no desire or care in the world that I haven’t changed my clothes in 2 days!!!!  Guess I wouldn’t have to worry about that though if I had an Evgeni Malkin jersey?  Honestly that would be the jersey I would have bought, but the Crosby jersey was a gift from a friend earlier this year.  I’ve just been too cheap to buy a Malkin jersey.  As some of you know, I don’t always go for the “big” name when buying a jersey.  However I’ve been pushed into that with my Joey Porter and James Harrison Super Bowl jerseys I’ve purchased.  I really wanted and searched for a Lamar Woodley jersey but could find a SB or regular one in time for the AFC championship game or the Super Bowl.  Also damn it Ben, I better see you at more of the Penguins games!!  Finally, GO PENGUINS!!!

Buffalo routers, what is your experience?

Buffalo was sanctioned against selling wireless routers for the previous 2 years.  That ended at the start of this year and there was a little excitement at CES earlier this year.  I read into the “hype” and discussed it with my boss.  Our previous “douchebag” at InfoTel was all fired up about them also but at the time was recommending TP Link routers.  Somehow my boss became excited about them and was anxious to get his hands on them.  I settled on two different TP Link routers, an N for myself and a G for my mother in law.  They have worked very well for us over the past 3 months.  At work though we were waiting for the Buffalo.  First we received the WHR-G300N, and at the time was ripped off with a price of $65 each.  Now they go for around $49.  A few days ago though we finally got our hands on the WZR-HP-G300NH.

I attempted to setup the first router several weeks ago and found it very cumbersome.  I did not like the setup and it did not provide a superior signal when compared to a crappy Linksys.  I initially had problems but it seemed to work ok for a few weeks.  I also do not like the fact that N is turned OFF by default, that’s just stupid.  A few days ago the problems started again.  We configured the new HP model and again I’m having problems.  First I want to mention that this “high power” or the amplified signal claims do not seem to add up in my experience.  We had both hooked up and I took a walk around the neighborhood to see what kind of signal strength I could get on my N laptop.  It honestly was about the same!  So for the $99 price tag, it is not worth it to me.  Every morning when I come into work now I have to manually disconnect from the router (setup to auto connect) and then reconnect just to get Internet access.  This has been going on for days and I do not understand why?  I’ve gone through all the settings in the router and on my laptop.  I’ll mention also that Tracy has problems everyday with getting his G laptop to connect.

So in conclusion.  The $49 and $99 price tags are not worth it.  I have to give Buffalo a BIG thumbs down.  I am much happier at home and at the mother-in-law’s house with the TP Link routers I have.  $35 for a G and about $45 for the N, you really can’t beat the price!!  I will mention though that the TP Links do miss one important feature.  It is not an easy task to block access based on MAC address for certain time periods.  I have contacted their support and they have no easy way of doing it, I just hope they address the issue in a firmware update?  I used to have my Linksys setup to block the kids from Internet access between 10PM-6AM, but can not with this router.  Oh well it really doesn’t bother me much.  Since I haven’t had to restart the router in these past 3 months (something you have to do on a regular basis with a Linksys), I am very happy and happy with the price!!

Your thoughts or experiences??

New version of Super AntiSpyware released

Well ok, they don’t have a big banner up on their site announcing the new version. However they are running a special again. So I thought I would offer the savings on to you.
Normally a lifetime license runs $29.95 or $39.95 on their site, for a limited time though I can offer it to you for only $21.95! All you need to do is go over to my Burrows Solutions website at: http://www.burrowssolutions.com
Shortly after placing your order you will receive an email from me with your registration number. All you have to do then is download it from their site and your computer should now be fully protected from most of the bad stuff out there on this great Internet.  If you would like it on CD that can be done for a few more dollars also.  I’ll send it to you on CD for $26.95 plus $3 USPS shipping.  Just select that option on my site.  Keep in mind also that my Burrows Solutions site is not quite complete and isn’t that “pretty” right now.  I am continuing to work on it and will also continue to add other great deals as I find them.

As always feel free to email me or comment here.

Thanks LCD buyers!

Thanks to everyone that ordered the 21.5″ LCD’s from me.  They have all been shipped and you have received your tracking information.  I just wonder if the $20 MIR will work?  Honestly it doesn’t matter too much because the $179 price I sold them for is the lowest I could find from normal places such as NewEgg.  I’m really surprised that more people didn’t jump on my great deal?  Oh well, at least a few people saved some money.

Please keep an eye on my Burrows Solutions site as I am finding more great deals to pass on to you.  I should have the site all fixed up over this weekend.

Samsung 21.5″ LCD only $179 shipped

Would you like or do you need a monitor upgrade?  Right now would be the perfect time to get yourself a 21.5″ Samsung LCD monitor.  It’s brand new and comes with a 3 year warranty.  I do not have my BurrowsSolutions.com website complete, but wanted to pass these special limited time savings to you.  Just click the “Buy Now” button below and in a few days I will get your brand new monitor shipped out to you.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me anytime.  Please note also that the free shipping only applies to US orders.  I have a very limited supply on them also so I will only honor 1 order per address.
For more information on this monitor click here.

Install Win7 yet?

