I love solitaire and find that it is a great way to keep my mind working, any type of puzzles or brain teasers are good to do for brain stimulation. It is one reason I love my new little pandigital novel so much, it has solitaire loaded on it and now I can sit any where including in bed and play it, plus since it has backlighting no need for any lights on, and the touchscreen means no mouse or touch pad.
I also really like word games like bookworm and matching games like bejeweled and the link up game that is on the novel also. I sometimes do jigsaw puzzles online and crosswords. The more brain gymnastics I can get the old cells to preform the better as I get older.
I think every thing I do on the pc is educational in one way or another.

This is something I'm very good at. :) I have a routine..I check my email, look at a favorite blog or two, peek at a few forums that I follow here on Gardenweb and go over my calendar. And before I know it, I've been in this chair for TOO long!

I like to visit different forums, play cards (on the computer), play Big Fish Games, do searching for medical stuff, order stuff from certain sites, go here to fix problems, or ask questions about different programs.

RC, know that you are a geek, would you suggest more places to find games, puzzles, etc., to do on the machine? I too love solitaire, love the double deck best, working on 3, but would love to find other games, some already on machine do not interest me in the least.
Appreciate any info.

When I do happen to be off work I still get up early, have my coffee, and sooner or later will tinker with the Internet. I read the news, do my banking and investments, and stop in here along with several other places. Thirty minutes or so and I'm usually done.

Too much to do inside, outside and for myself to remain glued to the monitor. If I do get a pause through the day I may pass through again. As casually referred to by pfmastin, I'm not "in this chair for TOO!long!".

DA

When I am on the computer, I sometimes take a break to go and eat & mother nature."LOL"

Seriously, I check my e-mails, order whenever, read the paper, search on google, spend time on the forums, work with my graphics etc., make movies/slides to burn and label, play Snood and Mahjon. Do a lot of printouts and scans.
Usually am on very early in the morning so have the day to do what I should which is not easy.

I'm retired and live alone, except for two Siberian huskies and three cats. I can do as I please almost 24/7--life is good :-) When I get up the first thing I do after the bathroom (includes weighing myself) is turn on NPR and the PC. I start the Keurig coffee machine, check my blood sugar, take my morning meds, make breakfast and then eat in front of the PC. This is an absolute ritual broken only if the power is off. If I don't have a morning appointment I spend unlimited time at the computer. I pay my bills online. I participate on three forums. I am careful with money and shop a lot online, though I don't always buy online. I use the shopping to research a planned purchase. I read email, my local paper and some highlights from the NY Times and then browse or research anything that pops into my mind. If I am going any distance away from home I usually do a Mapquest, even though I have Hal, my car GPS guru. I consider the internet the biggest library in the world and I don't even have to be quiet while I am online. My cats torment me at intervals for attention -the dogs are outside. I care very little for the telephone and use my cell phone only for urgent matters while I am in the car. The computer's biggest rival is a good book, and reading usually trumps the internet. There are a few evening TV programs I watch attentively and many that I tune in to but "watch" while I also am online. When I think about how life would be if I had been born in a different century, I am very happy to have shared my life with the internet.

I no longer spend nearly as much time sitting at my computer but I do have my netbook that I can used in my recliner and my Pandigital novel that I can use pretty much anywhere it is so light weight. I am on several support forums that I check in a few times a day usually. I don't do a lot of email so that is not much of a time waster but I do have a netvibes page that I have all of my RSS feeds on so I can go to one place and view everything which is a time saver.
Some of the game sites I have used are
Gamez Laboratory
Friv
FantasticContraption
that one is very challenging, there are forums dedicated to how to do the tasks, I used to play it quite a bit.

Games for the Brain
Jigsaw Puzzle Paradise
Crossword
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/ word games
and this one to try to improve my numbers and math
Addemup
Unfortunately have not played it in a long time.

and from popcap I play bookworm, bejeweled, and a few others on occasion. I do not download them I just play them there online.

enjoy!life is too short not to have a little fun

Here is a link that might be useful: online games popcap

Thanks RC, you are the best, at least there is a huge variety now to move to.
I am somewhat in the mudlady's venue, I too live alone, and LOVE it, and always thought my mom grew up in a wonderful time, with electricity, phone, all those ammeneties, but I have to agree with mudlady, we are so lucky to have the computer, it is the greatest thing for making the world a smaller place and friendlier, most of the time, except when the hackers want to cause havoc.

mudlady and shaddy, I too am alone except for my dog.
Isn't it nice when you can do as you please when you want without having to answer to somebody.
Yes, it can get lonely at times where I would like to have someone to share my interests with but I like my lone time.
Like right now, I can be on the computer as long as I want. I have a doggie door so the pooch can go in and out as she pleases just like the old lady here. "lol"

Oh, thanks a LOT, rc...I tried the jigsaw site and now I'll NEVER get of this chair.

