A Broken Shortcut

General shortcut

Do you know what to do  if a shortcut on your desktop is broken? What I mean is, if you double-click the shortcut and you get a message similar to "can't find...path has moved..." something along those lines.

I had an episode yesterday where the network guy at a school called me to say that the school Treasurer was not able to access the "name of the software that enables her to work with the state database".

I worked with him to troubleshoot over the phone and all it was- was a broken shortcut.

I talked him through the steps of how to go to Start, All Programs, Name of the Software, and begin the program that way.

I also walked him through how to right-mouse-click on the Name of the Software from the menu and send a shortcut to the desktop. (After deleting the broken one).

I was just a little bit perplexed that the guy they have hired to work on their school district network was not aware that this is what needed to be done if a shortcut did not work. A regular end user, I can understand. But the tech guy?!

Above are the steps I would take to put the Solitaire game shortcut onto my desktop. The Games menu with Hearts, Internet Backgammon, etc... is where I used the right-mouse-click option once I hovered over Solitaire to get the Options menu. Then back to the left mouse button when I  hovered the mouse over "Send To" option. It gets a little tricky for new users to try and figure out when to use the right mouse button and when to use the left mouse button. And sorry, but the directions here are for XP only. Not Vista or Windows 7.

You can usually tell it is a shortcut because it has the little white square with the black curved arrow in it. Although, there are exceptions. I once had a little program I found that actually removes that white box with the black arrow. What kind of TIME did I have on my hands back then?!

And,  hell! I didn't even KNOW there was such a thing as Internet Checkers!

She walked away

..... from this.

Photo courtesy of my brother. I don't have any details other than she was 18 and she walked away. That in itself is something miraculous.

The eyes have it

Just peeking in.... nothing to see here.... move along.

A seed company

First and foremost. My wonderful cousins in WV were the best hosts anybody could ever ask for. I love them, I appreciate them letting us stay there and I really cannot express enough how great they are. They are funny, kind, generous, and more.

I would never do anything or say anything in their home that was inappropriate or anything to hurt their feelings.

That being said - I like to keep politics and religion out of family get-togethers. And, perhaps sports.

My cousins are very religious. They are beautiful people. They shine a light on themselves and everybody around them. I cannot say enough good things about them.

While staying with them this past week-end, my sisters and I made a trip to Wallet Mart for an item I neglected to pack. I got in the check out line. There was a gentleman before me with about five small items. Before him was a very nice dressed lady in heels. It appears as if she just came from church, since it was Sunday early afternoon.

She was really having a hard time with the cashier. I overheard a gift card, a bank card, a credit card and there were many "start overs" and "re-dos".  I sighed and after exchanging "knowing" glances with the gentleman ahead of me, I pulled a magazine off the rack and began leafing through it. May as well make the best of an inconvenient situation.

I saw pumpkin pie and before I even thought that I might be slowing the cashier down, I piped up "Have you guys had a shortage of canned pumpkin around here?"

Here are two articles about the pumpkin shortage:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39379122/ns/business-consumer_news/

http://www.cantonrep.com/carousel/x2084589094/Shortage-of-canned-pumpkin-said-to-be-over-but-grocers-arent-sure

The cashier said "We used to, but it seems to be okay, now."

The nicely-dressed church lady piped up "You can expect a LOT more shortages now that Obama has bought up the seed companies."

I paused. I pretty much say nothing to this. I spoke directly and mater-of-factly, "I voted for Obama."

She paused and smirked. "Sorry about your luck."

I let it go with nothing more being said. I observed the lady struggle to get her gray gourds into her cart and march off. It appeared to me that this was not a happy woman. I said "I hope I don't ever become like her" or something to that effect.

The gentleman in front of me said "What, stupid?"

I let that go, too.

When I got back to where I could research things, I wanted to know why she was blaming Obama for a shortage of seeds or was it produce?

Mostly, I could only find that Obama invested in "seed companies" as in "start-up" companies to boost the economy. Please tell me she did not mean that type of "seed".

I researched further.  Perhaps she was speaking of Monsanto. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto

Where Obama has re-appointed Michael R. Taylor to the FDA. Taylor seems to be a proponent of Monsanto, but this would have been back in 2009. Not very recent news.

Then I stumbled across the Seed Bill 2010. Ahh. I reckon this is what she was speaking of.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/79995/seed-bill-render-farmer-helpless.html

http://devinder-sharma.blogspot.com/2010/06/seed-bill-2010-brace-up-to-make-seed.html

Well, honey. Maybe my LUCK will hold out.

Whoa! I completely forgot the "cousin" aspect to this story. When we returned to my cousins' house and we were eating one of  the many wonderful meals offered to us, one sister blurted out that I had gotten into it with a lady at Wallet Mart about Obama. My cousins' sweet wife (who is absolutely the dearest, most generous person I have ever met) said "I hope you are not a fan."

