So It's a Write-off, But I'd Better Be the Optimist and Start Working on the Current Theme

I have the new prompt for LJ Idol, but have no idea if I can/should write a story with is. The concept is broad, but interesting. The deadline is later this week. However ... at this time of the year I'm only going to spend that extra time writing if I'm still in the game. I haven't heard which of the two of us doing a "write-off" yesterday have prevailed, so I'll start fleshing out something on the current theme, but it's December and I run a store. Every minute has a dozen tasks begging for attention. 

So far I'm still in it, but I have no idea. I turned in 
my blog post for yesterday as my write-off essay, 
and I don't know if I'll garner enough votes to stay in 
the game. Nonetheless, I'd better start writing on the 
actual challenge word. Ever the optimist - LOL. 

It's a swimming day, though, and I'm gratified about that. All of this stuffing (gluten-free, of course), gravy and other Turkey Day treats have caused me to put on four pounds. I'm glad I'll be swimming some of that off in 90 minutes or so. I really need the full-body exercise. As much as I move my arms while walking on the treadmill, the two exercises (swimming and treadmill) are quite different and hit different parts of the body (or the same parts in slightly different ways). I really need both my treadmill and my swimming pool to get an effective workout each week. 

The world is going to Hell in a handbasket. 
Such a quaint saying, I wonder what the 
origin of this one is? 

Of course the world is going to "hell in a handbasket". Huh! It's such an odd saying - "hell in a handbasket". I wonder what the origins of this one is? I suppose I could look it up - I'm only a click away from the World Wide Web of Misunderstanding (LOL), but I think I'd rather just contemplate today. I might make the effort later today while I'm at work and need a break from entering price tags or helping customers. "Hell in a handbasket" ... what a strange saying. 

The World Wide Web is not the same as 
the internet. The internet will get you there, 
but the information you garner and exchange
is from the web. 

Are there sayings you're familiar with that are odd or unusual? Are there sayings that move within your family that you've never heard anyone else say? I suspect that's the case for many of you. Those sayings can be a bond between family that isn't even thought about until you mention your saying in mixed company one day, and the meaning flies right over the head of the rest of the group. It can happen. A lot of the sayings I grew up with were European, and there's a lot of difference between "ach du liber!" and "Oh my goodness", despite they're being applicable to the same events. Do you have family sayings that have come down to you? Do you use them? Or do you just nod when someone else uses them, but don't actively carry the tradition onward? Curious minds ... LOL. So, I'd better get to the pool, then start work on the current Idol challenge. Ever the optimist, that's me - LOL. Have an excellent Tuesday. Slava Ukraini. 

What A Nice Weekend - Hopefully Yours Was Equally Enjoyable

I hope all of you had a good weekend, celebrating your holiday of choice if that's your thing, or just relaxing with friends and/or family if not. DH and I don't celebrate "Easter" because he's Catholic by upbringing and I'm Jewish in the same stream. But he does keep Lent - no meat on Fridays. That, of course, is a pleasure for me because I love fish. He, on the other hand, enjoys his Lent with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and McDonald's fish fillet sandwiches for dinner. It's what he wants, so that's fine with me. I, on the other hand, had several lovely baked salmon dinners, a baked tuna dinner, and one weekend I ate shrimp. It was a delightful Lent - LOL. 

I had my favorite baked salmon recipe again on 
Friday night. It was absolutely delightful. I 
love things that are easy to prepare and turn out 
wonderful. This recipe will be used again and 
again because it's a good one. 

Now we're back to "normal", or as normal as we can get. He had two frozen baked Chicken Kiev with extra cheese along with various side dishes for dinner last night, and I treated myself to a lovely beef tenderloin broiled perfectly, along with sauteed mushrooms and a mixture of baked butternut squash and heirloom carrots. It was yummy for both of us, and it was one more triumph of being able to eat what I want without him having hissy fits. Baby steps ... LOL. 

I love heirloom carrots. They have a sweet 
taste and they roast beautifully. It's become 
one of those go-to veggies for me. Yummy. 

The voting for stories is open once again, and if you enjoyed my dragon tale, and are on Dreamwidth (because LJ Idol has moved completely over to Dreamwidth now), I'd certainly appreciate your vote. I'm not sure if he has me listed as Engarian or Erulisse over there, and I'm also not sure if you can vote if you're not a member of the group, but if you can, please do if you're so inclined. 

