My Mouse, My Friend

For the past two months I've kept up, and then some, with my page-a-day scrapbooking goal. Now, almost a week into July I haven't scrapped one page. I actually have three pages started in Photoshop on my computer, but right now I can neither finish them nor start any new ones. My old faithful, wonderful, comfortable mouse really is dead this time.

The Logitech Bluetooth mouse has been good to me. I often go through mice, mouses… What's the plural of a computer mouse? Anyway I go through them like a serious coffee drinker with MS hands goes through mice… mouses. The mouse pictured has been with me since September 2015. Aside from other regular mousing duties, it faced many battles that usually kill the modern-day mouse. This mouse sat on the table when spilled water surrounded it. I dried it and shook it off. Of course it didn't work. But that was before dinner. After dinner it worked just fine. There was the time I reached over to grab the mouse and it slipped out of my hand and fell in a bowl of salsa. I cleaned it off, opened the battery compartment and got the salsa off the batteries. I was sure it was dead that time. But then I turned it back on and the pointer started moving just like it's supposed to.

Last year in October I grabbed and dropped it. The mouse took a bath in a cup of coffee. Stupid slippery MS hands. Well totally immersed in a cup of coffee was undoubtedly the end. I wrapped up the mouse in paper towel and ordered a new Bluetooth mouse from Amazon. I used an old wireless mouse that I had that wasn't Bluetooth so there was a receiver that took up one of the 2 USB ports on my computer. I back things up on two hard drives and if I have anything on a disk I need to have a port for that drive too, so I'm kind of Bluetooth spoiled on my mouse. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime, two days later I had a new mouse. And the new mouse wouldn't communicate with my computer! It wouldn't show up on the available Bluetooth devices for my tablet or David's computer either! But you know I did show up? “Logitech laser mouse” yelling “not dead yet!" in beautiful binary zeros and ones!

So this mouse was a stud, invincible! A mouse that could withstand all that, even getting dunked in a cup of coffee? Coffee has killed so many electronic devices in my life that I am on the floor praising this mouse for its impervious power. Imagine my shock on the Fourth of July when I opened the computer to make a July “Nani at 50” scrapbook page. I grabbed my good old mouse and nothing happened. The pointer on the screen didn't move I dragged my finger across the pad in the middle of the keyboard and the pointer moved, it did everything my finger told it to. I checked the Bluetooth connection and couldn't locate my mouse. My mouse didn't show up in the available Bluetooth Devices for my iPad either. It's gone! Oh no, it's really gone!

This time I wasn’t able to locate the receiver for the wireless mouse so I haven’t been scrapping for a few days. I think I'm going through withdrawal. The new mouse is due today so David will probably be bringing it in after work. I think I might scrap a little tonight.

I'll be back tomorrow to talk a little bit about the “Nani at 50” pages.

New Things

It's been a week of lots of new things. I'm getting settled in and cozy with Joey, the MacBook Pro, finally a computer worthy of being named after Joey Votto.I'm loving having a Mac again! I'm getting comfy now with the dictation software that's part of Pages, the Mac software for documents. The cool thing about Pages is that, unlike its predecessor, AppleWorks, Pages reads and can save in .doc format. That means it can read and communicate with Microsoft Word documents. Very cool!

I finished my first scrapbook page with the new computer. Photoshop works the same as it did on the old computer and I'm having pretty easy time getting used to the smaller screen.

Credits: The Autumn Knocks by GabisCreation

David left on his stress detox vacation Friday. Taking care of me can be a pretty high stress job, especially when you work a full time job already. Chapter 4 in “The Care and Feeding of Your Caregiver” stresses the importance of caregivers having a break from caregiving. That usually means a girls week for Kelly and me. Right now Kelly has some family stuff going on and can't be here till later in the week. That means I get to try something new. I have home health aides that come in a couple of times a day to help out with things and basically do a wellness check. It’s not too bad and rather helpful, especially at night to make sure I'm safely tucked in. I have “me time” to scrap or read or whatever without feeling like I need to be a host to someone in my home but I have someone who is there a few times a day to help me with the things I can’t quite do on my own.

The only bump in smooth sailing has been Marco. Marco likes to try to “run the gate” when the door opens. I blame his daddy; David is such an enabler. He lets Marco go outside and do his roll around ob the driveway and eat some grass before he sends him back in. Of course, I can’t do that. He ran out in the rain Friday night when the “tuck me in” caregiver came in and she had to chase him down in the driveway and bring him back. Did I mention it was raining? Then yesterday when the delivery guy brought my dinner, he did it again. The poor guy was holding the keep warm bag with my dinner, the re copout and pen for my signature AND chasing the cat. Marco didn’t get any further than the steps on the porch last night, but jeez, Marco! On my paperwork for the caregiver agency it says that I have three cats; Kaline, Carla and Marco. There is a note that says to watch out for Marco because he tries to go outside and none of the cats are outdoors cats. He tried to do the entitled “I’m just going outside” march when the assessor came in to meet me too.

Pop will be here tomorrow to get started on construction on the downstairs accessible bathroom with shower! He’s staying tomorrow night and is going to be Construction Guru and caregiver so I don't have to pay for the wellness checks. I am totally excited about the new bathroom! Add that to the new top half of my power chair, that's hopefully in the final process of being ordered, and they'll have a lot of independence back. With the lift mechanics in the new chair, I’ll even be able to stand a little, good for edema, and reach the controls to cook!

As long as everything goes alright for Kelly, she’ll be here Tuesday for the rest of the week and we will have our "girls time” for the rest of the week. It’s been a new world this week, but it’s a good new world.

Soon!

I’m living with more bad computer news in Naniland. Remember how Stupid (my Dell computer) had to have a lobotomy in July because it was losing the ability to communicate with itself? Well after it came home I reloaded the basic programs I use every day because I wanted to take it easy on it just coming back from wipe clean. I also wanted to get the basic programs that I’ve had on it pretty much as long as I’ve had it, about 2-1/2 years to try to avoid whatever happened to it with newer stuff. I’m already getting the messages and trouble I had before. When I restart it the desktop icons are all over, I get long waits and “not responding” on desktop windows and programs and a blue screen and reboot every other day. It did the same things last time and I know I’ll lose function using it regularly by the end of the month. Yes, the Geeks at Best Buy will fix it again, but then I’ll be spending $5 in bus fares and time in my day again in November, right?

If I upgrade for free to Windows 10, it's adding on top of the system I hate and the one that keeps giving me the blue screen with notes about kernel problems. It’s added stress and frustration I don’t need in my life. I deal with enough things I CAN’T change. I did some math and I believe I can fix this situation. I’ll meet with my account guy tomorrow and make sure I carried all my math columns right. As long as I did, I’ll be hitting the mall next week to Tilt-A-Whirl my way to the Apple Store.

Shortly after Labor Day the name Joey shall belong to a 13” MacBook Pro. My external keyboard and mouse will still work with the Mac for use at home. The touch pad does some new things that might make that more user friendly to me. Also, now that I’ve gotten used to the tablet and phone talking to each other about me, I like that convenience and I look forward to them including my computer in the conversations. It means my personal calendar will update on all three, photos I take will be available on my computer without emailing them to myself and I can read a book on any device and it will always be on the right page. I most enjoy now that I can comfortably read on my tablet before be and on the phone while I’m waiting for the bus. Now I'll be able to read on the computer while I'm having lunch too!

I will suggest to everyone that you should password protect all of your electronic devices so someone can’t even see your menu or desktop without your code. There are some wonderful advances in this world we share now, but it also means there are not-so-wonderful opportunities for dishonest people to get their hands on your information. Just be careful and know what security is available to you on devices you use. When I’m at home Stupid doesn’t require a password every time I step away for 5 minutes, but when I’m away from home I adjust the settings so it requires me to log back on more often when I have been away from it. Answering the phone and dialing 911 are the only things I can do on my phone without the passcode if I’m off it for 30 seconds. I like the fact that I can erase the phone or tablet from any computer if I lose them. Know what you can do to protect your data!

Actually, I have to thank Stupid for its timing. By acting like the lobotomy worked for a month, it puts me between kids on summer vacation and holiday shopping beginning so the mall will be slower. A slower mall means fewer people competing for the sales reps’ attention, I still have many questions to ask before I make a huge purchase. (Well, it’s huge to me!) Less wait means more time to have lunch and fewer other people means more room to Tilt-A-Whirl! That is if I decide to Tilt-A-Whirl with a big bag of computer stuff. Maybe I should Tilt-A-Whirl before I go to the Apple Store.

Computer Kernels Shouldn't Pop

Oh, Hi!

The computer that has been renamed "Stupid" is back from a couple of days with the Geek Squad which was preceded by about 6 days of uselessness. I was trapped by abysmally slow everything from Photoshop to browser to the windows on the desktop! I was quite tired of seeing the spinning wheel and the note on the top of every window "not responding."

Then the "blue screen of death" joined the fun. Mind you, it wasn't every day; it was SEVERAL TIMES every day.

After two all afternoon sessions with the Geek Squad doing a remote cleaning of the system and thinking they had it fixed, the blue screen message told me there was a kernel problem. I snapped a picture of the blue screen and message with my iPad so I could take Stupid in to see the Geeks in person.

I remembered that the kernel is a major important part of the computer, but I couldn't remember if it was hardware or software. I'm still paying down the iPad and some medical bills that have to be taken care of before I can even think about installments on the new computer, my switch back to Mac. But I did think about it. If Stupid couldn't be fixed...

I looked up info and re-educated myself about kernels. They are the important root of the operating system. I knew the Geeks would need to completely wipe the computer and reload a new OS on the empty computer.It took a while to back up every document on my extended hard drives, copy the URLs for my bookmarked web pages and get together a list of software and keys that would need to be downloaded and reinstalled.

Once I finally had everything backed up I was ready to pack up Stupid and take him in to the Doctors Geek. You see, the kernel is essentially the base of the operating system that enables it to communicate with the computer's guts. Everything was slow because the whole operating system, thus the whole computer, was sick! The Geek Squad called yesterday afternoon to let me now Stupid was ready to come home and David stopped at Best Buy for me after work. Today will be one more all day session of "Nani is a tech" instead of "Nani is a creative." You see, it adds up to Stupid had a lobotomy and he has to be retaught everything!

During my week-plus with no access, I couldn't get to my blog reader on blogger so I have some reading to do. I need to transfer over my daily journal notes (project 365) from my iPad to a "pre-Photoshop document" and when this mess started and Photoshop was the first program I couldn't use at all, 11 days ago, I was one page ahead on my page-a-day goal. Now I'm 10 pages behind! I've been working on putting Stupid back together since 8:00 last night, taking a break so Kaline had a lap to sleep on overnight. I got my fonts loaded and started to reload Photoshop before bed.  This morning I finished loading PS and updating the preferences, finished resetting the passwords, permissions and preferences on Windows and put my scrapbooking sites on the Chromite bookmarks bar. Maybe by the end of the day I'll get to do some blog-reading and even scrap a page?

I'll be doing a post about my visit to the Apple department when I took Stupid in. Aside from the fact that I'm used to addressing him as "Stupid Computer" now, there's a reason why he's still named Stupid instead of getting the name Joey back. I've moved the mouse of the computer that's worthy of being named after Joey Votto and it doesn't run on a Windows OS!

I Am Defined

Happy Sunday everyone! Unless you’re reading this tomorrow or on any day that’s not today or some multiple of seven from today, then happy whatever of the six other days this happens to be.

