Posted by Lee on February 2, 2010
Tuesday mornings in Boquete Panama we have a meeting and farmers market. I cannot recall the official name of the meeting but although not Politically Correct, it is known in Boquete as the Gringo Meeting. The event is held at the BCP Community Center on the Jaramillo side of the Feria Bridge. The facility is now the best venue in Boquete for a meeting or event with more than 100 attendees.
I arrived at 9:30 an hour before I needed to speak and the facility was crowded with vendors selling everything from books, artisan breads, vegetables and Thai Food. The farmers market has become the center of attention of the meeting and rightfully so when the speaker is me.
Today I spoke about two topics Internet access in Boquete, a topic that is dear to most new immigrants and blogging, a topic dear to me.
The slide show below would have been shown if the facility had a screen and projector, maybe in the future.
Part of my was message blogging is fun and good mental exercise for individuals. The other part is that Blog Software makes for a very easy method of creating and maintaining business websites that do not look need to look like blogs.
Here are two excellent examples I mentioned at the meeting:
Mudd Guitars Does not look like a blog
Elizabeth Quila Does look like a blog
Posted by Lee on July 31, 2008
I have been in Boquete Panama for about two years. My previous life since the early 1980′s centered on computers and data networking. From law school into learning computers and computer networking from Novell 1.0, through the Microsoft revolution and onto the Internet. I lived the network revolution from the inside and taught a crop of college students the technologies.
For most ex-pats living in Boquete the Internet is the thread that binds them to their families, banking, friends and it is absolutely essential. Boquete has multiple options for high speed internet access and between Boquete and David several good computer hardware technicians.
I spent much of yesterday helping a friend re-install Windows XP on a laptop. She had gone through a pile of experts and cash trying to clean off viruses and trojans. The final solution was to toss all of their work and re-install Windows XP, I have done this a lot in the past. I have watched new Windows installs become virus infected as soon as we put them online to download antivirus software and updates. Windows installations are a target for malware of all types.
If you move here you will need a good reliable computer and most likely a good Internet connection. Unless you are computer savvy and can maintain your own operating system and software I will make a suggestion. Before you come be sure you have all the disks needed to do a complete recovery of you system, have a good backup system and learn the recovery procedures. Assume you will need to fix your own software. There is hardware support for Dell, HP and build your own systems here but the common problems are usually software.
If you like most people view the computer as a tool and you just want it to work without understanding how things function under the hood I urge you to consider a Macintosh not a Windows machine. I realize this is a declaration of war for some zealots but I am a convert. People here with Macintoshes do not often need help because the operating system is less prone to the problems that afflict Windows.
All that said I should state I no longer own any stock in either Microsoft or Apple and do not pander myself for a fee to repair either. I will always help a friend in need if I can. As always this is my opinion based upon observations of people and computers here in Boquete.
