I purchased the Nintendo DS version of Cooking Mama in hopes my 4 year old wannabe Rachel Ray would entertain herself for at least 30 minutes. Instead of hammering in my fridge or breaking eggs in her miniature fantasy kitchen she could crack a few with the DS wand right? Wrong. Either her age or impatient temperament was a factor in their disagreement. Instead of freeing up some of my MUCH needed and desired relaxation time, I listened to cries and whines about how "Mama can’t do it…" or "I can’t do this!"
March 2010 archive
Free Online Educational Games for Kids
Here’s a list of my kids’ favorite online games. . .they don’t even realize they are learning!
Star Fall
My three year old daughter loves this website. She learned her letters in a matter of days, and also what sound each letter makes. The main purpose of Star Fall is to focus on teaching children how to read. This site is great because you aren’t required to download anything and they update the content on a continuous basis. If kids have gone through the entire site a few times, they can come back a week later and there will be something new for them to do. The manner in which content is displayed is very intuitive and easy for preschoolers to follow. This is a must have bookmarked site if you have preschool aged children.
Prongo.com
Prongo.com is another free educational game site that continues to provide fun interactive activities for kids of all ages.
The Kidz Page
The Kidz Page is loaded with activities for kids. From education games, to printouts, to games that are just plain entertaining, this site is an endless resource for parents wanting to give their kids computer time without having to worry.
Sheppard Software
The Sheppard Software website offers free online games with educational value for older children. The content is broken down into different subjects, such as Math, Vocabulary & Science. The games are entertaining and don’t make you feel like you are learning. I personally enjoy the ‘Math Man’ game, it takes me back to my Ms.PacMan faze but I’m actually working my brain while playing!
Newbie 101: Preventing Data Loss
categories: Computer Help, Newbie 101
I rebooted. That was the last thing I did to my computer. During the reboot, a strange beeping noise permeated from the tower. I cringed at the thought of what had just happened. Immediately I knew that my hard drive was fuxxored. The reality made my spine cringe, as if nails were scrapping a virtual chalkboard. Years of pictures, movies, music; all lost with a click of the mouse.
This is a hard lesson for anyone who invests time and money into their computer system. A computer is only as good as the data it holds. Without my data, the programs running on the computer seemed empty and useless. The hardest part about this whole situation was it held precious photos and videos from my daughter’s first year of life.
Newbie 101: Spam
categories: Newbie 101
Spam.
No, we aren’t talking about the compressed meat in a can. This is the countless mail that flows into your email box. Thousands of messages coming at you from all ends, questioning if you can call them back, asking if you need to ‘enlarge’ certain areas of
your body, pushing you to purchase products, or inquiring about your personal information.
It must work right? Why else would these people continue sending you all this mail? Someone somewhere must look at one of these messages and say, "Wow that sounds like a great deal! Sure I’ll send my bank account information to you so you can transfer $500,000 to it! I can’t wait to retire!"
Zen Computing
categories: General
The art of allowing your energy to positively impact your technology.
You awake to an alarm clock ran by a minicomputer chip. The furnace kicks on blowing warm heat to your toes; all because of the computer timer controlling your digital thermometer. You stumble to the bathroom, clapping your hands together to power the lights.
The TV recorder has taped all of your favorite shows, the fridge has cooled your food to the perfect temperature, and your smart phone reminds you of a 10 o’clock meeting. You remotely start the car to alleviate the dry cold air, thus making your initial shock into the environment easier. The ride to work is surrounded by technical gadgets. From street to street, sign by sign, images of technology rave on until you are almost amidst a panic attack. You sit at your desk at work and multitask millions of different programs and applications to maneuver some intangible benefit for your company.
Using Facebook Apps for Child Development
Social networks have taken over millions of households around the world. The ability to share instant updates to all of your friends and family as well as pictures, videos and links has changed our view of the Internet. In the past, email and chat was the digital connection between individuals. Now, with sites like Facebook and MySpace, you can post all of your updates in one spot and everyone can view them instantaneously.
Computer Basics – Office 2007 Quick Access Toolbar
categories: Basic, Computer Help
Microsoft Office 2007 products have a new feature called a Quick Access Toolbar. It is located at the top, left, corner of each program, whether it be Excel or Word. When they created 2007, they moved a lot of things around making it interesting for the users to find the functions they used on a regular basis. The Quick Access Toolbar gives you a shortcut at finding some of the options you had before. It automatically comes with the save, redo and undo functions, but you can customize it to add other functions you use a lot. I personally use the Print option the most and now with the new layout of Office 2007 it would be a lot easier if I had it on my Quick Access Toolbar.
Setting up your Signature for Emails:
categories: Basic, Computer Help
Need help setting up your signature for your emails? If you send a lot of emails, this simple step can save a lot of typing.
In Outlook Express, click Tools and then Options. In this window you will want to select the Signatures Tab. Click the New Button on the right hand side. And then in the lower section under Edit Signature you can free type your signature anyway you would like it to appear. Once you have finished typing the text, click apply. At the top of the window check the option to include the signature on all outgoing messages and click OK.
Mail Merge in Word 2007
categories: Basic, Computer Help
Word 2007 Mail Merge
Let’s say you have a mailing to do that consists of 100 envelopes. Do you really want to manually address each envelope? I know I wouldn’t. Word has a feature called Mail Merge to help with these types of things.
In order to use the Mail Merge function you need to create a “data” file. Keeping with the example of addressing 100 envelopes, you would create an Excel spreadsheet and in the spreadsheet you would enter in the data you want to appear on the envelopes. First name, Last name, address, city, state, zip code, etc…