My tenderloin wasn't this thick, but I had broiled it 
on Friday, so I cut it into pieces and after the mushrooms 
were sauteed, I added the meat and to let it warm slowly 
while DH's meal was baking. It was an easy transfer 
to the plate and perfectly cooked when his meal was 
ready. With my veggies on the side, it was an 
excellent meal. I'd absolutely do this one again. 

It turns out that one author I've been enjoying in the LJ Idol competition is actually from a nearby Minneapolis suburb. It's been quite fun chatting back and forth - I'm always delighted to meet people with similar interests through posting boards as far-flung as the internet can host. 

I've never paid too much attention to what "they" say. I've 
met some really awesome people through the internet. 
Some I'm still in touch with, others have dropped away 
into their own lives, and that's OK too because that 
happens whether a friend is nearby or across the world. 
I've always welcomed my internet friends - they're 
pretty amazing people. 

How odd. I have a small wind chime attached to the curtain rod on my left. It's muffled by the drapery, but has a sweet sound when I allow it to ring freely. It's an owl of course - (my love for owls is deep and has been held for more than 60 years). I suddenly heard it chime when I was writing the prior paragraph, and when I looked up, one of the bottom chimes was swaying slightly. Ooooooh! Ghosts - LOL. Probably not, but it's as plausible as a sudden gust of air since I'm seated, my fingers are the only thing moving, and there's nothing around that could start it singing. So ... ghosts it is - LOL. 

My owl windchime near me is quite similar to this 
one. Not identical, but this is the closest I could 
find. But, mine hangs by the curtain rod next to 
my computer desk, and is muffled by the 
drapery material. Having it ring one clear tone 
while writing my blog today was quite unexpected. 

On that note, I'm out of here. Have a fabulous Monday, do kind things today - we need a lot of kindness to overcome the evil in the world. I have every intention of being back tomorrow for a quick post before I head to the swimming pool. Peace! Slava Ukraini. 

Ukraine, Snow and My Internet - Problems All Around

I was in tears yesterday, watching the events taking place in Ukraine. I'm so angry at that idiot in charge in Russia, I can't even say his name. The man is a poison on the earth, and he's killing everything he touches. I wish there was something I could do that would help the people he's assaulting, but I can't spread a blanket over them for warmth or give them a place to rest that is warm and safe. I'm not sure there are any safe places right now - for anyone. 

Is there a safe place for anyone to hide these days? I wish 
there was a way to protect the people of Ukraine, but the 
situation there is just getting worse and worse. 

The idiots in our own government are of the "hurry up and wait" mentality, which doesn't help much at all. In fact, the only things I've seen that are helpful are the efforts of individual people. There's the pianist who travels with his piano to brighten the hearts of those who pass. He was in Minneapolis right after the George Floyd murder and played in George Floyd Square for the people, helping to heal in his own way. He's now in Ukraine, pulling his piano along behind him as he goes from place to place, playing in the cold to help the people with a bit more hope and a spark of joy as they flee past him. What a brave man, who only wants good in the world and does whatever he can to facilitate it. 

Pianist Davide Martello (German) believes in the power 
of music to heal and help life the spirit, so he travels to 
places where people are troubled with his piano, and 
plays for them - quite beautifully. He's in Ukraine now, 
near the border of Poland, and is playing for those 
fleeing the war zone. He pulls his piano behind him on 
a wheeled sled. It's quite amazing to see. Here's 
a CNN piece on him in the Ukraine. 
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/03/06/piano-man-poland-ukraine-border-refugee-shelter-sidner-dnt-vpx.cnn

When I first went on-line this morning, I was afraid Live Journal had been pulled off, but it was my internet service, which was down for a quick routine maintenance. It was back up in five minutes, and so was Live Journal. I've always had two accounts - LJ and Dreamwidth, but I do need to put my icons into my DW account. I've had the account as a freebie for a long time, but purchased the full account last week and I'm going to pull over my icons as well, so that I'm fully functional on Dreamwidth. I'll continue posting on both platforms (as well as my personal blog) for as long as possible, but I suspect Live Journal will die soon. 

One of the first things dictators and despots do when 
taking over a nation is cutting the internet off, isolating 
the people from outside contact. Although the internet 
hasn't been around all that long, it's become a serious threat 
to dictatorial power struggles. 

I had a nice Sunday, except for the tears late that night. DH and I had a somewhat relaxed day ... well, I did at any rate. He used the snow blower to clear out the five inches of overnight snow we had gotten, then shoveled the back walk, and then pulled the snow down from the front and side roofs. It was a long and tiring job, but fortunately not in frigid temperatures. Still, he was happy to have it done and settle down to a toasted English muffin for his breakfast. 

