Microsoft Office Ultimate Offer

Microsoft Office Ultimate


This is a great offer for anyone not running Office 2007 yet. You need an email address with a .edu extension and be enrolled in college. $59.95 for Office Ultimate is a fantastic price.

Office Ultimate from Microsoft

Offer good through April 30, 2008

Recycling That Harms the Environment and People

Discarded circuit boards in the town of Guiyu, China, where scientists found environmental contamination from crude recycling practices.

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: April 15, 2008

Recycling is supposed to be good for the environment. But if it’s not carried out properly, certain kinds of recycling — notably the dismantling of electronic circuit boards, which contain lead, zinc, copper and other metals — can cause environmental harm.

It can also be dangerous to human health, as a new study of electronics recycling in China shows.

Anna O. W. Leung and Ming H. Wong of Hong Kong Baptist University and colleagues went to the town of Guiyu in southeastern China, home to a cottage industry of family-run recycling workshops. These are typically set up inside homes, where family members melt the tin-lead solder on the boards to remove chips and other components for sale, with only small household fans for ventilation.

The researchers collected surface dust samples in and around these workshops, at local markets and schools and in other nearby residential areas.

As reported in Environmental Science and Technology, they found extremely elevated levels of lead, zinc and other metals in the workshops. Lead levels, for example, were up to 2,400 times commonly accepted optimum levels.

The contamination extended beyond the workshops into adjacent streets. Lead levels were still high, although about one-fifth the levels inside the homes. But even neighborhood schoolyards and markets were affected, suggesting that people spread contaminated dust as they walk around.

Off-lease Computers

I have a few of these great off-lease Dell desktops available at a great price. Let me know if there is anything special you are looking for. Many brands and models available.

Dell GX270

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz

Memory: 512MB (installed) / 2GB (max)

Hard Drive: 40 GB

Integrated Features: CD-ROM

Graphics Controller: Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (with Intel 865GV Chipset)

Networking: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet

Connectivity: USB 2.0, Serial, Parallel, VGA

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Warranty: Three Year Limited
Price: $345 each
Quantities limited

LA Trip

I was down in Los Angeles with my delightful wife Sheri to visit my Mom. While down there we had a little extra time to see some sights. One of the highlights was taking a drive up to Santa Barbara for a night. The weather was unusual in that it was very warm...80 degrees! That is hot for a beach community. It was over 90 in Los Angeles. A nice extra was that it had rained the previous week and the hills were all green except where the oranges and yellows of the wild flowers broke up the tall swaying grasses. We stayed in a great hotel 1 block from the beach called The Inn at East Beach. The hotel was a simple older establishment that was fun to stay at. The guy who was working at the front desk had lived there and worked that job for 16 years. He enjoyed it like it was his first day.

I have a baseball collection of 1963 Dodgers that I have been gathering for over a year now. One of the last players I'm looking for is a signed ball from Phil Ortega. I got an address from a celebrity address website for a house in Carpinteria. We stopped by hoping to find him home. As we pulled into the driveway our hopes were raised. I got out of the car and went to the back door. As I aproached, the tenants came out of the house. All they could say do was shake their heads and say we had the wrong Phil Ortega. They said he was not the same man. My wife interpreted this as he had some mental problems. The people who lived there said No! No! He is not the baseball player. We were disappointed but I need to keep looking. Check the link to the side of the page to see more of my baseball collection.

We went to dinner in downtown Santa Barbara at Restaurant Roy. This is a restaurant that has been around for quite a few years and has a relaxed feel to it. We got there about 7:00 and learned that it was early for dinner. They serve dinner until midnight...an unusual trait even in a big city. Roy has a prix fixe menu at a very reasonable price. All meals get homemade bread, a very nice house salad and a choice of soups. We had the artichoke, cilantro soup that was fresh and hit the spot. Some of the entrees that you can choose from include rib eye steak, fresh ravioli, a catch of the day and a cured pork tenderloin. I ended up with the rack of lamb. This came with a lot of chops with a light cumin glaze. Sheri had the ravioli stuffed with spinach in a light cream sauce. We also had a plate of prawns, fresh fish and scallops with pasta and a similar cream sauce. Very relaxed atmosphere and worth searching out.

The school year is winding down for my son Tom. He is still trying to find a job for this summer in some math related field. Any ideas? He did get a promotion on the school newspaper for next year. As managing editor he will have more control over the paper. He plans on taking it in a new direction of leading the discussion on issues rather than simply reporting on events.

The weather is starting to improve and as I look out over the lake, I wonder how soon it will be warm enough to put the JetSki in the water. The longer days offset the grey from the clouds.

Memory Pricing

Memory for newer machines is at an all time low. Now is the time to upgrade your RAM. Here is an example of what to expect.

Prices for 2 GB of RAM for the newer MacBooks for example is running at $45.99 a pair for 2 1GB sticks.

Let me know what model computer you have so I can help speed up your machines.

