Goodbye AOL

I just used the import to Blogger function and it looks like AOL actually did something right. It worked seamlessly..... More likely someone over at BLOGGER did something right. Sigh!

I imported this journal in it's entirety over to Blogger and put it in a new blog and named the blog Adventures of an Eclectic mind - AOL Edition. I don't intend to use that blog for anything except a holder of my AOL memories. I will continue to blog at Adventures of an Eclectic Mind. I put one entry in the new blog explaining to people what the blog was, what AOL did, and directing them to the blog I am currently using.

So, this is farewell... I don't plan to post here anymore. I do plan to leave this journal up till the end so people can find my 'forwarding address'.

Goodbye AOL and thanks for encouraging me to move on to better services.

Tags: Goodbye AOL

The Deathrows of AOL Journals...

Yes, yes, yes... I know I promised stories from my great adventure, but I seem to have returned to find something of a disaster happening in J-land. It seems that AOL has decided that the Journal product, along with all of the Hometown stuff, is to be discontinued. In other words they are kicking us out. I can't say that this is totally unexpected. I have been pessimistically mirroring all of my entries on a Blogger Blog for a long time now, every since the Banner fiasco. After the way AOL handled that, I wasn't sure I trusted them to stick around and support the Journals product. It seems that unfortunately my paranoia was not so unfounded after all.

At first glance this seemed to be a pain, but I have been playing around with moving away from AOL for a while now and this is just the push I needed. I tend to go with the established (read easy) path unless pushed. With Journals and FTP space gone -- and I am sure AOL Pictures soon to follow-- the only thing left that I really use on AOL is my e-mail account. I will probably continue to always have that e-mail addy as long as AOL continues to support e-mail because it is the one I've had since like 1995 and everyone has it, but I see it becoming the account I check like once every couple of weeks to be sure that nothing ended up there.  Why? Because:

• I have a g-mail account, which I plan to migrate all my e-mail traffic over to
• Blogger will now be my main Blogging platform -- at least for now and until I decide to do the whole domain/host thingy -- again, I've always preferred the customization over at Blogger anyway
• I have a free Flickr account, which I will take Pro tomorrow. It's a better platform than AOL Pictures anyway and the only reason I haven't been using it is just pure laziness of habit. Plus I have been wanting to do more with my pictures over at Flickr anyway and maybe this will be the push I need to do so
• I was only using AOL FTP to host my animated graphics. I will now move those over to Photobucket
• AOLalerts were always lousy, so I have a Bloglines account up and running and have been using it for years already. Now it is just a matter of getting everyone's new Blog accounts into Bloglines and deleting out the old AOL Journal ones
• AND Live Writer is integrated with Blogger and it was always a pain having to copy and paste the entry into AOL anyway. With Blogger all I have to do is hit the publish button

So... I'm thinking maybe I should THANK AOL for being butts and kicking us out. My only fear is that some of the people I enjoy will either not continue to blog or I will miss finding where they have gone. Otherwise I think this may actually turn out to be a good move, at least for me.

If anyone who is making the move needs any help with getting their new Blogs set up, or have questions about Bloglines, Flickr, or Photobucket feel free to ask.

Another place to get help is here. Rachel has set up a bulletin board for people to help each other, ask questions, and post their forwarding links. You have to sign up for an account to post, but it is free.

This will most likely be my last post that I 'mirror' over at AOL Journals. From now on I will only be posting here. I will put one last entry up over at J-land directing all my friends over to my Blogger Blog. Eh, and an era ends.

I've Been on an Adventure!

 

I've been on an Adventure! I am currently sitting in an airport waiting for my flight home. I was told I would have internet access during this little foray, but this turned out to be not exactly true. Turns out that this is the first time I have been online since Sept 11. Details to follow as soon as I get home and get a little caught up.... by the way, I have 4572 entries waiting my attention on Bloglines and 1840 e-mails.

What a Girl Needs.... & Other Random Things!

That's a title from a really cute movie, but this post is from a meme that I saw over at Donna's. I don't usually do these, but it was cute, so........... Here goes:

The rules: All you have to do is Google your first name with the word needs behind it and post the first 10 results. Don't forget to tag people (if you are the tagging sort)!

1. Jeanie needs more support to accomplish day-to-day tasks. (Like maybe making timely blog posts?? Maybe someone could do my laundry while I play on the computer? LOL!)

