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Thursday, February 28, 2013

another Nexus 7 update

Good morning.
 I finally received my order from Amazon. I received a new cover that makes my Nexus 7 even more portable when I don't need the extra keyboard.
And it also has a built in 2 angle stand for hands free viewing.
I received and used 1 of a 3 pack of screen protectors that fit the screen perfectly. And it doesn't appear to affect the touch capabilities of the screen so far.   :-)
And finally, I got the usb adapter for the keyboard.
It worked just as advertised. I just plugged it in to the port on the Nexus 7 and into the usb cord of the keyboard, and it worked automatically. No need for me to change any settings.
The keys on the keyboard are a bit small, but still much larger than on the Nexus screen, and of course, it lets me use the entire screen when typing.
The staff seems happy with the new wall color in the Salon, and surprisingly, not one customer has commented about it. I guess it doesn't scream out at you so it's not overly apparent that it's different. That's good, right?
But I like the change, and all that matters is me, right?   :-)
Now time to get ready for work. The phone's been ringing, so it's gotten pretty busy.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

another average weekend

Good morning.
The big winter storm that rolled through the middle of the country has just brushed us. We've been just above freezing for the last couple of days, so yesterday was mainly rain, which switched to snow yesterday evening. This morning, I had about 3 inches of wet heavy snow to clear from the driveway.  They say we might get another inch or so today before it continues east.
I got the cleaning bug yesterday and worked my way through the house.
I also booked another weekend camping trip for mid August.
It looks like it'll be another average week in the Salon.
And nothing much more to say as it's been another average weekend with nothing special going on.
Now back to work.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Blue Eyes

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon.
I know, it's Monday not Sunday. Let me explain.
I cleaned early this morning because I spent 3 hrs early yesterday morning painting the Salon.
Here are some pics....
The blue on the right is the wall reflected in the mirrors.
So now we have one wall called Guacamole on one side of the Salon, and the wall on the other side of the Salon that I just painted is called Blue Eyes.
It's a bit brighter than I expected, but we'll get use to it. It's still much better than that orangy/peachy color.   :-)
Your probably wondering why I didn't paint all the walls the same color.
Because that would be b-o-r-i-n-g.  :-)
And sorry I haven't done an update on my Nexus 7 keyboard. The connector isn't scheduled to be delivered until this coming Thursday.  But I am lovin that little tablet! I take it with me to work every day. It's very handy if I want to look up something online, or play a game in between customers.
I'm also going back into the Salon this morning. I got a desperate call yesterday. A customer who goes to college in Grand Rapids is having a professional photo shoot done. It was scheduled for next week, and the photographer doing it moved it to this Wednesday. Since I don't work until Wednesday, she wouldn't be able to have her roots touched up. So I agreed to meet her at the Salon this morning. It'll only be an hour out of my day, and I didn't really have anything else I needed to do.   :-)
And with that, time to get going.

Friday, February 22, 2013

time for a little change

Good morning.
It's been a steady week in the Salon. Not real busy, but not to slow either.  :-)
I've decided to freshen up the Salon a bit. 5 years ago, I painted one wall Guacamole,
and the opposite wall this shade of orange/peach? I don't even remember the name of the color. I've never really liked it since I did it, but was too lazy to change it. Well now, I'll so sick of it and I'm now ready to do something about it.
After many different color chips and a thorough input form the staff, we've decide to go with Windsong.
It's the color right smack in the center. We wanted something that would complement the purple grid on the ceiling and the opposite green wall. I think it'll look good. This will give me something to do for the next couple of weekends since besides this wall, there's a wall in the supply room and break room. I'll take pics when I finish.
And thew big snow storm that's been in the news is hitting us this morning. It looks like the brunt of it will stay south of us, but we're expected to get about 3 inches.
Now time for work...
Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

weekend update

Good afternoon.
Sorry for the lack of posts, but it's been a pretty uneventful weekend. And that's not all bad.   :-)
Update on my Nexus tablet....
The connector I needed to join the keyboard with the tablet was no where to be found at the local electronic stores, so on-line I went, back to Amazon.co. It should be here by the weekend.

