Cable TV

I have mentioned before that I am very frustrated with my cable provider since they changed to Broadstripe.  The latest problem is a bill that was $30 higher than normal.  I received a "courtesy call" explaining that they undercharged me during the transition.  I would very much like to dump them.  I looked closely at Verizon FIOS, but found there were so many variables in their offer that I would be paying a lot more than cable after the introductory discounts expired.  I bought a digital converter and antenna for the spare room.  It works great and I could live without cable.  So now I'm looking at getting phone & internet only through Verizon, and Dish Network for TV.  Should save at least $40/month.

Flickr vs Picasa

At one point, I had made several albums in Yahoo Photos which was eventually converted to Flickr. I wasn't thrilled with Flickr - especially the limits of the free account, so I hadn't added anything to it for a long time.  Several people had told me about Picasa, but I hadn't gotten around to trying it until now.  Very nice program.  Doesn't do a photostream, but I like the "face recognition" feature.  I fouind Picasa much easier to use than Flickr.  

Using Open Office on laptop

Nice program and it is free.  I've had one minor issue.  I saved the documents in the default (.odt) format, then couldn't open them in Word.  You have to use the option to save as a Word97/2000/XP (.doc) file.

Books

I haven't been doing a lot of reading lately other than the required reading for school.  I didn't finish the last 2 books I got from the library, and had to pay a late fine for one.  There are a couple of books on my wish list, though.  I just ordered The Gathering Storm, which is Book 12 in the Wheel of Time series and part 1 of 3 of the finale.  

Record snowfall and no power

This was supposedly a record snowfall in the Baltimore-Washington region.  We have at least 24-30 inches with higher drifts.  Winds knocked out power from around 6:30 am on Saturday until around 2 am on Sunday.  I live on a dirt road so there will be no county snowplow.  We dug out the driveway & vehicles yesterday & today.  Some of the neighbors pitched in and dug out the road, then one neighbor with a bobcat worked on getting it plowed.  Good thing that whatever knocked out the power was not our our road, or we'd still be without electricity.  I don't have an alternative source of heat, but I do have propane for cooking, though we had to light the burners with a match.  Melted snow to wash dishes & used my campers coffee.  Couldn't use a match for the oven, but we did light the burners for a few minutes every couple of hours.   More shoveling tomorrow, and more snow expected midweek.  We are not used to this.