Sunday, September 19, 2010

New To Blogging? Watch This Video!

If you are not sure what a blog is or how it works, the video called Blogs in Plain English will help. This video explains why blogs are such a "big deal." To view the video, just click on the large arrow in the middle of the video window below.

Whole-House Surge Protection

It's important to protect all your electronic devices, not just computers, from surges.  Printers, televisions, appliances and computer peripherals all require protection.  However, it can be inconvenient to use individual surge protectors on all devices that need protection.  One solution is to install a whole-house surge protector as shown in this photo.  The device is installed by an electricician and is attached to your circuit breaker panel.  Whole-house surge protectors function like other surge protection devices, but they protect all electrical devices in the house at once.  The typical cost of $200 to $300 (installed) is generally less than buying individual surge protectors for every electrical device in your home.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Snapshots Portrait Studio has Moved

My husband and I own and operate a portrait studio in Swanton, Ohio.  For 7 years, Snapshots has been on South Main Street.  We have now moved to 128 E. Airport Hwy. right across the street from Swanton Pharmacy.  We have updated the studio with a lot of new props, backgrounds, and photographic scenes.  If you pass by our studio at night, you will see a giant slideshow projected on our gallery wall showing a lot of our portraits done over the years.  VVBDH33FMCNV.  We are so excited about our new location, our new studio, and the opportunities that await us with all of the new computer digital photography technology we've added.  Please visit Snapshots Portrait Studio website for more information.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Web Page Templates

There are a ton of templates that are available online.  You can search templates for Blogs, Web pages, MySapce, Facebook and the list goes on and on.  There are free templates, templates you can pay for, services you can buy to create a template for you, and design sites where you can design your own and submit for others to use.  It all depends what you are looking for.

I am a huge Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) fan and for my MySpace page layout, I wanted a Rocky theme.  I went into the web search engine and typed in "free Rocky Balboa templates" and was amazed at what came up.  Once you find a template you like, in my case also free, there is a code that you copy and paste into your site in order for that site to display the template you chose.  Usually the site will tell you exactly how to copy/download/paste the code into your profile for it to display.

A really good site for Rocky Balboa web page templates (just as an example) is Layouts.fm, though there are so many choices and sites out there.  Try it sometime...you'll be amazed what is out there.

Computer Support Online

I remember when if you had a problem with an electronic device you owned, you had to find a professional person/shop to fix it.  Through technology and the World Wide Web, you can now search and diagnose problems for just about anything.  You can download user guides, drivers, and applications that can help you with your computer/device needs. 

Google is my best friend!!!  You can go to google and type in anything.  After that, so much information comes up about any topic you would ever want to know about.  This is a good way to learn interesting and new ideas, technology, information that you may otherwise never come in contact with.  It brings up so many websites to review that you can literally lose track of time searching and searching for the right site that could help you.

It's amazing with the technology today.  Most young kids/adults don't remember a time when computers and technology were not part of our world.  However, I remember it quite well when there were no CD players, DVD players, iPods, computers, and cellphones.  How the world has changed over the course of the last 25 years!

Computer Diagnosing Help..

In the matter of one week, three of my laptops have either gone completely out or are having problems. 

I started laptop I use for school work and did a system restore on it and the first one didn't take so it told me to do another system restore.  After that restore was complete, the computer booted down and will not come back up.  When I plug the power supply into the laptop, it will completely shut off the power supply adapter.  In talking with some people who are familiar with computers, it might either be the motherboard or the hard drive.  I am just hoping at this point to be able to get all my data off the hard drive.

The laptop we use for our photo buttons for the portrait studio is now blinking a weird icon whenever I plug the adapter into the computer.  It is running off the A/C power, however the battery is not charging.  I am researching as to whether this is just a warning that the battery will no longer charge but the computer will continue to work off the A/C adapter.  I'm hoping that is all it is!

Last night, my husband plugged in his computer which we use for our portrait studio work and the first HP boot up screen comes on, however it then goes to a black screen in which the cursor blinks twice and then stays black.  It seems like it's freezing at that point as the wireless light doesn't come on and the computer won't fully boot up.  I am again researching this problem through the HP website and hoping it is nothing major.

I am almost wishing now, I would have taken my IT Tech certificate program first vs. my web design as it looks like with our luck, we need some major help with our laptops.

About LisaM

My name is Lisa Mattin.  I have been employed by the University of Toledo Medical Center for 18 years and work in the Department of Medicine as an Accounting Manager.  My husband and I own and operate Snapshots Portrait Studio in Swanton, Ohio.  This is my last course in order to obtain my certificate in Web Design.  I blog on our website and I am hoping this course will give me some more insight into different things I may be able to do to make my blogs more interesting.