The best thing about a computer is that it's an all-purpose tool, changing roles as easily as you can load software into it. My computer has essentially replaced my television and telephone, and given me tools I never had, like a bookkeeping system and a photo lab. Since it can do so many jobs, I thought I'd jot down an example of what I'm using it for each day this month. To be honest, I use the computer for just about everything I do, but this will give you an idea of how helpful it can be to "make friends with your computer":

July 1: I've been going to the Jug Band Jubilee in Louisville every year, and this year a band I met in Minneapolis was booked to perform there. I sent a quick note of congratulations to the band leader, which is one of the many relationships I've been able to maintain in this small but dispersed community.

July 2: I use Quicken to track all my household and business expenses. I just ran a report to add up my expenses for the last quarter so that I could plan my next tax payment.

July 3: One of my music classes had a recital this week. I recorded our performance on my iPod, then emailed it to my students so they could hear how they sounded.

July 4: My wife and I wanted to go out for dinner tonight, but we weren't sure which restaurants would be open on the holiday. We looked up a couple restaurant websites to get their phone numbers, which was cheaper than calling information and faster than using a phone book.

July 5: I'm a big fan of bike racing, and the Tour de France started today, so I took a few breaks from my household chores to read live updates from the race. When I first got interested in the sport, I used to go to the library to read a one-paragraph summary that was published in the newspaper after a few days' delay. Now I can get detailed reports, interviews and photos while the race unfolds.

July 6: A good friend is getting married in Seattle next week, and I hadn't booked a hotel yet. I went online and plotted a few on the map to find out which ones were walking distance from the Pike Place Market.

July 7: I was driving to the office today and a fascinating story came on NPR as I was parking. I didn't want to miss the rest of the story, but I didn't want to sit in the hot car, either, so I went inside and opened Chicago Public Radio's live feed and listened to the rest on my computer.

July 8: I've been recording CDs of original music for over 10 years, and selling them online for almost as long. I received a CD order today from someone I met during a music project in Memphis earlier this year.

July 9: My stepmother recently inherited a box of old letters and photos from my great aunt. She's been scanning them in and emailing them to the family, and I've been adding them to my own photo collection in iPhoto. Today we received a scan of a hilarious letter from my grandfather to his wife.

July 10: We're leaving for Seattle tomorrow, and someone recommended that we take a ferry to Whidbey Island for some sightseeing. I just looked up the ferry schedule so we could work that into our travel plans.

July 11: We're in Seattle, and the wedding is actually in a resort town about an hour away. We just looked restaurants in the town and settled on a Thai place to stop at when we arrive.

July 12: We have a little time before the wedding tomorrow, so we looked up whale watching expeditions in the area. The offices were all closed for the night, but we were able to compare prices and check schedules from my laptop in our hotel room. (Unfortunately, they all last too long and we won't have time to try one.)

July 13: We're spending the next few days with friends in Portland, but the workweek is beginning, so I need to check in on the business. I downloaded my email, replied to a few time-sensitive items, and flagged other items to address when I get back.

July 14: I'd heard about Forest Park in Portland and wanted to explore it. I looked it up on Google Maps and switched to satellite view ... wow, it's just dense forest with a couple small roads going through.

July 15: We watched a movie tonight and at the end we saw Dan Aykroyd listed in the credits, but nobody remembered seeing him in the film. We checked the Internet Movie Database and sure enough, there was a photo of him in a cameo role.

July 16: I'm back home now and I have a DVD that a friend of mine shot of a music project I organized recently. I uploaded it to YouTube so I could email links to some other folks who helped with the project.

July 17: Speaking of videos, I'm helping another friend sell a video camera, but it doesn't seem to be working properly. We went to the Canon website and found a tech support document explaining the problem and how to fix it.

July 18: My wife got an iPhone today and I told her about the CTA Bus Tracker. She set it up for the route she takes to work every day, and now she can see where the next bus is located and when it will arrive at her stop.

July 19: Some people enjoy going grocery shopping, but I hate it, so today I placed a grocery order from Peapod. I can pull up a list of my previously ordered items, and just check off the items I'm out of. I searched for and added a couple new items, then picked my delivery time and was done.

July 20: With our travels last week I forgot to pay the phone bill and it's due today. I went to the AT&T website and paid the bill online, to avoid a late fee.

July 21: The organizer of the Jug Band Jubilee would like to honor a famous local jug player, but doesn't know where he is buried. I did a couple web searches and found his burial record at FindAGrave.com.

July 22: A friend in Louisville visited the cemetery I found today, and emailed me some photos of the gravesite.

July 23: My wife and I are saving for a down payment for a home, so today I logged into my bank account and transferred some extra money into savings.

July 24: Someone sent me a scary video about cell phone radiation being powerful enough to pop popcorn. Fortunately, a quick search at snopes.com showed it to be a hoax.

July 25: I was preparing a song for one of my music classes today, "Sweet Fern" by the Carter Family, and I realized that the lyrics didn't make any sense … the singer is asking a fern to fly away and find her lover. I tried searching the web to see if there was a bird species called a "fern bird," which would make sense … then I found an online discussion explaining that the song was based on an earlier song called "Sweet Bird," but that the Carters misremembered it. Aha!

July 26: I've been learning to play the musical saw, but I wasn't sure if I should be bowing in one direction or both directions. I searched YouTube and found some videos of other players, all of home bowed in both directions.

July 27: I heard a band playing an old blues tune called "Keep It Clean" that I wanted to learn. I downloaded it from iTunes and synchronized it to my iPod to take to my next rehearsal.

July 28: I'm doing some research that requires a rare book that has been out of print for 20 years. I searched Amazon.com, and found a used bookstore in Florida that had a copy.

July 29: I'm preparing for another trip, this time a family reunion near New Orleans. I usually rent cars from Dollar, but I checked some maps before making a reservation and realized that Dollar only has one location in that city. Budget has a location a couple blocks from our hotel, so I reserved with them instead.

July 30: I noticed some cracks in my bicycle frame while cleaning it and wondered if it needed to be repaired. I found a bicycle repair messageboard and learned how to test the cracks to see if they were superficial or structural. Whew … just superficial!

July 31: I just posted next month's Compy School class schedule on craigslist. You can't beat free advertising!