It's a bit of a pain to have to post from two completely 
different computers. But, I'm determined to get this 
up and not miss a day just because my internet at home 
is toast right now. Hopefully it will be back up and 
running by tonight. 

I'm going to wrap this up. I got my swimming reservation for Thursday made this morning, so I'm good to go. My internet is down again, so I'm heading over to the shop, hoping that my internet there is functional. I'm going to get this posted and then catch up with what went on over the weekend. I hope you have a lovely Monday and that wherever you are, you're safe and warm. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Internet Issues Messed Up My Afternoon

My internet went down yesterday afternoon, while I was talking with Aearwen. We live with our internet. It's rather like the Nile River was in Egypt - lifegiving, sustaining, and the method of moving from one place to another. It's essential, in other words. I have a business account for my home internet. I set that up years ago when only business accounts could get a decent bandwidth. But we also do quite a lot of business from home, so it made sense. I have a specific phone number to call, so I called it after finishing my convo with Aearwen. . 

The Nile River was what allowed crops to be planted and 
people to live in the pure desert that Egypt is. Every 
year the Nile would flood from the winter thaw. That 
was called the "Innundation". The Nile would overflow 
its' banks, bringing rich soil and water to the interior 
of the land. As you can tell from the photo, the river 
is bounded by a strip of cropland, then Egypt returns 
to the desert. When the Nile didn't flood, or it 
flooded too much, famine would occur. 

As always, it took jumping through a few hoops to get to a human being. I wasn't able to actually speak to him, but we texted back and forth. Finally, after an interchange, my tech said they would run a diagnostic, followed by an analysis from the pole to the house, and that the internet should be back in operation in a hour. I said I hoped so, since I had to leave for an appointment, and I would check it out when I got back from my meeting. 

I'm fairly good at jumping through hoops, and getting 
to the point of actually interacting with a human being 
on the phone in large companies requires many hoops 
and some good luck as well. However, it was successful 
in the end, and my internet is back up and running 
(for the time being). 

So, after we got back from the accountant's office, and picked McDonald's up for DH (a special treat, apparently - LOL), he settled down at his computer and I at mine. We did have internet again (which was a relief), but it was a bit laggy - ask it to perform a function, and it would think about it before doing it. Still, it was functional - a lot more functional than it had been several hours earlier. 

I hate it when we get a laggy internet. (What really 
surprised me is that there is such a true word as 
laggy!) It's frustrating for any gamer to have lag 
when you're trying to survive in an instance. DH 
was happy to have internet, but still frustrated at 
the lag we're experiencing. The router is fairly 
new, so I'll have to look into other causes when 
I have some time. 

I'm hoping things are back to normal today. I won't be home to deal with any problems, but I'll leave DH instructions to let me know if there are problems. If so, I will phone Comcast again and arrange for more diagnostics to be done and maybe another download. We'll see. Today will be the test. I'm off to the pool for my last swim of the week. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Le Tour de France - A Sprinters Stage for Today and Tomorrow

I missed most of Le Tour de France yesterday, running up north to pick up DH's repaired computer from my Computer Guru, and returning home and reinstalling the repaired CPU. As always, (when Dale isn't busy on the phone with a customer), we had a chance to catch up and chat for a while (1+ hours of a while). I then was sent on my way back home, having paid a ridiculously small bill for parts only (he threw in the labor for free). It took a couple of phone calls to him before I had the CPU plugs into their correct socket locations, but everything seems to be working well now and I'm relieved. I think my network is still uncomfortable with the new CPU, but it's accepting it and I'm not really sure what else I need to do to calm it down. I'll deal with that on Friday, the next day I have time to deal with computer issues. 

Today's route is from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to 
Nimes, that twisty-turny squiggle to the left of 
the hook that was yesterday's incredible mountain 
stage. No overnight travel is necessary, because 
tomorrow's longer sprint stage will start from 
Nimes. 

I was sorry to have missed the race, it sounded as if it was a really good finish on a really tough stage. But, life and Le Tour goes on and today we're into Stage 12. It's a good sprint stage, so the finish could be interesting. (Tomorrow will also be a good stage for a sprint finish). The current standings, after yesterday's brutal climb of Mont Ventoux - Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates/UAE) is in the Yellow, Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quick Step/BEL) wears the Green, Nairo Quintana (Team Arkea-Samsic/FRA) wears the Polka-dot, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma/NED) wears the White as the best young rider, and the top team right now is Bahrain Victorious. Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo/USA) was awarded Most Aggressive Rider for yesterday's stage. 