Again, I said just matter-of-factly (without embellishment) "I voted for him."  And, we left it at that. It was a bit awkward for a few minutes. I felt that I had insulted them in their home and I most certainly did not ever intend to do that. She did not bat an eye. She was still as sweet as ever. Whew. Politics really stink.

On a side note - I better get my butt out there and vote today! This is my last day of vacation. :(

Back in time

Been away for a few days visiting relatives (dead and alive) in West Virginia. We had wonderful weather and wonderful visits. 

One cousin had her grandchildren visiting. One very amicable (and chatty) first grade boy captured my curiosity. We chatted back and forth. I asked him some questions about what he dressed up for at Halloween, he answered.

I told him what I did when I went to work and his sweet and innocent six-year-old reply?

"Women work?"

My sisters and I cracked up at that one.

Grrrrr

I can see why a lot of people name their black dogs "Bear".

Witchy Woman

Here is one from the festival at the beginning of the month.

I posted this one in a very large format. How can you tell how much storage space you have left on your blog site? Go to google.com and log in. Choose Settings. Choose Google Account Settings. Choose Picasa web album - Settings . Choose storage. This should tell you how much storage space you have left to post pictures on your blog. There is a limit, you know. I have read bloggers who had to create new blogs because they ran out.

I just tested it. I took 3 of my largest pictures and set them to upload to this blog. I then watched my storage settings (as shown above) and refreshed after each picture loaded and I watched it increase. Now, this is where it gets tricky. You can delete the post, but the pictures still stay on the Picasa and still use up your storage space. How do I get rid of those three pictures since it was only a test posting?

Anywhere in settings, look at the top tabs. You should see one that says "My Photos". Choose that tab. You may have to hunt and peck, mine were at the very end of course. You can delete them here. Just make sure you don't delete any that you actually used in a blog post.

There. I'm done.

Twins

My father is on the left in the dark jacket.
I have no idea when this photo may have been taken.
If I had to guess, I'd say late 30's?

The Waiting Game

I went hog wild with the photo above. Just one of those mornings where I wanted to dabble and splash around like a child in a mud puddle and make the biggest splash marks I could.

I watched a movie a week or so ago called "The Crying Game".  I had heard of it before. I guess it won an Oscar. Whatever. It held my interest.

I play a game at work called "The Waiting Game".  This will sound jaded, but it gets me through the job cycle. A couple of years ago I wrote a post about "The Alarmist", but I am thinking "instigator" may be the more appropriate term for this individual character.

Some people just like to stir up trouble.

It goes on and on. And, I play "the waiting game".  I poke here and I prod there. I call this person and I research this issue. It is the same old, same old.

It is indeed a true "waiting game".

What?

Here is Slade guarding his chewy bone. The boxer has a much more difficult time with chew bones than the other dogs (with long snouts). He cannot maneuver or pick his up as quickly and easily as they can. He did get it stolen from him and I got it back for him.

We put up a baby gate on the steps going down into the basement. The bars were too close together for the cats, so I proceeded to get myself a hacksaw. I have one but it was huge (I bought it to cut the bottoms off my Christmas trees and to cut up shrubbery). This one was smaller and did the trick. Cats can come and go, dogs cannot. No more "P.U.P." in the basement!

The kids cleaned and scrubbed the carpets. They are making it into a video gaming place for them. YAY! Did I say kids? The "kids" are planning a trip to New Jersey at the end of the month. The same time I am planning to go to WV to visit relatives. Dogs will have to go to the vet's office for boarding. I have other family coming in that week-end. I said "Have fun, I won't be here and neither will the dogs! Feed the cats!"

Visitor

A visitor to my house. Luminous light courtesy of altered photo program. I also altered the face so that the identity could remain private. Does anyone else think it odd that this is a Halloween costume?

Amish Valley

Here is the back parking lot of the restaurant we ate at. The food. You have to come to Amish country to believe the food that is served there. It is just 30 minutes from me and I take it for granted. Shame.

This photo has been distorted. The parking lot is not sinking.

Across from the fleat market

Amish country was booming today. This photo is what I captured across from where I parked. The leaves must have hit their peak last week-end because it was just kind of dull. So I messed with the photo in my free program Photo Scape. I messed with it too much, but I'm just playin'.

I purchased hot pepper jelly. What a joke! It wasn't hot at all! I purchased a sweater for the Boxer. We feel bad for him because all the other dogs have long, thick hair and he does not.

Here is another:

Happy Dance - maybe?

I did not take this photo. I lifted it from my nieces' facebook page.

