Wow, What a Wild Ride!
It is now 10 years later, and I sit here typing this very relaxed and unburdened. I just completed a year of serving as the Most Illustrious Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of South Carolina, the fourth year as a Grand Officer in the Grand Council. This year caps…
Machine Embroidery: I caught the bug!
The Geek finds (another) hobby I’m a geek by hobby and profession with some experience in Web design, image conversion, desktop publishing, electronics, etc. I’ve always had a love for processes that can take a virtual design on a computer and result in a physical item. So I looked looking into machine embroidery, and I learned…
Samsung Chromebook Plus Mini Review
The Samsung Chromebook Plus I purchased a Samsung Chromebook Plus for $309.00 from Rakuten on a Black Friday sale, and after putting it through its paces for a couple days, I am very, very happy with it. I’m not going to go into any details about specs and benchmarks–plenty of other sites do that just…
The Pebble Time Smartwatch
I really like the Pebble Time Black. It provides everything I need in a smartwatch, and the long battery life makes it worth it. Why I Bought It I was having issues with my LG G Watch running Android Wear, so I bought a Pebble Time, and I have zero regrets. Keep It Simple I…
The Kindle 3G+Special Offers edition
I just purchased a Kindle 3G+Special Offers ebook reader, and I have to say that it has far exceeded my expectations. To me, when assessing a device like this, it is always important to put into perspective just exactly what such a device can and cannot do. First, what the Kindle 3G is: First and…
Vonage: Revisited and loving it!
In an earlier post, I moaned about how though Vonage was a great service, it just didn’t fit our needs due to several significant shortcomings. Well times change, and so have my views about Vonage. We recently got a faster, more reliable Internet connection through Charter Cable, and decided to give Vonage another try. So…
CR-48 and eyeOS – a match made in Heaven?
Many years ago, I played around with an “online desktop” site called eyeOS. After playing around with the CR-48, it got me thinking that a virtual, online desktop just might be useful on the CR-48. Remember, the CR-48 is a completely Web-centric device. It is truly a “cloud computer” because almost anything you do with…
CR-48 Important Security Tip
I love the CR-48’s fast bootup, and I absolutely love its instant-on feature: Leave it powered on, close the lid, and when you re-open it, it’s instantly on where you left off. This standby mode is easy on batteries, and it is extremely useful to me. BUT… I just realized that anyone who gets a…
CR-48 Verizon 3G Info and Tips
I was searching for some specific information about how the Verizon 3G data plan works for the CR-48. I found very helpful information at Google’s Chrome OS support pages. By all means, go through those help pages. There is much useful information to be found there. Here are some tips and general information that I…
CR-48 Verizon 3G Data Plans
In addition to Wi-Fi access, the CR-48 has 3G access capability through Verizon. Once activated, you get 100MB of free data per month for two years. You can also optionally purchase several plans: $9.99 day pass with unlimited data $19.99 1 GB (valid for 30 days) $34.99 3 GB (valid for 30 days) $49.99 5…
PDAs: A Year With The Palm Z22
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In my article, "PDAs: Back To Basics", I outlined my plan to attempt to simplify some things in my life, and one key area was my PDA use. Having the latest and greatest PDA was always my goal. I couldn’t get enough of the new features and capabilities that the newer PDA’s offered. Yet over…
Gmail Tip #60: Deleting A Message And Moving To The Next
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This tip comes from a question asked by a site visitor, Daree: "I was wondering how you can delete an email and advance to the next email in your folder. Currently when I delete an email I am reading, it takes me back to the inbox. Yahoo has this option but it seems that Gmail…
A Time of Waiting and Patience
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I told my Mason friend from church that I was reading the book “Freemasons For Dummies”. Though he had not heard of it, he was pleased to see that I was taking the initiative to learn and study Freemasonry. I told him that I was getting anxious about waiting for the process to unfold, and…
Some Patience and More Research
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Patience. It’s a virtue, and it’s seems to be required of becoming a mason. It can be frustrating, but it can also be rewarding. In this day and age, we are so compelled to the here and now, to the immediacy, to the urgency of everything. The mere thought of having to wait days, weeks,…
Making My Petition
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After talking with several Masons and doing lots of reading, I decided that I would like to join the ranks of the Freemasons. I talked with a Mason friend from church several times, and eventually he gave me a petition form to complete and return to him. It was an intriguing form with some interestingly…
First Contacts
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I read lots of information online about freemasonry, both pro and anti, but I felt that it was time to talk to someone who was actually involved in it to get some first-hand information. So I approached one of the members of our church who I knew to be a Mason, and he was quite…
My Journey Begins
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It seems that the topic of Freemasonry can pop up just about anywhere. I was having breakfast with a friend from church when the subject of Freemasonry came up. My friend is not a mason, but he told me that a number of our church members are. I had seen a lapel pin here and…
Welcome to MasonicTips.com!
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I added this Masonic Tips section to my JimsTips.com site to provide you with a glimpse of my ongoing journey in Freemasonry. There are varied views of Freemasonry, so my approach was with an open mind. What I found is an amazing organization that fosters brotherly love, fellowship, and virtue built upon the foundation of…
Gmail Tip #59: New Feature! Gmail adds POP “Mail Fetcher”
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Gmail now lets you to fetch mail from up to 5 of your other, POP-enabled non-Gmail accounts! And once the messages are pulled into Gmail, you can leverage all of Gmail’s great features. (Note that nor all email services support POP access.) As of this writing, Gmail states that this feature is currently only enabled…
SageTV Tip #9: HD Content With HDHomeRun
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I purchased an HDHomeRun receiver, and I now have access to four "local broadcast" HD channels through SageTV! The channels seamlessly show up in SageTV’s Electronic Program Guide (EPG) and I can now view and record any show on those channels. And any HD content vews, records, and plays back in full HD glory! Read…