Today we continue working our way towards the 
Pyrenees, which will be start on Sunday.  We've got
two great sprinters stages now, followed by 
a hilly stage that will be highly competitive. 
There's every possibility that Mark
Cavendish will win one, or maybe even both
of the next two stages if he's lucky. TdF history
might well be made over these next two days. 

Today we head from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Nimes along a stage that is picture perfect for the sprinters. The varied topography will keep everyone on their toes, but there's probably going to be a break-away of some type and the key, as always, will be to string them along, then pull them back into the peloton as the finish line gets closer. Today will be a day of strategy, teamwork and a bit of luck. I know who I'd love to see on the podium at the end of the day, but we'll have to see. My wishes don't always come true. LOL

My NetGear Nighthawk is blinking where 
it shouldn't be. I suspect the new motherboard 
and graphics card installed by Dale are 
confusing it. I'll have to settle down 
tomorrow and figure out how to calm 
down my electronics once again. At 
least DH has no problem accessing the 
internet, so that's what's important. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I have a lot to do and I'd probably better get to it. Our miserable heat wave has moved away and last night was actually a really comfortable night's sleep. I hope this continues for a while, my plants are MUCH happier in the cooler temps of a "normal" summer. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow for another post in "How the Tour Rolls". LOL 

Best Laid Plans - Happy New Year

Well, the best intentions sometimes don't happen. I went down to my computer early this morning to wish all of you a Happy New Year, but discovered my internet connection was down. After being patient and trying to restart it, I had to give up and get over to the shop to do our year-end reports and deposit. When I returned home I still had no internet, so I took the bull by the horns and contacted Comcast. After almost an hour of staying on hold or listening to various this and that, I finally reached the correct department for my type of account (I have a business account here at home because I do a lot of business work on my computer). They said a technician would be able to be at my home within two hours. 

I had intended to wish all of you a Happy New 
Year early this morning. It didn't happen. 

It took slightly more than two hours, but my tech finally appeared at my door. After about a half hour, we had the system back up and running, but it turned out to be a modem glitch which may be caused by the age of my modem. I'll have to look into getting a new one if this happens again, but at least I'm back up and running again.  

I hope next year treats all of us kindly. It was a very 
difficult 2020 and I'll be happy to see the end of it. 

I wanted to say, this New Years Eve, how very grateful I have been for my friends, in-person and on-line, over this very stressful year. I'll be happy to wave good-bye to 2020, and I hope that 2021 fulfills the hope that it holds. I cherish each and every one of my friends and I'm so very happy to have shared this past year with you. I'll be changing my calendars over tomorrow and I'm taking the day off, but I'll be back on-line on Saturday to wish all of you an official "Happy New Year". As always, be kind, stay safe, and please wear your mask. 

Annoyances and Positive Thinking - Effect Change

Barnes & Noble has had a problem with their NookBook service for several days now. I have a large backlog of books to read, so in essence, it's not directly impacting me ... except ... it is. The fourth book of a series I adore was finally released on Monday and I can't read it yet! Oh, I could buy the Kindle version, but I don't want to. I don't like the Kindle app, and I have almost 1800 ebooks in Nook format, as well as the previous three volumes of the series. I don't want to hop to another app for the fourth book. I don't need to read it RIGHT NOW ... but I WANT to read it RIGHT NOW. I'm getting annoyed. 

I want it NOW. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but NOW. 
(Of course, I'm not in charge of the electronics, so I'll 
get it when it's available, but it doesn't change the fact 
that ... ) I want it NOW!!! 

Got the news today from several residual groups that YahooGroups is biting the official dust on December 15th. It's a long time coming, but it's sad to see it disappear completely. During its heyday, I belonged to more than 20 assorted groups and was constantly keeping in touch with lots of people on those boards. I even started one or two of my own boards on there for beading and enameling groups. But members moved on, people died, or interests changed and activity slackened. I understand why it's being retired, and almost all of the viable groups have moved on - most to FaceBook - but it's still a sad thing. 

I used to love Yahoo Groups. I had a lot of friends 
on those boards, and we chatted daily about life, 
kids, and whatever our common interest was - 
beads, artwork, Tolkien, etc. They were active, 
they were lively, and the people I met through 
Yahoo Groups were wonderful. 

