Margret Sloan

My favorite way to spend a few minutes on a mental health break is to play online backgammon or some of the free card games on Yahoo or other online game sites. I first discovered online games way back in the early 90’s, when Microsoft launched their “Village of Games.” Now there are dozens of different sites, some with excellent graphics and large numbers of regular players from all over the world.

If I have a full hour to spend on R&R I’ll try to find a good partner and play one or two Spades games. If I only have a few minutes I’ll play something fast, like backgammon or cribbage. Sometimes I like the cutthroat strategies of Hearts to sharpen my mind. These are not time wasters as much as they are mental exercises to keep me alert and sharpen my critical thinking skills.

Years ago I would keep a backgammon board in the car. It looked like a little grey leather briefcase, with two luggage latches and leather handle. Inside were the dice and markers, a deck of cards, and an envelope with two dollars worth of quarters. Every time we went to the emergency room, one of us would grab the backgammon board to take in with us, so we had something to do and keep us distracted for the 4- 6 hours wait time we would have to endure. We would play backgammon or Acey Deucey for hours, and even taught the ER registration clerk how to play one night when it was very slow.

Now I play backgammon online when I need a mental health break from the busy days around here. I love the way you can go online and jump into a game with a worthy opponent with almost no wait time to find another player. I’ve had the same screen name for years, and now there are dozens of other players who recognize my name and will search me out for a game or two.

Interesting how the only way I ever would have met these wonderful people is over the internet. All those terrible days and nights of waiting in the hospital emergency rooms have evolved into friendships with people from all over the world who share the same interest and passion for a game of online backgammon.

Some of us play in online backgammon tournaments, too. Those are great fun and a better test of skill and staying power than just a casual game or two. If you can win 8 or 9 games in a row, then you are a deserving champion or very very very lucky.

My son is getting more and more serious about his internet gaming. That boy spends hours and hours – after his homework is finished, by the way – playing these first person shooter games with his internet friends. Now he’s complaining that his computer is outdated and too slow and he “needs” a new one.

Well, since school is out for the summer, I thought it would be a great idea for him to build his own computer from a Do It Yourself kit. That way he can pick and choose exactly what components he wants and he will learn a lot from the hands on experience of putting together a computer.

There is a great site on the internet that sells the kits for different kinds of computing needs, including the super charged gaming computers like my son wants. The parts are all big name brands and fully warranted, so I’ll be sitting down with him tomorrow morning and choosing the specific parts he wants to order and we’ll order his DIY kit.

I talk to dozens of people every day, most of them are people responding to an ad for new employees. The ad lists my cell phone number so people only know my name and not the company they are calling – it’s a privacy thing.

But sometimes keeping up with all the numbers without names attached can be very challenging. I was happy to find a web site that lets me look up numbers, including cell phone numbers. It can be hard to find a good place for Reverse Cell Phone Lookup. And a cool part of this site is that if you don’t want your number to be given out, you can subscribe to a “No Call List” and they will remove your number from their database.

A friend of mine wants to start a small business using the internet to sell handcrafted items and asked my opinion on creating a website and finding a web host. I have a funny feeling her approach of asking my opinion was a thinly veiled request for me to do it for her. But I have a lot on my plate right now and I would prefer to point her in the right direction and introduce her to professionals who can do a good job for her.

Starting any new business requires watching your pennies and making the most of the resources available to you. Starting an internet-based business requires the same thing, and there are many good people and companies anxious to earn your business. The hard part is finding the right ones.

If you want to start with a web hosting company, you need to know what features and services are most important to your purpose and process. There is a nice website that serves as a directory of web hosting services, called Top 10 Webhosting worth reading through the information they have and the charts they’ve put together for the readers. By taking some critical information on each of the top web hosting companies and making an easy to read and understand chart, this site lets you compare the different features and rates and then make an informed decision. The “Best web hosting list” and an explanation of why they are the best is just a click away.