Get some new wallpaper

My guess is that many of you know how to do this already. I think I have mentioned it before. But, no matter how well-known a computer tip might be, there are always a few people that say, "Wow, I never knew that before!". And it is pretty handy.

If you want to change the background picture on your computer screen, it's very easy. That picture is actually called the "wallpaper" (some people call it the screen saver, but that is not correct). Just about any picture you see on the internet can be used as a wallpaper on your computer. Here is a great way to find wonderful wallpaper pictures.

Go to Google Images and type in the name of the kind of pictures you want to see, such as sunset, mountain, lake, whatever. It is also a good idea to select the "Large" option so that you only see higher resolution pictures.

When you see a thumbnail image you like, click on it. Then when the next page comes up, click the link that says "See image full size".

When it is full size on your screen, do a right-click on the image and choose "Set as wallpaper". If another window comes up asking for the formatting of the picture, choose "Stretch". Now you have a new wallpaper! You can do this for almost any picture you see on the web.

Woot

I think I have mentioned this website before, but it is worth talking about it again. The website is www.woot.com.

At Woot, they offer one item for sale each day. When that item sells out, you're out of luck until the next day when a different item shows up. This is the type of site that you want to have as part of your home page tabs, because you need to check it each day to see if they are selling something you need.

A word of warning - a description is written about each item for sale. I find them difficult to read. They try so desperately to be clever, hip, witty...and I just want to get the details about the item for sale. I guess a lot of people consider the ad copy as part of the charm; I find it to be annoying. I just scroll down past the few paragraphs of text and read the list of features to get the information I need.

Sometimes the Woot is a great bargain, and sometimes it's not. Bargains usually sell out at some time during the day (the new daily item actually gets listed at 1 am eastern time, and some of the devoted Woot fans stay up to see what it is). If you are not sure if an item is a good value, click the link that says "Discuss this product" and read what some others are saying about it.

Linkwad

One of the things I love about using the Firefox web browser is that there are hundreds of ways to customize it by using what are called Extensions. An extension is a small bit of software that makes Firefox do something interesting or handy - something that it originally was not designed to do. I have lots of extensions already installed, but I found a new one this week that is wonderful.

The new extension I just discovered is called Linkwad. If you use a lot of tabbed browser windows in Firefox, you might like it too.

If you use Firefox, you know that one of its great features is tabbed browsing. You can have 2 or 3 or 10 different websites open in one window, each one with its own tab. My problem is that I have too many tabs - I have a bunch of websites that open up automatically when I start Firefox, and even on high speed it can seem to drag a bit while all those sites are loading at the same time.

With Linkwad, you can have different groups of tabs. For example, you could have one group that opens automatically when Firefox starts. Then you could have another group of sites that are all political blogs. Then you could have a different set of tabs that are all news or entertainment sites. Another group could be a set of different pre-set eBay searches. There really is no limit! All you do is create a set of tabbed sites, then save that set (each set is called a "wad") by giving it a name.

Linkwad always resides at the top of the Firefox window, and you have the command to Open a set of tabs you have already saved, Save a set of tabs you just created, or Close the current set of tabs. And of course, it is completely free.

You can read about Linkwad and download it here.

I just had Lasik surgery!

I have thought for a long time about having vision-correcting surgery. I have had either glasses or contacts since third grade, so being glasses-free certainly sounded nice (those of you with glasses know what I am talking about!). My condition is nearsightedness - I can read fine without glasses at all, but I could not see things in the distance - so I have to wear glasses all the time. Of course, when I first heard of the procedure years ago, I was concerned because of how new it was. Back then, the procedure of choice was RK (Radial Karetotomy).

Today, the most popular procedure is called Lasik, and a more advanced variation of that is Lasik Custom Wavefront. I found an eye doctor here in Tampa that has done more than 30,000 of these procedures. Although there is a small risk involved (as with any surgery), the procedure is considered very safe and has an extremely high success rate.

I went in on Friday, May 25 for an initial consultation and multiple tests to see if I would be a good candidate for Lasik. The doctor told me that all indications were that it would work wonderfully for me.

(I also had a choice to make. When doing the surgery, they can correct for nearsightedness or farsightedness. If they fixed my nearsightedness, I would be able to see things at a distance, but would probably need reading glasses for up close. But there is also an option called Monovision - this is where one eye is corrected for nearsightedness, and one eye is corrected for farsightedness. So you would use one eye for viewing in the distance, and the other eye for up close. They let me "try out" what that would be like, and I did not like it - depth perception was different, and it just didn't "feel" right. I probably would have gotten used to it eventually, but I decided that reading glasses are not all that bad to deal with.)

I made the appointment to have the procedure done a week later, on June 1 (yesterday). All of the financial arrangements were taken care of, and I was brought into a pre-op room to ask the doctor any questions I may have thought of. Dr. Groden is excellent. He has a very good manner of dealing with people, and it is obvious that he knows that some people would be very nervous about having their eyes operated on (even though they have made the decision to have it done). He talked and "coached" me throughout the entire procedure to let me know that everything was going fine.

The procedure itself took about 20 minutes total. You are awake the whole time, but there is no pain involved at all. The first thing they do is put a couple of drops in your eye that numbs it. This works almost immediately, so you don't feel anything. The feeling I guess could be best described as brief "pressure", or "discomfort". On a pain scale of 1 to 10, I would rate it as a 1.

After it is completed, more drops were put in my eyes for lubrication, to prevent infection, and to insure a speedy healing process. I was also given some sunglasses with the instruction to wear them all day and even that night while sleeping. The purpose was not really for blocking light - it was to prevent me from accidentally rubbing my eyes, which could mess things up and delay healing. On the way home, my eyes were very watery and blurry, and it felt best just to keep them closed (this was all very normal).

The doctor recommended that after the procedure I go home and take a nap. This is mainly for the therapeutic effect of keeping my eyes closed and relaxing them for a while. When I woke up, the difference was amazing. Not nearly as watery or blurry, and best of all...I could see everything clearly, even at a distance. It was incredible! I didn't do too much the rest of the day. I wore the sunglasses all day and overnight.

This morning I went back for a follow-up visit, and everything is fine. In fact, I now have 20/15 vision! And I can read the computer screen without reading glasses. I can also read a printed page without reading glasses, but it is easier if I use them. I will continue to use two different eyedrops four times a day for the next week and I have one more follow-up visit, and that's it. I also have free enhancements for life, should I need any further correction.

As you can probably tell, I am very pleased with the outcome. If you are considering having Lasik done, do the research and if you feel it is right for you, go for it!