On New Year’s Eve, two friends of mine and I sat around tweaking with our new electronic gifts.  J. had his new boom box, which he was playing downloaded pop songs from; and M. had his ipod, which had recently-loaded Beatles songs on it. As we dabbled in special foods we had made that day and indulged in nice wines, we took turns listening to select Beatles songs from the ipod, intermittently enjoying the Christmas and other songs playing through the room.  There was something like a parallel universe about it, something Déjà vu, something nostalgic and powerful and profound about listening to my teenaged favorites like “Paperback Writer” (”Dear Sir or Madam will you read my book/It took me years to write, will you take a look?”) and “Ruby Tuesday” (”Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday/Who could hang a name on you?”)  and “Come Together” (”He say I know you, you know me/One thing I can tell you is/You got to be free/Come together, right now/Over me”) and “Eleanor Rigby” (”Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been/Lives in a dream/Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door/Who is it for?/

All the lonely people/Where do they all come from?/All the lonely people/Where do they all belong?”)

But more, Beatles songs recall history, individual pieces earmarking select moments or impacting events.  And Beatles songs, at the same time, remind of us what we no longer have, who we are no longer blessed with.  On September 12, 2001, on the early morning commute show, stations were playing select Beatles songs, those done by the brilliant soloists (after the Beatles split), specifically, John Lennon’s “Imagine”:  “…You may say I’m a dreamer/But I’m not the only one.  I hope someday you’ll join us/and the world will live as one.”

The Beatles’ songs are mouthpieces for a generation, for many generations.  (Notice how kids today will take to Beatles songs as if they were NOT old fogy music, as if the Beatles were jamming now, and not over 45 years ago-on 45s, at that?)  The Beatles’ songs are testimony and testament to great movements (of course “Revolution” comes to mind”.  Beatles songs are reminders of who we were, how many brilliant minds we had access to (and still do, thankfully), why we listen to works about, think about, and write about the spiritual and heartfelt responses to cultures and their values and actions.

The Beatles’ songs are, it sometimes seems, all we have left.

Those of us who aren’t real keen on technology might not know what a digital camera memory card is. I have to admit that I had to look up some information on the subject when I first bought my digital camera. This research heaved up some interesting facts and a lot of stuff that I just can’t keep in my head.

The purpose of the digital camera memory card is to keep your pictures on file, in a sense. I don’t know how the thing really works and I don’t care. I just love that I can snap a picture and it is safely in place until I download the information on the digital camera memory card on to my computer.

I also love that I can preview the pictures ahead of time. This is a pretty new concept for me considering that I have been using a 35 millimeter camera that used traditional film up until a few weeks ago. I never had the advantage of seeing how great (or awful) the image was before making a commitment. The digital camera memory card allows me to trash lousy pictures.

The ability to discard unwanted snapshots is a fantastic money saver for many of us who love to take pictures but don’t do so well in the process all the time. I can’t wager a guess as to how many images I have bought that were practically useless when I was using regular film.

After using a digital camera memory card for picture storage, I wonder how I ever tolerated the old fashioned route. Waiting isn’t one of my favorite activities and the very idea of having to wait for the film to process is unbearable. This holds true for the one hour photo processing, too.

From what I understand, the first digital picture-takers had built in memory. At first this seemed superior to a removable digital camera memory card. However, I later discovered that you can upgrade your product simply by purchasing an updated insert. The real upgrade is actually in the digital camera memory card not in the camera itself.

I guess that you can consider your camera to be a kind of portable computer that works solely with images. The digital camera memory card serves as the data storage unit in your mini computer. It’s amazing that one little item can offer so much to consumers. I think that my new camera is the best invention for photographers, professional or not.

You can’t turn around these days without running into laptop computers. They’re at the coffee shop, the bookstore, even on the bus I saw someone working on a laptop. The advances in technology means that the best laptop computer of 10 years ago wouldn’t even be acceptable these days. But there sure are a lot of different options out there. How do you find the best laptop computer? Here’s a couple of things to consider when looking for the best laptop computer.

