What Is Really Behind Your PC’s Poor Performance

by: The Bug Doctor

Keeping a computer running smoothly and quickly is a never-ending job. It seems like no time after you take your brand-new PC out of the box, your computer starts acting up and performing more like the old PC you got rid of than the new one it is supposed to be.

Until the Chocolate Runs Out

Ah, I love the smell of burning New Year's resolutions in the morning. It smells like um, well, in my case it smells an awful lot like a credit card ready to melt, an overheated computer and a coffeepot left for too long on a burner.

I'm Only Trying to Help

It wasn't really the poor woman's fault. She was trying to be nice to me; just making idle conversation when I jumped all over her. I had stopped into a jewelry store to pick up a repaired pearl necklace when the pleasant lady behind the counter complemented me on my pearls.

For People Who Collect Too Much

Got game? Not unless you count Candyland. Got milk? Not since I weaned my daughter, thank you for asking. Got stuff? Ah, now you're onto something! I have stuff - all kinds of stuff. I'm a lifelong, chronic collector and over the years my condition has worsened.

Sick and Tired

My credit card company called the other night. I figured it was a routine solicitation for some service upgrade, or a concern over a charge. Much to my surprise, they wondered if I was OK and did I need help. Our house has been afflicted with the cold and flu plague and it hasn't been pretty. I spent several days making like Florence Nightingale, busily tending to the sick and pathetic. The next thing I knew all my tender loving care was rewarded by being afflicted with the worst of everyone's symptoms. My version of the plague combined a head cold courtesy of the kids and the flu from my beloved. Needless to say, my online shopping took a nose-dive.

The Soap of Christmas Past

by The Cybershopaholic

As I strolled through a store yesterday, shopping for some Halloween decorations, I noticed a woman stocking up on Christmas wreath-making materials. I'm thinking pumpkin guts and she's trimming trees. Yikes! Glancing at a display of Santa Claus soap dishes, I began to reminisce. I thought back to last year when DealofDay was a newborn site and I was a newbie in the world of online shopping.

Men are from Sears Hardware Women are from Macy's

by The Cybershopaholic

Every year my husband agonizes over buying gifts for me. Birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, whatever the occasion, Mr. Wonderful is a soul in torment. Deep in denial, the poor thing avoids shopping for as long as possible, then outta nowhere, Whammo! The ol' calendar whomps him upside the head.

Purple Haze and the Seven Dwarves

During my recent cold/flu misery, I detoxed from coffee. I just couldn't stand the taste. Not that I could taste anything anyway. I was so pathetic that not even coffee wanted to be my friend anymore. But, when my persistent, racking cough just wouldn't let up and I was feeling as if I might accidentally cough up a vital organ, I dragged my sorry self to the doctor's and got some prescription-strength cough medicine. This stuff is a funky grayish purple color and the closest description I can think of is similar to what I imagine drinking poster paint sweetened with saccharine would be like. Mmmmm, smooth.

Ridiculous or Sublime

by The Cybershopaholic

Need 'em or not, I love gadgets. My gizmomania goes way back to watching TV with my older brother. When I was 3 and Dave was 13, he was often charged with baby-sitting. He took the sitting part literally and resorted to all sorts of holding techniques to keep me still so he could watch in relative peace.

Lost Weekend

by the Cybershopaholic

I just spent a week trapped on an island with 140 lawyers, survived the plane ride home with two kids jacked-up on Halloween candy and a husband who managed to get seated in another part of the plane. The sun and fun were quickly fading into memory, as I considered the bathing suits mildewing in our suitcases, which by now had probably made friends with other bags and decided to tour Idaho with a bunch of wild Shriners. All of the rum I had so carefully sucked out of hollowed-out pineapples all week, was mostly metabolized and was now just making my thinking fuzzy and my head heavy.

Love is Blinds

by The Cybershopaholic

Mental illness or gender differences, you decide. Here are the facts as I understand them. My husband, decided he couldn't possibly continue to ride his bike without investing $200 additional dollars (that's US currency) into an already expensive bike that only he rides and only upon occasion. Occasion being usual things, like visitations from key figures in the Bible. His riding apparel, for reasons of safety, comfort and unbearable lightness of being, has more than enough sparkle, spandex and padding to please even the most discriminating Dolly Parton impersonator.

Can Chutney Really Cure Cabin Fever?

by The Cybershopaholic

As I was pacing around the kitchen trying to come up with a topic for this essay, Mr. Wonderful, trying to be helpful, asked, "Well, what have you been doing lately?".

The Life Cycle of a Shopper

It is funny how the life cycle of a shopper changes. When I was a kid, I wanted Liddle Kiddles and the latest Barbie accessories. When I got older, my best friend Amy and I would shake our parents down for money and gather all baby-sitting proceeds and hit the coolest mall in Michigan.

Something New Everyday

I was thinking that nothing much really happened this week, but in actuality, I learned a few things. For example, I learned how to use the word 'actuality' in a sentence. I want to share some of the random tidbits of wisdom that fell into my lap, much the same way the snow is falling into my yard right now. The main difference being that wisdom isn't nearly as cold and I learned a long time ago not to sit around with a lap full of snow.

