John L. Hawkins's blog

I have a new/old laptop computer and I love it -- finally -- because I dumped Microsoft Windows Vista.

In June 2007 I got a new Lenovo ThinkPad T61 with Windows Vista. I expected to be thrilled with my new laptop, but instead, it was horrible. Whatever I tried to do, the new computer fought me -- and usually, it won. By "do" I mean basic stuff: save a file, connect to my office network and the Internet, turn on, turn off, copy some files. It's MY computer -- shouldn't I be allowed to do these things? Nope, not without lots of effort, wasted time, and sometimes, complete failure.

It's screwy: TV networks MUST have watchers -- lots of us -- or they go out of business. So why are they making it so hard to watch their shows?

I'm talking about the wacky practice of scheduling shows at odd times and odd lengths. It's in pursuit of a bone-head theory about preventing channel switching, but it more likely prevents watching in the first place.

Boomer Advisor is published by Advisor Media from our home office in the heart of San Diego. For the past three day we've been living the nightmare known as Firestorm 2007. So far, so good. Our office hasn't been threatened (unlike the Cedar Fire of 2003, which burned just a block from us). None of our San Diego-area staff was harmed and their homes all survived.

But I must add, "so far", because fires still rage in various areas of the county, and if new fires start, there's still plenty left to burn.

Me 'neither. But how often do you read this trite phrase in articles about the Boomer Generation? Plenty!

It might seem just trivial. But it's actually a negative stereotype, a meaningless generality to apply to almost 80 million people. And the next step after stereotyping is prejudice. Saying "aging boomers" is saying Boomers are no longer normal people.

My wife and I used to fly United Airlines a lot. For many years our status was Premier Executive. We accumulated a huge quantity of frequent-flyer miles. We liked the people who worked for United, and we enjoyed giving them our business.

That all changed yesterday.

A few months ago I used a big chunk of United Mileage Plus points to buy three tickets from San Diego to New York for a family trip in April. I had to pay extra miles to get the dates I needed. I picked out some decent seats, and expected my trip to go well.

I want to travel safely. I bet you do too. What does this require? No ice picks, no lighters, no baseball bats -- no problem. I don't want to be on a plane with possible weapons. No toothpaste, no deodorant, no double lattes? They could be ways to smuggle explosive ingredients on board, though (thankfully) it has never happened. But what about gear with batteries?

For more than decade, I've been an IBM ThinkPad user. Period. When I try to use another brand of laptop/notebook, I get annoyed immediately at the poor keyboard and lack of TrackPoint.

Another reason is IBM's legendary support of ThinkPads. Eh, make that "was". Now, ThinkPads are owned by Lenovo, and I see the reputation slipping away. Or maybe it's racing away, based on an annoying experience trying to meet a fundamental laptop need: replace a battery.

Ahh, the glamor of Hollywood, the excitement of film-making... Unless the movie crew has filled up your street and you just want to get home! It happened in my neighborhood (again). Here's a report.

San Diego might not be known as a hotbed of film production, but one day the one block street leading to my house once again filled with movie-making trucks, equipment, people and even actors who aren't people.