“Wouldn't it be nice if our lives were like VCRS (video recorders), and we could "fast forward' through the crummy times? " Charles M. Schulz

Do you have a VCR or did you sell it at a yard sale? Now that the box of video tapes are sitting at the back of your closet what will you do with them? Do you even know what is on them? One of my hobbies is buying old video tapes just for sheer fun of being surprised what's on the tapes. I have watched many a wedding or family trip on these tapes and I wonder did they actually mean to sell them. Before you throw out or donate these tapes I recommend a few things below.

1. Look through them. If you got rid of your player borrow it from a friend. I am sure you know a pack rat like me. If you have a VCR pop it in just to see if it’s something important. If not throw it in the donation pile. If it’s personal go onto step #2. Also I should say if it is something good do not over watch it. Even running it through the VCR can degrade the quality.
2. You have two real choices. If it is something you want never to see daylight (your 15th birthday party) you can pull out the film from the cassette and toss it but this is only so good. Instead sandwich the tape between two strong magnets for a day or so. This should erase the evidence. However if you want to keep these recorded images then do not delay and go to Google and type in “VHS to DVD services”. There will be a local one. Even some camera shops do it. They will take your tape, clean it, digitize it, and burn it to DVD. The reasons I say not to delay is that this stuff is magnetic tape. It breaks down over time. The more it is exposed to heat or moisture changes the more it degrades. If you care about it have it transferred. I did this with a tape of the last time my grandfather spoke at a family gathering. If it’s important DO NOT wait!

One other thing I should mention is that during the holiday season many people buy gifts for people that have enough junk. Instead taking an old video and making it new again can sometimes mean far more to them than any other item.

“Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and sang Happy Birthday.” Stephen Wright

Yesterday was the birthday of the Providence Public Library computer class blog. Over a year we have accumulated, as of today, 258 posts. Some have been helpful and some have been frivolous. I wanted to take this one post to do a little thanking. So if you will excuse me for just this one. First and foremost, I wanted to thank Dorey Conway for letting me run free with this blog and to actually think it was a good idea. I believe the benefit to the students has been great. I have received emails from many students and staff telling me that it helps them all the time. I also wanted to thank Stephanie Chausse who has lent this blog grammatical expertise. She has done her best to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, an especially tough job with my writing. Most of all I would like to thank all the students, staff, and patrons who have read this blog regularly. To date we have had over 4000 people find the blog and more than 7000 returning page views. Also, thank you to everyone who has submitted questions, stopped me in the hallways or streets to ask questions and allowed me to use their info as blog posts. The reason I started this was as a supplement to the computer classes. The classes have had a major amount of students coming through the program. At this moment we are just shy of 7000 students in four years. So to everyone: a big thank you.
If this blog helped you tell how or if you would like to leave a birthday comment please go ahead.

Shane Sher

I still feel like I should post something useful today or at least fun so that this is not a total wash. Let’s go with fun shall we? This is a game I have played for a long time. I have no idea why it is fun but I go back to it again and again. I give you cat golf with a bow. The name kind of says it all but it really should be tried. You will need a current version of flash and a mouse. Hold your finger down and shoot your bow towards the target.

I promise the next post will be useful.