Am I happy it is Friday? Why, yes I am. I usually drag through the work week. Every body's working for the week-end. Loverboy? Was that who sang that song? Can't wait for Friday.

But I have a little, tiny secret. I am kind of ashamed of it. I am very "into" work right now. I have a couple of puzzles and I can't wait to get to the office and tackle them. I keep it on the down low because I get to do this "interesting" stuff when a problem occurs. How sick is that? A district has to be in trouble or have a problem before I get to do my job. Well, mostly.

But then again, my brother is a fireman/EMT. He gets a charge when there is a road accident. I KNOW! See? I'm not so sick. I know a lot of volunteer firemen. They love the excitement that a fire brings. Hey, which reminds me. We had five or six fires in the vicinity (covering a few close counties as well) in one night last night. All set by arson. All businesses. All in the middle of the night so there were no lives lost.

Better

Sable circa 2003

She ain't as spry as she was when we first got her, but she is doing much better. Her doctor gave her an anti-biotic for the hot spot on her cheek and an anti-inflammatory for her stiff back legs.  I will start her back on the glucosamine soft chews. I think the medicine has affected her hearing because she won't listen to me when we are out and about. Either that or she feels better than she has in a long time, so she is wandering more and not giving a hoot about keeping up with me and the boxer.

Yeah, she's a real pistol. The anti-biotics will stop, but the anti-inflam. - I am to give her that on an as-needed basis. The doc only gave me a few days supply until I am sure it will work for Sable then I can order more. If it didn't work, she wanted to try something else. I think it works. I am thinking of asking the doctor if I can take it, too. Kidding. I'm kidding!

Although I am cheating and drink a 5-hour energy drink in the afternoon at work. It has made a huge difference in my evening at home. I actually cleaned both my kitchen and dining room ceiling fans last night. My sinks got a good scrubbing with baking soda.  All my laundry is caught up. All the kitty litter boxes are clean. For the third night in a row I did not turn the television on. I ran out and got my hair cut. I know, I know. It's caffeine, but so far I can still sleep. Well, maybe not. I still get the early morning insomnia now and again  -  but I was getting that anyway before I started with the energy drinks. Sigh. I know I can't keep taking them, but for now - I'll take them.

It has been great weather for walking the dogs. With Sable feeling better, I don't worry about her dragging behind us. It was sad this morning. It was dark when I took her and the boxer for a walk. I don't leash her. I carry one with me in case I need it, but she pretty much just ambles about. She became separated from us. I usually go so far, then stop and wait for her to catch up. She didn't show. I started back the way I came. I could see her (she is black and it is dark) barely. I could tell she was confused. She did not know where we went. I think she was scared because when she saw me she was so happy and relieved. It was very sad.

And, what in the hell happened to posting on Tuesday and Wednesday? Stupid caffeine.

Doggie update

This is Chong

Everything is pretty much the same with the hounds. Except Sable seems to be a little stiffer lately. I made an appointment with the veterinarian tomorrow (if I can get her into my car). The last time she was checked out, they said it was probably arthritis. I hate for her to be in pain. She likes to lay in front of the back door and we have to make her move each time we go in and out. A pain, for sure. Once I caught her tail in the door - I know that hurt. There isn't much room to move her, because the basement steps are right there and I don't want to end up pushing her down the steps. Good grief! In order to get her out of the front of the door, I have to pull her into the kitchen. Not real easy to do - she weighed 96 lbs. the last time we had her checked.

While walking her on Saturday, she stumbled a couple of times.  I took her with me to my brother's house. She did okay. I know they fed her some people food when I wasn't looking.

I just remembered I used to give her PhyCox soft chews with glucosamine in it. That works but it takes time. I will pick up some of that tomorrow (if the vet says okay). Then I will go back to ordering it online. I had to stop for a while, but things are picking up and I should be able to start again.

I was able to get her outside and walking this evening. My daughter said she wouldn't go out at lunch for her. I usually don't have a problem. I actually "walk" them. My daughter just stands out in the yard with them and Sable knows this. I love my puppies and I want to do what is best for them, but this stupid economy certainly did make it hard for a while. Grrr!

The "out of gas" story

My brother (1942) and I went to shop yesterday for an extra internal hard drive for his computer. He has  a 160 GB and it was getting full. He deleted stuff and cleaned it up, but thought he should still add one. That's where I come in. I went to his house, we opened up the PC, gave it a good cleaning. I made sure there was a cable for the extra drive - power, yes. Cable for data - no. His was SATA (like mine) and I just did mine (wait, how many times? LOL!).

Leaving the store and in the parking lot a nice young lady asked me "Can I ask you a question?"  Besides the fact that she just did, I said "Yes."  She began, "I ran out of gas...." and pointed across the parking lot. I snorted (or something to that effect) and shook my head. "No way!" I said.

