Sigh


No, I didn't find my broadband high speed DSL Internet connection sitting under the Xmas tree yesterday... nor was it in the stocking hanging above the woodstove.

To be on the safe side I'll be having a word with the elves from the telephone company as they head back into hibernation for another year. I fully expect them to point out that I should be thankful we we're able to hang onto the phone line at all during our recent flurry of storms.

After all, why settle for mere gale force winds and driving rain when you can have the hurricane variety... almost. Most likely they will also mutter something about the fact it would help if we moved a bit closer to civilisation.

Oh well, maybe next year... the purists say that next week is the real start of the new millennium so if I continue to be a good boy hopefully it will be my turn. One tip I will pass on to those of you who have the small fixed DHS type of TV dish antenna. Our recent doses of bad weather really proved that an all weather cover was a very wise investment. Ours sits directly under the roof overhang and suffered from even moderate rainfall, but now it seems impervious to every kind of precipitation.

While I'm still a bit depressed over the lack of high tech. goodies I'm going to put myself in the same boat as my favourite Internet news reporter. He always has a problem at this time of year because while he does get to play with new fangled toys under the guise of reviewing them, he always has to give them back to the companies and none end up sitting under his tree.

I see myself as suffering from a similar problem because everything I talk about is free.

Therefore, sad to say, I have to report that no, the digital snap shot camera that I lusted after didn't make it down the stove pipe either. I shall have to struggle on using my trusty Webcam which is great, provided I don't get further than eight feet from the computer... that's as far as the cable stretches.

This is a rather unfair comment because Webcams are a lot cheaper and they are a great start towards moving beyond film processing cameras. Something to think about if your budget is tight and / or your wish list is too rich for friends and family.

The copyright of the article Sigh in Free Computer Software is owned by Brian Hughes. Permission to republish Sigh in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic