Short Post, Short Sleep - Sometimes I Hate Technology

 A very short post today. I was up until after 11:00 pm trying to get my next audio book converted from Audible's format into an MP3 format and loaded onto my underwater headphones for my swim. I hate swimming without sound - it gets boring very easily. Finally, at 3:45 am I managed to get the file converted. So I'm operating on about four hours of sleep today. Maybe I'll try and take an afternoon nap. I certainly have no choices for my morning. I swim at 5:00, have an appointment with my orthodontist at 7:30, and then have to get the shopping done before I can (perhaps) collapse. Still, I'm breathing much easier. I did manage to get the files converted and loaded properly and I'm starting the next book in the series. 

I'm only four books from the end of the series, and I was 
going to be very upset if I couldn't continue listening while 
swimming. Fortunately, everything did fall into place, 
in spite/despite electronic roadblocks. 

I also have the first of several loads of laundry started, and it's a household day after I get through with the orthodontist. I should buy some tea when I'm finished with my appointment, but I'm tight on funds. I'll probably drop in just in case a particular checkout person is there. I have news about a mutual friend that I'd like to let her know. 

I'm getting back on track once again. I'm tired, but 
I'll manage. 

So, I'm wrapping this up and heading to the pool. I hope your Wednesday goes smoothly. Mine finally seems to have gotten back on track. I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with a bit more sleep than I had last night. Be kind, Slava Ukraini. 

International Women's Day - My Thoughts Are Here and There

Happy International Women's Day. I'm not exactly sure why we celebrate it, but I'm totally in favor. Men might think they rule the world, but it's women who make the world actually work. We all know that if you let the guys have their toys and their feelings of achievement then life is easier all the way around. At least, that's the way it is in my household, and I suspect it carries through to the households of many of you as well. 

It's pretty obvious that equity still 
needs to be achieved, but we do 
seem to be working at it. Some 
nations, of course, are more 
successful than others. 

Guys are pretty handy, though. It's nice to have a foil to bounce ideas around with. Getting that different perspective can be essential to a successful project. Would I want to base a project of mine totally on the ideas of DH? Hell no! His vision is NOT my vision, and he really doesn't understand my art. But, he has a good eye for some aspects of it, and since many of my art pieces are also constructed and he's good with construction, his assistance and advice can be invaluable at times. 

I'm NOT a fine art artist, and this is NOT one of my 
pieces, although I really like it. No, I'm an artist, but 
I'm a multimedia artist and the traditional materials 
such as paints and pencils are not my forte. 

I haven't had an opportunity to work on my art for several years, however. That's disturbing to me, but we're winding things down at the shop and we'll be calling my retail sales pro guy soon to get onto his schedule. Things are progressing, although that smooth road has been anything BUT smooth. Not having a printer at the shop capable of printing price tags is a time sink, but we're working around it. I'm taking the price tags printed onto regular paper home with me each night, and using the copy aspect of my home printer to transfer them to the price tags at night before I settle down to watch a bit of TV before sleep. It's not an immediate resolution when we need a tag NOW, but it's working. 

I was finally successful in pairing my new 
watch with my phone, so now it's displaying 
the correct time and I can see how it does in 
the swimming pool today. Baby steps - LOL. 

I finally got my new watch to sync with my phone, so I'm happy. It's functional, and has the correct time. Today will be its' first time in the swimming pool. It's rated for the swimming pool, but not outdoor open water. That's just fine - as you know, I'm not fond of outdoor waters and swim in the pools (indoors or outdoors) only, not the lakes or the ocean. I suppose I'll have to remove my watch if I ever go back to the shore, but if I do, that's still in the far future and I'll probably be on another new watch by then. I do change watches regularly. 

So, on that note, have a fantastic day and I'll be back tomorrow. It's my errands and housework day, so I'll be a busy bee until I talk with Aearwen late this afternoon. Enjoy your day and Slava Ukraini, I'll be back tomorrow. 

Cable Woes and Possible Resolutions

I'm feeling a bit better this morning - already lost four of the five pounds I gained from Sunday's food overindulgence. DH is probably still going to be cranky - he also gained five pounds but is probably still packing it on today. He also will have to deal with the Comcast cable tech today since our cable box finally gasped a death knell yesterday sometime during the day. Yes - we use cable. We like it, and we're old, so that's where it's at. 

We have a cable box that's similar to this, although much older. We
need a new one now - our box is kaput! 