When I think about where I was within the internet twenty, or even ten years ago, it was a much different place. We had groups of people who were joined together because of common interests and who developed very real friendships through the keyboard and screen communication of various posting boards. We chatted, daily in some cases. We visited each other when we could, or when we were at common situations such as Bead & Button Show or the various Metal Clay Conferences, we would make sure to get together as a group at least one night - share a meal and some drinks, and share laughs and history. That seems to rarely happen any more. 

The speaker at this Metal Clay event is my friend, 
Lis-el Crowley. I last saw her when we shared 
dinner with a third friend at the 2019 Bead & Button 
Show. She was suffering from cancer then, and she 
passed away in hospice last month. I find my 
thoughts turning to her often lately. She's
another friend I miss. 

People take their instant communications with friends throughout the world via our electronics for granted. They operate as if they will always be able to reach out and comment on the dog's antics, the child's fears or the favorite cat video. Our electronic world has broadened our reach, but it's also meant the death of person-to-person interactions in many cases. So my challenge to you, my readers, is to reach out to someone today and really care about them. Interact with them on a level below the surface "Hello" and "Have a good day". Find some commonality, praise something, make someone feel better about their interaction with you. There's so much hate in the world today, let's try to overshadow that hatred with some love. 

Offset the negative by doing something positive. Make 
someone smile today, pet a dog, feed the birds, smile 
and make a funny face at a child. Positive actions are
never wasted. 

Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow, same basic time, same basic channel. In the meanwhile, please be kind, stay safe, and wear your mask. 

I broke the Internet

I'm not really sure how I managed to do so much and accomplish so little, but after taking copious notes during the final Runway and pulling the pictures last night, I started putting things together for all of you today. I wasn't allowed to upload more than 22 pictures of the 40 I wanted to show, so I split the post into two, planning to show the first two designers today, and the second two on Monday. I split it, saved a draft, wanted to return to my first post (which already had the 20 photos inserted) and it had disappeared. 

ARGH! I'm going to have to condense the commentary since it disappeared on me, and I'll post the Runway photos grouped by designer. Unfortunately, I'm totally out of time today, so that's going to be Monday and Tuesday instead. 

I apologize!!! But, as I said ... I broke the internet. "sigh" The things I do for fashion! 

Have a great weekend, stay safe, stay healthy, keep calm, and I'll be back with fashion to start your week. 

Net Neutrality - Gone In A 3-2 Vote

Apparently, yesterday, net neutrality was overruled by a 3-2 vote. For most of us this won't mean much of anything, but it closes the door on total open internet access for all and means that your internet provider/portal can cut off or charge more for access to parts of the internet that previously would have been easily accessible. As I said, for most people that won't mean anything, but for people who are fighting in the trenches to keep access available for splinter groups or subcultures, this may mean a lot in the long run. 

Polls among the population proved that keeping Net
Neutrality was extremely popular among the people, but
apparently that was not shared at the corporate level. 

This vote is political. When consumers are polled, they generally don't approve of constricting web access at all, instead voting in favor of net neutrality. But because of this vote, broadband providers may now block websites, charge for higher-quality service, and/or regulate internet high-speed delivery. It seems to reflect the belief that unregulated business will stimulate innovation and help the economy. I'm certainly not saying that may not be a by-product, but I'm also saying that your internet provider is now going to muddy the water and have different tiers of service, blocking accessibility in some instances completely, based on their personal political and commercial platforms. 

Is your internet one of the Big Four? Your internet content
and access may end up restricted or more expensive because
of yesterday's ruling. I admit, I'm a Comcast customer, but
that doesn't mean I want them regulating my internet access. 

Regulation isn't always positive, but to me it seems as if we are being tossed back into the ages of a single long-distance carrier and dial-up phones with expensive bills. I remember the monthly phone bills while I was in in college; how just one weekly hour-long conversation with my boyfriend (who lived in Tennessee at that time while I was living in Colorado), resulted in bills of $60-$80/month. It was a serious hit to my college budget. There was a single phone company - AT&T, and no choices for any communications across long distances. Now, although I'm still paying that $60-$80/month for a phone, I can call anyone anywhere in the world and I can surf the web, read a book and double-check facts - all on the phone that I carry in my back pocket. I don't want to return back to the stone ages of monopoly and restrictions, paying for every crumb thrown my way. 

