For a few years I’ve meant to get the “Deluxe” versions Bejeweled and Bookworm so I could play them offline. Well, as of last week I finally have my copies. But installing them on a Table PC? Bad idea.

Now every free moment between meetings or during a commute, I am obsessed with Bejeweled 2! Not that I don’t appreciate Microsoft’s giving away a Tablet PC-ized version of Hexic. But playing that just made me miss Bejeweled even more! And now that we have Bejeweled 2, wow, I am just blown away.

So from a “fun” aspect, puzzle games on a Tablet PC can’t be beat. But from a productivity point of view, not the best idea.

Discussion Topic:
If you have any favorite games you play on the Tablet PC, discuss them in the comment section.

For the past year I have joked with friends that I have to be careful of my cholesterol. The expected response is always “You? You aren’t overweight, and you’re young too!”

Well, age is all relative eh? I’m 38, and my weight is 155, height about 5′ 6″ so I am about where I should be (though my Dockers would disagree). But heart disease is one of the “silent killers” and has no preference for weight or age (read about Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile).

But the fact was, I did indeed have high cholesterol. My employer had a health fair and on a whim, I decided to do the Cholesterol Blood Test. I was shocked by the results! I had a total cholesterol rating of 209 - that is borderline risk for heart disease!

Well, after I freaked out, I decided I had better make some changes. My lovely wife and wonderful daughters were all the reason I needed. Today, nearly a year later, I am so excited I just had to tell the world!

I’ve lowered my total cholesterol from 209 to 175, well under the normal “200 or less” range for men. Here are my stats:

(chart borrowed from the American Heart Organization)

I still have to get that “good” cholesterol level up, but I am quite happy to not have that worry of a heart attack hanging over my life.

Best part is, I did it without any medication. All diet, no drugs!

If you’ve never had your cholesterol checked before, do it soon. Anyway, I know this is waaaay off topic, but I just had to share the great news!

For those in Texas or those who have friends and loved ones in the coastal areas, you might want to bookmark this URL. I have several there, and living in Oklahoma, I am also concerned about when Rita makes landfall.

So I am very appreciative that Houston TV station KHOU has a live internet feed of their news coverage.

Click Here to watch, and be sure to pass the link on to others who may not have cable TV or access to a television.

CNN and Fox News aren’t giving up any of their news channel for free but MSNBC has made a live feed available (but oddly, they feel compelled to play commercials). I am sticking with the local Houston coverage.

“Why don’t the do what they say, say what they mean?”
-The Fixx

I was reading an article in the New York Times a few weeks ago and this one part really got me ranting. I don’t even remember the article, but I tore out the part that made me nuts.

What was it? Marketing Speak. Buzzword Overkill.

It just drives me crazy when companies use these $10 words and fancy-fy up a phase to the point where it means absolutely nothing. Here is the offending quote:

“In the last 14 months we’ve moved to synergize and integrate all the communications so all the pistons are firing in the same direction”

WHAT?

What does that even mean? Who talks like that? The statement is attributed to one person, but I’d wager that it took several people several hours to come up with that one!

It reminds me of the Malcom McDowell character in the movie “In Good Company.” He had a very charming way of saying something in a captivating way, while actually saying nothing at all.

Something we’ve become all too familiar with as a result of the recent natural disasters and the resulting recovery efforts. But, that’s a rant for another day…

The big gripe I have about using a tablet in a meeting is that I have difficulty finding some way to use it comfortably.

My methods:
* Lean it against the meeting table from my lap.
* Balance it on my lap, tilting it slightly so I can read it without glare.
* Crossing one leg and resting the tablet on my knee and leg.
* Lay the tablet flat on a table and write (this results in poor viewing and is very awkward).

Even with the DVD drive removed, the 4010 is still a little bit too heavy to rest on your lap for long. I’ve found I have to shift my crossed leg to the other several times in an hour meeting just to remain comfortable. These are the times where I see an advantage to the “Slate Only” version of the tablet PC.

This makes me wonder if Acer’s new Sliding Screen version of the tablet will make the lap issue a thing of the past. I sure hope so!

