Set up a Presto for them and they can receive a daily email from you to brighten their day, without an internet connection. Attach a picture of you waving hello, or of any important event they have to miss. Then when you call it makes talking about the day or event even more special.

For about $100 - $130 you can buy the Presto. It’s basically an easy-to-use printer that receives email up to five different times a day, at times that you control. You set up the account online, set the preferences, and set up payment for the service at a cost of only about $10 a month. Plug in the Presto, plug their phone line to it, and it’s ready to go. Paper and ink are included and can be monitored on-line. Both are easy to replace when needed. No need to worry about spam, either, since you have to specifically set people up to allow them to send to the account. Information cards are also provided that contain access numbers. Your loved one can hand them out to other friends/family members to set themselves up, so they don’t have to wait for you to do it for them.

Go to www.Presto.com and check it out. As a Hospice volunteer I made friends with a lovely lady whose husband had passed away while under Hospice care. Her grown children and grandchildren were connected to the internet, but this lady had no way to receive emails, and no way to set up an internet connection. I hooked her up with one of these and it’s been working great for three months. I’ve yet to have to change the ink. I was also able to set her up to receive ‘Newsstand’ items such as a weekly article from Andy Rooney and daily gossip article from Liz Smith.

Presto – it was just that easy.

I came across this book at my local Barnes & Nobles store and figured it would be time to read up on how this sport has matured with brief reviews of all notables events. Here's a brief listing that I found particular interesting:
Jocko Flocko the Monkey Copilot
Hudson Hornets winning the majority of races from 51 - 53 and then disappearing
Nascar Converitble Division
First Daytona 500
Cale Yarborough , Donnie Allison and Bobby Allison engaged in fisticuffs

I also did enjoy how it provided a review of each year's series winning driver and one can understand why certain things are just the way they are. The book has a very coffee-table type appeal to it, where you can simply flip through it and focus on what interests you most and it doesn't require you to have read anything prior. For $6.99, located in the bargain section, its a great deal for those who want to learn some history or for those interesed in refreshing their memories of this crazy crazy sport.

Nikki Blonsky was perfect for the role and she did a fabulous job. She hardly quit smiling or dancing the entire time and she just did such a great job. John Travolta was hilarious as her mother. And hearing him say tired as "tard" or iron "ern" made me crack up every time. Amanda Bynes was cute as could be and her physical humor always entertains me. Although my sister tells me Diana DeGarmo fulfilled the role better on Broadway.

Veterans Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer did a great job. Michelle had a very Cruella Deville vibe about her that went over well. One might have hardly recognized Zac Efron with the suits and slicked back hair. His blue eyes and inate charm pulled off the Elvis type role of Link to a tee.
The storyline was great. The fluff of the dance show seemed to be grounded with the deep-rooted integration issues they dealt with.

My only issue with this movie was that there were SO MANY songs. Yes, it was a musical but every time they turned around they were singing. And according to my sister, there were songs in it that were not in the original. The songs weren't bad, in fact I enjoyed them. Just be prepared to hear a lot of singing. If you enjoyed movies like Grease or High School Musical, you will definitely like this. And even if you didn't, give this one a try. You might be surprised.

But I'm really disappointed in the plot. It was extremely hard to believe even with all that suspension of disbelief stuff. The way he interacted with his work personnel was just weird. I mean all those birds in the office and how his coworkers in reality seemed to accept his explanation? That just wasn't good. And why the beard and why the outfit? And why would he stuff his outfit into his regular clothes and no one say anything until they were piled up on his desk?? And my biggest pet peeve about the movie were the animals. In the original Noah's Ark, the animals were on there to save them and repopulate the earth. I get that. *spoiler here* But this was a local flood and there were all kinds of animals including polar bears and penguins brought in from all over the earth to get on the ark. And then they take a two minute ride into DC with all the animals and then it's over. Why the animals?? And how come they just flooded the country's capital and no one mentioned it or mentioned ANY after affect of it? OK, I'm on a rant. Needless to say either I don't get something or I'm being too picky. Either way, I'm sorry I can't recommend this one.

I honed in on the DV9000 series line, and went ahead building a custom high-grade entertainment laptop (aka the desktop killer) and ended up building up on the DV9500t model. Starting off with looks, they look pretty damn good. I really like the glossy black finish (the screen is glossy too) with a very nice script-like pattern that runs throughout the entire product. The dv9500t also offers few smaller changes, such as the addition of a fingerprint reader and a different Webcam from the other Pavilion models.

Here's a quick overview of what this beast looks like from the inside..

Like almost all desktop killers, the Pavilion dv9500t's keyboard is full size and includes a 10-key numeric keypad. The somewhat compact touch pad includes a scroll zone, and I can appreciate the touch pad on/off button, which is handy when you want to use an external mouse.

I'm still in the honeymoon period with this laptop, if I find anything I dont like.. believe me I'll come back and update this posting.. but for now I've been extremely impressed and I strongly suggest that HP be a candidate if you are in the market to buy a laptop.