Do you ever have those times when you think in your head that something is going to be a great idea, but when you actually do this activity you were thinking about it turns out to be not such a great idea?

Well… this is one of those times.

Currently I’m posting this blog without a computer. No, I’m not using my phone. Okay, there is a story here. Turns out I’m one of the unlucky macbook owners that had the case near the wrist area start to splinter and crack apart. I first got a bit worried because I had been told by some of my mac friends that Apple doesn’t cover cosmetic damage. I jumped online and found that I am not alone! Yes there were lots of other mac owners who had experienced the same cracking phenomena. So, I’m made my appointment with the local genius bar to try and get it covered under warranty.

This morning, I headed off to my Apple store. By the way, I just found out that my Apple store (Tysons Corner, VA) was the second Apple store opened. There I was met by the rush of Christmas shoppers. (I hate the mall during Christmas.) After waiting and waiting the genius who helped me said they could fix it, but they would take about 2-3 days. Aaaaarrggghhhhhh!!!!

So while my mac is off getting a body peel and a facial, I’m left to play the uber geek and update my blog using my old Nokia 770 Internet tablet that that I got from Woot.com and hacked to run a newer version of the software.

Now remember when i said this turned out to be a bad idea… Well, I’ve been tapping in each letter of this post using a stylus on a virtual keyboard. I think if i’m going to do this again, I’ll need to get an external bluetooth keyboard.

And hopfully I’ll get my macbook back very soon.

Yes, Photoshop is probably the best image creation/editing program around but many people cannot afford such luxury. So here’s two great alternatives to get anyone started.

Gimpshop

Many people have heard about the open source program called GIMP. But many people have found it to confusing to get started with. So, several developers worked hard to created a friendly user interface, so that anyone would be able to work with the program. What they created was GimpShop.
Gimpshop is now a powerful Photoshop looking program that has far more features most people will ever need to use.

Grab this program and indulge your inner artist, or enhance your latest photograph.

More information about GimpShop

Inkscape

If you’re looking for a graphics program that lets you create illustrations and graphics, much like Freehand or Illustrator, then give Inkscape a whirl.

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

Inkscape’s main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development

More information about Inkscape

Well, I tried to do a good deed today, and Ebay decided to screw me. I’m furious right now.

I caught someone trying to buy one of my laptops I had on auction with a stolen credit card. I reported him, and then helped the man he stole the credit card get his money back. Now, since I reported him, Ebay has decided to SUSPEND AND REMOVE MY EBAY ACCOUNT.

They won’t respond to my emails. I can’t find any phone number to call. And I’m unable to get my account reinstated.

It seems that Ebay treats its members who try and help prevent fraud like criminals and suspend people without looking at any facts or background. Ebay is quick to suspend and never respond.

I’m so angry right now because I really need to sell these laptops, and Ebay has removed the listings during the weekend. And the weekend is one of the big times that people go looking online for a laptop to buy.

Has anyone else had this happen? How did you fix this?

Background of story:

1. I received a buy-it-now from a person on Ebay who in their email with the payment asked me to ship the laptop to Russia.
2. This was suspicious so I decided to look further into the details.
3. The payment email gave me an address that had been validated with the credit card used.
4. I looked up the address in the white pages and placed a call to the house.
5. An older couple picked up the phone and I asked them if they had purchased a laptop on Ebay.
6. After several phone calls back and forth, they informed me that it was true and that their credit card had been stolen.
7. So, I immediately refunded the payment back to their credit card and reported the fraud to Ebay and the credit card transaction company.
8. The next thing that happened was that Ebay suspended me for fraudulent activity.

So because I was diligent and reported fraud to Ebay they suspend me. This is crazy.

Follow the Pugsley saga here

Thank you for those of you who were reading about Pugsley and kept him in your thoughts and prayers. Pugsley is doing much better, though he still is finding ways to thwart our efforts to hide his antibiotics in his food.

It turned out that Pugsley had an bacterial infection in his GI tract and that caused him not to eat or drink, which caused him lots of problems.

