There are some things that I loved when I was a kid, but now think are silly.  At different points I loved MC Hammer and Carman. I watched Home Improvement every week for a few years. I read every 'Boxcar Children' book that I could. Now I can't stomach any of them.
Other things I loved then and I love now. I loved and still love Animaniacs. I've played Super Techmo Bowl for the Nintendo every year for a long time. There was a few years when all I listened to was Weird Al. As I got older I kept thinking that I needed to stop liking him.  As hard as I tried I kept coming back to him. My on-going interest was furthered today with the release of Weird Al's newest song.
I wonder what things I love today will be old news in  a few years. If you know a magic formula for figuring that out, I'm interested.

What are some things that you loved as a kid that you are embarrassed of now? What things do you still love?

While Photoshop is only half as useful as Office, it's twice as fun. In a time when literally everyone has a digital camera, the need to crop, lighten and touch up photos is great. There are a number of simple products out there that will take care of a few of the basic tasks. The beautiful thing about Photoshop is it does everything. The problem is that it also costs everything ($650!).

The good news is there exists a free open source alternative, The Gimp. The Gimp does most everything that Photoshop can do. It can be a little frustrating at times, but so can Photoshop. If you are already familiar with Photoshop, there is a version of The Gimp whose layout emulates Photoshop. Also, there are a number of tutorial online covering both basic and specific tasks.

If you're looking for something a little simpler Google's Picasa is free, will do most things and is way easier than Photoshop or The Gimp. Corel's Paint Shop Pro is another very good for advanced functions and only costs $80. It's also worth noting that Windows Vista has some very cool photo editing capabilities coming, but that's another topic...

Have you ever wondered how the illustrious SW Washington town of Battle Ground got it's name? I sure have. But thanks to Wikipedia, we no longer have to wonder.
I love Wikipedia, there is such a large amount of interesting information on there that it LITERALLY boggles my mind. So if you see me walking down the street with a boggled head, you'll know why.