I aim to please ;-)

Raven thanks so much for the great game links. I've been playing for a couple of hours and found some great ones, and there are scads more to choose from.

Sure to keep me entertained this coming winter, keep the old brain cells from drying up, like you said.

Surprisingly similar to mudlady above.

Also, Netflix is beginning to make available some old movies on line that are not available on disk. The spouse has a cable to run the laptop on the TV so we recently watched an old Hitchcock that is no longer available for rental on disk.

for those that like art and being creative these are some sites I have tried, I must admit I am not very good at this,
Picassohead
artpad
snowflakes
I have been a fan of ze Frank for years, his site has a ton of neat fun stuff to spend time on.
zefrank

livebrush

I occasionally like to go back in time to some of the old arcade games like pac man etc, this site has a lot of those plus other types of games.
arcade
and for a true time waster the all time winner
Virtual Bubblewrap - Pop Now! Pop bubble wrap online - since 1996

Awww Raven the arcade link is brilliant. Right back to those good old Atari and Coleco games I spent so many hours of my middle age on ;~) Oh happy day! Guess I need to find a joystick again.

Thanks a lot for that.

No mention of spider solitaire? I spent far too much time on that, as well as tetris and hearts so I deleted the programs, links, etc.

Now I find myself reading too much news.

I have become totally addicted to genealogy and spend more hours than I want to admit doing online research. Can't imagine how people did genealogy before the internet.

I justify the many hours by writing up short stories--factual--for my extended family, a number of whom are newly discovered. And just recently I have started a "This day in our family history" blurb, featuring an ancestor's birthday, anniversary, naturalization, immigration, whatever. People like SHORT. Fun.

homebound you can find tetris on that arcade link I posted.

It is like a mini flash back to go play a few of those oldies from time to time.
Glad you enjoyed it Owbist.

ginny12 I have not done much genealogy but it is something I think I could find myself spending a lot of time on if I decided to dive in. We have done a little and found some interesting info on my husbands family.

Like ginny12, I've spent more hours than I care to admit hunting out genealogy clues which have led to many side-tracks as I get interested in the particular history or geography of the area where a particular ancestor lived. I'm not nearly so much interested in just putting a name and date on the pedigree, I want to know what the social and historical climate was, what motivated the choices they made, how they coped. That has led to my biggest time-eater --- I'm not affiliated in any way with the church that owns the website, but I've been working as a volunteer indexer for FamilySearch.org to help create search indexes for old records. I've indexed everything from pages of the 1885 Iowa Census to Christening registers in the UK in 1849, to War of 1812 pension records. Often it's just like a jigsaw puzzle where you really have to study to figure out the blotchy ink-and-quill writing, and it's also a puzzle to figure out the spelling of some of those original record keepers! I've learned quite a bit about different places and times just from the names and ages I transcribe. Several pages of the Iowa Census were in an Irish neighborhood where nearly every family had 10 or 12 kids, all 1 or 2 years apart from one another. My mind gets to wandering, daydreaming about what their families were like, how hard they must have worked, how neighborhoods got along. And then there was the batch of birth certificates in rural Texas where one baby's parents listed their permanent residence as "traveling carnival show!" I'm finding it to be just as relaxing as Solitaire, but hopefully it will also help somebody else trace their family details the way somebody else's indexing work helped me.

Surfing around GW definitely takes some time each day. Checking the email. Shopping is good. I could certainly could get a lot more done w/o the computer calling to me all the time. I try not to turn it on in the morning, but I cave by about 8 a.m.

Games on Face Book. FarmVille, Country Life, Treasure Madness, Ranch Town, dozens of others.

For jigsaw pictures we LOVE big jig. A new free puzzle comes out every Monday.

When I'm not here or on Face Book, I'm on one of a group of tractor forums I visit.

