Where I store my tech stuff

I save all my manuscript-related files to a share on a file server. Everytime I needed to open a document, I had to browse to the network share. Instead of browsing each time, I added a shortcut to the network share in the My Places bar in Word 2003.

My Places is the bar that you see on the left side of the Open screen when you open a file. By default, it includes shortcuts to Desktop, My Documents, and other commonly used items. To add a shortcut to the My Places bar in Word 2003:

1. Press Ctrl+O in Word 2003 to open the Open dialog box.
2. Browse to the location you want to create a shortcut to.
3. Click the Tools drop-down list.
4. Click Add to “My Places” from the Tools drop-down list. The shortcut appears in My Places.

For more details on customizing the My Places bar, see this article on Microsoft’s Web site. The My Places bar was called the Places bar in Office 2000. You must edit the registry to add or remove items from the Places bar. See this knowledge base article for details.

I ordered a new laptop from newegg.com on 12/15/2005. About two weeks ago, I finally received my $200 rebate. Somewhere in that six month time span I decided that rebates are a rip. I know I’m not only one who feels this way. It’s my understanding that certain vendors, like newegg.com, are especially bad. Costco, on the other hand, isn’t too bad. You can file your rebates online, and your check comes along a few weeks afterwards.

Over the weekend, I found the 160GB Seagate drive that I saw on newegg.com for $67 (OEM) at CompUSA in a retail box for $59.99. Good deal, right? Oh, wait. That’s after the $40.00 eRebate. With a name like eRebate, you might think you could file the rebate online. No, it’s a mail-in rebate. I have to admit that I was tempted by the seductive and deceptively low price. Not only is it less expensive than newegg, it’s a retail box. (Not to mention the instant gratification of having the drive in my hot little hands.) I snapped to my senses after I thought about how long it took me to get my last rebate. As it turns out, CompUSA says you’ll have your money in 10 to 12 weeks. That’s still a long time. Plus, there’s only rebate per household, and I want two drives. Hello RAID0, but I’ll save that post for another day.

So I ordered the OEM drives from newegg. I’m optimistic they’ll ship today, but they probably won’t. Which means that even though my order is supposed to ship with two day delivery, I won’t see it until Monday afternoon.