I have finally been defined with a definition I agree with. For years and years I’ve taken forms of the Meyers-Briggs tests, including the all out test that I took for a job interview many years back, and the results always start with E, calling me an extrovert. I’m actually consistently an ENTJ; Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, Judgmental, and the description of an ENTJ fits me pretty well except that I am not that outgoing. I’m outgoing when I need to be, when I have to, but I treasure my alone time too. As a rule, extroverts can’t stand being alone. I took a test online that tells what kind of introvert or extrovert a person is, because I love taking personality tests no matter how corny they are although this one is less corny than others I’ve taken, and it doesn’t call me an extrovert. According to my results I am an outgoing introvert. Which if you look at this description; 8 signs you may be an outgoing introvert, it fits me perfectly. And I love the fact that it doesn’t call me an extrovert.

I’m in the midst of a reading dilemma. Remember I said I was going to have an upstarts book and an ereader book going at the same time? Well, I did that. If you look at my Good Reads widget on the right, there are 2 current books listed. One is a hard cover that I got in a book swap and one is an e-book, young adult fiction. I read the Harry Potter series, and the Trylle series in the beginning of 2013; don’t judge! ;) But my current problem is that I’m just not really into either one. They’re both okay, but nor riveting at all. I have a Baldacci paperback in waiting and thanks to Christmas gift cards for both Barnes and Noble for the Nook app and Amazon for the Kindle app, both on my iPad, I have a couple lists of loaded and ready to read books on the tablet. I have a goal of averaging 2 books a month and I’m not even half way through either book with only a week of January left! January and February are usually good reading months for me. I have to come up with a plan to get myself some reading time so I can catch up and start some bocks I’m more likely to MAKE time to read.

I was talking to a friend from our MS support group about the things that make MS easier to live with today than it would have been years ago, say in the 1940s when it was first diagnosed and recognized as an actual disease. Without MRIs, there was no apparent scarring of the myelin to see on the brain or spine images and while it wasn’t a death sentence for sure, it did affect life expectancy just because they knew so little about it. So much about diagnosing and understanding the disease has improved in the many years since then.

The first disease modifying medication was approved for use and became available in 1993 and more medications became available after that; all injectable. The first oral medication was approved in 2010. That was my first choice in 2011, anything to avoid needles. There are 10 medications an MS patient and their neurologist can try, depending on what side effects you want to chance. But just think;25 years ago there were NO options. You were diagnosed, treated the symptoms as best you could and you knew the disease was going to progress with no way of slowing it down.

Back in that day, just prior to a drug for the disease, it wasn’t considered a disability. In fact the ADA was a baby in 1990 with members of congress that still didn’t want it to pass. We MSers were still destined to end up in wheelchairs and there were still people fighting tooth and nail not to have to widen a door for those chairs or anyone else with a wheelchair, walker, cane or just limited mobility or allowed mobility for breathing or heart conditions. We have advocates and are encouraged to be self-advocates in the fight to continue living instead of just existing as helpless invalids; we became legally valid!

But we really acknowledged the internet, tablet, smart phones. The internet means we aren’t hopeless and lonely when we are at home. The incredible ability to reach out to others like us and be cyber support is fantastic. I couldn’t live without my iPad. With the numbness in my hands that has me dropping things all the time and unable to write having my planner and several reading apps in one device, with a padded cover and replacement insurance on it, is such a blessing It also has a notepad, radio and MP3 storage, camera and my social media apps. And it has speech-to-text for every app I’d type in, a godsend for the times when my “fumblehands” just aren’t up to hitting the right keys. This is not an ad for the iPad. It’s an acknowledgement of how technology makes disabilities less disabling. There have been many times in the past year that speech-to-text software,, like Dragon on my PC, has written this blog!

It’s just amazing and wonderful. How many times did I watched Star Trek episodes where someone was carrying around a tablet with information essential for their job on it? I’m just waiting now for the hypo spray that will zap my MS all together? THAT’S something I’d take to our support group for “share and tell!”

My final note today is for everyone in the areas where the current storm is headed BE CAREFUL! The nasty winter storm the Weather channel is calling Juno is supposed to dump a TON of snow and nastiness on the east! We have relatives and friends that are expected to get in excess of a foot of snow. My friend Edna of Miss Edna’s Place will be seeing it in her part of New England as well, what she describes as feet of inches predicted on TV. If you are in the areas getting snow and hurricane winds, stay as safe and warm as possible and the rest of us please send good thoughts and prayers for them. We’ll get a few inches in Toledo and I’ll complain as I see it falling but then I’ll remember that I don’t have it so bad and check Edna’s blog or ask David if he talked to any of his brothers.

A Fragmented Mind With Blanks To Fill In

So this is the one day that tells the retail chains if they will make a profit this year. I’ve read in a few places that Black Friday’s name comes from the fact that the day after Thanksgiving is the pivotal point where stores can forecast the rest of the year’s sales. Considering that most corporate fiscal years start November 1, that’s pretty impressive. I’m not saying I doubt any of it; marketing has become quite a science.

  
Since I have a few of them, we’ll call that tidbit that I believe to be true, my first fragment this week. I’ll add that the “I believe to be true” is because I think I remember reading it on the Internet and you can’t trust things you read on the web abut Black Friday because it might be a Cyber Monday shopper just trying to make the crazy Friday shoppers look silly. Of course, carpal tunnel and camping out on your own porch might be considered cra….

………………………………………………

I’m back. Sorry, doorbell; I had to go get a package off the porch.


Where was I? Oh yes, Fragments! So here’s some more!

*  A Facebook friend did some questioning of employees at Target about working on Thanksgiving. At Target, working on Thanksgiving was volunteer only, they were paid time and a half and got a $100 bonus for taking the shift. I’m actually kind of glad for that because I usually find a thing or two at Target and I like their novelty Christmas candy selection. I’ll again consider them a store I’ll shop at this holiday season.


*  This is mostly a photo-fragment: Last week when David was working nights and there was some sun, enough sun, because Norfolk Sothern’s Southern Heritage Unit was in the area! (I’m wearing my Southern t-shirt as I type this) Isn’t she beautiful?

*  As 2012 draws to a close, there is a little somethin-somethin I for me. I bought my first real Smash book!

I know, I know, why would I want to buy a Smash brand book, when I’ve already put my “smashables” from all the years up through 2011 in binders with repurposed scrapbook paper? Well, first off the stock of scrapbook paper won’t last forever and the price of decent weight 2-sided paper pus a binder and glue starts to get near the price of a Smash Book, but not bound quite as solidly.

There’s also what I call the “London Fog Effect.” My Joey Votto jersey has the London Fog Effect too. I am really not a champagne taste kind of gal. I like nice restaurant now and then, but going out for dinner at Cracker Barrel is a fine treat to me. Kelly made me that beautiful Pandora-styled bracelet and I love it. I love looking at Pandora, but if I’m buying beads and a bracelet, Pugster is a lot less expensive and I have no gnawing desire for an actual Pandora. (Although I often still use Pandora wallpapers on my computer) But London Fog was one of those things for me. I had a few okay raincoats over the years, but in the back of my mind I wanted a nice real London For dress raincoat for work/interviews. When Mom and I saw a London Fog tent sale at an outlet mall we went to, we stopped to look and there was a beautiful taupe double-breasted trench with a button-in lining for winter. It was my size and Mom told me to try it on just to see how it looked. It looked great, it felt luxurious! Tent-sale prices, Mom is the one who told me it looked good and very professional and I ought to have it. She made it a gift. That coat still makes me feel like a million bucks when I wear it.

The authentic Joey Votto jersey with his name and number and all of the official Reds accents has the same effect. You can just feel that it’s the real deal. So I wanted a Smash Book for the same reason. Yes, I bought into the branding. The pages are thicker than the ones in my books, more durable, especially for thicker or heavier items I put in it and the way it’s put together is sturdy, quality. Of course, it feels special with nothing in it. Time will tell if that feeling stays as I use it if it truly is in the class of my London Fog coat or Joey Votto jersey. I have a folder full of 2012 smashables to help me find out!


I’m going to take a fragments break to visit Hilary’s Friday Fill-in.

This week’s statements:
1. I put ___ on a hot dog
2. when it___ I ____
3. If my house____then I would be able to___
4. If I was getting married tomorrow I would _______________ differently so we could ________________differently now.


My Answers:

1. I put mustard and nothing but mustard on a hot dog unless I’m having a Coney, then it’s chili with onions and mustard. I usually add yellow mustard when I have chili to enjoy it as a “dogless Coney” too.

2. When it snows I am happy to stay indoors with a big mug of mocha.

3. If my house was self-cleaning then I would be able to get more accomplished in a day!

4. If I was getting married tomorrow I would approach the photos differently so we could enjoy the scrapped pages differently now. My only regret is that I didn’t go a professional photographer or at least a dedicated photographer with a list of shots to get for our reception weekend. I would have loved to have 2-shots or 3-shots with each of our guests and a few of the balloon release we did. I would not have done anything else differently. :)


*  Windows 8 is Windows moving toward the smart phone, tablet and computer all working the same. There are touch-screen laptops out now and Windows 8 really is made for those! There are things I really like about it and one thing I really hate. I can’t stand the fact that if I move a window too close to the edge it instantly becomes full screen. I also don’t like the way windows will snap to either side for 2-window viewing that fills the screen. I know that’s supposed to be a “cool” new feature, but I’ve always used three to five windows open, sized and spaced so I would see the contents of all of them to select elements for scrapbook pages. That takes having windows in the corners, but if I get them too close, snap they go and I have a full screen of one of them instead of five. It messes with my organization. I’m slowly getting used to it, not dragging things too close to the edge and when I do, I curse under my breath and pull it away to snap it back to where I wanted it. That’s a pain, but for the most part, Windows 8 is pretty user-friendly.

David will give you quite a different opinion!


*  I have been too lax on tweeting and scrapbook gallery commenting! That’s a project I’m going to work on! I find I use Twitter a lot more during baseball season because a lot of my tweeps are fellow Reds or Tigers fans and I follow a lot of baseball players, who also tweet less in the off season. We’ll see if I get to tweeting more.

I know I‘ll be sure to be leaving more gallery comments at Ginger Scraps because I was invited to join the praise team there, essentially the cheerleaders who make sure every layout gets some love. There are perks in the form of scrapbook kits for meeting comment goals. Yeah, that sounds like copping out and using the freebies to encourage myself to do the polite thing I wanted to do anyway, but it does mean I’ll be commenting even more than the minimum I’d set for myself, so I consider it a win-win.


*  Finally, I’d like to take some suggestions for Friday memes. I kinda like doing three smaller memes but sometimes I can’t really answer the 5 Question Friday questions in any serious way because the questions assume I am a mom. And I am a cat-mom and was sort of a fill-in mom when my nieces were growing up, buy I really can’t answer questions about being with human kids every day, so I’d like to do one or two others too and choose the ones that have the questions I’m best capable in answering on any given Friday. Does anyone host a trains meme?? :) Just if you have a suggestion, I’d love a link!


And so I’m ready to post on this day after Thanksgiving. In the Nani-David household It’s not Black Friday, but dark gray Friday for sure; lots of serious wind and some rain. I’m glad to just be inside blogging, smashing and scrapbooking…oh, and I guess a little laundry too.

It’s For Real This Time (I Hope)

And Now, The REAL Joey

So, I made a big deal about my old computer dying and a new computer, la-lala… I’d done a few scrapbook pages and posted a blog and well, this past Monday afternoon, BAM; no Internet. It did a self-assessment and told me there was an internal networking problem. It did it once an hour and then three times in an hour. Back to the Geeks.

The key to fixing the problem, on my brand new computer that I’d had for four days and just finished personalizing and moving my software and files into, was that they had to make it repeat the seemingly chronic but intermittent problem. While I was right there and the Geek was playing with it, it worked just fine.

“Are you sure it’s not a problem with your router or modem at home?”

Let’s see, there are two other computers in the house; a Mac and a PC, a desktop and a laptop and the laptop is also new and running Windows 8 like mine, yet mine is the only one that says it has an internal network connection problem. I’m pretty sure it’s not my router or modem. But for a charge they’ll send someone to our house to check out the modem. Um, no, I’m quite sure there is nothing wrong with the modem, my new computer is the only one that says it has an internal network problem.

When I called after an email saying they couldn’t replicate the problem I had a choice. I could take it home and bring it back if the problem returned or I could exchange it for another new computer because it’s within the 30 days to return it. I had the computer for four days, but given the time after sale for it to arrive and the downtime back at the store being looked at, my 30 days was half over. Who’s to say the problem won’t resurface on day 31? So instead of the old-new computer with all my stuff on it, I brought home a new-new computer to reinstall everything on.


The good news is that in loading the stuff I already had on it, I got to really know Windows 8 so getting back to the point where I was took a day instead of four! Actually, it was less than a day.

Saturday after I installed my browsers, I checked my email. I got my partner for this year’s Secret Santa Soiree! I enjoyed getting to know Linda of Linda’s Bee Hive last year and picking out gifts especially for her that I knew I was going to do it again this year! My partner this year is so very different than me, yet a kindred soul in many ways too. I spent a few hours Saturday reading her blog and by Saturday night I had some gift ideas. Suzanne at The Coloradolady is hosting the Soiree again this year. Coordinating people who may or may not know each other well, matching up partners and keeping track of when gifts are sent and fielding any questions is a cumbersome job and the generosity of her time and efforts is a wonderful gift to all of us participating. Thank you Suzanne, for being the embodiment of the community part of the Holiday Spirit!

Okay, that’s my check-in for now. I’ll be blogging everything my brain has been screaming to blog about since November began this week. Well, the good stuff anyway.

Welcome Joey II

It's been the most insane 4-1/2 days!  Friday morning I hit the power button on Joey, my computer, and he tried to start, and stopped, and tried again, and stopped again and tried and tried and tried to no avail.

It was over.  It wasn't coming back.

Sunday, David and I went out to become Best Buy's favorite customers.  You see, after a couple months of starting slower and slower, David's computer, Cool Color, (he never gave it  name, but it was often complimented for being red) Finally stopped starting at all too.  So we wandered into the computer area intent on walking out with 2 new laptops.  Will that put a sparkle in a sales associate's eyes or what?  After dropping off the old Joey to have the hard drive information transferred, because it was determined that it was a dead computer and not a dead hard drive, we left with David's new computer!  And a piece if paper to confirm that mine would arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.  It seems that every digital scrapbooker in Toledo bought the same computer last weekend.  There wasn't one of the model I liked in any of the local stores.

So, Joey II is here as of about an hour ago.  I missed International Digital Scrapbooking Day and all the half-off sales.  I had a gift certificate at Ginger Scraps that would have doubled in value last weekend too.  -sigh-  And I missed some memes that I usually do and one I was going to try.  And I watched TV.  Gads, I watched TV all day Saturday.   I feel a lot less lazy playing on the computer for 6 hours than I do just sitting there.  That's me, but while I love the true crime shows, I don't think I'll be watching Alien Surf Girls again. 

So, just wanted to check in...and make sure the new Joey blogs well; he does.   Now, I'm off to finish moving in; Photoshop just finished downloading!  :)

Early

It’s just past midnight and this IS a Friday blog. So, the post tiled “Early” starts early!

I did my catch-up scrapbook page early today, er yesterday. I am complete in 2007 up to September and I’ve imported the last folders for that year onto the laptop. I had already done the Christmas folders, so I have October and November, but that includes a huge folder for our Montana trip! Early Thursday I “fixed” two layouts and added a second page to one. Remember, I started digi-scrapping in late summer 2007 and I was excited to use some of my fabulous Montana photos for a couple of challenges. At that time I was paper scrapping in 8 ½ x 11 too.

Here was the original of the first layout I did. I don’t remember the designer for the paper and ribbon I used 2 ½ years ago. Sorry!

Original 2007 layout

It really only took a few moments this morning to make it a square layout, like I do now, and oh, yeah, shadows! I used the same ribbon on the psd file to make a page two with additional photos from the same day and area.

Here is the new page 1:

And here is page 2!

I like the 2010 version of 2007 better than the original 2007 version!


I got my coffee photo for today early yesterday morning too. David had an early meeting and since I was awake anyway, I stayed that way. It gave me some extra time to scrap a little before school.

I wasn’t sloughing off either! I got back to the books by ten and finished up my case study. Done with the assignment due next Wednesday…early!

It was easy to do that this week. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I learned how to make drop down menus. I don’t know why, but I was just tickled pink when I coded in the drop down menu for a credit card in a form and hit refresh on my browser to reveal “select a card” and a drop down menu of the four major cards. It was just cool!

Like I said, I don’t know why that particular thing is cool to me, it just is. It made me giddy.

Look what I can do now!

Nani is...

Finish this sentence smart cool wonderful pretty interesting incredibly sweet everything said here and more obviously attention-starved

Don’t worry. I’m not keeping track of anyone’s answers. I don’t even have it coded to go anywhere. It just makes me silly giggly that I can do it!

There’s another test next and then one last chapter and our project before the final. I’m pretty excited about the project. I get to choose the subject, as long as I have the required elements, kinda like internet figure skating. But, I’m NOT grabbing onto the blade of my cyber-skate and sailing around like a mobile peeing dog!

Okay, that’s it for the early morning…now I’m calling it a late night!

Goals and Projects for 2010

Christmas Eve Breakfast Still Life

Isn’t the photo cool? The photo isn’t all breakfast. Just one slice with coffee, but the full sliced quarter of the Panetonne looked better for the picture! That is a sample for my Project 365 in 2010. More about that later! I cut the huge Panetonne my Dad got me into quarters and wrapped up the other three to freeze. I’m the only one in our house who eats it, but the Panetonne brings back such sweet memories of Noni and the fact that she always made a special effort to find the ones without the candied oranges for Mom and me. It’s also quite tasty as a mildly sweet breakfast bread to the portion of my taste buds that are authentic San Marinese and a rather large and filling slice is only 310 calories!

This week’s Photoblog Wednesday was the final photo of Patch 365. No, we didn’t choose to go out to celebrate our first anniversary the night before for that reason, but it was a neat byproduct of the scheduling! So the book starts with our first married photo and ends with us celebrating our first anniversary with 52 weekly pages and some pretty cool extras in between. No, I’m far from done scrapping it. I have each week’s photos in a folder wi0th the notes for captioning them so I have the facts and memories recorded to catch up the scrapping as I can. But I think it’s going to be a pretty cool book to have on our coffee table recording the special days and the things that made the ordinary days special of our first married year!

I decided that I’d do a selfish project 365 this year and try something fun and a little artsy just for me. Now, I really do believe that scrapbooking is selfish, but in a giving way. It’s sort of like the great painters. They can be called selfish because they created works for their own fulfillment, their expression of what was inside of them. It just so happened that the beauty and emotion of their efforts touched many people and that beauty became a treasure and the mark, the legacy they left to the world. Isn’t a scrapbook the same thing? A well-done scrapbook is a beautiful piece of expressive art that becomes a cherished treasure to those with whom it’s shared. So for 2010, my Project 365 will be a special to me book when it’s done. If many years down the line it becomes a special look at me or a fun book for anyone else to look at, bonus! But the project is all for my own expression and nothing else, just for fun for me.

2010 will be my year of Java 365. I’m going to take a picture of coffee every day. It will most often be my coffee, but I’m not limiting myself to that, it could also be ambient shots of coffee shops or another Sapp Brothers water tower, something like that. It will usually be my coffee, but not just a photo of the cup – that would get boring. I’m going to set up still life presentations with the coffee, with a sweet roll or other accompaniment. I took a picture on the steam train trip we went on in October of my coffee on the window sill, obviously on a train with the countryside in the background, I’ll probably do holiday accents for the holiday coffee pics. I’m just going to have some fun with it.



As 2010 starts, I have 4 major goals I’m working on for the year. The first one is, of course, school! Spring semester starts January 8 and this term I’m taking an XHTML class, which is the first Network Security class. It’s a prerequisite to moist of the security certificate classes and a suggested prerequisite to the intro security class, which is part of the Networking certificate. In the fall, I’ll take the second Microsoft Server class, but rather than doubling up this semester, I’m going embark of major project number two, which is getting myself exam-ready for Network+ certification. I have a couple practice exams and I figure I’ll start with using one to really study and sign up to take the official exam when I can get a passing score with no notes or internet on the other. This will definitely keep me out of trouble and off the streets! I don’t like to be on the streets when it snows anyway!

Project number 3 is a recommitment to Wife 1500. I did not gain from Wedding day to first anniversary, but I didn’t lose much either. Like I’ve said before, it was an emotionally rough last half of the year, but there will always be challenges in life and I can’t allow myself to make them worse by using them as an excuse not to take care of myself. I’ve asked David to do a couple things to support me on this. First is not to skip dessert because I’m not sharing the same dessert. I’m lucky that he shares my taste for Jello as a lighter dessert, but if at the end of the day I don’t have adequate calories left for a piece of cake and/or ice cream, I want him to have it if he wants it. The surest way for me to not stick with my eating plan is if he’s not having things he wants because of it. He should NEVER feel bad if he’s having a brownie with ice cream when I’m having three strawberries with a tablespoon of chocolate!

The second thing he agreed to try to remember to do is recognize that if I’m eating something out of a bag or box and it’s not a measured portion in a bowl for a snack, something’s wrong and he should ask me about it. Even if I don’t want to talk about what’s bugging me, and in fact, I may not even realize that something is bugging me, it will call my attention to the bad-for-me habit and I’ll effect an immediate change in it!

My last major goal for 2010 is a scrapbooking goal. I am in 2007 in my scrapbooks. I am going to do a minimum layout a day to work on catching up. I start a new book at the beginning of the year, so I’m going to scrap 2010 in the now while I’m catching up the other three years. 365 layouts may not catch up three years if I do the minimum, but it will make a big dent! I average about 150 pages per year in my books. If I can start 2011 having made significant ground on the years that need caught up without adding another year to those files, it will make for a much more pleasant start!

So those are my ambitious plans for the first year of the new decade. Do you do goals or resolutions? What are some of your lofty plans? Hey, that’s probably a good first layout for 2010!

Changes Behind the Scenes

Well, there are those who say ANY change is bad. There are also those who believe it but don’t say it, they just loudly suffer when there’s a change at work, home or even a store they like to shop at. My Dad swore up and down that he’d never use a computer and that computers were the bane of modern existence. Now, he uses the computer to check his schedule for work and is smugly proud of his accomplishment every time he does it. I don’t think my Dad will ever shop online and I’ll never hear him say anything that starts, “I was IMing with someone who….” But hey, he could surprise me!

As any of you who regularly read The Chronicles of Nani know, I’m a big time believer that change is good. I have to be to be back in school and changing careers at 43 years old! But in those 43 years, many things have changed that have made things much better. I mean, I seriously wonder what my technophobe Dad would do if he couldn’t heat up a cup of coffee in the microwave? Change is good to the last drop there!

Ah, but one of the things we are learning about in school is being properly prepared for change! One of the scrapbooking sites I frequent, or anyway, did frequent, is going through a major change. It’s pretty much an annual change, not fond of that. It’s not good for brand recognition to change your site look all the time. But this time they are suffering from a ton of stuff that’s not transitioning smoothly. About half of their challenges didn’t happen this month, they pretty much missed DSD and they are STILL swamped with the things that aren’t working correctly! Ultimately, that’s bad, really bad, for business in a saturated market!

One of the great tools we have learned about in class is virtual systems. Someplace that mimics the online network, but is not part of the working network. It’s a place you can try out everything before it goes online to make sure everything that needs dotted or crossed is done right. As I’m winding up this semester and getting ready to collect data and write my term paper and as I’m getting ready for my few weeks break before the next term begins, I’m applying what I’ve learned so far.

Not to bore anyone who isn’t a geek with the details, but I’m collecting data to explain how the Sever OS we’re studying works with multiple formats. This is close to my heart as I work on a Windows Vista OS on my laptop and Mac OSX on my desktop! I figure I have a head start to really understanding the eccentricities of combining the platforms on a network because I understand them both, but I’ve also worked for a company that did art and video work on Macs with the accounting and library on Windows machines with a load of custom software and documents that were shared by the whole building. My job at that company wasn’t one of the more exciting ones, but it gave me lots of time to cause trouble for the IT department trying to figure it all out. I even found it exciting to stay late and stressed the night the server crashed. I got to figure out how to finish up our department’s work for the night, but I also got to hear the IT guys stress and toss ideas to each other out loud. I didn’t understand it then, but it was exciting to me. Yes, I’m a geek. There is a certain rush out of fixing problems!

But, that was ten years ago and the IT department was a 3-man team working on the problem. My holiday break project will be a just me endeavor, so I’m going to be careful. I don’t want to be a month working on major problems! The Chronicles of Nani has been on BlogSpot for two years now. I’m not planning on moving, just redecorating. I have learned a lot reading Easy Custom Blogs and seeing what other bloggers have done with their blogs. I’m in the mapping stage right now. I’m going to decide what I’d like the Chronicles to be able to do, then see if I can do it! It’s not going to be a huge change, as I’ve said, that’s bad for recognition, but I will probably update the header logo and glitz up the appearance a little. Now, I have learned a thing or two. I already have my virtual blog set up. As I get ready to put together the skeleton code, I’ll be able to try it out to make sure everything works. Then I’ll add the pretties and make sure it looks good and still functions the way I want it to. Then I’ll be able to cut the whole layout code and transfer it over. I’m kinda hoping it will be a glitch-free transition and the new look will go online and be working at 100% instantly. Keep your fingers crossed for me! The nice thing about doing the change on a virtual blog first, is I don’t have to make any changes until it’s ready to go, there will be no interim look, just the new look.

Now I’m asking my readers for some input! What types of things would you like on The Chronicles of Nani that would make it easier to read or navigate when you visit? Are there any tags you’d like t the top of the blog for easy clicking? How do you feel about the Monday Mug Shot or Photoblog Wednesday moving forward? Should I continue them? Would you want one regular day for scrapbook freebies or layouts? You don’t need to suggest a real time coffee machine that dispenses real, not cyber coffee. I’m working on that and if it’s possible, The Chronicles will be the first blog to dispense real coffee! But anything else you would like me to consider, please, let me know what you like about the blog now and what you might enjoy as the blog grows. I’ll take every suggestion into consideration!

Links: Easy Custom Blogs

Photoblog Wednesday

Whose laptop is it anyway?

Lunchtime to Nani means time to finish the scrapbook page I’d started. To Kaline it means she can cozy up on the keyboard for warmth!

I took her off, put her on the floor and she whined at me and jumped back on. Now she is watching me type on the peripheral keyboard and purring…probably because I haven’t tried to move her again…yet!

Charter Wants Your Story!

My television background is in cable TV and I just marvel at how far the industry has come. I love my cable TV and there are just some fabulous things that your local cable provider offers.

I know my inner child would go nuts if I missed an episode of Degrassi, but then again, thanks to my cable internet, I have the speed necessary to watch full episodes I miss on the website! Heck, I don’t know if I’d blog as much if I was still trapped in dino-dial-up land!

Right now, Charter Cable is having a contest, asking their subscribers for input - How do you live your digital life? Whether you subscribe to their phone, internet or TV service or if you have a Charter bundle, they want to now your digital story.

I now I’m enjoying reuniting with old friends on Facebook quite a lot, you can even see the Charter on Facebook profile and keep up with them. I love being able to set up a recipe online on my laptop while I’m in the kitchen, thanks to our broadband hotspot house while watching the Reds game on TV. Oh, and if you have the phone service, you can talk on the phone too, no interruption to the TV or the internet connection!

Go to Charter’s website and tell the your story. They’ve been giving away a laptop computer or 53” HDTV every week since June in this contest and there’s still time if you act now to get your story n for the grand prize! On customer will win a package of one 52” HDTV, one 15” Laptop, and a free year of the Charter Bundle with Digital Cable, including HD and a DVR, Charter High-Speed Internet and Charter Telephone.

I bet it’s easy to see how digital makes a difference in your life and your story could make a big impact too!

Computer Hacking for an Honest Buck?

As I’m moving forward in my quest towards certified geekdom, I’m learning more every day about all of the possibilities for someone, anyone, in the IT field. EC-Council trains people in important IT areas. Network Security is something I’ve considered for a “next step” in my career after I get my certification for network administration and EC Council offers security classes including Ethical Hacking.

Hacking? Ethical? Huh?

You hear me, ethical hacking! You can learn what you need to be a Certified Ethical Hacker. Hey, it’s knowing your enemy. The best way to keep up with hackers is to be that one step ahead and catch them before they can do serious damage!

Ethical hacking is one of the more fascinating parts of IT Security. It’s testing the limits of the security in place. That’s kind of being a teenager forever! You can take classes online, so that’s convenient and flexible too.