She said "Oh, okay."  As I walked away I told my brother   "I'm not falling for THAT one!"

In the car I explained to him that just this past month both our brother 1953 and his wife's niece were ripped off by somebody claiming to have run out of gas. They both gave the guy money (his wife and kids were still in the car out on the freeway, for goodness sake!) and never saw it again. The stories are much more complex, but you get the idea.

Then they told me there were crack addicts walking around (the city my brother lives in) the parking lots telling the woeful store of running out of gas, so they could score some drug money. When we got home and told our sister 1944, she said "That's a shame. Those people are ruining it for people who actually do need help."

Well, I told my story on facebook and wouldn't you know... a friend of mine said "That was my cousin, and she really DID run out of gas!"  I apologized and told her why I did what I did. I also told her (and my sister) it was strange because this girl did not look like a drug addict (but who am I to  know what one looks like?). She had nice hair and clothes and she looked healthy.

So I have learned a lesson. I should at least listen to the person before I make such a harsh judgement again. I should have said "I have my cell phone, can I call somebody for you?"  I know better than to hand my phone over to them. 

I also was a bit perplexed by the way she started her story. My reasoning was (before I discovered that she was my friend's cousin) was that 1. - who does not have a cell phone with them? (I know some folks don't but it is rare).  2. If I ran out of gas, I would not ask people if I could ask them a question, I would just blurt out - "Can you help me?" or "Do you have a cell phone, can you call somebody for me?"  - my first words out of my mouth would be "I ran out of gas".  Of course I probably would have stopped her right there, but if you need assistance, I don't know - I don't think  you start out with "Can I ask you a question?"  That is more like starting a conversation about "Is this restaurant any good, or do you know the directions to somewhere?" Or even worse - 'Who are you voting for and can I give you my opinion on the candidates?' Yikes.

So, next time (if there is a next time) I will listen first and let my instincts tell me if that person in need  IS on the up and up. I still remember Tabor's story about the nice looking lady in the drug store.

And a quick recap on yesterday's post about facebook in the classroom, here is a page that I thought has some pretty good pointers.  http://www.heppell.net/facebook_in_school/.

In the classroom

One school is having a problem blocking facebook. A number of schools in our area want to use facebook. Do you use facebook? Do you think it is a good tool to use in a classroom? Most schools are combining several classes now into one building. If facebook is allowed for 7th and 8th grade students, it may be available for 5th and 6th (or even younger) also.

Sometimes the way a network in the school is setup, is so that all students have access to the same sites. There is a way to break them down so that a certain range can view facebook, and a certain range cannot. But, you need a savvy tech person to do that.

Some schools do not have that. Some are so overwhelmed that they find it easier to just say "no" to facebook than to tweak the network to control it. And, who in the school district makes the decision as to whether a site is blocked or not? Do you know who does this in your school district? Do you think there is a committee that sits down and decides this? Think again. Mostly it is one person. If that person does not understand or use facebook themselves, forget it. If there are enough teachers who want to use the program, they can take it to the Administration and it can be overruled, I guess.

I have heard this conversation many times over the past 15 years I have worked in technology in the schools. The tech person in a district gets very little respect or empathy from the Administration. This in turn causes the tech person to have a chip on their shoulder. They get to feeling overwhelmed. Very few Administration personnel understand technology or what it entails to run a network. Many think that the tech person just sits around and plays on the computer all day. They do not have a clue what he or she does and what knowledge and trial and error it takes to accomplish the job. The tech becomes burnt out and angry over time and when a decision such as "should we allow facebook in the classroom" comes up, the tech says "No! It is too much of a hassle and my plate is too full as it is!" End of story. Period.

The teacher. Does your child have a tech savvy teacher or does your child have a teacher who never turns the computer on in the classroom? I had one superintendent (still working in the school district) that told me the only technological device he uses is the remote control on his television at home. He told an employee that he didn't care about technology, he was only putting his 3 more years in to pad his retirement.  Ouch.  I feel really sorry for anybody who has a child in this school district.

Unimaginable

Some time ago - back in the early 80's - during my idle time where I read, stayed home and studied about art, poetry and whatnot; I caught a show on PBS (one of the 3 channels we were able to receive). It was about the mythological character Medea.

This was the first time that the idea of a mother killing her own child or children caught my attention and brought it to a grinding halt. I may have heard stories before that time, but didn't grasp the meaning of it. That story sunk in.

The 'why' and 'how could she' and many other questions went through my mind back then and as more and more stories appear in the news, they still go through my mind.

Which brings me to the reason for this post. Just a few miles away, a young mother fatally shot her two children before turning the gun on herself.

It appears as if she had been planning it for a while.

It boggles my mind. She was depressed and under stress? Yes, I would think she was.