The best laptop computer should have a decent processor. The processor is the engine of any computer and in laptops it can be difficult to find the best one. A top-notch processor allows you to have multiple applications open, and will give you the power to handle intensive programs like media players or even streaming online video. The best laptop computer will also have plenty of RAM (random access memory). This is the one area that even the best laptop computer will fall short of a desktop. Having lots of RAM is like having a stovetop with multiple burners - the more burners you have, the more you can cook at once. The same with RAM - a lot of RAM lets your computer process a lot of different things at once, or even use a lot of memory to focus on one intensive task at once (such as 3-D graphics or heavy gaming).

Also to consider is the screen size. The general rule with a laptop is that the larger the screen size, the heavier the laptop is. Something like Apple’s AirBook is an exception, not the rule. So consider what the best laptop computer is for you. Is it something that you’re toting around with you everywhere? Can you afford the back pain of a heavy 17″ laptop, or would you prefer the tiny screen of a two and a half pound netbook? There’s no right or wrong choice here, just a consideration of which is the best laptop computer for how you will use it.

One thing I wouldn’t consider when looking for your best laptop computer is hard disk size. It used to be that laptops couldn’t hold a lot of data - there just wasn’t that much room for hard disks in the laptop. Nowadays however, storage size has gotten much smaller while holding much more data. The best laptop computers will probably have more disk space than you would need anyhow, but if you do find yourself short on space, an external hard drives are becoming as small as a wallet with more than enough space to hold all your pictures, songs and videos. Follow those tips, and you’ll find the best laptop computer for you!

Protecting your home is something you should do not matter where you live. Though you have a high chance of break-in when you live in urban or suburban areas, they can happen anywhere to anyone at anytime. You may feel safe, but you will feel safer if you invest in some home security systems. You may find that they are not as expensive as you think they are, and that you will sleep a whole lot better each night knowing that someone is watching over your family 24 hours a day.

Today’s home security systems can come from a well-known security company, but there are others that are getting into the mix. Companies like Time Warner Cable are now offering these services to their customers, and the prices are not all that bad. They can use existing technology in your home to set up home security systems, so that means getting one into your home is much easier than it would be if someone had to start from scratch. They offer the same services as other companies, so that might be a good way to go if you already have cable and Internet through them.

Your home security systems can be as complicated or easy as you want them to be. You may not need a lot, or you may have so many vulnerable spots on your home that your system has to be a bit more than what your neighbor may have. Any company that can hook you up with a system and with service can tell you what they think you need and they can tell you why. The final choice for what you get will be up to you, of course, but you should always at least listen to what they have to say before you make your choice.

The thing to remember about home security systems is that you do not want something that completely limits your lifestyle. If you have young children, it is more important than ever to have one, but you don’t want one that is going to go off all the time when the child goes exploring the house. Think about what you want in the way of window alarms, as they can actually let you know when a toddler has gotten one open. That can save their lives in a whole different way. Just make sure you don’t feel like a prisoner, but safe at the same time. A good balance should be easy to find.

As a young girl, my family moved around quite a bit. When looking at a new place to live, I was always most excited about my new bedroom. My mom, on the other hand, was always looking at the kitchen before anything else. She would often ask me why I was not as excited about the new kitchen as she was, and I could not understand why she was asking me such a thing. Now that I am older, I understand the need to love the kitchen that you spend so much time in. However, I get more excited about new kitchen gadgets than anything else.

Though I certainly do not get all of the kitchen gadgets that I want, I do find some that I just have to have. I usually look for things that make my life a little easier and would make cooking something that would normally be time consuming much easier. I love to try new recipes, but quite often, I don’t have the time to slice and dice to make it as it should be made. If something comes out that can cut down on time for those things, I want to see if they work well, and if they can expand the choices of what we normally include in our weekly menus.

Some kitchen gadgets that you can find are not meant to be new, but rather a new twist on something that has been around for a while. Think about the blender that now comes with a small spout at the bottom so that you can get your drinks out without taking the top off. There are new types of ice cream makers that work so much better than the ones of the past. These kitchen gadgets are a lot of fun and help you make the tried and true things that you may not have had time to do in the past, and they make them much easier.

If you want to try to find some of the newest kitchen gadgets, you can look around in stores like Bed Bath, and Beyond, or you can look where the newest are always going to pop up. The Internet has become one of the best places to find almost anything that you need, and also a place where you can find new things that you can not get anywhere else. If you want new gadgets for your kitchen, make the Internet one of your first stops. You may not even have to leave the house to get excited about a new purchase.