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Sunday, May 07, 2006

Weekend Update

It was a good weekend. Gymnastics class went great this weekend, sans the older toddler who liked to scare Madison. She did her first somersault (Amy - it was for you), of course with Mommy's assistance. With a few more weeks' practice, she'll be able to do them on her own. Watching toddlers who aren't familiar with each other is quite interesting. There's a whole lot of sizing each other up, and not a lot of talking. One little girl helped Madison climb up a tall block, it was so sweet. She's also trying to jump, but doesn't quite understand the concept yet. All in good time.

Karl and I took Madison to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay today. It was better than I anticipated, there were a lot of exhibits and some really cool fish! Madison had a great time. I was very impressed that this attraction does not require you to travel through gambling areas to get to it. Bravo to Mandalay Bay for that - I think it brings more families; who wants to walk through a casino with their children? I didn't think they'd allow cameras, so unfortunately I have no pictures.

My home laptop has always run very hot, but now that it's fresh out of warranty, it overheats whenever it's on a solid surface. I usually run it from the arm of the sofa, where the fan gets plenty of fresh air. I was running a backup to a external hard drive on the table yesterday, and it kept overheating and shutting off. So I have some work to do. Personally I'd be happy just buying a new one, this one is so heavy and it could use some hardware upgrades. BUT, I'm going to have to pull out my geek hat and save myself some moolah. I'm just not the geek I used to be, fixing these things for a living has worn out the thrill of it at home. Having a child sort of changes priorities, too. She's so much more fun than disassembling my laptop!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

10 comments:

Angi said...

Lora,
Make sure that whether you buy a new one or fix that one that you buy a lap cooling pad for it that has external fans and runs off of ac/dc or usb. Ruben and I both have one for our laptops and it has saved mine for sure. It's only a year old, but everytime I get bugs in my system, the system fan runs non-stop - so I run spyware ALL the time. Ruben has a new HP and it has a much better cooling system than mine...but anyway, you can find the coolong pads that have additional usb hubs on newegg.com for around $30 (I think that's what we paid for ours) It's definately worth the investment!

Distant Timbers Echo said...

Hey Lora! I'm glad you had a good weekend and Madison is really doing well with other toddlers. My own is very outgoing and tries to break up the silence in those situations, it's so nice!

I agree with Scrap above, there. If you go to the following link (sorry so long) it will show you a few items regarding the cooling of that ol' laptop of yours! :D

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchproducts.asp?s=SP&dept=lch9&search=1sc09-1&child=1sc09-1&cat_curpage=1&rows=6&across=2&sort=new&gp=Y&ureq=Y

LoraLoo said...

Angi - thanks! I will look into one of those. I checked them out before but they were so bulky - perhaps I need to do some more looking.

Jas: I will look at your link here. I did do some research into my particular Dell model and overheating, it appears to be a common issue that Dell has not stepped up to the plate to deal with. I took it apart expecting to see a lot of dust or something, but all was pretty clean in there. Damn thing is near cooking my motherboard, it's running over 110 degrees just browsing web pages.

Bar L. said...

Sounds like a great weekend - I would love to see all the sharks/fish!

I am glad that nasty kid was not in gymnastics class, hopefully they will not be back.

Don't know if I've said it lately but I think you're a great mom!

Ken said...

It amazes me how hot my laptop runs. I can leave food sitting next it and it starts to get warm! I have an ancient Stinkpad that is work issued that I can't actually use on my lap it runs so hot. Guess that's why they call them notebooks anymore.

Madison is too cute...

Cupcake Blonde said...

I LOVED the Shark Reef! We got to see the Hammerhead before she died which was really neat. I had never seen one before and I love aquariums so I've been to a lot! And I think it is so cool they give a discount for locals.

LoraLoo said...

Barbara: Thank you! The fish were so large, I was pretty amazed. The sharks weren't very large, but I imagine they'd need A LOT of space.

Ken: Yeah, I can't use my laptop on my lap either. My work laptop runs extremely cool, thankfully Dell got it right with newer models.

Amanda: I didn't know they had a hammer head there at one time and that she died! How sad.

Martin said...

Pretty amazing, it's like you have your own tech support group. B) I like the cooling pad idea even if it may be heavy.

Nik said...

Sorry bout the laptop issues, that sucks and I could see where you don't wanna fuss with it after doing that all day long.


Bet the gymnastics class is too cute with all the little ones around. Big congrats to Madison on her first somersault!

New White Keds said...

A somersault!?! Yay Madison! I cannot wait for things to slow down enough to come watch in person. How very exciting for you to get to do this with her.
Completely agree with Barbara -- you are a GREAT mom!

We took Zachary to the shark reef, and I think we enjoyed it as much as he did. Did you let Madison touch the fish in the touching pool?