Stranger still: both Medea and this lady studied a form of witchcraft.

Festival Dance

I had to upload the video to YouTube first, and then embed it here. You really can't hear my brother over the singing (chanting?) of the participants. One year it was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit and I watched them dance. This year they didn't seem so miserable. Beautiful.

Festival 2

I had to zoom to get the photo of these two. I did get more of them, but in a movie format. This dance is just awesome. They invite the crowd to come in and participate. A few did. I did not make it back out on Sunday. Both sisters canceled. They ended up closing the festival early because of poor attendance.

This couple had me in awe. They kept right up with the dancing. Once I check the sound of the video, I will try to get it posted. I am not certain what is said on the video, yet. I'll have to use my backup computer. The sound card in my big one seems to have bit the dust. I blame it on sister 1954 and her making me listen to Lady Ga-gag.

The festival

From the fall festival this year. The best I can tell (from Google) is that this type of pipe is a Great Highland perhaps? I see her every year and I should talk to her (when she is not busy playing, of course).

We walked. Then we ate. Then we walked some more. Then we ate some more. Rinse, repeat. I thought I would burst. My sister and I would not have eaten so much, but she had her son with her and he was like "Next!" at every food tent. I didn't complain, but my tummy did a little.

My other sister just called and cancelled on me today. I guess that is a good thing (for my tummy). The weather has been cold and rainy (yesterday it was cool and cloudy). The ground will be a muddy mess (I know from past experience) and it will be quite miserable. I still have one sister who has not checked in. I may be going, yet.

They want the damn year!

If you ever see this game (www.finditgames.com) turn and run the other way as fast and hard as you can. I thought my arm was going to fall off.

It is a clear plastic cylindrical tube with hidden objects in the confetti-like plastic. I guess the ultimate elusive find is the penny. I was SO obsessed with finding everything that I took pictures. The penny was not as elusive to me as the stupid candy cane.

I got pictures of a wee bit of Abe Lincoln's head. I went to their site and it taunts you with "So, you THINK you found the penny? Click here..." I clicked and they want the freaking year! WTF?! I was livid. I may need to take Advil for the next ten consecutive days for my sore arm from shaking that damn toy for so long and they want the freaking year of the penny!

Can't I just send a picture of Abe's do?

Back Home

A photo of my Mom & Dad and I am thinking - sister 1954. Since the photo is dated 1955. Depending on when the film was developed - it could be my brother 1953.

They would try to visit "back home" once a year to see the family. My Mom didn't have much family left at that time (raised by grandparents) but my Dad had plenty. This photo was taken at my Aunts house in Wild Wonderful WV.

I researched a bit on what was happening in 1955. I was not born, yet. My Mom was a big Cleveland Indians fan - they were pretty popular during that time. My dad was a huge western watcher - Gunsmoke started that year. I doubt that they had a television (maybe) - but I know they had a radio (to listen to the ball games).

I have a full week-end ahead and of course I get a bout of early morning insomnia this morning. I awoke at 3:30. I finally just gave up and got up at 4:30. Old Sable wouldn't even go out at that time of morning. Boxer and Cheech have been sick the past two days with vomiting. Not a lot, just a little.

I made two huge pans of lasagna. I don't put the ricotta cheese in mine, just plenty of shredded mozzarella. I do add sausage. I just remembered that I used to make the pepperoni lasagna and it would come out tasting like pizza. Yum. I'll have to do that again someday soon.

Number Three

Another shot of the daisy at the lake.

The earlier post - asking you to guess which story was the dream? It was number three. The only story that didn't involve me personally. All the others I lived for real that week. The worst was the gas smell and driving up that hill when I could not see.

Speaking of dreams, I dreamed about a computer monitor flaking out on me and my car windshield shattering. Weird.

Photos and Movies

Found a new free photo program. I took the above picture.


I created this with it, by playing around/messing around with the program.

PhotoScape.

Watched City Island. I liked it. Also watched Death At a Funeral. It was okay - I was a little bit disappointed. My video store rents movies on Mondays for .79 cents. City Island I rented off the digital box from my cable company. Both made me laugh so that was good.

The Murky Lake

The lake on Friday. I even touched it up a bit.

No sunshine will do that to a photo. I don't get the chance often when driving between schools to stop and take pictures. I take no longer than a co-worker who takes a cigarette break would. And I've know co-workers to take six to eight cigarette breaks a day for anywhere from ten to twenty minutes per cigarette while they stand outside talking to other smokers. Even if they only take 4 breaks (not counting lunch) at 10 minutes, that is 40 minutes, so I figure I am quite justified to stop along the road and snap some photos for a measly 15 or 20 minutes.