2. Jeanie needs more constant attention. (Well... duh!)

3. Jeanie needs a hug. (hmmmm... don't we all??)

4. Jeanie needs a Shooter. (well... alrighty then! and here I don't even hang out at bars and still this one kept showing up... maybe I DO need a Shooter!)

5. Jeanie needs to bother her parents. (Since I'm 48, I think I can skip bothering my Mom about most things...)

6. Jeanie needs a vacation. (Hell Yeah!)

7. Jeanie needs: MicroSoft Framework 1.1 or higher. (I'm a tech geek, but I think I can pass on this one.)

8. Jeanie needs to establish dominance and take responsibility for it. (Dominance... Like World Dominance maybe? I can do that... bwahahahaha!)

9. Jeanie needs her own show. (Eh.. not so much.)

10. Jeanie needs help and an hour to get ready for a date. (If I'm getting ready for a date I definitely need help.. and probably more than an hour. LOL!)

O.k.... that was... interesting. I'm with Donna on the tagging thing, so if this looks interesting.. Consider yourself tagged!!

Now for the random bits. I have a bunch of pictures I need to work on, a new program to work on them in that I need to learn all the new parts of. In addition, I have plenty of housework I could be doing, and I have an afghan that is a present I should be finishing... and yet, what am I actually doing?

Well....

Have any of you seen the advertisement for Spore? It's a new game that is coming out where you create your own characters and then follow them thru evolution from little cells to space travelers. Anyway, they released the creature creator early and it is very addictive. Here are the creatures I have so far, and I am sure there will be more! Check out some of the absolutely amazing creations by some of the other people who are playing with this adult version of tinker toys!

There are two versions of Creature Creator. One is free and you can download it from the site and play with it. It has 25% of the parts and you can upload your creatures. The other version (the one I have) is the full version and costs $10 and gives you access to 100% of the parts and you can also upload your creations. Just be warned, you can spend a LOT of time playing with this!

Grrrrrr!!!! I uploaded a couple of pictures of my creations, but apparently AOL Journals doesn't support PNG files. Sigh! You can either click on the link above to see what I've made, or pop over to my Blogspot journal -- which DOES support PNG files!

The other thing I have been up to is also fun, but not the same type of fun. My Grandson recently had his 6th birthday and I bought him a Webkinz. His is a little monkey and he named it Banana. Isn't that cute? I also got one for myself so that we could play games and talk on the Webkinz site. Mine is a Bengal tiger and I named him Rajah. Now, this is a great kids site and is actually set up very well for keeping kids safe from what I've seen so far.... Currently I have bought furniture for my little Rajah, and clothes, and I cook him food, and he has a scooter, and a swimming pool and we bought seeds so we could garden and an outdoor yard....  Yeah, I think I've spent more time online with my webkinz than my grandson has! LOL!

      

I sometimes amaze myself with the silly things I find that amuse me, still I have to say I am rarely bored! LOL!

 

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_2

Suddenly the Interweebs make sense...

Did you ever wonder why the Internet was created? Why people keep blogs and now exactly what they twitter about? This guy seems to have figured it all out. It's so obvious to me now...... LOL!

 

 

Everyone Loves a Baby

This is a shot I took several months ago and have been meaning to do something with. I took several shots of this Momma and Baby orangutans interacting, and it was very difficult choosing just one. I finally decided on this one because I like the expressions on their faces. The second runner up had the baby making 'kissy lips' at Momma, but it wasn't as sharp as this shot. I still might revisit it sometime in the future though.

Although this particular photo was taken at my local zoo, I was thinking about one of the innovative things we saw when we visited a different zoo. The National Zoo has the coolest thing set up for their orangutans. They have a "Think Tank" for them to interact in. The animals don't live at the "Think Tank" though... they live in another exhibit that is a fair distance away. The Zoo came up with a pretty ingenious way to allow the animals to have access to the interactive exhibit and their house.... they set up something called the "O" line. It is a series of cables that are set on towers and allow the animals the choice of where they want to be!  We really enjoyed the exhibit and the unique way the curators figured out to make the situation not only work, but be another form of enrichment.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I'm trying to finish up a project and still trying to play with the new program. So far there is only one change I dislike and I am still hoping that there is a way to 'do it the old way'. Most of the improvements have been nice. Still, sometimes they change something that doesn't really need to be changed though. Sigh!

