Three issues for computer users are cleaning, using and dumping them when they die.

Cleaning your computer is more than just dusting it off, weeding out garbage files and backing up your data. It’s detangling all those wires, cables and plugs and getting rid of old discs too. Check an electronics store if you want to spend some money on a cable reel. Or, just pull your desk out from the wall an extra inch and organize them behind it. Bundle up long cords rather than leaving them hanging and crawling over the floor. If you have hardware like a printer, scanner or anything else bulky get a small, sturdy table to set it on nearby. Keep your desk top as clear as you can. That includes coffee cups, hairclips, vitamins, pens and all the other clutter that builds up quickly if you spend a lot of time sitting in front of that screen. Don’t forget to dust off the back of your tower too. If you have a lot of gunk in the air, like pet hair, consider cleaning inside the tower too.

For ergonomics, I always have my monitor raised higher than the desk surface. If the bottom of the screen is at my chin level I’m ok. Anything too high or low will make the back of my neck go numb and give me headaches. They say it’s good to sit with your feet raised but I haven’t done that. Sometimes my feet do get a bit swollen if I am putting in hours and not taking a long break between.

There are no really great recycling options when it’s time for your computer to die. Face it, few people are interested in a computer three or more years of age. Software stops working on them as new operating systems come out. Older computers can not function with the software coming out now. I know from personal experience trying to run a 5 year old PC running on Windows Me. You might try Linux. See how much that can add to your mileage but that brings up the problem of what to do with all your old software which can’t be adapted to run on a Linux OS.

Look online for some options about recycling your tech trash. Nothing will be totally great as you can’t compost plastic. But, there are some options, better than adding all that hardware to the landfills. Don’t burn your computer, please. It’s a bad idea.

Writing isn't the only way to play with words. Take them down a peg, look at them as just letters, forms on a page and you can make a different art with them. This isn't writing, its a whole new creation.

ASCII art is my personal favourite. But, there are other ways to get into the game of playing with your words. Typography is playing with fonts. What others have you found? Email me, I'd like to hear about them.

There is the whole riddle, puzzle, Scrabble issue. But, I'm looking at making plain ordinary everyday text into art.

Does anyone make ASCII art or am I the only retro geek? Someday, that ever illusive day, I want to make a whole website in just ASCII and ASCII art as illustrations/ graphics. I've seen one done in this way. It was very unique looking now. Back in the old days of dinosaur computers it would have been normal, if not cutting edge.

Anyway, this week take a break from fiddling with words and try something new. Play around and look at them in a whole new way. You and your keyboard will never be the same again.

There are few things as old fashioned and traditional as a wedding. Even though couples add their own touches with poetry, sky diving and Halloween themes, a wedding is still something self indulgent which we do to celebrate a life change. It isn’t actually necessary, only signing the paperwork for the government is really necessary. But having a wedding is important to people and families. Mine was important to me.

Something new I’ve been hearing about is a green, environmentally thoughtful, wedding. I like the idea. When I planned my own wedding the environment was on my mind. I read about bird seed versus rice or flower petals. Which do you think has the least impact on the environment? It’s complicated. The birdseed might seem the best option but, it causes wild grass and such to grow in the area it is tossed. That will cause the use of more lawn chemicals. I forget why rice wasn’t a good option. Flower petals weren’t favoured either. In the end the article I was reading suggested the best alternative were soap bubbles. Though, I’m sure there is an argument against them too. How safe is soap after all? How important are the small things like throwing rice and wedding favours?

If you look there are services offering green weddings and advice for keeping all the parts of your wedding ecologically polite/ sound. I found one which lets you used recycled gold to create your own wedding bands. I found another which offers to arrange the whole ceremony for you. But, there is more than the day itself to consider. It’s adding a lot to the bride’s to-do list. You might consider how important it is to be environmentally good one day which is already stress packed, instead you could put more effort into every day and give yourself a break on the one day you set aside to get married.

I’m adding this quote cause it’s just so sweet! It came from a furniture site.

“I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance, A church filled with family and friends. I asked what kind of wedding he wished for, He said one that would make me his wife.” – Author Unknown

As kids, my sister used to watch horror, along with my brother. They’d get up late at night and turn the TV on with the volume low so my Mother wouldn’t wake up and catch them. My sister would have nightmares afterwards. As an adult, after she was nearly killed by a man who raped her and pounded her head into a concrete floor over and over again she changed her mind about watching horror. Now she is paranoid and even years later is afraid and has given that fear of home invasion, strangers and bad men to her son and daughters. Her children have nightmares along with her now.

I’ve been participating in a discussion about issues regarding censorship and the use of torture from the TV show, 24. How far should TV and movies be allowed to go before someone tells them to stop, they’ve taken it too far? A lot of people are against censorship, just because it restricts their rights, not because they actually want to watch all that stuff themselves. But, rights is a double edged deal. The rights of someone to see and create violence for entertainment infringes on my right to feel safe. It can be argued that TV and movies and such do not make me unsafe. However, having violence, rape, murder, torture and horror presented as entertainment every day and night, seven days a week, 365 days a year does change how they are perceived. If seeing someone brutally killed in front of you doesn’t bother you at all cause you see it every time you watch 24…. what does bother you? Where do you stop?

If someone breaks into a house, kills the family living there but gets it all on film and sells that film to be shown on TV would you watch it? If it’s on TV isn’t it entertainment? CNN showed a kid being shot in the streets (I forget where now). There was a lot of protest about them showing that. The kid really was shot, it was a real kid - it was reality. However, I’m sure that day on TV there were plenty of people shot, stabbed, raped, etc in the name of entertainment. Why isn’t it all entertainment? So what if it was a real kid? If watching people be killed is entertaining what difference does it make that one was fiction and the other was reality? All that matters is that you had fun watching, right?