And they exist for a reason: because dum-dums like me are still running to them when I could have take a photo on my own digital camera, done my own online printing and voila, I wouldn’t have wasted my 19 bucks on those darned photos !

They asked me to come back another day! Quite frankly, this is what I call sucky customer service!! Your customer comes in to pay, you refuse to accept their money, instead you ask them to make ANOTHER trip to do exactly what they came in to do in the first place! So what do you think of that?

Well, now that she’s settled into a somewhat sane routine again, she’s all excited about setting up the store. The only problem is she’s clueless but luckily for her, I’m not too busy right now to help her. First things first, she needs to decide on her domain name which, as it turns out, is the easy part since she’s had so much time to mull over it during her maternity leave .

The website hosting part took a bit of explaining on my part but now I think she finally gets it. She’s so used to free blogs she just can’t see how important it is to have her own small business web hosting. I mean, free is good but if she’s serious about her business and wants to project a professional image, then obviously paid hosting is the way to go.

It doesn’t cost much. Like I always tell people, go to Web Hosting Geeks to do your research. They’ve got the price and feature comparisons all laid out. I mean, that’s what I really love about those guys, they’ve essentially done my homework for me. So there’s no need for me to tear my hair out working a spreadsheet.

I can find the “best” of everything from domain web hosting to reviews submitted by users. When I’m busy, I get my friend to read up so she understands what’s going on and doesn’t need me to hold her hand on the future projects she has planned.

Admittedly we can’t live without the internet any more. I don’t think many people can these days. The kids can’t and I can’t, ’nuff said. I’ve asked around my neighbors and they too are complaining about how slow our connection is, so it’s not just me being picky.

The excuse I always seem to get is that oh, there’s just too many people online so it’s slowing everyone else down. Try getting online when everyone else is asleep. Oh right? Well, then we should all probably move to the country where the deer run free and the internet runs at, well, the speed of lightning .

Anyone with me? I hear that there’s an internet provider who offers rural high speed internet that can beat the city’s any time! Forget the dial-ups. Wild Blue offers satellite high speed internet at very affordable prices.

And quite frankly, anything that’s worth the money I pay is, is definitely worth considering since we practically can’t live without the internet these days.

Seeing that he spends so much time online, even at college, I’m so glad I bought him one of those new-fangled netbooks which is much smaller and lighter than the laptop he used to carry around.

The heavy laptop is a big strain on the back. I’ve lugged it around before and man, did my back hurt at the end of the day! So these lighter models are certainly a worthwhile buy.

With technology moving at this speed, anything you buy is rendered practically outdated  in a couple of months. We haven’t decided which one to buy yet but we’re prepared to shell out a few more bucks to get the latest technology. At least hopefully then it will last us a little longer before it becomes obsolete or needs to be upgraded !

Recently we discovered they’ve been charging us for calls and messages placed within our listed family members. Of course, we’re freakin’ mad because that’s outright cheating!!

Not only that, we’ve been receiving all sorts of phone spam coming through with promotions and ads we never requested to receive. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re charged for receiving those calls.

I won’t put it past these guys to have a whole department sitting there figuring out new and improved ways to rip their customers off any which way they can!

I’m in the process of looking up their toll free number though I doubt they would be so generous as to provide one, just before I barge into their office and give them a ticking off they won’t soon forget !

Then sometime during the middle of the week, it got slow again but I was too busy ferrying my kids to/from school, etc to really care. I wasn’t online much those days anyways.

Then over the past two days, it speeded up again just in time for the weekend. And I’m like, great, now I won’t have to pay for my cruise ship tickets and travel insurance to go down to the Mediterranean Sea to fix those underwater internet cables myself !

Okay, so that was a joke but you can tell I’m smiling again! Happy days!

Yes, if you’re looking for geeky bargains and the latest gadgets, plan to be at the Pikom PC Fair today. It’ll be on at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center from 11:00am – 9:00pm, August 1 – 3, 2008.

I’m not sure what the crowd will be like now that the economy is forcing many to tighten their belts.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for the latest technology at prices below what you can get outside with possibly a few freebies thrown in as well, then I guess the PC Fair is where you want to be. I’m just sayin’.

Well, blogging in a toaster isn’t all bad. Not if you’re blogging with this baby!

Gosh, I love how slim and lightweight and pretty this HP 2133 Mini-note PC is. I can swing it from the back seat of my car without breaking my arm.

Actually I’m thinking it’ll probably fit into my handbag too. How neat it would be if I could blog from the mall, heheh! Nah, there’s a time and place for blogging and the mall just ain’t it! I value my shopping time!