Have you installed Windows 7 RC yet?  I was honestly freaking out at the end of last month wanting a copy of it.  I had to wait until the 5th……but then what?  I became busy and haven’t had the chance to play with it yet!!  Well until tonight.  I installed it on one of the Intel Atom computers I will be selling very soon on BurrowsSolutions.com to see how it would handle it.  I was honestly shocked at the fact that it only took 17 minutes to install!  I’ve been playing with it in between watching my hockey game and it seems to be very responsive on this system.  A 2.0 score was a bit disappointing though, but that was caused solely on graphics.  Other than those two bad scores, it receives decent marks when it comes to CPU, Memory, and Hard Drive.

Have any of you ventured over to my BurrowsSolutions.com site lately?  Last week I was testing Joomla with VirtueMart but that was extremely disappointing.  So yesterday I found Zen Cart and it is looking good so far.  I almost have it setup now and hope to have customizing done tomorrow.  After that I should be able to start adding items in the store to start selling.  The most important of those items are the Intel Atom computers and a few other “special” deals I have found over the past few weeks.  I am happy to say that I have finally figured out the pricing for the Intel Atom computers and I found another nice looking case for the same price as the other.  I plan to do a new video soon to showcase the system with both cases and promise to do the next with much better lighting!  Pricing looks pretty good to me I think, with a XP Home going for $339, no OS for $259, and Vista Home Premium for $359.  All prices are before shipping.  I have some nice 19″ Acer LCD’s I plan to sell for $104.99 with free shipping and a few other little miscellaneous items.  A few optional items for the systems include Kaspersky AV 1yr $25, Super AntiSpyware lifetime $29, flash card reader $19, just to name a few.

So please send me an email if you are interested in anything, if you have any questions, or if there is something you would like me to find you a good deal on.  Like I had said, I will hopefully have the site up and live by the end of the week.

Mountain Dew “Throwback”?

Us computer techs have our different addictions.  Be it caffeine, tobacco, or alcohol most of us need something to keep getting through the day or at the end of the day to cope.  I personally am a smoker and heavy Mountain Dew drinker.

Last night I needed another 12pk of Mountain Dew so I went to my local grocery store.  I noticed the different graphics and something about “made with natural sugar” on the box but didn’t think much of it, until this morning!  I thought it tasted different?  After brushing my teeth, doing a few other things, and cracking open a second I found it still tasted different.  So I decided to call their 800 number to see what was going on.  They did in fact confirm a “formula” change and that basically it’s made with “natural” sugar instead of the other stuff.  It was explained to me that it was taking drinkers back to the taste from the 60′s and 70′s.  That however doesn’t help me out much because I didn’t really start drinking it heavily until the early 90′s.  So it makes me wonder if this will turn into another “new Coke” fiasco?  I also think that while it’s ok to take the taste back, most of the market that drinks MD is used to the taste we’ve had for the past 30 years.  Maybe I will get used to it and find it better?  Right now I just think it has a strange taste and a kind of after taste that I’ve seen with Aspartame products.  They are doing it with the Pepsi product also, so I wonder what will happen?  Just thought I would inform all of you, have a good day!

Intel Atom computers closer, and thank you

I am a little closer to having the Burrows Solutions site up so I can start accepting orders for the Intel Atom computers I want to sell.  If you visit the site you will see there is finally some information there.  http://www.burrowssolutions.com
I also have a little more pricing information there too.  So if you want to know the latest news, please visit that site.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my “what do I do” post.  There is a lot of good advice and information there and I plan to use it when I have time to set it all up on the site.  I apologize for not commenting myself and do appreciate the suggestions posted there.

I also want to throw a big thanks out to the people who have chose me to repair their laptops.  I have had great success with repairing them but hope that business continues to grow.  So if you have a laptop that needs repaired or you know someone else that does, please visit the DC jack repair page and contact me.

What do I do? What would you do?

I receive these types of emails on occasion and I’m always stuck on what approach I’m supposed to take on these?  I don’t mind helping people, but like anyone else can become annoyed when taken advantage of.  I also do not like it when people make money from my work and then I am expected to provide support for free.  I kind of feel bad for the buyer because they just paid for FREE software but don’t understand why the buyer doesn’t contact the seller?  He made money selling free software, so I think he should support it!  It’s also annoying when a buyer will not give me the sellers name so I can have their auctions removed.  So here is an email I recently received:

I bought your Boot Disk on ebay because I could not boot my PC.
With your disk, the PC boots, I see the WIndows XP screen for
a second, and then it goes to the Ultimate Boot CD screen.
It is useless to me without instructions.  I am using my
laptop to email you.  I looked hard for a readme file.  I
looked on your website for directions.
How do I get my PC to run Windows?

I ask you, what would you say?  Would you be offended at the thought of providing FREE support where someone else made the money?  Like I said before, I have no problems helping people for free……I’ve done this a lot over the years.  If a person is unable to pay then that is fine I’ll help them out.  If a single person that is making twice as much money per year than me needs help, I would think they could afford to show some appreciation for my time and expertise.  It is nice to get a donation once and a while.  Please share your views and opinions on this subject.