Anyway, after getting home from work last night, DH wanted to check the stock market and he was sure that the financial channels would be doing some in-depth analysis or special reports on the drop in the market. But the main TV was suddenly only getting channels up to approx channel 25, no higher. The cable box has been slowly dying since last summer, but it picked a bad time to die. I spent a half-hour or so on the phone with Comcast, and they will be sending a tech out this afternoon to change the box to one that works (actually, we have three boxes and two of them are now dead, so they'll get to change over at least two of them later today). 

It's been nice to watch shows on my own schedule if I happen
to miss something. That hasn't been possible for almost a year,
so it will be great to have a cable box that actually works! 

I'm actually rather happy that this happened. We haven't been able to access our "on-demand" service for almost a year. I haven't had the time, inclination, or desire to disconnect the malfunctioning box and take everything to Comcast for replacement, so I'm more than happy that they will be coming here. DH can deal with all of this. Better him than me. 

DH has been watching this show for years (it's in season 5 now). This
is, supposedly, the final season, and it does seem that they are getting
close to a resolution of this 222-year-old mystery. It's modern-day
archaeology in near impossible conditions, and rather fun. The
episodes can be rather tiresome, though, throwing out small pieces
of information at a time. 

So, his afternoon is set, and hopefully when I get home from work tonight I'll have a DH who is in a much better mood. Or, at the minimum, I'll have functional TV's once again which will also make me happy. Now, if they could manage to resolve something or find something neat and kewl on "Curse of Oak Island" tonight, my Tuesday will be complete. LOL Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow - cold and busy. 

Yikes - I Don't Like Being A "Senior Citizen"

So, today is my birthday, and I'm one year closer to Medicare and one year farther from my old stricture of "Never trust anyone over 30." It's rather amazing that I'm still kicking around, although physically I'm doing pretty good and according to Chickie, I don't look or act anywhere close to my actual age. I guess I can live with that - I am living .. so there is that. The alternative would be a mess, so I'll take whatever I'm given.

China is working on lessening its air pollution, although this photo
of Shenyang, China is quite frightening. The worst culprit for pollution
right now, though, is India. Being able to see the mountains in
Colorado without the haze of the traffic? Not as common as
it was when I grew up there. Our planet is dying and we're
turning our backs on her. 

In spite of all of this, it's rather amazing to think of all I've experienced in my 60+ years and how incredible the world might be in the future for my grand nieces and nephews. We've actually come a long way technologically, but have achieved next to nothing to achieve the really important things - peace, mutual understanding, and a world that isn't dying because of our very heavy footprint upon it.

This mid-1950's TV in console was put into our den. We
never had a television in our living room, and in fact, my
husband and I still keep any TV's away from that room. 

Technology has come a long way since the days of my youth. My parents had a TV similar to what's pictured above. It was B/W because we didn't have a lot of money, and they probably bought it used. We watched it together for 1-2 hours a night and it was kept off at all other times. Bedtime curfew was strictly enforced, so I fell asleep listening to my parents watching the nightly news.

The 1982 Compaq portable computer was such a radical
idea. Being able to take a computer along with you to
your job or your home was shocking. 

Computers were large, clunky things that were horribly expensive and took up entire rooms with their processors. After I was married and working up here in Minnesota, I was the Administrative Assistant for an accounting firm. It was considered amazing when Compaq came out with their portable computer and we were able to send our auditors out with a computer instead of a calculator. That was in the early 1980's.

This early 1990 car phone is similar to one DH had
at that time. I needed to be able to contact him when
he was out of town. The partners at the accounting office
who had the computers above also each had one of
these. Very unsafe to answer these in traffic! Very
expensive, heavy, and unreliable. 

Portable phones didn't exist for the general public until the 1990's. Before then, we used corded land line phones and we paid by the minute for our long distance. I had a boyfriend who lived in Tennessee when I was in college and our weekly chats in the 1970's, half initiated by him and half by me, cost me upwards of $60/month for phone charges. That was one hour, two times a month for $60. OUCH! At that time I could get a reasonable bag of groceries for almost $100. Can't do that now.

I'm due to upgrade my phone late this year. I'm thinking about
getting the new Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, but haven't made
up my mind yet. I have time. I know I want to stick with
an Android phone, though, and it has to fit into my pockets. 

Now we carry our computers, phones and a lot more on our cell phones and they fit in our pockets. People are getting computer chips inserted into themselves to get automated entry into clubs or have automated payments at checkouts. Babies are growing up with computers and cellular entertainment. It makes me wonder what will happen next. I guess that's what keeps me excited and looking forward to the next day. I hope that minds as brilliant as those who have steered our technology through the past 60+ years will be able to turn that brilliance to our world and come up with a way to save it from ourselves. At least that's my birthday hope. Happy Wednesday to all of you, I'm off to the pool to start my next year of life by doing something I love.