techie toys and gizmos!

I live dangerously through technology! In other words I guess my "hobby" is getting "stuff" for my computers (yup 3 of them. First one that says nerd or geek is going straight to hell!) The sad thing is I love the little gadgets and things that go with them!
About six months ago I bought a software program that let's you talk to your computer and it prints it, is that cool or what? I figured the Great American Novel was within my grasp. You have to read to your computer and the program studies your accent, inflections etc and "gets it right" (of course being from New England and the material to read to the machine being John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address my accent was a shoo in!
Well yesterday I acquired a business card scanner! That is cool, it's supposed to scan the business card, differentiate the name, phone numbers etc and plug them in to my Microsoft Outlook address book. Guess I'll play with that this week.
And what hi-tech toy dude would be complete without a "Blackberry", or as some refer to it, a "crackberry" (yeah it is addictive as hell, and ok my wife is right I need to get a hobby!!)
I like to think I'm on the front line of communication and efficiency in business. (I said I like to think I am, remember those words!)
Included in my never-ending pursuit for "teckky toys" I've even added a few to my blog page. If I may direct your attention to the right hand side of the page as you scroll down you will see a little "button" that says "Guest map" or something to that effect. If you click on it a screen comes up of a world map, another "pop up" comes up with instructions. Give it a shot! It letsd you plant a flag in the area you are viewing my blog from. So far it's only me and the programmers that wrote the program on there. I'm real curious who on this big blue marble is reading my rantings and stuff. (If you want ot get one for yourself click on the other button to the right of the map one and it will take you to the sight where you too can be the proud owner of a map,...best of all it's free!!!)
Well, off to frolic in the property management business and see what earthshaking emergencies occur this day, whilest I develop budgets for at least three of my properties for next year, try and "update" my report for the Boss units that's due every friday to insure my "continued employment options" with the firm. "But of course the hole in your screen is a catastrophic situation, Mrs. Jones. I mean my God at least a dozen gnats could come in the window in the next few days!" (Well I guess it doesn't mattter if the gaping hole in the roof gets fixed today after all it's sunny, got to get someone on the hole in the screen!)
Summers almost over and the eastern european kids who invaded for summer jobs are beginning to go home, not much left here, just the illegal immigrant Mexican landscaping folks. (They go shopping on Sunday, and it's almost amusing to watch. They pool thier money to get the food, and you can tell them easily they have the three heaping shopping carts actually overflowing and more tortillas than I thought the store even stocked! The Mexican food section has gone from a scant two shelves to over 16 feet of six high shelves, and by Sunday evening it's stripped bare!
Well, I'm off like a prom dress to go fight the forces of common sense and dignity, and trying to explain the difference between the spirit of the rule, and the actual meaning scribed on the page.
Oh, got to call my "beaver killer" today as well. One of my places has a problem with the pesky little engineers building dams and screwing up the entire manmade ecosystem causing the water in the lakes which are the street "run-off" from rains and sprinkler systems which were designed to flow into the lake, to in fact be doing the reverse. (After one particularly heavy rain fall last week I got an e-mail form a resident who claimed to be "trapped" in his home because the water was so high. Gee,...hope he got out ok!)
Have a nice day, I'll try!
-30-