Not know who to vote for?  The Amateur - Barack Obama in the White House.  For those that own Kindles, check out The Amateur - Kindle Edition.

At 99 Cents, OfficeSuite Professional 6  is a wonderful deal right now!   Normally, it's $14.99!

Attention Kindle Users

Last April, we purchased a new Kindle DX, Free 3G, 9.7" E Ink Display, 3G Works Globally from Amazon. We had to return it for warranty work in September, and it's worked great ever since. My husband loves the larger screen.

Last week, it started dropping the registration. It was easy to register the unit again, and we were back in business. Unfortunately, a few hours later, it dropped the registration again. I even tried to restore it to factory defaults, but it continued to deregister.

Saturday, I called Amazon, and it took one hour on the phone and three levels of support to get the problem fixed. I gave tech support my serial number, and they said it was registered to "Adam's Kindle." I told them, there was no one named Adam at this residence, and there never had been. It turned out Amazon had sold two Kindle units with the same registration code/serial number! Both of our units were getting deregistered as the other unit was registered. We were told that this problem cropped up about one in a hundred. And, it couldn't be fixed in the field. They would be sending me a new Kindle DX, Free 3G, 9.7" E Ink Display, 3G Works Globally
, and I would return the old one.

Now the really interesting aspect of this troubleshoot came when we learned that they couldn't just send out the Kindle DX, Free 3G, 9.7" E Ink Display, 3G Works Globally to me, because their computer system kept rejecting the order because they had two Kindles registered, and they didn't want to tamper with the other Kindle user's order.

So, if you find your Kindle dropping registration and you have to call support, be sure to ask them if there is a second registered to the same serial number.

Returns are easy. They sent me a pre-paid label, and told me to ship it back in the box it came in!

My Review of Nikon HB-35 Replacement Lens Hood for the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF ED AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor.

Originally submitted at Adorama

Nikon HB-35 Replacement Lens Hood for the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF ED AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor.

Nikon HB-35 Replacement Lens Hood for the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF ED AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor.

Same as the One that Came with the Lens

By MB from Texas on 2/6/2012

 

4out of 5

Pros: Durable, Easy To Use, Lightweight

Best Uses: Home, Landscape Photography, Traveling, Portraits, Studio, Everyday use, Macro Photography

Describe Yourself: Hobbyist/Enthusiast

Was this a gift?: No

I always use a lens hood to protect my lens since I'm so clumsy. That is unless it appears in the shot, which this one did. Unfortunately, I took the hood off instead of reversing the position as usual. Then walked off and forgot about it. I looked up my lens at NikonUSA, then ran a search for that part number.

(legalese)

Check Out Amazon's Kindle Fire, Its New Tablet!

Pre-order now, shipping November 15, 2011.

Details
• 
  Stunning Color Touch Screen
• Magazines in Rich Color
• 
  Beautiful and easy to use
• 
  100,000 Movies and TV Shows
• 
  Fast Dual-Core Processor
• 
  Your Favorite Apps and Games
• 
  Ultra Fast Web Browsing Amazon Silk
• 
  Millions of Books
• 
  Free Cloud Storage
• 
  Your Favorite Children’s Books
• 
  17 Million Songs
• 
  Extra Durable Display
• 
  Email
• 
  Amazon Whispersync
• 
  Read Your Documents

Technical Data
• 
  6 Inch Multi-Touch Screen
• 
  7.5" x 4.7" x 0.45" (190 mm x 120 mm x 11.4 mm
• 
  14.6 ounces (413 grams)
• 
  8GB internal. That's enough for 80 apps, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books
• 
  Up to 8 hours of continuous reading or 7.5 hours of video playback, with wireless off. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as web browsing and downloading content
  Fully charges in approximately 4 hours via included U.S. power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via USB
• 
  Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.1X standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks
• 
  USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)
• 
  3.5 mm stereo audio jack, top-mounted stereo speakers
• 
  Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, WAV, MP4, VP8
• 
  1-year limited warranty and service included. Optional 2-year Extended Warranty available for U.S. customers sold separately. Use of Kindle is subject to the Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use.
• 
  In the Box, Kindle Fire tablet, U.S. power adapter (supports 100-240V), and Quick Start Guide

Flooding During the Drought

Who would have expected flooding during a drought, but it happened in a nearby city.   A twenty-four inch water main burst, and several homes ended up flooded.   The water main was a 50 plus year old piece of cast iron pipe.   But to at least one home owner's despair, they learned their regular homeowner's policy didn't cover the damage, because the cause wasn't on their property.    And, the city wasn't liable for the damage, wording in their papers.  To be  covered, the homeowners would have needed flood insurance.

To top this all off, the city increased their water restrictions.

Finally Some Much Needed Rain

Last night, it rained a whole 37/100th of an inch, giving use a total rainfall for the year of just over a half an inch! We've had over 50 days of temperatures at or above 100°F! They're rationed us to water our yards only twice a week for starters, and many trees in town are showing the hot dry temperatures! Even though we got rain last night, we'll need a lot more before the drought ends.

Things in Texas have been so dry, that the Wall Street Journal published an article recently about it!