How to Clean Your LCD Screen

Hmmm…sure is a strange material, definitely not your father’s monitor/TV screen. How the heck do you clean it?

I hope to be able to expand upon this answer more in the coming weeks, but the general answer right now is to use:

1. A soft cloth – not a paper towel;
2. Water or a 75/50 Water/Rubbing Alcohol solution.

It is widely advised to turn off the monitor and allow it to cool as well, before cleaning. And never use windex, like we used to on our old tube TVs.
There are various products out there as well that will remind you of a baby wipe, which are specifically designed for LCD flat panels. I purchased iKleer when I bought my PowerBook 2 years ago, but as a general rule I just don’t touch the screen. My wife’s iBook is a little more vulnerable to collateral damage, like our 11 month old’s spattering sippy-cup, since she uses it in less of a work environment and our new TV has really sparked my interest in cleaning and protecting this interesting surface. I hope it never comes to it, but I found a nice post on another site of how to repair a scratch on an LCD screen for about $20. In the mean time, keep your grubby mitts off my LCD.

Nanny 911 Invades Des Moines

Remember that look that your mom or dad used to give you when you knew you were about to cross the line? Whatever mischief you were fixing to get yourself into came to an instant, crashing halt – or at least that’s how it was in my house. Well, it seems in the era of the “timeout”, kids are getting harder and harder to lead down the path in which you want them to tread. Enter Nanny 911, the Fox TV program that pits an English super-nanny up against your out-of-control, snot-nosed brats. This show has been on for quite a while, and I’ll admit that Brandy and I have gotten quite a few laughs off of it, but more often that not it churns my stomach. It was just announced this week that the show will be doing casting calls in Des Moines during the 2nd week of July. A good spanking may not be such a bad idea for some kids, oh I didn’t mean that – how ’bout a muzzle?

From DVR, to DVD

I've been looking for a quick, easy way to import video into my Mac (I know, I could buy a DVD burner that connects to my televisoin, but that's no fun, and I want to cut out commercials, do a bit of cleanup, etc.). I purchased an analog to digital coverter about 2 years ago, and it works pretty well, but I'm afraid the software that accompanies it will eventually become antiquated, I may even need to upgrade the hardware at some point, but I did some digging today and found some resources for importing analog video into iMovie.

Apple has some nice documentation for importing analog video into your Mac.

O'Reilly has a nice tutorial for importing QuickTime movies into iMovie.

Here is a good source if you're looking for an analog to digital video converter reviews from Macworld.

If and when it's time for me to upgrade my DAC, here's what I'm going to buy.

Do It Yourself – only easier

Brandy and I have been watching quite a few shows on DIY lately, maybe in anticipation of all of the projects we have planned for our new home, and I've made a few stops at their website as well. They have a lot of tips, tricks and ideas for all types of home improvement and other projects, but I just found a feature I'd never used before today called DIY My Projects, where you can keep an organized directory of projects that you like within their website. It features folders for organizing your projects by category, and best of all, it's FREE.

Clean up the clutter – and put an end to annoying junk mail

Caught an interesting segment on 20/20 last night regarding identity theft. Of course they recommended shredding everything you throw away with any of your important personal information or account numbers on it. They also recommended that you take advantage of your free annual personal credit report…and yes, it is FREE! I did it this morning by logging into annualcreditreport.com – took about 5 minutes for each of the 3 reporting services, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Whew…no blemishes from any of the services.

Another great tidbit from 20/20 was a phone number you can call to put a stop to the dozens of Pre-Approved Credit Card maings (if you're like me anyway) that you receive every week. Just call 1-888-5-Opt Out and you can remove your name from their database for 5 years…hmmm, someone remind me to do that again in 2011. It's very similar to the National Do Not Call Registry that removes your number from the Tele-Marketer's Rolodexes. You can visit their website, or call 1-888-382-1222.

Wow…what are you going to do with all of your time, now that you won't have those "Special Offers" and telephone calls to take care of every night after work? I know it won't take me long to find something better to do.

Are YOU being represented?

Want to keep tabs on the guys and gals you voted for here in Iowa? Lots of information can be found at this page: Iowa General Assembly – Home Page.

…press 1 for further options…

It seems like I've been getting banished into the VoiceMail of nearly every client or assoiciate that I attempt to contact these days, and is it just me, or are the generic messages that are sandwiched around the "Hi, this is Mike, leave a message…" getting longer and longer? The one I have never ever used is the suggestion that the imaginary operator gives to "you may hang up or press '1' for more options".

I just want to leave a quick message, and hopefully be out of this VM system in 30 seconds or less…darn, gotta wait for that beep.

I need to get this out of my head

A lot goes through my head every day, and I needed to get a blog up so I could start organizing it. Eventually I will revamp the look of this site, but until then, I hope the content has some value.