Pooh Bear

I saw the title of this thread and was sure my husband must have found this site! hee hee He says I'm completely addicted, and I am. I am retired and I spend way too much time on my PC. The only thing that saves me is I love the outdoors so I do make myself get off and go do my chores. When I give hubby lunch and he sits down in front of ESPN on TV, then I take my lunch break with Huey (that's my PC's name....silly huh?) After dinner then he resumes his spot in front of the TV and I'm back in the bedroom with Huey. In the Winter I follow a couple of TV shows, but it is hard to pull myself away, that goodness for DVR!!
My Mom lives across the US and we have been e-mailing almost daily since '98 when we first got our computers. She is 82 and had a stroke this year and has been unable to use her machine and I really miss talking to her. She used to keep me supplied with computer games....Pop Cap and Big Fish which are pretty addictive. I have several forums that I check in on; I do my banking, pay my bills, and shop. I used to do a lot of genealogy but haven't for awhile, too busy with everything else. I love Facebook....great way to keep in touch. My Mom and I both have Mastercook which we keep our recipes on plus I love Allrecipes.com and it's forum. I have all my photos on my PC. I have 2 desktops and a laptop which keep me busy keeping them in working condition as you may notice from my many posts here. Am I sick or what!!! I could go on and on! hee hee
PS, Raven, what is that thing, "pandigital novel"??? How much do they cost?

Silvervista, I am just like you. For me, genealogy is not just a list of names and dates and places but the historical context. I majored in history and it is both exciting and fascinating to be able to place my own family members in the American and European saga that I studied for so many years. What they all went thru so we could be here...

I admire your index work more than I can say. Very, very hard work but so useful to so many.

Just briefly OT--Does anyone know of a forum for people doing genealogy as GW is for gardeners and others? Have not found ancestry.com useful in that particular respect.

I'd Google genealogy forums

Casi if both you and Mum have high speed and computers with XP or better you can actually talk to each other for free using Skype or similar program, you'll need speakers and a mic or preferably a headset with mic attached. While you chat you can see each other if you have web cams, you can also send you photos while chatting. Quite a versatile program

casi, there are a couple of threads here about the pandigital novel, it is sold as an ebook reader but it is much more, it is wifi capable so I can get online and surf, email, buy books which I can download right to the unit which has a built in ereader, I also download a lot of free books. I got mine a few months ago at Bed Bath and beyond, used one of their 20% off coupons and at that time there was also a rebate so mine cost me I think around $110
Pandigital Novel
Pandigital® Novel 7" Color Multimedia eReader
other stores that carry them are Kohls, Walgreens online, BJ's. They now have a white version and a black one, I have the white one and it seems to be the best of the 2.

try doing a search on here for pandigital novel those other threads should come up, several people here have them now.
It comes loaded with solitaire and a matching game called link up, it also comes with some free books on it and you can put your music files on it, photo files, video, it really is like a mini pad pc.

The Pandigital Novel
what many have done successfully is take the walgreens add to bed bath and beyond and ask for a price match, then also use the bed bath and beyond 20% coupon which you can get from their site if you register. That brings the price down quite a bit. Very few of the BBB stores have refused to do the price match.

Owbist, thanks for the tip. Yes I know that we could do that but Mom is barely able to talk to me on the phone. She is really bad off. It reminds me of something she did though. Several years ago she ordered 2 units called "Beamers" made by Vialta, "phone video stations", one for her and one for me. The reception and picture were so terrible; I think we used them about twice! They ran about $300 apiece but she got the 2 for $250. Talk about white elephants. At the time I could have told her we could do the same thing with our computers, we were already talking using Yahoo messenger. But she was so proud of what she had bought. I wonder how many of those they sold.
Raven, I will definitely check out the Pandigital Novel. Sounds really neat.

Casi I understand fully your situation and I am very sorry to hear it especially as it is Mum. I have been trying to teach my BIL in England basic computer use since January 2009 and we are no further ahead now than we were after the first week. He too had a stroke but fell off the roof of his bungalow during the stroke. His speech is very bad many days and he can only use one hand.

I taught him to use Teamviewer so I could connect and watch his every mouse click (forget keystrokes, those are not about to happen) and guide him. Sometimes he manages other times I have to take over to complete a task. Sometimes we don't even gt to Teamviewer and leave it for another day when he might be a little sharper. He is in his late 70s so I do not expect any improvement above what we have.

Owbist, sorry about your BIL. We were so excited when we got to bring Mom home from the nursing home, thinking that she would be so much happier, where she could see her flowers on the deck, watch her favorite TV and play on her computer. She loved to play games. As her paralysis is on the left side, we were thinking she would be able to use her right hand to play. We were able to get her up in her wheelchair and take her to the computer but she would just peck at the keys. Some days she would say that she was shopping and she would sit for a long time. Don't know what she was seeing. It was so disappointing.