I guess I like the new computer. And it seems to like me. So I guess we can be friends. Actually, Dell was quite accommodating, what with sending me two new ones to try and not making me send anything back until I was satisfied. Steve from Dell has been calling to check up on me every other day — Hi Steve! — and I should be getting a call from him any time now to make sure I am satisfied. So, Dell, you are back on the “happy list”!

Now that I have this computer, how in the heck to I get all my stuff on it? Honestly, this is always a good time to purge yourself of the junk that you don’t really need. For instance, I have a graphics program that I use daily that creates an automatic back-up file of my current work whenever I close a document. I like this. It has saved my behind more than once. However, I don’t really need all those back-up files — especially of work I did 10 years ago. I still have the original file if I need it. So, what I did is a quick search of all files that have the words “backup” in them. Then I delete them. No need to bring all those to the new computer.

Next is mail. I must admit to being a little bit obsessed about keeping all email correspondence. That comes from having worked in the corporate world for some very unpredictable and paranoid corporate bosses.  So, just so you know — if you sent me an email 10 years ago, I still have it. Most likely.

I’ll create an export file of all mail to bring to the new computer. But I won’t import it into my new mail program. I’ll just hang onto it in case I need it. Call it insurance.

Now, how do I move all those files? Enter another best friend of mine — the My Book external drive. This puppy has tons of space, more than enough for even my files. All I did was plug in the My Book, attach via USB port and turn it on. It reminds me of a Cylon from the old Battlestar Galactica (I used to have a huge crush on Starbuck, who is now a GIRL in the new Battlestart Galactica — what is up with that????)

How do I move all those files over? Simple. Click and drag, my friend. Click. And. Drag.

Plug in the My Book to the new computer and there they are! Simple as pie. Easy as cake.

I think I may have found success with the computer that was finally sent to me from Dell. Thanks for your comment by the way, guy from Dell.  I’ll let you know if I need you!

I’ve had the new Studio laptop for all of 12 hours, but so far so good. It seems to accept my programs and that is the main thing. I also like the sleek design and they sent it to me in midnight blue which works for me.

So, with having to play “Merry-Go Computers” for the past 6 weeks, how in the heck do I keep all my information from one system to the next?

That’s a good question. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, and I will give you an outline of how I handled this in the next few posts.

This question would have been a lot easier to answer about 10 years ago. Back in “the day” there was only one go-to place to get your domain name, Network Solutions. They weren’t cheap, either. About $80 per year to register your .com name. Try to register several and you would be racking up a mighty large bill rather quickly. Finding what you wanted for your domain name back then, in the good ole days, wasn’t that difficult. For instance, I wanted lisadesign.com but it was already taken. Hmmmm? What to do? Well, I was in a hurry to start this business, and a little brain dead from all-night feedings with infant twins, so I just tacked an “s” on the end — lisadesigns.com was born. Worked for me. One less thing I had to worry about.

But then! Oh boy — domain name deregulation happened. Suddenly Network Solutions wasn’t the only game in town. Domain resellers started popping up all over the place! Register.com, tucows, godaddy. They were all out to undercut each other in price. It dropped to about $10 per year and hovers right around there now. The sky became the limit for domain names. Everybody wanted one. Everybody bought them. Enterprising entrepreneurs bought them to resell them. The field was wide open. Soon, most everything worth buying was already bought. Sure you can buy from a third party, but you will have to pay for it. Sometimes pay dearly.

So what’s a new website wannabe to do? First, try and see if your #1 choice is available. I just bought www.lonelyrangers.com for my band. Our band was already named The Lonely Rangers. Either I got lucky or our band name was so ridiculous nobody had thought of it before. (Just kidding! I love our band! Hi guys!!) It was a good deal that even though I thought it would surely be taken, I went ahead and checked anyway.

If your #1 choice is not available you may have some options to move a few things around like I did with my domain name and the “s”.

Add the location of your site into your domain name. For instance Motions, a site I do for a local dance apparel store, was already taken. However, our Motions is in Rapid City (hi Google) so we bought motionsrapidcity.com for Motions Rapid City.