This is the little guy I need.The keyboard has a male USB connector, and the tablet uses a mini USB connector. Amazon had one for $5.95. While I was there, I also picked up a package of Screen protectors.
These are made just for my Nexus, so no cutting to fit. Nice.
Then we stopped at Sam's Club to get my Minoxidil. I swear it's the only thing keeping what's left of the little hair I have.
Of course, they were out, so we hit Walmart to find they sell a 3 pack for the same price as Sam's Club 6 pack. So back home, on-line I go again, and order it from there.
And stores wonder why we shop on-line so much.
Also on-line, I ordered more checks from,  Walmart checks.
I seldom shop at Walmart, I prefer Meijer's 100-1, but there's a couple of things Meijer just can't beat. Meijer wants $35 for a 3 pack of Minoxidil, and Sam's sells the 6 pack for $17.98. That's a clear no-brainer for me!
And Craig got fed up with our credit union's check prices and found he could get them through Walmart.com for 1/4 the cost.
I also placed an on-line order for Salon supplies.
So a good part of the weekend was spent on the puter.  :-)
I did check the water levels in the mo-ho house batteries, and was happy to see no more rodent signs in the mo-ho.
And that's about all I've got for now.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

my cool little Nexus 7

Good morning.
It's been a busy week in the salon and the weather has been crazy. Mild and near 40 one day, and snow and 20's the next. They are predicting snow today and 27, but by Monday, low 40's and rain.
I received my tablet cover on Friday from Amazon.com.
It's a nice vinyl padded cover with a built-in keyboard.
It also has a stand to prop it up.
I can now use it like a mini laptop.  :-)
I didn't really need the keyboard, but all the other covers were $30-40, and this one was $10.99. Crazy huh? And it'll save space on the tablet, not using the built-in keyboard. 
I just need to get a USB cable connector to connect it to the tablet.

So far, I'm loving the tablet. It's nice to have something so small and portable that works as well as my puter. And with free wi-fi nearly everywhere, it's nice not having to pay the big monthly fees for a smart phone.
Now time for one more busy day in the Salon.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Wayne's new toy

Good morning.
The weekend, as usual, zipped right by.
 It was a fairly uneventful weekend with only a couple things to talk about.
First up, Craig's printer.
He was putting his paperwork on the puter and went to print out copies.
The printer acted like it was super tired. It would scroll a line of print, then appear to wait a bit, then another line of print. It would have taken an hour to print the page the speed it was going. So of course, the first thing I thought of was a memory issue. Opened up the task manager, and all seemed fine. Craig thought maybe we should uninstall and reinstall it.I did, and still the same issue. The I did what I should have done in the first place. Goggled it. Sure enough, got to a forum with the same exact issue. They claimed it was a bad print cartridge, most likely the black one. Recommended I remove it and try to print. I did, and still the same issue. So I replaced the black, and took out the color and zoom! Back to normal. So I replaced the color cartridge with a new one, and Craig was back in business. How would have thought a bad ink cartridge would so slow down the printing speed.   :-\
 And the other thing to mention, is I bought a Nexus 7, 32GB tablet.
It's a palm size tablet with a 7in screen. Very highly rated. I got an e-mail from Staples that they had a coupon for $75 off all laptops and tablets. That got the Nexus 7 down to $174.00 A really good buy! Even on e-Bay, the lowest buy it now price was $225. It was just delivered with free shipping yesterday, and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon, checking it out and downloading apps.  This will be nice to take to work instead of my monster 17in laptop.
And with that, time for another busy week in the Salon.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sunday post

Good morning.
The week ended on a busy note and now I have another weekend.  :-)
I arrived home from work on Friday, to see this....
Snow, thrown from the street plow, nearly reaching the house! It must have thrown it 50 ft! I can't imagine how fast it must have been going to throw it that far.As it is, the speed limit is 55.  I've never seen snow thrown anywhere past the tree in all of the 28 years we've lived here.
Anyway, despite the snow and messy roads, We had just 2 cancellations on Friday, and was able to do them on Saturday. And for some reason, the books are looking very busy for the neat 4 weeks! But I'm not complaining because I have a big birthday coming up this year, and I need a really fun place to celebrate it.  So it's going to cost some money.   :-)
 We finished off Saturday with home made pizza and movie DVDs.
And of course, I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, so now, time for my weekend!