My headaches have been out of control this week-end. I'll just leave it at that. I did manage an old movie. "The Sting". For some reason or another, I've never watched this one. I think when I caught it in the middle at one time, it bored me (not knowing the beginning and all).

I went through the Pay-per-view selection and saw many that I would like to watch, but my head hurt so bad, I didn't want to purchase them and then fall asleep during the showing.

I want to watch:

Killers
Just Wright
The Runaways
Chloe
City Island
Death at a Funeral
The Oxford Murders
Cole
The Last Station
Accidents Happen

Maybes:

She's Out of My League
Furry Vengeance (because of Brendan Fraser)
Date Night
Babies
Hot Tub Time Machines (because of John Cusak)

You couldn't pay me to watch:

I'm Still Here

A murky day

I stopped at one of the lakes in my region, but the day was so murky - my best photos turned out to be of the above daisy.

Here are five stories. Each one is true (and all happened this week) except for one was a dream. Can you guess which one?

1. I grabbed a load of dirty towels and began the walk downstairs to the basement. I smell gas. Well, I smelled that odor they add to natural gas. Ack! I stopped and went back up the stairs, dumped the towels on a chair and wondered what to do. I checked the carbon monoxide detector. Zero. Nothing. Big sigh. I waited a while and slowly descended the stairs. Nothing. Was it my imagination? I returned upstairs, grabbed the towels. I made it almost to the bottom step and the smell hit me - hard. Oh, no! I returned back up stairs, dropped the towels again and just stewed for about an hour. I did not want to embarrass myself again with the fire department. After a long time, I swallowed hard and back down the steps I went. Nothing. WTF? Oh! I figured it out! It was some odor coming from the towels. Idiot! Stupid animals that cause the smell!

2. I was driving to work and I turned to go up the hill by my house. I had my window down on the drivers side because I am ALWAYS hot. The sun burst over the hill and my windshield filled with instant fog. Between that and the bright sunshine, I could not see a thing! I was blind! There were like 20 cars coming in the other direction and one right on my rear end. I kept stopping. It is not a long hill. I kept sticking my head out my window to try to see where I was. I kept seeing that double yellow line and thinking to myself "I have to get over, I have to get over!"

3. My niece recently split with her husband of 8 years. Her husband was coming to pick some stuff up from the house one day and she called her brothers to be there with her. She has two very protective brothers. They stood talking outside the house. My nephews stayed on the other side of the street for most of the conversation. Some words were said and it got kind of ugly in front of her house. One of my nephew's busted out the window to her husband's vehicle with a ball bat. There was glass all over the road. Fortunately my niece's husband drove away without any more incident.

4. I was outside in the dark with the boxer. For some bizarre reason I did not have his harness and leash on him. We walked around the house. Nothing. I turned to tell him "Let's go back in" when a car zipped up the alley. I thought it might be my daughter, but it was my neighbor returning home. The boxer ran over to greet the car. My neighbor was backing into his yard and fast. I couldn't believe what was happening. I yelled "WAIT! WAIT!" I didn't know if I was yelling at the dog or my neighbor - I guess both. I don't remember hearing the words come out of my mouth. The boxer kept jumping all around the car as he backed in. It was so scary! And dark! I could not see. It was very frustrating.

5. While out walking the dogs one windy night, I saw something strange on the side of a building. The alley is very, very dark and I could see a strange movement. Almost like shadow puppets. This building was at the far end of the alley and I was not certain where the light was coming from. The shadow puppets kept dancing and bowing. What IS that?! I'd never seen anything like it. If there were anything strange and suspect, the dogs would growl or bark, right? RIGHT!?

Hello? Hello!

Maybe when the telephone with this type of handset came out, some folks didn't know you had to pick this hand set up to answer the telephone. Maybe they just leaned over the ringing device and barked "Hello? Hello!"

That is what I felt like trying to answer my Fascinate. Come to find out I have to slide (or swipe) the "Answer" button to actually make the connection - not PUSH the button.

My daughter had to tell me. The student has started to become the teacher. Nuts!

Wild Cherry

Car in sister 56's family. From '67.

Just trying to recover after a socking migraine that hit late this afternoon. About the same time as a severe thunderstorm went through the area. Didn't help any that I awoke at 4:00 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. I was in hyper mode all day. I had some demonstrating to do and I was really in motor mouth mode. (The headache hit much later). Many of my migraines are preceded by a huge energy rush and burst of mental explosion. I did a lot of cleaning Tuesday evening and I blabbed up a storm today.

I can remember trying to tell some ladies while leaving work that my head was splitting and I could not come up with the word "splitting". All I could think of was "cracking" and I said "My head is cracking!"

