We’ve spent the past 2 weekends building out the new bathroom in the basement. Last week, we had the original shower window blocked up and started framing in the new shower, closet and walls in the basement bathroom. In the next week or so, we want to start tiling the shower and one wall of the bathroom.

Well, with the dawn of a new year and the temperature outside a cold 21 degrees, we decided to start working on the basement again after a 2 month break. We actually seem to get more work done in the basement in the winter than we do in the summer, maybe because there’s nothing to do outside when it’s so damned cold. Today, we got 3 more recessed lights installed. One in the entrance of the hallway, one midway down the hallway and one at the foot of the stairs. We also did a lot of wiring. Installed a new breaker in the electrical box, took out a lot of the old 50’s wiring and replaced it with new wiring. All in all, it was a very productive day and we got a lot more done than we had planned. When messing around with electricity, you certainly don’t want to be in a rush. Tomorrow, we may finish haning drywall in the hallway ceiling, chalking up another milestone. We also went to Lowes and purchased a new toilet for the new downstairs bathroom. Though it’ll be a couple of months before it’s ready to install, at least well have it here and ready when the time comes.

. Processor: Pentium 4 M
. Hard Drive: 20 GB (plus 20g external usb drive)
. NVIDIA G-FORCE Graphics Controller
. Equipped with high resolution 15″ TFT displays at SXGA+ (1400×1050), UXGA, or Ultra SharpTM (1600×1200)
. Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz
. 512 MB RAM with maximum of 1GB Expansion
. Brand new battery and new carrying case (runs about 3 hours on a full charge, can be used with 2 batteries for a maximum of 6 hours)
. CD Rewrittable Drive
. Floppy Drive: 3.5″ 1.44 MB Floppy Drive
. Wireless Network Enabled w/Linksys Wireless G Portable Network Card but also features the same v.92 modem and a 3Com 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet NIC used by other mainstream Dell Latitude systems integrated directly onto the system motherboard.
. Infrared Capability
. Internal speakers
. Port to add external speakers / headphones
. Serial Port, Parallel Port, VGA Connection, PS-2 Connection
. 2 PCMCIA Slots
. 2 USB Ports

Comes with Windows XP SP3 and Office XP pre-installed, all updates have been applied. Does not come with XP or Office cd’s. If you prefer, I can also install Ubuntu 9.10 Linux on it if you’d like. Everything works just like it did from day one. As I mentioned, the original battery finally died and I purchased a new one about a month ago. Also comes with a Dell carrying case that I bought about a year ago. Power supply (to plug into wall outlet) works 100%. Overall condition of the laptop is excellent. Laptop case is free of any bumps, bruises or scratches. Keyboard and mouse pad have normal wear. LCD is also free of any scratches. This laptop comes from a smoke free environment. I’ve used this laptop as a backup pc for the past 3 and a half years. When I decided to sell it, I formatted the hard drive and did a fresh install of Windows XP and Microsoft Office XP. This would be a great 2nd pc for any household and a great laptop for any student. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

$200 firm! New battery itself costs $110. This is a great system, you won’t be disappointed. These are workhorse laptops and still sell on Ebay between $180 – $320.

Our favorite movies of the holiday season. A movie a day until December 25th!

Dec. 1: Christmas Vacation (1989) – The Griswold family’s plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.
Our rating: (9.5/10)

Dec. 2: It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) – An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed.
Our rating: (9.5/10)

Dec. 3: A Christmas Story (1983) – Ralphie has to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect gift for the 1940’s.
Our rating: (9.5/10)

Dec. 4: Elf (2003) – After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity.
Our rating: (9/10)

Dec. 5: Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977) – A poor otter family risks everything for the chance to win the cash prize of a talent contest for Christmas.
Our rating: (8/10)

Dec. 6: You’ve Got Mail (1998) – Two business rivals hate each other at the office but fall in love over the internet.
Our rating: (8/10)

Dec. 7: The Polar Express (2004) – On Christmas Eve, a doubting boy boards a magical train that’s headed to the North Pole and Santa Claus’s home.
Our rating: (9/10)

Dec. 8: The Santa Clause (1994) – When a man inadvertantly kills Santa on Christmas Eve, he finds himself magically recruited to take his place.
Our rating: (9/10)

Dec. 9: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) – Repelled by the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find the true meaning of Christmas.
Our rating: (8/10)
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Now, before all you hardcore computer geeks, linux fanboys and apple fanboys start rumbling and grumbling, this post is geared to all of my every day, average computer users who are looking for something free and sturdy to keep their computers safe from every day web surfing threats. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been recommending the AVG Free Anti-Virus and over all, I’ve been very happy with it. It has performed nicely. But at the end of September 2009, Microsoft released Security Essentials. Microsoft Security Essentials is a lightweight security app that people might turn to for a number of key reasons. It’s easy on the system resources, it’s easy to figure out how to use, and it comes pre-configured. It only works on legally licensed Microsoft computers, which is understandable but potentially leaves a large segment of the unprotected population still unprotected. You can’t opt out of contributing to SpyNet, which isn’t understandable at all. Overall, it’s recommended for those who want something to set and ignore. So far, I’ve been very happy with it, it has performed as expected and has become my new recommendation to friends and family. You can read more and download it here!