Still trying to put the holidays together, find that last-minute Christmas thingy, reach into your past and relive the delights of the Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, or Tom Terrific? Here's a list of things to do and things to buy online that might make you burst out laughing. I want to hear from you if you remember this stuff. I sat with my grandma and watched Perry Mason every week. How about an actual magazine on Hula Hoops? Or a hula hooping video from You Tube? ...

The question of pricey Blu-Ray over about-to-be-has-been DVD is on my plate. I moved from Mississippi to Illinois recently and, for some reason, my DVD player didn't turn up. It was a good one, a Sony, with up-conversion which is the ability for the player to read standard programming into a sort of high-def clone. I have to decide where I want to put my money right now in times of recession, holiday spending, and the fledgling nature of Blu-Ray players. I can't afford an expensive Blu-Ray. I don't own any Blu-Ray discs. I have a couple hundred DVDs. I researched the opinions and...

Lynda Weinman has written dozens of books on how to design Web sites and work with Web graphics. Weinman's books have been around for ages and she parlayed her writing career into a fantastic Web presence. If you are interested in learning how to do anything associated with the Web, site design, graphics, software, operating systems, search engine optimization - go visit her learning lab. Known simply as lynda.com, it's unlike most other commercial training sites. For one, there is no long-term commitment, no subscription required. You can sign up for one class or several. It costs about $1 a day...

I'm seeing more and more about a world wide con game scam directed at grandparents. It was originally a phone trick, and has been around for years, but is resurfacing and has moved to email and instant messaging. Here's how the grandparent scam goes: You receive a frantic email, instant message, text message or phone call allegedly from your grandson or granddaughter. The message says they are using a friend's computer, hence the unfamiliar ID or email address. They're stuck in a distant city where they went to see a concert without parent permission. Their car broke down and they need a large...

        We're all big fans of Vista, aren't we? Yesterday, when I was fanny-deep in work, I suddenly discovered that I had no recycle bin on my Vista desktop. What the...? After some websearch, I found that this is a pretty common problem with Vista. One day you'll have your recycle bin snug and cozy on the Vista desktop. The next moment, it simply vanishes. So what do you do? It's an easy fix - read this, then file it so when your's goes, you'll know what to do. (This also works if you happen to right-click the recyle, attempt to...

Holiday shopping - the Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday rushes are over. A frightening thing this year - more than one human being was actually killed in the firestorm of lunatic shoppers. All the more reason to consider online shopping. Fear of identity theft might keep some people hesitant, but fear of bodily injury makes me think online holiday shopping is the way to go. Here, then, some secrets from me to you: BizRate is a cool resource for product reviews, trends, price comparisons and gift ideas. Go check out Pricegrabber.com - I...