One of the improvements I like is  a way to upload directly to Flickr from the organizer. I've only got a free account over there, but I have been thinking about upgrading to the Pro account and this might be the thing that pushes me to actually do it. The only reason I've not gone 'pro' before now is the thought of taking the time to organize and decide what to upload. This may actually push me to get my butt in gear and get my online life organized... well, at least the picture part!

 

 

 

It's Thursday... and I'm actually posting 2 days in a row! ;p

Ooooh... Look! Two days and two entries! Don't get used to it, but I do plan to be around a little more often than I have been the last couple of months.... which would be like um... Zilch. I've been around the interweebs.  I read journals/blogs. I even do online research. I just couldn't seem to find time (or maybe inspiration) to actually write an entry. Part of this has been my lack of time to play with (or even take) any photos. Now, why would that keep me from posting? I'm not sure, but I have gotten into a habit of posting a photo along with an entry even if the photo had nothing to do with the subject matter. No time to play in Elements equals no new photos to post equals no posts. And part of the problem has also been that even though I'm busy, I'm boring!

Yesterdays photo was me playing with my new Photoshop Elements 6. Yep, I went straight from Ver 4 to 6. I skipped Ver 5 because it didn't offer anything new that I felt was compelling enough for me to switch from the version I was used to. I'm not sure I really needed this version either, but it had a couple of new features I was curious about AND I found it on sale for half price. I had been wanting it, and I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. LOL! I only played with it for a few moments, but I think I really like the improvements in this version. The new interface is really nice. I don't know if it is new for Vers 6 or from 5, but I like the darker colors and ease of switching from one thing to another. I also think the organizer is faster than the version I was using. I still haven't deleted Ver 4 from my hard drive because I want to be sure I have all of my brushes and things switched over to the new version before I do that, but it is just sitting there for now.

I'm also recycling! I'm sending the disks and the books I bought about Ver 4 to my DIL as she was interested in it when she saw it on my computer when we visited. She has been using whatever came with her camera and it was very basic. I think she is ready to move up to something a little more, and I am glad to be able to help her out by sending along Ver 4 to her.

Tonight's picture is from a photo shoot that I did for a friend who needed some new publicity shots. After we were done doing her pictures we had her daughter do a few poses with the horses since they were already cleaned up and looking pretty. She is a lovely girl and with such subjects it is almost impossible to take a bad picture. I'm finally starting to go thru the rest of the shots I took from that day and get them printed out for her. I worked on her mother's photos right away so she could send them out, but hadn't gotten around to her pictures till now. She has been amazingly patient..... and I've been amazingly slow! Still, I thought I would post one of the shots here and see what you all think of it.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I'm officially a published photographer!! One of the publicity shots that I did for my friend (during the photo shoot mentioned above) just appeared in a magazine. She showed it to me today. The ad for her appearance is on the inside of the front cover and it is one of the shots I did for her! Yeah, I know it's not like really being published, but I'll take it! LOL!

Anyway, here is the shot of her daughter and Ricco. Some of you might remember Ricco. He is an Andalusion stallion and I have had shots of him up here before.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

Home Again, Home Again.. Jiggidy Jig~

Several of you have noticed my extended absence here and have been kind enough to remark on it in the comments and in e-mail. I really meant to get here and put up something sooner.... But, read on and you will understand!

We recently returned from the Equine Affaire that was held in Columbus, OH. The lady I work for performed in the show that was being put on there. The travel to, performing at, and finally return home takes up about 10 days of my absence. The clipping of horses, practicing, general grooming and the getting everything together and ready to go (along with all the normal daily care of the horses) makes up for about another 14 days of my not being around.

In addition to all of the getting ready and preparations for travel, I also did a photo shoot for my friend, worked on the pictures she liked, and made up DVD's of the photos and the music we needed to send ahead of us.

Oh.... AND, they finally got our new --o.k., new to us!-- trailer ready for us to move into. They got it hooked up a week before we left. Yep! I moved just enough stuff in for G and Morgan to live in there till I got back, and I've been completing the move since my return. Also, to add insult to injury, I got an order for the cables I make the day before we left. That meant I was already 10 days behind on making them when I returned.

LOL! I have to laugh or I would cry. Add to all of that the fact that the 10 days I was gone I had Internet access for a total of 3 hours... well, you can imagine the number of e-mails and RSS feeds I returned to.

