Isn't technology wonderful....ugh!

One last post here before I head to bed. It's been one icky week this week at work. First of all my DSL started acting up. Even though it doesn't come through the same lines as our business lines, everytime a call would come in I would be cut off. And to make it worse, it would take from 5 - 10 minutes to re-connect, and by that time someone else had undoubtedly called and it had to start the whole process over again. Sometimes I couldn't get online for hours on end. Today it took me 2 hours to order some checks - normally a 15 minute process. :rolleyes: Then to make matters worse, I had to deal with SBC Ameritech (the local phone company) and the DSL provider (which also happens to be Ameritech). SBC said their end was fine and it had to be a DSL problem. DSL said their end was fine and it had to be SBC. And they both said that we should check out own inside lines. My boss and I went through that phone system like it's never been gone through before. I had 3 Ameritech people out and 2 DSL people out. We finally got it figured out about 4:30 this afternoon (turns out two of the lines in the jack that went into my DSL modem were switched, throwing the entire system off - ugh!) The good news is we finally got that figured out, but now I'm having a new computer installed tomorrow. I was going to work on getting it ready for the installer (he basically does the switchover of the work-related programs & data) this afternoon by getting it set-up and in place so all he has to do is transfer stuff. But I spent all afternoon with the Ameritech and DSL people so I couldn't get to the computer until about 4:45. Didn't leave work until 9:00 pm tonight, and I still couldn't collect my email on the new computer - ugh! Why can't any of this be easy??!!??! I got a really cool computer - my boss indulged me on this one - I guess I really have it good at this job - so it should be really nice when everything is finally up and running, but it's the getting everything up and running that is the frustrating part - ugh! And on top of all this, I've got some really big billings that need to go out - the sooner the better - so I guess I'll get some on-the-job-training on...what is it called....Office XP Professional?

Anyway, sorry for the rant, it's just so frustrating dealing with all these corporate goons at Ameritech.

But I do have a question. I'm thinking about getting a new program to deal with all my digital pics. I know some people here use Photo Shop. I've currently got Picure It! Any pro/cons for either program or any suggestions on other programs? I really don't need a professional quality program, but I don't want one that's geared towards kids either. Something with all the bells and whistles, but not the professional price tag would be nice. ;)

I'm off to bed now. So if anyone has any suggestions, thanks in advance since I'll be checking in when I can tomorrow, even though I may not respond since I'll have the installer guy there most of the day, then we're headed to a Central Illinois campground for a nice relaxing weekend in the motorhome. Boy, can't wait for that - no phone, no computer, just a nice campfire and lots of spare time on my hands :) , but no kitties either. :(

My god, what a technology nightmare! Good to see you are back :)

I've got Photoshop 6.0 at home but only use about 5% of its features. I got Photoshop Elements at work as a freebie with a scanner, and it's great. It's a cut-down version of Photoshop but a lot easier to use and has the main features for cropping, editing and saving for the web.

Paintshop Pro is another one that gets good reviews and doesn't cost as much as Photoshop.

Photoshop is very expensive for a lot of features that I never use. I like Microsoft photo editor myself and that comes with windows :rolleyes: .

However I do think that the new XP's are great. I have XP Home and my boyfriend has XP professional and we both really like it. ever since I had it installed, which was almost a year ago, I think I've had my computer crash once. If you used Window's 98, XP will be a pretty easy switch because it looks pretty much the same.

Anyway, good luck with all that. I hope it all goes well for you! :D

UGHGHG
That is exactly why my husband is majoring in computers and I AM NOT!!!! I can't stand em... as long as I can get on Pet Talk and check some email... that is all I need them for.... but as for fixin, filing, switching, upgrading.... blah...blah....blah.... it just gives Eric some extra credit points for being a good husband..;) ..

that does sound like a nightmare, what a bunch of trouble.

... but at least it explains where you've been.....and why we haven't "seen" much of you this week.

Well I'm happy to report that the changeover went relatively well. The main concern was my accounting software - which is still DOS based (everybody remember what DOS is, or just us old-timers?;) ) Technically the software is not supported by XP, but they said they had some other customers that were using it and everything worked just fine, so I was a little worried, but everything went well - once we figured it all out that is. :rolleyes: Spent most of the day working on that, but I got a little chance to check out some of the new features of XP, and I think I'll wait and see what it has to offer before spending money on a new photo program. So now that I got all the work stuff up and running, I can spend some time getting my personal stuff back on - which is the fun part. ;) :) Don't tell my boss, but I think, probably about 85% of my computer usage is personal stuff, which explains why I needed bigger, better and faster - to help deal with all the pictures I've been taking and posting here at PT. :cool:

Thanks for the suggetions and support everyone, and I'll still probably be a little scarce next week as I get to know my new buddy. :)