IT is one of the few career fields that is still growing in this depressed economy and job market. In a hands-on project in the very beginning of my week one homework, we were sent to monster.com to do a basic search for “network technician.” My search popped up 1001 jobs in the US! I tried “network security.” There were over 5000 matches! Network security is even more important as so many breaches are reported all the time. Taking an online class can lead to so many possibilities. It’s certainly worth taking a look!

Nani's Musings

It’s been such a busy week this week! My head is just swimming in newness!

As of Monday, I’m a student again. My intro to networking class is a TON of information that is a need to know course for everything else I’ll take. It’s not easy, but it is fun. I really do enjoy pulling my hair out for hours and not understanding, to finally trip on that one thing that brings clarity to it all. It’s a nice feeling, let me tell ya! Add that new experience to my stress about RSVPs for the reception. It’s a small reception with a limited number of people we could invite, so we have a list that we cal our “A-” list. The people who would have unquestionably been invited if we had unlimited space and/or funds. I also have a number due to catering next week, so I’m stressing a bit about the reply cards, because every “no,” is one more person we can ask. I also have a pending three day a week schedule in therapy starting , likely net week, to juggle in everything else on my plate. Whew!


A Bull Durham Moment

I’m rating this clip PG13 for two f-bombs, but minus the f-bombs, the heads paying attention part to “I’ve been to the show” was like “I have a bachelors in broadcast communications...”



At the start of the first day of class the instructor asked us to all introduce ourselves and tell what year they’re in and why we’re taking this class, as part of their degree or general interest, etc... Keep in mind that I’m getting my certificate in Networking at the local community college. It’s less expensive and employers won’t care where I learned about networking, just if I know it well enough to become CompTIA certified. There were several people who were studying various computer or business associates degrees Some who were coming back after just finishing and even one taking the class at the freshman level while he finished high school. By the way, he’s the one I’M impressed with!

Everyone was kinda listening, but there was a dull murmur of other comments and conversation. Then it came to me in the last row. I started my introduction with “Hi,” rather than the standard “My name is,” and continued, “I have a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Broadcast Communications...”

The dull murmurs ceased and all heads turned towards me. “I have a bachelors degree” in community college is the same as “I've been to the show” on an A-league bus! When I can make a baseball movie analogy on the first day, I know I’ll do well in the class!


Digitalegacies Designs May Sales Report


All I can say is, “thank you NSD!” May was the best sales month ever for me at Scrap Bird. Talkin’ Baseball sold very well, both the individual kit and the Cobo pack with the word art. It really makes me feel good because it shows Scrap Bird is growing.

In all of the hustle and bustle this week, I didn’t post the sale paper yesterday, so, I’ll probably repeat this week’s Crazy Thursday sale at some point this month. I do have a new kit to show you, though!


Stardust is inspired by the tone and mystique of the classic standard as sung, to me anyway, best by Frank Sinatra. Stardust is the posting bonus for the I Wanna Talk About Me Challenge at Scrap Bird this month!

In our monthly book-of-me-style challenge, I’m asking to see a layout with at least one photo of you with someone special. Here is the layout I did:

credits: One Step at a Time by Digitalegacies Designs

This is me and my best friend, Kelly at the baseball game after my 40th birthday, still during Nanifest, when I only thought it was going to be David and me. I was surprised with a party that followed us down to Cincinnati from Michigan and another group with Kelly from Missouri!

So the only challenge requirements this month are a picture of you and someone special and at least one item from a Scrap Bird designer. For that, you get Stardust!


Old friend from 360!

I was so happy to get a comment from Noelle, Chalicat, an old friend from Yahoo 360! Part of what I love about getting comments is the community it fosters. Yahoo 360 was all about being social network with a blog. While I love my Blogger blog, I do miss my Yahoo friends! I’m so glad you hung you coffee mug up here, Noelle!!


The New Doc

I love my new doctor, he’s great! I went in to have my knee looked at. Hobbling around in Boston and then just Wednesday when will call was on the other side of the stadium from where we parked, my knee was sore, really sore, almost can’t walk sore. I saw my new doctor for the first time this morning.

After we talked about the history of my klutziness and the fact that I don’t see a doctor until I know I’m hopelessly sick and I take as few pills as possible for anything, he sayts it’s likely the beginning of nasty arthritis, but before he confirms that he’s sending me for x-rays. So I have the paperwork for that. I also have a referral slip to be evaluated by a therapist and start three days a week therapy. I also have to wear my knee brace all the time if I’m walking more than ten feet!

Now, I need to lose weight. I know that. That’s what I’ve been working on. I also know that it would help my knee if I did. But of course, today was the benchmark day with the new doctor. Anyone who’s ever struggled with weight will know this is just awesome - The doctor asked me what I wanted to do. Do I have an idea that I want to try for losing the weight, because it’s going to work better for me if it’s my plan. But he’d offer any help I wanted. Pinch my inches, I'm dreaming!

I had an awesome doctor up until about 2000, when he retired. The doctor who took his place was nothing like him and if I was sick, I had to be desperately sick before I’d even start thinking about seeing him. My new doctor today was kind, he smiled, took his time and listened to me! It was important to me before that my doctor talked baseball with me for a minute or two when he came into the exam room and that he knew to tell me when I needed to take all the pills in a prescription because he knew and understood how much I hate pills. The doctor today, in talking about managing the pain while my knee is undergoing therapy, suggested a natural supplement and while he offered that he could prescribe a pain killer, also said I could continue with Advil, making sure that I understood that it’s not addictive, even in doses of more than the three or four pills a day I take when the pain is really bad. I think I may have finally found a doctor who is worthy of replacing the doctor I had and loved for 24 years in Michigan!

Oh, right now the knee still hurts, but I feel better about the future of it feeling better. He says I may be looking at surgery, but he thinks if it can be put off a few years, that’s the better course. Of course, depending on what the X-rays show, it might be different, but I totally love that he was honest and explained things completely to me. Old fashioned people skills and modern knowledge. My textbook says you should have that in the computer networking profession too. I think you should have that in ALL professions. Wouldn’t the world work better that way?