SharondaWoodfin.net

Keeping Connected with Chrome

A few months ago, I became impressed with Google Chrome's handling of streaming video. Now, on my new machine, which has a helluva lot more memory than my XP box had, I find that I'm using Chrome more often than any other browser. One reason for this switch is that my friends -- who really should know better, because they're painfully aware of my tendency to obsess -- got me hooked on FarmVille. That's right. I spend my days raising cranberries and rice on Facebook, and it's been my experience that Facebook is just less glitchy in Chrome than it is in Firefox. And since I'm spending all that time using Chrome, anyway, I might as well dig the hooks a little deeper, right?

Done. A few extensions later and Chrome is that bad girl who just won't play safe (no script control), lets me do pretty much what I want, and looks good the whole damned time. The extensions I've installed are Chromed Bird, Google Mail Checker Plus, and Google Voice (by Google). The icons for these extensions appear just after Chrome's address/search bar, and they really are kind of pretty:

Yeah. That's right. I've got 504 unread messages in my Gmail inbox. In fact, as I write this, that count has grown to 507. And it would probably grow exponentially if not for one little thing: The extension I've installed in Chrome lets me delete emails directly from the pop-up panel:

 
I can also hop straight to an e-mail, archive it, or send it to spam, directly from that pop-up. This thing is a saviour of both time and space, man. But I still keep Google Notifier running, too, so that I can actually hear when a new e-mail arrives.

Next up is Chromed Bird, my new favorite Twitter thingy. Note that it has a pop-up similar to the Gmail checker's:

It's pretty much a standard Twitter client, but it's the first one I've used that has a column just for my lists. (Yes, that last tab does say "Xena-related".) I'm sure that's an old experience for some of you, but keep in mind that this is my second Windows machine, and that I sometimes learn from my mistakes. I tried out heavy-ass desktop Twitter apps, most of which ran on a heavy-ass platform I also had to install, on my old machine. But the new box won't be subjected to install-a-go-go. Twitter thingies have to be either gadgets, browser extensions/widgets, or Windows-native apps to even get a consideration. 

And the last extension is only rarely useful. I don't call people very often, and most of the people who call me don't use my Google Voice number. You can see by the datestamps that there's just not a lot of urgency in my Voice inbox:

 
 What's truly useful about this extension, though, is the ability to make calls from the pop-up:

 This is especially handy if, like me, you have a phone in another room, and some of the buttons on that phone are stubborn, but people insist on making calls with the other-roomed, stubborn-buttoned phone, and they want you to do the dialing.

A summary of what we've learned so far:

1. Google Chrome is pretty, and its extensions are, too.
2. Some of Chrome's extensions are actually really useful.
3. Chrome extensions enable folks like me to get roped into being other people's FarmVille neighbor and/or telephone dialer, without it putting major crimps in my online lifestyle.
4. As enjoyable as Chrome's company is, for security's sake, one should probably stay married to Firefox.
5. There's a strong chance that your Facebook friends are evil.

My New Friend Harvey

He may look innocent, but he's got sharp puppy teeth. He also seems to be teething, and thinks my chin makes an awesome chew toy. His non-fur parents are trying to train him, but Harvey and I, we think human chew toys are just A-OK!

Hello, 7! Hey There, 64!

After a short (depending upon one's perspective) hiatus, I'm back online. I went to Wal-Mart, today (along with Best Buy, Sam's Club, Toys 'R Us, and even Big Lots), and bought the cheapest computer I could find. I knew before I bought it that it didn't come with a monitor, that it had 2GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium. What I didn't realize until I'd been messing with it for a few hours is that it has a 64-bit processor. All I really know about that is that my best friend's boyfriend thinks it's a good thing, and that I hope my Wacom Bamboo will work with it.

So far, I've gotten rid of Norton, and replaced it with Avast; installed Firefox, NoScript, AdBlock, InFormEnter, Flash and Chrome; installed CCleaner and Google Notifier; uninstalled the e-Bay thing, Google Toolbar for IE, and Adobe Reader; and gotten Amazon Unbox up and running. I still have a lot to install and/or uninstall, and I still don't have a solid opinion on Windows 7, yet. It has some nice features, but I'm still adjusting to the look and feel, now pining away over both XP and OS 9.

The truth is that, after spending 5 or 6 years getting a computer the way you want it, it's a bit disquieting to have to start all over again, but I digress. And to digress further, the low point of my day came at Best Buy, when the guy trying to sell me a computer asked if I wanted anti-virus installed or if I planned to not go online. I hope that's not how Best Buy programs their sales force, 'cause seriously, dude, that's insulting. Bad false dilemma! No, no!!

Anyway, the good points about the new PC, thus far: Lots and lots more memory. Even with heavier system requirements, the performance difference between 2GB and the 512MB I was running on my old system is pretty damned obvious. I can carry the tower around with one hand, which is useful when I need to fiddle with the back of it. MP4s will play in Windows Media Player. Jump lists are handy, and I like the preview windows in the taskbar. Also, sticky notes! I haven't used them, yet, but I'm just ridiculously happy to have them!

Thanks to the folks who commented in my absence, and please, forgive the rambling. It's been a hard seven days. Take a bit of being cut off from the whole damned world, add in a bit of brand new temporary job (one that involves showing up twice each day, including once around 5:30 in the morning); learning to give insulin shots to a kitteh; several trips to the library; lots of stress; my first desperate yet sober trip to a local straight bar (which, it turns out, isn't completely straight); a sick dog; a sick mother; and hours spent at my desk smoking cigarettes and pressing buttons that don't do anything, and -- well, Hell -- I'll forgive myself, whether you forgive me or not.

More on lots of stuff, later (including all of the wild things that lurk in the woods just outside of town; things I didn't know about until just a week ago), once I've figured out the next several steps in whipping this shiny new system into shape.

P.S.

One *good* thing that came out of my unexpected disconnection: I took some time to read. You know, like books. The kind that fit in one's hands and smell really awesome. I read Joyce Carol Oates Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, and loved this quote:

"...you don't feel extremes of temperature when you're on a mission and your very life's at stake, those hateful bastards wanting to put their hands on you wanting to impose their plans on you, you'd rather die than surrender."

God, to be 14 again!

Scratch that. 14 sucked. But to feel 14 again, I'd willingly convert to an Apple IIe!

Yes, I Have NO Computer

I've had no computer for days. First the CD/DVD drive went wonky. The on the 15th, coinciding with the eclipse over India, my BIOS informed me that disk failure was imminent. I replaced the hard drive. Now, the power light blinks at me stupidly, and all I can say is "Thank God for portable Firefox!" Because public computers suck, the PCs at this library are slow (and have Netscape 7.1 installed, fer Pete's sake), and they're even slower running IE ('though even that is quicker than starting up Netscape).

I'd write more, but hey! My half-hour is probably about up, and I still have to find a cheap computer and make a choice between Vista Home Premium and Ubuntu.

If any of you people love me, you'll load up Netflix, put on a really good episode of Xena, and let me listen through the telephone. That, or find cheap computers online and e-mail me the links.

The latter option would probably be more beneficial, but the former would certainly be appreciated, if for entirely different reasons.

Does Your Mother Know?

via www.youtube.com

Happy animated Xena + happy animated Gab + maintext + music + Christine Baranski = squeee!

I may even start liking ABBA after this!