With luck my life is now calming down just a little bit. I am hoping so at any rate. The shot at the bottom of this entry is one from the photo shoot we did prior to leaving. Not bad for my first time, I think. I still need to go through the pics and remove red-eye from some and do some 'cleaning up', hopefully I will have time now.

Believe it or not I didn't take even one picture while we were at the show. I was sooooo busy I only got to go over to the shopping area for about an hour.That was probably a good thing as I only bought 2 t-shirts. There was a lot of cool stuff and I am afraid if I had found more time to shop it would have gotten very expensive! I did walk around and admire the beautiful horses on my way into and out of the barn each day. There were some remarkable horses on display! I wish I had been able to spend a lot more time looking around and exploring, but that is what happens when you are working an event instead of attending!

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

Misfire on Wordless Wednesday

Last week there was a really cool event that was to occur on that very night. An eclipse of the moon! I was excited. I would get a couple of really good pics and use them for my Wordless Wednesday entry. TaDa! Great Idea. Very Timely. Awesome subject. Yeah... Right!?!

Ever hear the quote, "The best laid plans of Mice and Men..."?  Here's what actually happened:

• The first problem was that I misread (i.e. didn't pay enough attention) the article about the eclipse. Yes, it did actually occur early in the evening... IF you were on the West Coast! Unfortunately, I am on the East Coast and the beginnings of the Eclipse were around 8:45pm with the actual Totality being between 10pm and and 11pm and ending around Midnight.
• Still thinking, "No Problem! I snap the pics during the early partial eclipse and a couple during the midpoint. I pop them on the laptop. I edit them. And Viola! Entry!"
• Trotting outside at around 8:30pm revealed..... CLOUDS! Lots of 'em.
• Grumbling, but still determined I continued to check the clouds... er I mean Moon... every few minutes still hoping for a decent shot.
• I did actually get a couple of decent shots in between the clouds, but by the time I got them edited it was getting close to Midnight. Soon it would no longer be a Wordless Wednesday Entry.
• I bring up AOL Pics (where I store my static, non moving pictorial blog offerings) and I upload the pictures. And..... no go. AOL informed me that the "upload has failed". I tried a couple more times, each time failing. Finally I decided to throw them on my Flickr account...... But I looked at the time and found that it was 11:54pm. No way was I going to get the pics uploaded AND into entries before Midnight.
• Discouraged, frustrated, and demoralized I decided to just go watch Keeping the Faith on Starz. Yeah, how's that title for irony?
• BUT, I will be returning later on today with a very cute entry for this week's Wordless Wed.... Stay tuned!

Yes, the best laid plans often do not come off as we intend.

For the record though, the actual Eclipse was still a very cool sight, especially the red color during the middle part of the Eclipse. The clouds, while somewhat annoying because I was trying to take pictures, actually added a different look to the eclipse, often giving it a surreal appearance that, unfortunately, did not carry over well into the shots I did get.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

It's that time of year!

Bet you thought I was going to be talking about Valentine's Day, didn't you?!?So sorry to disappoint, but something more important happens this time of year. New York City goes to the Dogs with the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. It's an annual tradition for us to watch the show and we watched the first half tonight, and will be sitting in front of the TV tomorrow night for the last half and the all important crowning of the champion.

Tonight we watched to see who would win in the Hound, Terrier, Non-Sporting, and (Morgan, our Corgi's favorite) the Herding groups. Tomorrow night we will see who wins in the Sporting, Working and Toy groups. Finally all 7 Champions will be brought together to crown the best of the best. Check it out, you might just see your next doggie there.

 

 

Clicking on the link above takes you to the official site for the show with all kinds of pictures and facts about the dogs. Clicking on the poster will take you to the section of the site were you can buy a copy of the poster for yourself, or a maybe a DVD of the show if you want.

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

Origami, Questions, and a cute little guy...

My Wordless Wednesday entry elicited a couple of questions in the comments section asking what kind of bird it was. Ugly is my first answer, but I didn't figure that would satisfy the curiosity expressed! It is a Shoebill, also known in some circles as a Whalehead. If you want to read a little more about them and see a few more pictures, check out the wikipedia entry here, the ARKive entry here has pictures and video, and a kid friendly entry is located here.

