best buy

Every Day is Veteran’s Day…

Posted on by Kelly aka LadyOTrout

Our family is full of Veteran’s and probably so is yours. Everyone, elected officials, celebrities, it is a hip thing to say how much they mean to us

and the freedom of our country.  Right now, it is the season to lower the flag at half staff and tell them we care.  We do. In the meantime, let me tell you a story about my current active duty National Guard Airman.  She is my niece.  Just came back from the Persian Gulf safely, thank God.

She taught me how to use a very special service called Skype.  Now I have heard lots about it, seen it on interviews on TV, but just didn’t know a lot about it and to be truthful, I am just learning how it works, but I have used it enough to know that it does. And so far it is FREE!

Here are 3 quick reasons why you should use Skype:

  • It works on any high speed internet connection (DSL, Cable)
  • It works whether you have a web cam or not. (audio and video options)
  • To subscribe is FREE and if you call another subscriber it is also FREE!

The military reference comes from the fact that Skype is used often by military personnel to connect with family and friends thru video and audio for free.  And that was exactly how I started using it.  BUT there are many other reasons you may want to use it.  A conference call with a client or to stay connected with your relatives that are far away.  With kids growing so fast, we can Skype grandkids, neices and nephews or anyone else we would like.  Skype helps you see and hear them wherever they are.

Bad weather and cannot make a long distance trip to see a client?  The possibilities are endless!

If you have an older computer you may need a webcam and maybe a microphone.  But for under $100 in hardware,  (you know me I love Best Buy) you can be up and going in no time!   The holidays are coming and not all of us can be together so start using Skype and get your family to do it too, you will love it.  Test it on a friend, remember if you are both subscribers it is FREE.  Just like anything, practice makes perfect – by the holidays you will be an old pro — or better than that, you will be a “COOL” pro!

"My computer crashed and I started crying – My whole LIFE is in there!"

Posted on by Kelly aka LadyOTrout


The other day one of my buddies called me out of breath and left a message on my voice mail. “OH Kelly, I don’t know what to do…” the rest of what she said is the title of this blog entry. When I called her back, she was still in panic mode. Did I know anybody that could rescue her data from her computer? She took it to some computer guys down the road and they couldn’t retrieve anything from the drive, they suggested she send it away.

She wanted me to tell her something I couldn’t. She owns her own business and she is right, her life IS in that computer.

So I said, “You have a backup, right?”
She said, “C’mon that was what my sister asked me.” (I don’t even know her sister.)

Of course this means, “No.”

Don’t let this be you. Even if your whole life isn’t on your computer perhaps some other important stuff is. Photos, presentations, emails, stuff that you would miss if something happened. Stuff you couldn’t recreate or would take forever to recreate. But you know this all ready – so how many of you back things up?

With me, my rules, are pretty straight forward. It has to be simple and it has to remember things for me – cause I don’t stop and think, “When did I back this thing up, last?”

Since I have a MAC, I use the Apple utilities on the website, I can schedule the back up as well as store things remotely, which is pretty darn handy when I am on the road or I don’t have my computer with me, I can store email contacts and calendars too. Before I back up, “it” asks me if I want it to. So if I am going out to an appointment and don’t have the time for it to happen right then, I click “NO THANKS” – simple.

But also I am learning I don’t want EVERYTHING on my computer ALL the time and I am not connected to the internet ALL the time, so again I went to Best Buy – I know, but it is MY PLACE that I like to go- and for less than a hundred dollars (they are on sale now) – I bought a Western Digital – My Book Essential 500GB External Hard Drive. 500 GB! WOW! They have all sizes for more or less storage.

I can drag photos over to it, I can save my tunes to it and back up to it all in one compact thing that looks just like a book. This helps my computer from getting bogged down with photos from 2006! I still want them, but I dont NEED 3,116 photos on my computer – which reminds me – time to move some over to “My Book”!

Don’t take chances on the next lightning storm or a computer virus, or just a dead drive – you will spend a lot more than $100 rebuilding your life!