It may not be quite this bad, but it could be and that's worrisome.
There's no oversight against making the internet tiered and forcing
everyone to pay more for access in the "fast lane" as depicted above. 

We're all going to have to watch very carefully to see what repercussions and ramifications this 3-2 vote will actually cause. It's not going to be instant, but I'm quite sure the internet providers and portals have had plans in place for a long time that began to be instituted the moment the vote became final. The vote went along party lines - 3 Republicans vs 2 Democrats. Want to know what Net Neutrality really is? Here's a quick video from the New York Times that might help. 



Is this vote all bad? Probably not. But right now Big Business is in the driver's seat in Washington and that's not always a good thing. Big Business answers to their Boards of Directors and the stockholders, and common sense and the common man are often completely forgotten in the pursuit of profit. I'll hold out hope that things, essentially, won't really change, but I have fears about this vote. 

Have a great Friday! We got some snow last night, so I'll have to clear the driveway before getting to the gym this morning. The things I do to get into the pool at 5:00 am. LOL Sorry for the political rant, I usually try to stay away from politics in my blog, but I share my thoughts and this is the direction my thoughts took me. 

Living With the Unexpected

Sunday was a busy day - I slept in, made breakfast, and DH and I went to the home improvement store to get the last of the capstones that we needed as well as a few other things. DH got to work in the castle and I took the opportunity of a beautiful day to clean my car - replacing the winter floor mats with my summer ones, washing all of the windows inside and out, vacuuming everywhere, etc. That usually takes about 90 minutes and Sunday was no exception. DH had said that he needed me to help with some measurements for the shed and woodshed that we're putting up, but then he went ahead and did them himself. He'll still have to change their location slightly to meet city Code, but he's pretty close.

I use a shop vac to vacuum my car. We own several of them and
one is always in the garage - not easily accessible, but available
and it can be accessed. It works well for all the little pebbles and
grit from the winter. 

As the afternoon moved on (and the weather was PERFECT), he flattened out the top tier of the castle and started placing transplanted ferns along the edge. This required him to dig them up from the upper back yard and move them down. I was just carrying over a bag of topsoil to fill in some of the holes when I heard "Oh, oh!" (actually, the language was probably a bit stronger than that).

DH had managed to chop right through the internet cable with his shovel while removing the fern that was growing on top of it. He sliced right through the cable. That meant we had no internet and no TV. We still had 4G on our phones and one TV that runs on antenna, but the cable was dead.

This isn't our exact cable - we had a hole about six inches deep
with the cable bisecting that, but the end result was the same -
a sliced cable line. Oops! 

So - phone call to Comcast to get a technician out for repair. All good and fine - as a business customer I would have a tech out within 1-3 hours. EXCEPT ... 1-3 hours came and went and still no tech arrived. I called Comcast back and voila - there was no repair ticket. The sound you heard was me beating my head against the wall.

A newly scheduled tech would arrive between 10:00 am and noon on Monday morning. To console ourselves we treated ourselves to two of the new gourmet McDonald's sandwiches which were surprisingly good. DH stayed home from work for a while yesterday, and our cable was restored by 11:00 am.

So, not a tragedy, but it meant no blog from Monday and a BUNCH of emails, etc that I have been dealing with this morning. It will probably take days to actually catch up *sigh*. But I'm here, I'm back, and I wish all of you a stupendous Tuesday!

Argh - No Internet

My internet was down this morning, so no blog today :-( I'm working on finishing the last of my Wild Cards and that will be my focus for the day. Hopefully I'll have things to post no later than Friday (since that's the last day of B2MeM, it probably would be a good idea to finish on time). Have a great day, everyone!

MIA - SORRY!

I awakened at the usual 3:15 am yesterday and went to my computer to catch up on my email and write my blog. Although my modem appeared fine, I wasn't getting an internet connection. I fussed with the modem and my computer for a while, unplugged and replugged the modem to reset it, checked settings on the computer, but no - nothing. That resulted in a phone call to Comcast and after they had downloaded a few signals on their end without a fix, led to a scheduled technician visit for between 2:00 and 4:00 pm. My DH phoned me at 11:00 am and everything was operating properly once again, so I cancelled the technician and have chalked it all up to the Gods of the Internet. However - no blog yesterday. Sorry!

I was tearing my hair out trying to get my modem
and computer to talk to one another again. Then
I had a similar problem at the shop between my
laptop and my printer. It was NOT a good day
for me and electronics. 

