Indulging in some form of harmless escapism is necessary once in a while just to give one’s mind a break.  I usually play computer games, usually online.  The kids are quite adept at finding downloadable games.  For a while our computer was cluttered with all these Free Trial downloads.  Now that they are older, the kids know that downloading Free Trial games are not worth the time, the disk space and the frustration when the trial is over just when things got interesting.  We only download full version games now, and if they are free, the better!

Well, what Amazon.com is offering are full versions of three FREE games:

• Build-A-Lot
• Jewel Quest II
• The Scruffs

The original Jewel Quest was one of my most favorite games.  I actually bought the mobile version and played it on my cell phone a lot.  Jewel Quest II is a fancier, improved version of it.  I have tried Jewel Quest II on the XBOX 360 and online and the graphics are so much better compared to the original. 

I have never tried either Build-A-Lot or The Scruffs, but I downloaded them as well.  I am looking forward to playing these games this weekend!

Get FREE games here.

What is your favorite computer game?

Photo: eonline.com

Just in time for the Oscars, Amazon.com is having a huge sale on Academy Award-winning movies, up to 50% off.  The Oscars will be shown live on ABC on February 22nd.  The Amazon.com Oscar sale ends February 23rd. 

Check out the list of this year’s Oscar nominees here.

Get your Academy Award-winning movies here.

My son needed an HDMI cable to connect his XBOX 360 to our digital TV and the XBOX HDMI cable went for over around $50.00.  That’s just a ridiculous price for

Is there a difference between HDMI cables?  My research shows that digital signal is just either off or on so as long as there is a cable connecting one device to another, it works as intended.

Click here to get this HDMI Cable 2M (6 Feet) for $1.11 before it is all gone!

While this would have been enough to elicit a reaction years ago, the number of people getting rid of their cable or satellite TV subscription has been steadily increasing in recent times.  The most common reasons are:

• It costs too much.
• There is nothing to watch.
• To watch what you want when you want it, it costs extra.

A computer we purchased in December 2007 came with a TV tuner, and that has been such a wonderful device!  If you have a relatively new computer, check the connections in the back.  Find a port that has no cable connected to it yet.  Check out its labels.  My TV tuner card has “DTV Ant”, “FM Ant” and “Analog Ant” underneath the ports. 

This is the indoor antenna I have sitting on top of my computer.  It is a Philips High Performance Amplified Indoor Uhf/Vhf/Fm/HDTV Antenna.  I connected the antenna cable from that to the port on the back of my computer marked “DTV Ant”.  Then came the fun part of trying to get the right orientation.

My computer has Windows Media Player and it made setting up the indoor antenna so much easier by providing feedback on the antenna strength of each channel available to me.  Click here to check if your computer already has Windows Media Player.

Another thing that helped me find the right orientation is a website called antennaweb.org.  I entered my address (and made sure I unchecked any subscription opt-ins) and it gave me a listing of the stations in my area plus their compass heading, frequency assignment, and distance from my location. 

If you do not have a TV tuner card on your computer and you know what you are doing around electronics, you can get one like this Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1800 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder.  You will need to install it in your computer and set it up.  I recommend you get a techie to do that for you.  A computer is expensive and you don’t want to mess it up!

More “Cable and Satellite TV Alternative” articles to come.  Check back soon!

I did not have much money for gifts this year and told the kids so.  They are wonderful, understanding kids and for that I am thankful.  They only got one item this year:  an MP3 player.  Now they are busy ripping CD’s and downloading MP3′s.  Luckily, there are tons of legally available FREE MP3′s from digital download sites, and you can listen to snippets of the songs before you download them.

A note of caution about file-sharing websites:  the file-sharing service is legal, but sharing copyrighted files (such as songs and movies) on these legal file-sharing websites is still illegal.  Know the difference.

As of this morning, Amazon.com has 684 FREE MP3′s available for download.  If you sort the list by “Bestselling”, most of the songs in the top 25 are geared towards the holidays but that is just because of the season.  Browse through the list.  You might find an old favorite artist with a new song, or an entirely new favorite artist.

A motorcyclist carrying a bag of cash near LA drops the bag out on the busy freeway.  Motorists stop to grab fluttering bills, ignoring danger.  Who carries a bag of cash on a motorcycle ???  I cannot help but think that this bag of cash was a result of or was meant to be involved in some illegal thing, like a drug buy, payoff or a bribe. 

All seriousness aside, here are ten possible reasons why a guy would be carrying a bag of cash on a motorcycle on the freeway:

1.  He is ugly and he needed to get laid.

2.  He needed more white socks for his sandals this summer.

3.  He was on his way to buy Galaxy tickets to see David Beckham up close.

4.  His tithe to the Church of Scientology was overdue.

5.  He was hosting a barbeque that weekend and needed to buy meat.

6.  He was on his way to an auction for a date with Megan Fox.

7.  He was meeting Al Gore to try to offset his carbon footprint.

8.  The money was for PETA, so they would leave him and his leather jacket alone.

9.  It was Perez Hilton, always keeping cash on hand in exchange for insider info.

10.  That was John Edwards’ staff with Rielle Hunter’s monthly hush money.

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