Please vote for Mom and Dad's dog:) and Christmas 'Wrap-Up'

Too cute:) Mom and Dad entered a photo of " Teddy", their dog, in a contest online at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, voting starts Dec.29 You can see the entry HERE

(UPDATE: Well, they didn't make it easy to vote,LOL......you need to register, and once you are logged in, there is a 'search' box with the dog pictures, and if you type in "Teddy" ,there are 3 pages of them and Teddy is on the top right of the 3rd page........if you lasted through all that, thanks for voting!!:)
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We had a nice,quiet Christmas. April got her Wii:) which we have been spending the last few days playing with. Kyle came over Christmas day for a few hours to play on it, and Tony got video of me boxing on it (which said video will Never see the light of day,LOL:) April said 'can we post it on YouTube?" and I said 'No way! I will not be the next 'viral video'.......'Granny boxes on the Wii",rofl.

I got Tony an excersize bike (in addition to his Redskins train set) about which he was.....less excited than I thought he was going to be,lol, considering he has been saying for so long that he Wanted one. (and 'excersize' looks wrong? I think I don't know how to Spell it?:)

Actually, the story of April and I trying to Get the bike into the car after I bought it was hysterical. Let's just say that We were laughing so hard at Ourselves that we were crying....and 2 construction guys working nearby gave up all pretense of working, and just stood and laughed their heads off while watching us. I said to April 'if these guys have a camera phone, we're going to be on YouTube",lol.

All in all, it was a pretty quiet Christmas. Hope each of you had a good holiday, and Happy New Year to all!

My Crazy Household:)

It's so much fun to have pets, especially around the holidays,don't you think? :)

Here at 'chez McClenney', there's never a dull moment. We have an artificial Christmas tree that also revolves......which of course as soon as we put up this year, we learned that it was better Not to have it revolving, as 3 cats and one dog were chasing it,lol.

so, the other night, I was sitting on the computer, and heard a ruckus behind me....the dog chasing one of the cats around the bottom of the tree,lol.....and when I turned, I was astonished to see the tree was revolving!! apparently, one of the animals had knocked the switch on while they were chasing each other:) it's difficult to go chase the animals away from the tree,while you're falling off your chair laughing.

last night, I was once again falling off the chair with laughter. the computer sits right next to this counter that connects the kitchen and the living room




and imagine my surprise, when I looked up just in time to see Ginger the cat jump up onto the counter, with the entire bag of hamburger buns in her mouth,ROFL, and then she jumped down onto the table and dropped the bag as she was trying to run away with it......at the same time, Tony is turning around saying 'what the?....does she have the whole BAG in her mouth???!!" and I am bent over laughing so hard I can't even answer...you just Never know what will happen in our house!

And it appears that we don't have the Only dog that eats the floor,lol, in a trailer for that movie Marley and Me it shows the dog chewing up the linoleum, and I was like "look, Brownie is in a movie!":)

Brownie has also eaten the cord to the Christmas tree, when left alone for a short time without being put into her crate......but Tony has already repaired the cord.
Tony is at the point where he just looks at the tree, with Piper running up the inside of it,or Tiger batting at the ornaments on it, or Brownie chasing Ginger around the bottom of it, and shakes his head and says "I think this will be the last year we have This tree." and sighs,lol.

Tony's Christmas gift this year is a train set



which we have elected NOT to set up around the bottom of the Christmas tree,lol, as we could picture the chaos that would ensue !!

Well, we're off to finish up the Christmas shopping today, just wanted to share tales from our crazy house:)

Microsoft releasing patch for IE flaw on Dec. 17

A friend sent the link to this news story
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081216/ts_afp/uschinaitinternetsoftwarecrimemicrosoft

and then also in a technical newsletter that I subscribe to, " Windows Secrets" I saw the same story....their article has links to the site to go to for the security patch
http://windowssecrets.com/2008/12/17/02-Microsoft-patches-IE-but-Firefox-is-still-safer

(and btw, I've subscribed to Windows Secrets for years, it's a very useful newsletter and website for staying up-to-date on technical news you need to know, and also has a lot of reviews of the best free software out there, check out their home page HERE and the reviews are on the right hand side.)

While the writer of the article about the urgent patch release by Microsoft likes the Firefox browser?
I've been considering using Google's Chrome browser

Any users of either of those have any comments about why you chose the browser you use?
and what you like or dislike about it?

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While I'm doing this 'technical' post,lol, I guess I should pass on some of the other websites I've come across that have been helpful in keeping my computer safe and running well.....I'm all 'self-taught' and these are just sites I've either seen recommended in the early version of the technical newsletter I subscribe to (back when I was subscribing to "the Langa list" before it merged with another newsletter to become Windows Secrets) or have just stumbled across.

PCPitstop is a site where you can register for free, and get a scan done on your computer to show what programs are installed on your computer and also how you can tweak your computer to optimize it's performance.

AdAware from Lavasoft is the best free anti-spyware program out there, IMHO, and I've been using it almost ever since I was first given a computer (thanks,Uncle Ken:) back in 2001...I've always installed and run it even when the ISP (Internet Service Provider) I'm using has a free anti-spyware program......"you can never be too cautious on the computer"....LOL, my kids will all tell you I preach computer safety at them all the time:)

An online virus scan program from TrendMicro
Trend Micro Housecall

is a most excellent free scan (takes a long time) to use,particularly if you think you might have a virus on your computer.

I have been horrified in years past,lol, to discover the number of college-age young people who think they Don't need to have an anti-virus program installed on their computer. If your ISP Doesn't provide an antivirus program as part of their package? I've recommended in the past
AVG Free Antivirus which is at least better than having Nothing at all on your computer....as one of my son's friends recently found out, After he had gotten a computer virus.

But....you don't have to take My word for recommendations:) if you go to CNET's Download.com
you can get reviews of free software out there, and find what you need for your computer and download it from a source that isn't going to have a lot of 'add-ons' in a download.

Well, folks, this 'technical post' is over now......don't forget to download and install your security patch from Microsoft!

My sis has pics of my brother's visit

Go on over to A Red Thread to China to check them out:)

Click here: A Red Thread to China: My brother and family's trip here - a re-cap in pictures...

Go,Dukes!:)

why are you here?
JMU is playing Montana!
http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14400&ATCLID=3629519

(and Kyle is working at the game:)

Go,Dukes!
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Update: well, sadly they lost!
(and I never did see Kyle on TV:(

Love this song:)

Don't know why,LOL, but it's become one of my favorite Christmas songs:)