All of my cards are in the mail. The final address I was awaiting actually arrived on Monday, so I was able to finish the final card and put it into the mail yesterday morning. I have two blank cards in reserve for "emergencies" and am keeping a third one for my personal file, but today I'll be putting my supplies away in their proper places until it's time to make next year's holiday card. I want to thank all of my varied, talented friends - I have more than half of my cards going to internet and/or overseas friends and I love the thought of my cards going all around the world.

In addition, my phone wasn't able to link up to the public
Wi-Fi at my breakfast spot. It was just a day of
electronic misses. What a relief when things seemed
to settle back into place around noon, but a frustrating
nine hours of spinning my electronic wheels. 

I've received cards from Linda Hoyland, Ervinae and cmcmck thus far. I know that's just the beginning of what will be a wonderful spread across my fireplace mantle. I'm starting to get into the holiday mood, even though I'm working six days a week until Christmas Day. There's plenty to do, so at least I'm busy, even though I have to work on my Sundays for a while.

I'll be housecleaning today - putting away my
holiday card supplies, dusting my shelving and
pulling out the vacuum because my carpet is
a total disaster right now. 

I hope your holiday plans are starting to come together. I'll be cleaning today (the house is a MESS), but I'm thinking perhaps I can bake some holiday cookies next Wednesday. I'll have to see - most years I just don't have the time to indulge. Have a great Wednesday and once again, sorry for my absence yesterday.

Electronic Communication - Thinking Back Twenty Years

Communities rise and fall, it's the nature of humans to change, merge, separate or simply pass through. I've been on-line in various groups since 1996 and I've been a member of lots of different groups of people who shared similar interests. As many of my YahooGroups are shifting to different platforms, I thought back on my history on-line and those friends I've made through this electronic media who are still friends today - years and years, posts and posts later.

The first groups I joined were beading groups and I still hang out with beaders because it is a crafting love of mine, and because it is also my business. In those early days in the US there were a few choices for portals from which we could easily access the web, but also those portals held communities where we shared experiences and daily posts. After trying a couple of different portals, I finally decided on AOL and joined up with the beading group there - a strong and vocal group of mostly women more than 100 strong who had a very active community.

AOL might be a dinosaur, but I love their email so I hang
on to it and I'm using it every day. 

I'm a bit of a dinosaur in that I've kept my AOL membership as my email address through these many years. Not because it's such a great portal, but because it's convenient. I have several different email addresses that I check daily for work and for personal, and they archive everything, so I can access older exchanges easily. Also, since much of what I do is actually business related, changing email providers is problematic. But AOL's been good to me over the years and although it might be a dinosaur, it's a good dinosaur that still suits my needs.

Yahoo Groups was one of the first ways to
gather like-minded people together into a forum. 

After a few years, other things began to open up, one of which was YahooGroups. Yahoo made it really easy to make a group at the drop of a hat, send out invitations, make it a closed group or an open one, and voila - people were posting, sharing, and working with each other. I think I still belong to more than 20 groups on this forum. I killed the one that I moderated only a few weeks ago because most of the members had moved on to other venues and activity had dropped to almost none. Other groups here are stuttering, but many have moved over to other forms of social media.

Facebook is easy enough to use, but a bit over the top when
it comes to sifting through the minimal to get to the
important things. 

FaceBoook is one of the more prevalent social media venues where my groups have shifted. I check in periodically, and belong to open groups as well as closed ones. I find FB a bit like a rambunctious teenager, though. It's harder for me to reign in and really get what I'm interested in looking at coming up first in my long list of posts by friends and colleagues. But it's been a wonderful thing in other ways, allowing me to reconnect with people I had missed through the years.

I don't Tweet, I don't do Pinterest, I don't insta this or that. If  I
have any extra time, I prefer to read. I guess I'm old-fashioned
that way, even though I read electronic books. 

There are lots of other ways to waste time on-line. I do some of them - jigsaw puzzles, reading stories at SOA or on LiveJournal, or just downloading a novel for my Nook app or general e-reading app. Twenty years ago when I made my first tentative steps into the world of electronic communities, I could never have dreamed how pervasive it would become in all of our lives. I'm grateful that I've had this opportunity to reach out over the years and touch so many people in cyber or real life. It's been a joy and I look forward to another twenty years surfing through the electronic waves. Happy Tuesday to all!

Schedule? What Schedule?