The extreme pain in the side of the left temple is gone, but it still hurts. Any sudden movements, or sounds send me over the edge. I am trying to stay up late enough to get the dogs out for their evening business so I have no accidents in the morning. At this time I hurt so bad, I really don't care about anything that might happen in the morning. I do feel bad for them, though.

Between lack of sleep, lousy weather and more personal issues - I don't have a chance against the migraine monkey.

Push

There are some things I need to get used to about this "Fascinate". I am not totally "fascinated". My first and biggest complaint is I have no way of knowing if there is a message waiting for me until I pull the phone out of sleep mode and check my screen. My daughter (Droid 2) said that she has a small tiny green light that lets her know if she has a message.

Because (contrary to most folks these days) I do not take my phone with me everywhere (like the bathroom!). I will leave it sit on my desk at work and when I return I am left wondering "Did I get a message? How will I know?" My old Razr would beep at me every 5 minutes if somebody left a message.

This "Fascinate" remains silent.

My sister called me Thursday evening. I was sitting right by the phone. It did not ring. I heard a beep and I looked to find that I had a voicemail. In fact, it said I had "missed a call". How could that be? I was sitting right here. The volume was turned up. Hmmm.

The next day at work, my brother called. The phone was ringing it's head off, I pulled it out of sleep mode and pushed the button. Nothing. It just kept ringing. And ringing. I pushed and pushed. Ack! Another "missed" call. This phone is toying with me.

I tried to call him back. I pushed and pushed - no use. It was as if an invisible shield had come over the face of the phone and was not going to respond to anything I did to it.

It beeped (or hiccuped) with a message that I had a voicemail. Then (and only then) was I able to get a response from the touchpad keyboard. I called my brother back.

I set the phone down and stared at it. It had the audacity to go to sleep.

"So THIS is how it's going to be, huh?" I gave it a stern look. I squared my shoulders and sat up in my chair.

"Bring it on bitch. I will slay this dragon."

Recipe: Potato Salad

These did not make it into my potato salad.

boiled potatoes
hard boiled eggs
green peppers sliced thin
celery sliced
grape/cherry tomatoes
sweet baby pickles sliced tiny


dressing:

salad dressing
ranch dressing
sweet pickle juice
mustard

salt & pepper


Decoration on the top:

sliced hard boiled egg
slices of tomatoes (no insides)
or sliced grape/cherry tomatoes
leafy ends of celery stalks (bright green end leaves)

I was reading a couple of recipe books at work yesterday (on my break don't ya' know) and thought that maybe I would start buying cucumber dressing to add into my potato salad. It sounded good. I usually don't purchase cucumbers, but I have added them on occasion to my potato salad. Sometimes it is hard for me to write down a recipe because I don't always use the same ingredients each time. I punch it up with whatever I have and hope for the best. LOL!

Note to self: Turn the temperature down in the refrigerator so the pickles don't freeze. Yikes!

The years fly by

It is all going by in a blur - in the end it's a wink of an eye.

Time. Hurry up and wait. It keeps on slipping... into the future. It goes by so slowly. It goes by too quickly. It goes. To be four years old, then fourteen, and then 24. There is a cavern of time between the early decades. After 34 or so, they just blur together. Mine do anyway. I lived entire lifetimes between four and 14, and then between 14 and 24. Between 24 and 34. After that I kind of stayed in one place, remained in one job, saw the same people every day. The years became a blur.

Am under the weather today. I dreamt (how about dreamed?) I was throwing up. Hmmm yes, spell checker likes dreamed much better. I awoke with a searing headache and not feeling well at all. I gag when I sneeze. I am stuffed up. My eyes hurt. I don't want to go back to bed because I will then focus on the nausea. If I stay up and do things I can keep it in the background.

I think there was more to my purchase on Monday than meets the eye. Yes, I have been looking at the various smart phones and there comes a time (like when I buy a car) when I just get tired of looking and just say "oh, just buy the damned thing! One of them, any one of them so I can get out of the misery of deciding!" Make a decision and "poof" it's over.

The fascinate has a few caveats that I am trying to learn to deal with. It kept shutting down on me (going to sleep) so I figured out how to keep it "on" for a couple more minutes. I'm sure this will be okay when I know how to use the phone, but it was kind of aggravating while I was trying to learn how to use it. At first it "pushed" my exchange e-mail and then it stopped. I re-created the setup for my work e-mail and it began "pushing" my work messages again.

Anyway, I think I was upset from Monday at work - and purchasing the new phone was supposed to make me feel better. I am guessing - but I really had been looking. A co-worker and I were given a new job to do. Our organization started a new avenue. I bulldozed through the mess and figured out how to set up the entire show. I was ready with a presentation. For about the sixth time in 15 years, we ran out of time at the meeting and my presentation was nixed - again. Barely a mention. As I mentioned above it has happened to me before. All that work and "poof" nothing. Not a word, not a mention about it. WTF?!

