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| Home >> Resources | Support >> SHEX >> |
SHEX: If You Can't Find it in the Real World, Do a Search in the Cyber World! ("True Sories How Internet Has Changed Our Lives.")by Michael Chang (09/19/02) Copyright (c) Directron.com.We have SHEX (share experience) posts in Directron.com Help Desk Forum. We now have compiled them into this new section on Directron.com. We hope more people will write such pieces to benefit the entire PC community. Copying the contents for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited without Directron.com's written consent. However, you are welcome to distribute these computer support tips free to your friends and associates as long as it's not for commercial purposes and you acknowledge the source. You are permitted and encouraged to create links to this page from your own web site. SHEX: If You Can't Find it in the Real World, Do a Search in the Cyber World! ("True Sories How Internet Has Changed Our Lives.") Somehow my five-year old son gets into this craze of collecting state coins. I remember seeing a collection board with the US map where one can place one state coin to each state on the map. That'd be a nice supplement to his collection. I went everywhere to find it. WalMart, Toys-R-Us, and even Kroger. No where to be found. Toys-R-Us used to carry them but have sold out for a while and won't get any new ones in. Finally I did a search on Yahoo/Google (Yahoo uses Google behind the scenes). In two minutes, I placed an online order for four of such boards! In that evening I told my son the board is coming next week. He was a happy kid. (And this is also a good time to teach him the idea of waiting for something good to come). Morale of this story? I should have done a search on the web FIRST! I could have saved me time in going through those stores. Shex - SHare EXperience. "When was the last time you had shex?" Reply by Tenebrae I am a busy single mom who works full time. I also don't have a car. Google is my best friend when it comes to shopping, but I don't need Google to find the best online shopping for computer parts - it's right here at Directron. :-) Seriously though. I even do my grocery shopping online! When Peapod quit delivering in the SF Bay Area, I started going to my local Albertson's again and taking a taxi home. I had to tip the driver extra to get him to carry my groceries up the stairs (I have bad joints). Since I have to take the bus to the store, the whole shopping trip ends up taking me at least a couple hours, sometimes longer. The taxi with tip is about $10. Albertsons.com delivery costs me $9.95 and they carry them up to my door and do the running around the store for me! All that, and they keep throwing in free stuff, too. Last time I got a free package of hotwings from their deli, a free pound of ground chuck, hamburger buns, a bag of Ruffles, and a package of shortbread cookies with chocolate stripes. Mmmm...free yummy cookies...:D Reply by Michael Chang Too bad, Albertson's left Houston. They built some nice stores; and then suddenly disappeared. I guess I should give Kroger or Randalls a try. I have never ordered grocery online before. It sounds like fun, especially with those free stuff. Reply by Tenebrae I still prefer picking my produce out in person, but it's nice to be able to pay somebody else to do the legwork and carry those cans and stuff up. Check the chain stores in your area to see which ones (if any) actually deliver. Try a $50 or more order to make it worthwhile. If it's a place you usually do grocery shopping at, it'll probably cost about the same as a trip to the store. Reply by Michael Chang Thanks for the tips. Here is another story that's related to this thread. For quite a while I wondered where to purchase the actual text books for my two older kids. In Texas (I assume it is the same elsewhere), kids don't normally bring their text book home. If they do, they are typically too heavy any way. That makes it very hard for the parents to know what they are learning, leaving alone helping them. The text books are no where to be found in all the local book stores I visited. Some teacher's supply stores told me that the text book companies have contracts with the government not to sell/distribute these books outside of the school districts. The schools don't sell them to the public, either. Finally, I did a search for some titles on the net. Bingo, I found some businesses selling these text books - both used and new. They also sell the Work Books for the text books. I ordered a few of them immediately to have a test run. I think I am now better equiped to help my kids, especially for those subjects that are considered as their "weak" ones. Another benefit of owning our own text books is that they can be passed along to the younger one(s) when the time comes (assuming the school district does not change the text book in the middle). The Internet is indeed an amazing invention! Reply by SteveS That's a subject which is a bit of a sore one with me. They claim it's in the interest of sving money not to have any textbooks but a set in the classroom, but to me that's hogwash. I believe it's a part of a concerted effort by the education establishment to keep parents in the dark about what they are actually teaching (and not teaching) our kids. And that whole issue of textbook printers not releasing textbooks for general review or purchase is just part of it. And we're just standing by letting them do it. It's no wonder kids come out of school so dumb nowadays. Reply by Michael We received the coin collection holders. They are nice designs. The kids like them. It's an excellent tool to teach kids about the US map, states, and some geography. My five-year old now can identify California, New York, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska now. Those easy ones first. However, I didn't realize that the coins are produced 5 each year. It will take ten years to finish them. The last year they will have a full set is 2008. By then, my five year old would be 11. What a long collection process. By then, I hope this collection book is still around. It would be interesting to know whether the coins are produced in limited quantities. If they are, the state coins may be hard to find by the time it approaches 2008! That may be a sound collection strategy. I am sure there should be plenty coverage on this subject on the net. Reply by Michael Maps on the Internet Some companies actually lose as a result of the wide spread use of the Internet. One such example is the business of printing hard-copy maps. Who needs a city map these days? The number of maps sold has been decreasing. You can download or print not only maps but also directions for free. It's much easier to find a map/direction online than from a map book. However, such a dependence on online maps creates a problem if the online map is inaccurate. Recently I had some paperwork to be delivered to a near-by location. I asked Chris to help, who happened to be relatively new to this area and had the time. He printed a map and a direction. And off he went. Half hour later. The recipient called and asked where was the delivery person? I told her Chris should be there already. One hour later. Chris still didn't show up. It turns out that Yahoo map gave Chris a totally wrong address in the other side of Houston! I remember I had the same experience about half year ago when we were trying to find a party. Some of the addresses on the online maps are totally wrong! The online maps are great tools. However, I guess we just can't trust them 100%, yet. And, as always, you can post a question on the Directron Help Desk! (by121404) |
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