If your business name is really long, it may help to abbreviate a little bit. South Dakota Overhead Doors becomes sdoverheaddoors.com

Use a thesaurus or a rhyming dictionary to come up with ideas. I love that Sheilatom.com, one of my first clients, has a sing-song rhymi-ness to it. Sheila Tom Dot Com! She got lucky — she came with that name.

Some theories say to use “power” words like super, mega, plus etc. to make your domain name more exciting. Several of the domain companies listed above have domain generators that will automatically combine words to help you with ideas.

Bottom line is to make sure you try your first choice before you do anything and you may get lucky. If not, don’t despair. Keep playing around with different combinations and ideas. Sleep on it. Make sure the combination of words you are thinking of purchasing don’t combine to spell something else you don’t want associated with your business. Run it by friends, co-workers, even your kids. They might notice something you don’t.

For $10 a pop, you can most likely afford to purchase several of your choices while you mull them around. It is probably a good idea to grab them before somebody else does. Good thing I did. Or we might have had to change the name of our band to the notsolonelyrangers.com

Do you have kids? I have kids. Twin daughters. Since they have a mommy that works as a web developer, they are the envy of all their friends as they get my old computers when I upgrade to a new one. This year I bit the bullet and got a new Dell for one daughter when her sister was to be the recipient of the power laptop I was giving up. To make up for not having as much power, we got her a fun yellow color. Seems to make her happy and I don’t foresee her using Photoshop or any high-end graphics programs, so the performance should be adequate. At least for the time being.

So many parents are concerned about their children’s experience on the internet. And right they should be. I thought I would share a few ways we set this up to be enjoyable and safe for my daughters. I’ll also show you where they go to have some fun — as this is Friday Fun afterall.

First thing I did was load Firefox as their primary browser. I recommend Firefox as it doesn’t have quite as many tracking/spyware issues as IE. The next thing I did was set their start page to www.yahookids.com This way they have a kid-friendly place to go that will also limit their search options on what they see when they search from yahookids. You can reset the start page by going to tools >> options>> main. From there you can type in what you want their homepage to be.

I customized Firefox for them with a theme. As one is a lover of all things pink, and the other into dolphins and stuff, we set up a theme accordingly.

The most favorite place they like to go is Fun Brain. I hear them playing games from this site quite often. It is educational and also fun — a win win situation for them and for me!

I found this great typing site that helps them hone their typing skills. They really enjoy this one. It’s called Dance Mat Typing. As my girls are dancers, they very much identify with this site. Another win, win!

What about email? It is really a personal decision as to whether your child should have their own email account. I decided to set one up in gmail for the twins as they like to email with their grandmother in Colorado and Wyoming or their cousins across the US — even their cousins in Sweden. However, I used gmail’s built-in filtering system to make sure they only get email that is from approved senders. Everything else is deleted. No spam, no unwanted messaging. It was pretty simple to set up.

1. open your gmail account

2. click on settings, then filters

3. click on “new filter”

4. in the TO box type in your child’s email ie: yourchildsemail@gmail.com

5. in the Doesn’t have: list people’s email addresses that you allow them to get email from UNMONITORED. For instance grandma@grandmasemail.com or mommy@mommysemail.com or daddy@daddysemail.com or bestfriend@bestfriendemail.com — make sure to include the “or” between each email address.

6. Then go to “next step”:

7. check all these:

Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
Forward it to: youremail@youremail.com
Delete it

This will send YOU all the email that is not approved. You child will never get a Viagra ad or an email from a stranger. Their spam folder will always remain empty. If you get something that you want them to see you can forward it to them from you instead if it showing from the original sender. You can always add more approved people later.

That’s all it takes. Works like a charm.

Have a great weekend! I’m laying low as we are in the midst of the Sturgis Bike Rally. I have nothing against bikers, but I am working on a record here. After 30 years of living in Rapid City, South Dakota I have not once been to the Sturgis Rally. I’m trying to make it into the Guiness Book of World’s Records on that one.

Welcome to the Lisa Designs blog. I hope you enjoy your stay!