I also believe that is why I am throwing myself into the Ubuntu experience. I need to have something to learn to make me feel good about myself. I must stay resilient and not become recalcitrant.

Can't touch this

Without getting my fingerprints all over it. I just have to live with fingerprints. At least I got the screen protectors for it. And an extra battery. It is power-intensive.

I also have three (count them, three!) books from the library on how to configure and tweak Ubuntu. Good grief. My head just might explode with information overload this week.

The third book (Ubuntu Bible) is at work.

I am switching from a Razr (red) to the (black) Fascinate. Steep learning curve. Steep.

Celebration

I have been very busy this week-end. Lots of family came into town Friday night to celebrate sister 1956's birthday. The staff at the restaurant put these silly hats on my sister her husband and one of my brothers. I can only guess they were not entirely certain what guy she was with. Some family are still here and I have been very busy with them. No time to post. My cheeks hurt from laughing so much.

I realize how very blessed I am. I am taking full advantage and am enjoying it. I'm not wasting a precious minute.

Family

That is my maternal grandmother on the right. She died when my mom was ten. That would be 1930. So this photo was probably taken in the late 1920's.

She left my mom to be raised by her parents. She did not marry my mom's dad. She met this man many years later, married him and they had a son. She died ten days after childbirth.

I can only imagine what my mom felt since she is no longer around for me to ask. I didn't think to ask questions when I was younger.

My mom's half brother caught up with us in 1976. He came to meet his half sister and her large family. He was always talking about how lonely his childhood was and how he wished he were part of a huge family. His 80th birthday is tomorrow.

Way Back

Is that right? Way Back Wednesday? Here is one from the old family album. My sister said anytime you see a picture with my Dad's hand behind his back, he is hiding his beer. I am not born yet, so I don't suppose I am in this photo. Have a bit of a headache tonight and do not want to spend a lot of time at the computer. Ciao.

Your Labor Day

I hope your laboring is light and unencumbered today.

Burn baby, burn

Good grief it looks as if we are burning one of the chairs in this photo. Not at all. The chair was safe on the other side of the fire. This is the camp fire we build when I go to visit friends near the lake at the campsite.

It was a beautiful day (August 27th) and a lovely evening.

Barely there

I got a couple of blooms from my moonflower plant this year. One plant grew large enough. It is hiding underneath the hydrangea and protected by the huge lilac bush on the other side. It peeped through and bloomed a few times.

I have two more plants, but they don't look like they will produce any blooms this year. I am wondering when I should transplant them. I was going to try to get them back over to the western side of the house where they were when I first moved here.

I finally replaced the "coin" sized battery in my behemoth computer and the very next morning the electricity went off for about ten seconds. I was in the bathroom getting ready for work and I came out and said to myself "This is it. This is the test."

I turned the behemoth on and it started up, went straight to Windows. No "Press F2 to run setup" configuration error. It kept the date as 2010. I didn't have to change it from what it usually resorts back to - 2004. Hurray!

Not so lucky for the sub woofer. I have no sound. The sub woofer blew the new fuse I placed in it the second I turned it on. Wah! I figured a cat probably peed on the unit and short circuited it out.

I can't find anybody (locally) that works on speakers and stuff, so I may have to look north.

Running on

It is very difficult for me to get a motion picture of Slade. Canon's annoying "delay" makes me miss most of the shots I want.

In the vein of "Labor Day" I find this quite annoying, also. Fifteen years ago when my daughter was in grade school, my work day started at 8:00 a.m. It still starts at 8:00 a.m. She did not have to be at grade school until 8:30 to 8:45. I paid a sitter to watch her until it was time for her to walk the 3 blocks to the school.

I find it annoying that in my work place, the managers (who now have grade school age children) come in late every morning (after taking their child to school). And most of the time during the summer they will come in late after taking their child to football practice, or cross country training.

I won't say any more on the matter, but I needed to have my gripe time and here it is.

Oh, woe is me

Using my backup computer again. Here is a photo a month or so old with our cat Teton looking at some fish in a bowl. They are there, up near the top. The food cover we use so the fish can't jump out and so the cat can't stick it's paw in is kind of covering them.

I have my main computer down to change the battery. I got one at Radio Shack and (par for the course) got the incorrect one. I also changed the fuse in my sub woofer and promptly blew the new one out. So that means a more serious problem. I must find a place that repairs sub woofers. Oh, woe is me.

And, I have insomnia. I have been up for an hour. The dogs have been taken outside and fed. I still have some kitty litter duty but I kind of procrastinate in that area. Work has been busy in an interesting kind of way.

I hope to visit some family and an old friend this holiday week-end coming up. Labor day. Hah.