The best laid plans, etc. When I awakened this morning, after gathering the trash and recycling at a time of the morning when most "normal" people are fast asleep, I settled down to catch up on my emails and write my daily blog. But no. Five minutes after I settled down to answer an email, my internet went dead. Calling my carrier, I found out that there were issues in my neighborhood and it would be down until about 6:00 am, a time when I'm usually in the shower after my morning swim on Wednesday. With an usually full schedule today, this small paragraph is all you're getting before I hop back into the car and head to my next appointment.

The best laid plans and scheduling hit the dust today
because my internet connection wasn't connected.
What a mess. *sigh*  Back to normal now, though. 

What a mess - happy Wednesday, everyone.

Growling Photos - Because I Can

When I got to my computer this morning after my shower I had no internet. It wasn't the computer, it wasn't the modem, it was Comcast. After phoning them and having their automated service acknowledge that there were spotty problems in my area and that it would be fixed by 6:00 am, I sighed and went upstairs to the living room couch with my Nook to read for a half hour. Returning after 30 minutes, I had internet again. But of course, I'm WAY behind schedule. So ... Growl ...

Sometimes a girl just has to growl...

I had a comment from a good friend on yesterday's post that once again he was in town for one day, but working and totally unable to grab any time off to get together. *sigh* I'm hoping that another tour will have him in town for a bit longer and can get together for a meal or a drink. Or maybe we can meet up in Milwaukee again if our schedules intersect. That was such fun when we reconnected so many years ago. But for now ... Growl ...

A growling wolf is a good pic for Seth. Beautiful man, beautiful wolf. What's
not to like? 

I finally finished writing my B2MeM story yesterday and started the editing process. Since my morning's spare time evaporated on me today, I'll have to edit in Open Office instead of Word during the day. That means I'll have to revisit everything I edit today in Open Office in Word tonight to catch formatting issues. Growl ...

There's something so wonderful about a tiger, even when it's
this close to causing you serious bodily harm. 

DH found Ben & Jerry's core ice cream for us at the grocery store yesterday but we decided to wait until watching "Doc Martin" tonight before dipping in to them. This is a Growl for yesterday when I was looking forward to trying some, but a Yummmm for today when I'll get to indulge.

Look at this small growling puppy. Who could be afraid
of this tiny puff ball? 

Finally, it's Friday. For most people that signifies the end of their work week. For me that signifies the next to last day of my work week. But it's Lent (which I don't really celebrate or keep) and that means McDonald's Fish Fillet sandwiches for dinner. OK, I know it's an acquired taste, but I adore Fish Fillet sandwiches and eat them year-round. During Lent they are available at a very inexpensive cost, so this one is no Growl - only a total Yippee! ....

Great ambitions, aren't they? 

Have a totally fabulous Friday and be kind to yourself today. Treat yourself to something fun - a package of gummy worms, an ice cream cone, a truffle, or maybe some time on the park swings. Enjoy!

Clusterf**k - Experiences of a Member of Cluster #9

There is a term used called clusterf**k (fill in the ** - I think you can figure it out). Urban Dictionary defines it as:

 Military term for an operation in which multiple things have gone wrong. Related to "SNAFU" (Situation Normal, All Fucked Up") and "FUBAR" (Fucked Up Beyond All Repair).  

with a secondary definition of:  

Traditionally/originally of military origin.  Today, however, "clusterfuck" is commonly used to descriptively generalize any situation with a large scale of disarray. 

That's basically what seems to have happened to Live Journal yesterday and that's what will cause double-posting for me today (posting both Thursday's and Friday's blog). 

Apparently LJ has their population assorted into various clusters - thirteen of them to be precise. At some point Wednesday problems came into being for clusters #7 and #9 making it difficult (if not impossible) for people and groups in those clusters to access the service or post anything. Cluster #7 was fixed early Thursday morning and it was speculated that another hour would bring Cluster #9 back on-line. WRONG!

This piece of wonderful colorful art is called Clusterfuck and
is by wojtekww on deviantart.

When I finally gave up on Cluster #9's functionality, it was more than twelve hours after the initial "another hour" had been posted and the admins had posted an apology for the length of time it was taking. Now...I'm NOT a computer programmer - I'm much more of a computer programming idiot. I am a computer user who couldn't use one of my major groups yesterday because I happen to be a member of Cluster #9. 

Doesn't life seem like this sometimes? This great pic is
by Jessica Jass.

But...today all is well again. No more Clusterf**k and I can post again. So I can wish a friend a happy birthday, post yesterday's blog, and in a few minutes I can post today's. 

So I wonder...what will go wrong today?