How are you holding your tablet in long meetings?

I am getting more comfortable taking the 4010 with me to meetings. I tend to use it in tablet mode, with OneNote, and scribble my notes on the ajenda. What frustrates me is when I am handed a paper agenda in the meeting. When that happens, of course, I can’t take notes on it in Ink. I have to take OneNotes and keep the paper.

If I had access to a scanner, then I think I can attach it to the OneNotes, but it isn’t the way I would like it. Why can’t people send the agenda in advance? Even if it only came in an email, I could oopy and paste. The digital file is even better, because then I can use the “Send To OneNote” Education Pack tool. Very handy! Paper and a Tablet, not so much.

Go digital people! Make my life easier!!!

Although it is old news, and I’d seen it elsewhere, it wasn’t until I read Peter’s post on Tablet PC’s with touch-screens that I realized others were as excited about this as me.

A touch-screen is probably the one thing I wish my Tablet PC had. No matter how many gripes I’ve had, this is the one thing I think will win over the folks who are still on the fence.

Even though I’ve used the Tablet for 3 months now, I still find myself starting to use my finger to naviagte the desktop. Or scroll down a page. Or to put focus on a window. I know better, but I still can’t get past it. Touching a screen is so common now. In airports, malls, libraries and such, the touch screen kiosk has become second nature. When you see a screen with no keyboard, many of us have been conditioned to touch it to use it.

Plus, I still have a Pocket PC, which uses both a stylus and touch screen. Though I hardly ever use the Pocket PC, there are times where it is more convenient to use than a tablet (think bathroom). Switching between these two similar, but not identical interfaces causes me some frustration. I like Peter’s suggestion that the Tablet should have a switch to let the user select between the touch screen and stylus input modes. There may be times where you do need to rest your hands on the screen, and with a touch screen that could cause all kinds of havok!

While I love the 4010, I fell might happy that the next Tablet PC I own (in a year or so) has a great chance of having a touch screen as well as a stylus. I really think this will be the breakthrough Tablet PC evangelists have been waiting for.

Right before a meeting, my Tablet was held hostage - I had to leave it behind.

Seems when I changed my password on my desktop I neglected to do the same on the Tablet. When I tried to connect to my share via the Tablet to send an agenda to OneNote, the network realized I was using my old password. Too bad I didn’t. One too many failed attempts and the server locked my account! No problem I think, I will just reboot, the Tablet will sync passwords with the network, then I can log in. Nope. Couldn’t log in to the network. Couldn’t log in to the local machine.

Who came up with this security policy, don’t they know I have a meeting to attend???

OK, I’ll call help desk. They can release the lock and I can login again. Busy. Redial! Busy. Redial. Please hold. “Girl from Ipanema” plays gently in my ear. Meeting starts in 6 minutes, time to go!

So, not only could I not get the agenda to my Tablet, I couldn’t even log into the Tablet at all! I had to attend without it. Thankfully, the account reset after a certain amount of time had passed, so when I got back the login was without incident.

As I am getting more comfortable taking notes on the Tablet, it becomes harder to do without it. If nothing else, this was a good learning experience - get yourself into the Local Admin group!

I got tired of the basic template here, so I changed it up. OK, all I did was remove the standard site name portion and add a TabletMinds logo.

Actually I am not too certain it works as a logo, but I was having fun on the 15-day trial of SketchBook Pro and that was the result.

I am really starting to like SketchBook Pro. Makes me wish Fujitsu had make it one of their pre-installed programs on the 4010.

One thing I still can’t wait to try with the Tablet is Skype. Funny thing is, I really don’t know anyone that lives far away that I can talk with. Almost all of my friends and family are here in Oklahoma. Still, I hear a lot about Skype and my innner Geek just wants to give it a try.

But now that eBay has decided to buy Skype (for 2.6 beeelion dollars), I wonder if the EBay’s purchase will change Skype before I get the chance.

I need to read up on this transaction, because at first blush, it doesn’t seem to be a good fit. Yep, time to fire up the RSS reader and take a look around for the overall blogger reaction. Any Skype users want to rant about this? Leave me a link to your blog post, or rant right here!