Technology Reviews

This morning as I was browsing through the paper and eating breakfast I came across a very interesting article. It was a review of the Real Pad by AARP. It turns out that it isn't as easy to use as it advertises, although the price is right.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/senior-tech-a-tablet-for-aging-hands-fall-short/

I am often asked by people how to decide on what to purchase (what type of laptop, what type of tablet or phone, etc..) Through the article I learned about a site that reviews tech things from the point of view of a non-techie. It is called Tech50Plus. There are reviews organized on different topics with large buttons for navigation through the site and large font. The reviews are based on four questions. I highly recommend this site as a place to go to research technology before purchasing.


Take a look at a positive review of the AARP RealPad from http://Momdot.com

Sites to Help Plan Your Vacation

So, are you planning a summer vacation?  One thing you can do is to type the location you are going into Google and get lots of information about it. You can go to expedia.com or kayak.com to search for the best flights, rental cars and rooms. 

There are other options that may be new to you. 


Vacation Rentals By Owner is one of

many different sites where people can post their own property as a rental by the day or by the week.  Many of these are really interesting houses that sleep 6 or more. It is a great way to find a place to stay that costs less than a hotel room depending upon how many different people divide the cost. 

I have experience with this site and have only had very good experiences with the houses that we have rented. It is so nice to have a living room where everyone can gather to spend time together. They usually have kitchens with dishes, pots and pans, and everything you would need to make meals in the home. 

A few other sites like this were listed and so I have included their links below.

Home Away Home Away is the parent company of VRBO and Vacation Rentals. They also have some other sites like Bed and Breakfast

Vacation Rentals

Vacation Listings by Owner This site is a separate business not related to Home Away. It is possible that different listings would be found on this site.  

A few years ago I traveled for vacation to London, England. My husband and I stayed in an apartment very similar to the arrangements above. We shared it with a couple who are friends of ours. Each night we would have to decide where to eat out. 

That is where I learned about Trip Advisor My friend would go to the site and type in what type of restaurant she wanted to try and it would return multiple possibilities. They came with a map, menu and reviews, so it was easy to figure out which one to try. Another thing that was fun was that we could write our own reviews after trying it. 



Since then I have used another site Yelp.com more often. I am not sure why. I guess that Trip Advisor looks more like a far away vacation site and Yelp looks more local, but really they both do the same things. I often look at Yelp to help me decide which restaurant to go to or what activity got good ratings. Reading the reviews is so helpful. You should always pay attention to how many reviews the place you are reading about has had. a 5 star place may just have one review and so it is possibly NOT as good as the average of a place that has 100 reviews. 

Tell us about other sites that you use to help plan your vacations!

Finding a Job Using Online Resources

It can be daunting it to look for a job if you are not comfortable with technology. Many of the places to look for jobs are online.  If you go to many places to apply they have a computer right there that you can use.  You may even feel that your outdated computer skills will make it hard to get any job, even if you successfully apply.




Here are some things that might help with your job hunt.  I assume that if you are reading this blog you can use a mouse and know how to get onto the Internet.

1. Linked In is a network similar to Facebook, but rather than connecting to friends and family the goal of Linkedin is to help you connect with people professionally. It can provide you with job possibilities while also helping you to connect to people who can write you a recommendation. You can also follow a company so that you are notified when there are changes on their profile.

2.  Workplace Reviews:  Looking online to find out what employees of places you may apply are saying might be helpful. I just typed "employment 'name of company' reviews and got many helpful websites. The two most common are listed below. The Glass Door allows you to see all sorts of things about the company that you are considering including Salary, Who is Interviewing, and a list of Job Openings. You can create a notification so that it sends you email whenever a new job you are interested in is posted. On Indeed you can post your resume and employers can post a job

Glass Door
Indeed

3. Filling out an Online Application: Some online applications require that all of your documents (resume, cover letter, etc...) need to be uploaded in .pdf format. If you have typed your resume using word it probably has a .doc ending. To make it a .pdf often you have to go to FILE>PRINT and then choose PDF (usually at the bottom of the window). The computer will ask you where you want to put it (the same as saving) and will change it into a .pdf. Unlike saving as, a .pdf makes a picture of your document, so it cannot be edited or changed.

4. Writing a Resume  In your word processor (Word, Open Office, Pages, etc) there are often templates built in. These are pages that are already formatted like a resume. All you need to do is to type and replace words that have been put in the right spaces. To find out if your program has templates for this go to FILE>OPEN>TEMPLATES and look through what is there to see if there is a template you like. If not, you can go online to look for a template. Here are some links to free templates online. 

http://www.resume-now.com/rna.aspx  Build your resume online with several choices of format. You must log in and create a password.

http://www.primermagazine.com/2011/earn/7-free-resume-templates  This has an article about things you should include in a good resume.

http://resumecompanion.com/resume/resume-templates This has 1500 templates that are all sorted by job type.

There are lots of other sites that provide templates. There are also courses that teach you how to make a resume. Below is a link to one example. Search Google for resume writing course and you will see 15,000,000,000 results. There are also courses at your local Junior College and through Employment Centers at your city government.

http://www.universalclass.com/i/course/resume-writing-tutorial.htm This is an online class. It costs $35 and will give you 1.2 CEUs.

Another possibility that is a bit more expensive is to have someone write your resume for you. If you have trouble putting your experience into words this might be for you. This is an example of a list of services in Austin, TX. 

http://localresumeservices.com/Austin-Resume-Services-Writers.php

5.  Job Search Websites

http://www.Monster.com - There is lots of information and job hunting advice as well as a searchable list of jobs on this site.

http://www.careerbuilder.com/ - This site has other resources as well. You sign up and create a password so that you can get back into your account.

http://www.simplyhired.com/ - Simply Hired allows you to search for a job by category.

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/294523/the-10-best-job-search-websites - This site reviews the links above as well as many others.

Finally, remember that EVERYTHING you have done online is easy for any employer to find and lasts forever. It is important that you do a search on your name to see what comes up. 

If nothing shows up when you type in your name it is not always good. It means that you have no digital footprint and depending on the job you are looking for that might be bad. 


It is always possible that something surprisingly bad might come up. A friend of mine did a search and several years ago she was arrested for a minor issue. Some company takes mug shots and posts them for anyone to see. In order to have them to take your picture down you have to send them money. At least if you know that something like that is out there you can explain it in an interview or a cover letter. 

http://mugshots.com

One last thing!  You can call I'm not a Geek.com at (512)560-2609 and spend 1 hour brushing up on your skills or getting help with writing that resume or searching for jobs!