The Smell of the Greasepaint, the Roar of the Family

by the Cybershopaholic

When I first shared a holiday meal with my husband's family, I thought there was going to be a fistfight before the soup course. The intensity is similar to a table full of WWF heavy weights issuing threats, but the actual dialog is along the lines of: "How are you?" or "Crazy weather we're having", or "Please pass the potatoes". These niceties are exchanged with much vehemence and wild gesturing. It's more than enough to give a person raised in a quiet Midwest home indigestion. My family usually saved such displays of emotion for 911 calls, not polite dinner conversation.

Extreme Parenting

by Bonnie Coy

I have watched the so-called 'extreme sports' shows and concluded that these high tech-supported uber-atheletes are a bunch of pansies. I challenge any of them, washboard abs and all, to take on the kinds of 'extremes' that I face on a daily basis, 365 days a year.

Hip and Edgy

I used to be hip and edgy and now I'm hip-y (as in two pregnancies and years of exposures to the cruelties of office chairs and gravity) and I'm on the edge much more than I'd care to admit.

Only a Phase

Sticker phobia and hairball mania... is it just me or are my kids exceptionally bizarre?

Pointless in New York

by The Cybershopaholic

I am striving for pointlessness in my life. Many people think I have already achieved this. The point I am trying to make is that my life would be much simpler if it weren't for all these point accumulation systems floating out there in cyberspace.

Can You Dry Clean an Artifical Tree?

by The Cybershopaholic

This year was going to be different. No, I don't mean about the diet and exercise stuff - I had had too much champagne when I agreed to that. Besides, the world was supposed to come to a virtual end at midnight and I thought dieting would be a snap in a post-apocalyptic America.

A Terrible Thing to Waste

by The Cybershopaholic

The kids are heading back to school and I'm wondering how I will fill those empty hours. Whoo hoo, wait a sec, I just had a giddy head rush at the thought. By way of explanation, I just celebrated my fifth year of 'retirement' from Corporate America. Although I've never regretted my decision to stay home with the kids and write, sometimes I think about going back to a corporate job, just to get some rest, peace and quiet.

Confessions of a Recovering Catalog Addict

by The Cybershopaholic

The catalogs are coming! The catalogs are coming! I can always tell when it gets to be catalog season: school is back in session, there is a slight chill to the air, and our mail truck suddenly has a plastic luggage carrier strapped to its roof to transport the increased volume.

Only 401 Days to Christmas

by The Cybershopaholic

Every year I think I have learned my lesson and I vow not to get caught up in the Yuletide craziness, but somehow the sound of Burl Ives' voice as Sam the Snowman overwhelms me with illusions of creating my own Winter Wonderland.

God Help Us Every One

by The Cybershopaholic

By the time you read this, Christmas present will be the Ghost of Christmas past. As I write this, there are six days remaining, so naturally, I am wrapping gifts with my toes as I type. I am hoping that when the glitter settles, I will be left with warm feelings and sweet memories of Christmas 2000. Holiday decorating tip: don't let a two-year old and a five-year old decorate ornaments with glitter and glue while you run to the bathroom. I will take a spackling knife to the tile floor after the holidays. For now, I just tell visitors that our home was vandalized by the tooth fairy. In addition, I plan to just "hold it" until after the first of the year.

Too Much of Everything is Just Enough

by The Cybershopaholic

Happy New Millennium everyone! It's 01/01/01. If you are as computer savvy as I am, then you know that not only is this the date, but is also what is known as a binary code. 'Binary' comes from the Latin verb form 'to scare' and it translates literally to "revenge of the nerds".

Don't Try This at Home

by The Cybershopaholic

It is only when I leave the comfort and safety of the Internet that I get into trouble. I got suckered into a local office supply store recently, with the bright promise of some great kids' software titles for five bucks apiece. By the time I got there, there was one battered box containing a typing tutorial remaining. Browsing, I came across a 'how-to-get-organized' book. It was even on sale. I bought it and scurried home, eager to get my unruly, sock drawer of a life in order.

It Is Better to Give Than Receive

by The CyberShopaholic

My friend Claudia got a chainsaw for Christmas this year. The thing is, she's thrilled. Down, fellas! I know this one little bit of information makes you positive she is the woman of your dreams. Forget it. She's happily married with four kids. And no, she most certainly does not look like something the combine ran over.

Toys R Everywhere

by the Cybershopaholic

As the saying goes - I was a much better parent before I had children. This is especially true during the holidays. PK (pre-kids), I envisioned the holidays as a time of joy and togetherness, not a comedic-tragedy of materialism and naked toy lust.

You're Only One Once

by The Cybershopaholic

When cavepersons Mr. and Mrs. Og, beheld their little cavebaby they were overcome with joy. When they noticed that Oggy Jr. had survived for 13 moons, they ran out and slew the largest beast they could, decorated the cave with petroglyphs wearing little party hats and invited the neighbors.

Of Pigs and Men

by The Cybershopaholic

I'm feeling rather hampster-on-a-wheelish these days. I can't seem to make any progress. I can't seem to concentrate. Part of my trouble might be related to running out of free coffee. Not that I have a problem or anything, and I certainly wouldn't admit to it if I did, but honestly, I think there might be a correlation. I just can't seem to locate a reliable source of free coffee any more. I'd cruised the posting boards, seeking that fast jolt of adrenaline from finding an awesome bargain or fabulous freebie. I signed-off, knowing that my chances of having a full mailbox are mighty slim.