The summer that was

.

We’ve had a fabulous summer, spending lots of time away staying with friends and family and actually getting some very hot weather and good tans (despite the generous amounts of sunscreen applied.)

I have had so much to write about over the last weeks, but as you’ve seen (or not in this case) I’ve not been posting much. This is because I have had sporadic internet access and the biggest tragedy for me: my laptop has died. After almost 6 years of service my trusty Toshiba Satellite Pro has given up. Thankfully the hard drives are intact so I will be able to retrieve my pictures and documents eventually.

Over the last weeks I have been lent an Acer IconiaTab 200A, which has been a real life saver and sanity saver. This has been brilliant as my first dip into tablets and helping me bridge the gap of not having a laptop. It’s a 10 inch tablet with a very good screen resolution. Thus far it has coped very well with my habit of having lots of browser windows open (I love that Firefox now can synchronise with your laptop, tablet and phone to pass on bookmarks and passwords…later has saved me hours of frustration) and taught me new ways of accessing content, such as using my Google Reader much more (especially when offline). The IconiaTab is not the lightest of tablets (quite heavy to hold in just one hand), but well and truly makes up for it in battery life (usually lasting a day of quite intense use). I hidden benefit of a tablet is being able to easily occupy children when waiting for long times… that’s another post though.

Having a tablet instead of a laptop has made me review my data storage and use online storage such as Skydrive and Google drive a lot more. I am yet to find a word processor that I get on with (this post is being written in OneNote after I lost 2 posts that I typed up in EverNote). Somehow I can’t use the Content management system, accessing it via the tablet, as easily on the blog to write new content and I have to pre-write and copy and paste the text in. I cannot figure out how to add in pictures from web locations or a USB attached to the tablet either. Maybe I just need to look further… but I’ve been too busy enjoying the summer break with the kids to be honest.

The IconiaTab has allowed me to stay in touch and I will miss it when it goes back next week.

In the next weeks I will have to review my IT set-up. As the tablet goes back I will have to get a new tablet and/ or laptop and I hate making these decisions, not easy to make, especially with the variety of choice and a limited budget. No doubt I will be sharing my dilemmas on here and twitter.

When I am finally up and running again, then I have some great adventures to share: we’ve been to France to Siblu’s Bonne Anse Plage, the Lake Balaton in Hungary and Budapest stunningly lit up by fireworks, tomorrow we are “dropping in” at Playmobil Fun Park, next week we are off to Drayton Manor Thomas Land… and there is always the woes of settling back into a routine, now with a soon to be 3 month old. Lots of exciting fun and they all need pictures immo.

… so please stay tuned.

If you don’t want to miss anything sign up for email alerts, add me to your RSS reader or follow the blog via my Facebook page.

Also if you have any suggestions or posts on what IT set up you have that works for blogging, vlogging and educating children, please share. I look forward to your comments and links. (No Apples please… I know they are good, but I disagree with their lawsuits, so cannot support them with even one purchase.
.

.

.

Image credit