Friday, February 08, 2013

snowy

Good morning.
I've just returned from clearing the driveway. We got 3-4 inches over night, and it's still coming done.
It's been a fairly busy week in the salon, although I'm not sure what today will bring as far as weather cancelations. We'll see.
Not much else to say, so I'm off to get ready for work.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

puzzles, wings, cars and campgrounds

Good morning.
Surprisingly, I finished the second puzzle in just 3 days. Guess it wasn't as hard as it looked.  :-)


And if you look closely at the sky, we had one piece that was missing. We looked all over and didn't find it. That's the first time in ages we didn't have all the pieces.
We had to take in Craig's 98 Honda Accord. He doesn't drive it in the winter, but starts it up every few weeks to keep the battery charged.
A year ago, he had a problem with the battery not holding a charge. Took it to our mechanic, and long story short, put in a new battery. Well, it didn't start 2 weeks ago. I put the charger on it and was able to get enough charge to get it started. Craig took it out and drove on the highway to get a good charge built up. One week later, he goes to start the car, and dead again! So he decides to take it in. Our original mechanic is no longer in business, so we took it to Northside Service where I take the mo-ho. They check everything, and say it's a bad battery. The alternator is putting out a normal charge, and there's no phantom draw on the battery. I say it only 1 year old. They say then take it back to the person who originally put it in because it should still be under warranty. I said I couldn't do that because the place I went to was no longer in business.
The sole proprietor committed suicide just after Christmas. Very sad story.
Anyway, we had them put in a new battery, and we'll see if this takes care of the problem.
I also made another batch of wings.
This time, after resting in the fridge, I sprayed them with butter spray before baking, and they turned out perfect! Nice and crispy! I divided them up into freezer bags for snacks when I want them.
We also booked another campground. I need to stay on top of the 6 month window for our weekend trips. The last one I just booked was nearly full already! And that was for August! It's hard to think that far ahead when it's so cold out.
Not much else to tell. It's still cold, still winter.
Now time to get ready for another busy week in the Salon

Monday, February 04, 2013

Monday post

Good morning.
I've just returned form cleaning the Salon.
I know, it's Monday, not Sunday, but with it snowing a little, just about every day, I have to go in and clean the floors nearly every day, as I did on Saturday. Well, Saturday was dry enough that the floors didn't look bad after work. And with snow expected overnight, I decided not to clean on Sunday, in case someone decided to work on Sunday, and get the floors all messed up. So waiting until this morning, I didn't have to go in twice.  :-)
I just had to make sure I was done by 7:30, since that's the earliest time I've seen anyone work.
Craig fixed the 3rd of our 4 turkeys yesterday, and I did some cleaning around the house. I also started another puzzle. This ones a bit harder as there is a lot of greenery in it, so will probably take a couple weeks to finish.
And with that, time to get Craig going and do our usual Monday running around.

Friday, February 01, 2013

busy week

Good morning.
It's been a very busy week in the Salon, with me working late Wed. and Thur. and looking to be late today and tomorrow. And I'm even coming in on my day off next Tuesday.
Hate to turn away money!  :-)
Our 50 degree Tuesday, went back to 22 yesterday, with wind chills near 0.  brrr. Crazy weather.
I started a puzzle on Sunday, and finished it Wed. evening.
It was pretty easy.
And what's with the gas prices?
Last Saturday, it was $3.33. Tuesday, it jumped to $3.59. Yesterday, another jump to $3.75.
 .42 in one week! It's mind boggling how fast it can go up, and how slow it goes down.  :-\
Anyway, with nothing more to say, I'm off for another busy work day.