The Future of Windows XP

There have been some interesting moves on the part of Microsoft in the last week or two regarding Windows XP. According to Microsoft, large computer makers will no longer be selling machines with XP after June 30, 2008. Sales of XP will be discontinued after January 31, 2009. I get lots of calls asking if I can still get Windows XP-Professional and as of this point the answer is definitely yes. I am still getting requests for about 80% of my sales with XP. There is still a great deal of fear over Vista. Some people report having conflicts with existing hardware or software but most have not really even tried Vista. Before going any further, Microsoft has said that it will support XP at least through 2014.

Microsoft stated this past week that it will continue to sell Windows XP-Home for lower end systems primarily for use in emerging markets. Machines will need less hardware requirements to run adequately helping to reduce the cost of these computers. This is not going to be a factor for most schools and businesses which require XP-Professional to run on their domains.

Bill Gates also announced last week that Vista's replacement should be available in a year or so. This is referring to 2010 not 2009 like some media has been reporting. Vista's replacement is being called Windows 7. One of the advantages of this version is a less hardware intensive approach. A minimalistic variation of the Windows kernal known as MinWin, is being developed for use in Windows 7. The MinWin development efforts are aimed towards componentizing the Windows kernel and reducing the dependencies with a view to carving out the minimal set of components required to build a self-contained kernel as well as reducing the disk footprint and memory usage according to Mark Russinovich.

Microsoft is suffering from bad publicity over Vista and is still having trouble with it gaining acceptance. 100 million copies of Vista have been sold. Most have been bundled with new machines mostly for the retail market. Most businesses have been happy with Windows XP and have not had the need to upgrade yet. This will change over the next year when Vista is the only product readily available.

Order either Windows XP or Vista machines today. Both operating systems are in stock and ready to ship. Use the configurators on the right side of this page for desktops or notebooks to make your choices. If you prefer to go with Ubuntu or some other OS, please leave a comment on the form.

Spring Training

New Format
I am trying out a new format for communicating with my customers. After 6 years of writing my newsletter I am trying out putting my ramblings into a blog format. Please note on the left side of the page my system configurators. Quality computers that you can design for your needs. If there is something you need but don’t see, add a note and I will take care of you. I have also added postings on off-lease computers and computer kits. Let me know if there is something else you would like to see.
Spring Training
The good news is that baseball is back. I was down in Arizona a couple of weeks ago for Spring Training. My lovely wife Sheri and I have been going there for the last 7 years. I finally know my way around the area pretty well. There are a number of places we go every year when we are down there. Sheri likes going to Tempe. I like to search out the Costco. We have a few restaurants we seem to go to over and over. Don and Charlie’s is a fantastic sports bar that has an amazing amount of baseball memorabilia. It is the only place I have ever been where you can look at a display case and see row after row of signed baseballs by Hall of Fame players. We also went to P.F. Chang’s. One of the better chains for Asian Fusion food. To round out our dining we went to Buca de Beppo, another chain. They have pretty decent Italian food and a bizarre environment to eat it in. Between baseball games, we took off one day for a day trip northeast of Phoenix. We like driving the back roads to see what we can discover. On this trip, we ended up in the town of Pine. It is nearly 5000’ in Pine and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. We were ready for lunch by the time we got there. I wanted to stop at the HB Café. We looked in the window and didn’t see anything to draw us in. Sheri wanted to stop at the Sidewinder Saloon. And that is where we ended up. This is a Wild West saloon. We entered the establishment at about 1 in the afternoon. It was bright inside. And there was a crowd. Probably about 40-50 locals playing cards and drinking beer. This in a town of a couple hundred people. As we sat at the bar, we could look into the kitchen. What we saw was the house dog wandering around the kitchen. As we studied the menu, we decided to have a prime rib sandwich. After we ordered, we enjoyed our beers and took in the local flavor. Everyone had a cowboy hat. Mostly retired people filled the bar. One interesting character was the cook. When he came out of the kitchen, he refused to speak with any of the patrons. If he had a question, he would ask the waitress. We were sitting right next to him and he wouldn’t say a word to us. The other interesting feature was that he was wearing a six-shooter on his belt. I think he was searching for any rattlesnakes that might wander in. The food was unremarkable. The atmosphere and the people were everything.
The Testament
While I was in Phoenix I read Testament, by John Grisham. I think this was the first book that I have read by Grisham. He is such a popular writer that I thought it was about time to give him a try. The first thing I noticed was that the book was quite approachable. It was very easy to get to know the characters and keep up with the story. The story is about a very rich man who dies and has written a will to try and hurt his children. The background is how the legal system deals with wills and probate. Part of the story takes place in the Panatel, a region of Brazil that is so remote that outsiders rarely venture in. Grisham loves the area and it shows. The story lacks suspense, but makes up for it by not having gratuitous violence. A fun book to read.
Hall of Fame
As you know, I like baseball. In Seattle we don’t have too much to cheer about most years. One event that took place over the winter was the election of the Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is a very special honor. I was fortunate enough to see Dave before one of the games at Spring Training and had him autograph a ball for me.