He’s doing much better now… and he’s back to exploring his big back yard and making sure the neighbor bulldog “Brody” knows that Pugsley is the king of his own yard.

I’ll put some more pictures of Pugsley up soon.

This is making it very difficult to get his medicine inside him. If anyone has any ideas on how to get him to eat or drink water, please let me know. You can follow the Pugsley ordeal here.

Things we’ve tried:

1. We’ve tried 3 different water bowls. He won’t drink out of any of them.
2. We’ve tried giving him ice cubes. No luck.
3. We rolled the ID (canned dog food the hospital gave us) into tiny meatballs… some with his medicine inside and some just plain food. This morning he’s not eating anything. Side Note: He did eat these “meatballs” from us last night
4. We’ve poured the juice/water from a can of chicken into a bowl for him to drink. He sniffs it and walks away.
5. We’ve placed small pieces of canned chicken on a plate. No luck.

Anything anyone can suggest would be helpful. We’re running out of options.

Just a quick update, Pugsley is okay. He’s home again with us. He had to spend the night in the pet hospital in order to get an GI infection under control. Luckily he didn’t need any surgery for an obstruction, and the vet was able to treat him over night. He’s now doing much better. He’s happy to be home. Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers.

Pugsley joined our family just 7 days ago today. This afternoon we had to take him to the Hope Center Vet Hospital. He’s not been doing well. He can’t keep anything down and there may have to be surgery… So, keep him in your thoughts and prayers tonight as he gets treatment in the hospital.

I’m beginning to believe that Pugsley is the long lost brother of Johnny Depp. Pugsley knew exactly that today was the opening day of Pirates of the Caribbean III. He decided that this morning he would go on a treasure hunt and dug a hole in our carpet… straight through to the wood floor… there’s not even a seam in the carpet, now we just have a big hole.So, I guess Pugsley isn’t as well trained as we thought. Obedience training is mandatory now. Grrrr…. (Not to mention the pee and the poo we found when we got home.)

So the big question is… Does anyone know how to patch / repair a carpet? Please let me know.

Many people ask me where they can find good software, for a great price. My response has always been, “Why pay for software, when you can get it for free?.

Ok, I realize that many of you don’t want to go to jail for pirating software. So, I’ve put together a little list of great software that everyone can download for the amazing price of $$$FREE$$$.

The lead-off batter in this software lineup is one that I get asked about all the time. “Do I really have to pay for anti-virus… I only use the internet to download cool themes and backgrounds for my computer?” Run for the hills, its virus central waiting to happen. Have no fear, AVG Anti-Virus Free is here. The folks over at Grisoft make a great free version of their anti-virus program. So now you can rest easing knowing that AVG will be protecting your computer against viruses and hackers, this app works with both Windows Vista and earlier versions.

Another issue that many computer owners have is they install and uninstall lots of software. Over time this can cause some problems with the computer’s registry. Don’t worry, the team at Smart PC Solutions have released a free Registry cleaner that will make your life so much easier. Regular use of a computer makes the registry fragmented and cluttered with obsolete and invalid data. But no longer with this great tool.

I’m also asked about what I use for email. I always recommend the best email program…GMAIL. But… since this is a list about free software you can download, its hard to do better than Thunderbird. Download this great email client and begin to reclaim your inbox.

In terms of Instant Messangers… I like to use an online tool that keeps my desktop uncluttered. I’m talking about Meebo. But if you’re looking for good downloadable messaging clients. There are tons: Skype, Gizmo, Yahoo Messanger, Google Talk, GAIM: connects to multiple types of IM, Trillian: connects to multiple types of IM. The real answer for instant messaging clients is, first figure out what clients your friends use, and then use that one.

I listen to music using iTunes. I edit photos using Google Picassa, trust me, it is a great piece of software. I edit some of my music files using Audacity. I burn CDs using the free CD Burner XP program. And I upload files to the internet using FileZilla.

In another post, I’ll spend some time talking about RSS readers and setting up a blog.

Are there other great free software products that I missed. Let me know by leaving a comment below.