Since this is going to be one of those scattered entries, I thought I would take it as an opportunity to point people towards a blog entry that I came across that shows some amazing origami and features links to even more. Origami just fascinates me. I've bought a couple of books about it over the years, but  I have never really sat down and given it the focus and attention it needs and deserves if you want to do it yourself. The Blog is called Blue Tea, and the actual entry is located here.

Lastly I leave you with this picture. Isn't he a cute little guy?

 

 

Something to Distract John from work....

John Scalzi, our recently departed blog father, is trying to get some work done and not be distracted by the bad old internets..... we can't have that! This picture is actually from John and features their newest acquisition Zeus (the cat formerly known as TempCat©) as a LOLCat and can be found here without the caption and with permission to do with it as we will.... scary, huh? So, I give you my interpretation of LOLCat Zeus!

 

 

Go here and check the comments to see what others are doing to distract John. ;p

Tags: LOLCat, John Scalzi

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Tags: Wordless Wednesday

JLand Photo Shoot #126

Krissy offers up the following subject for this week's JLand Photo Shoot #126:

Black and White. You may interpret this subject any way you like. 

Krissy suggested that people might want to submit pictures in Black and White, or change a picture they already have into Black and White, but I decided to interpret the subject in my own unique way! Maybe I'll also put up a more traditional Black and White picture later this week, but for now......

 

 

I almost used this picture on my last entry for the Weekend Assignment that I made concerning sleep. I'm glad I went with the Rhino for that one now because this made a perfect 'Black and White' entry.

Want to play along? Go out, take a picture, make it Black and White, put it up on your Blog and then pop over to Krissy's and leave your link!

Tags: JLand Photo Shoot

Weekend Assignment #199

 

 

Let's see what Karen is offering up for this weekend's deep thoughts:

Weekend Assignment #199: What is your usual sleep schedule on weeknights? Are you an "early to bed, early to rise" sort of person, or do you stay awake far into the night (voluntarily or otherwise), and get up as late as your work schedule permits? Do you give priority to getting adequate sleep? If so, how is that working out for you?
Extra Credit: If you had no work or family scheduling obligations, would your sleeping pattern change substantially?

How's that picture for appropriate? Now for my answer...

Since I've been lucky enough to work at several little part time gigs over the last year and a half,  my sleeping habits can be a little erratic. I seem to be at my most alert from about 11pm to 3am, but I rarely stay up quite that late. I usually set my goal to be in bed by 1am, and usually make it by about 2am... except for those occasional nights when I just can't seem to quiet my mind to sleep. You will find me up either on the computer, or watching a movie till around 4am or 5 on those nights.

Now for the scary part.... Since I take care of horses on a regular basis, this means being at the barn by 8am... even if I did just go to bed at 3am. G gets up for work at 7am, so I'm up anyway. I hear the little calculators in your heads working now. No, I don't survive on 4 to 6 hours of sleep, I have a solution that works for me. I do my morning work with assorted animals from about 8am to 10am,then it is home to check my e-mail and Bloglines account, do the housework/laundry that is needed and try to finish up by 12:30pm. A quick trip across the street to do the Noon check on the horses and I'm done for the morning! Geoff comes in for lunch at 1. After eating, I curl up on the couch and usually catch a quick nap from about 2 till 4pm. If I am feeding the horses the evening meal, I get up at 4pm and trot over there to do that. Geoff gets done around 5pm. So, I do manage to get around 8 hours of sleep most days, just not in a row!

Extra Credit: If you had no work or family scheduling obligations, would your sleeping pattern change substantially?

Oh Yeah! I would sleep when I was tired and wake up when I wasn't. To me that would be the best. I've never really been good at doing the going to bed and sleeping 8 or 9 hours and then staying up the rest of the time. I actually seem to do better on a couple of broken up periods of sleep... eh, go figure, I'm not normal!

Want to play along?? Write up your answer to the Weekend Question, click on the link above and leave your link over at Karen's so we can all see it!

Tags: Weekend Assignment

Can I have an Awwwww?!?

 

 

How can you look at that picture and not go "Awwwwwwwww"? I was there just a couple of hours after this guy was born and remember when he was still having trouble finding his balance and figuring out how to nurse. He obviously figured it all out! Isn't he a cutey? This picture was taken last July. I need to get down and see him again soon, but it is a little over a 2 hour trip each way now and requires more planning than it used to.

The HP laptop is home and I can't believe how much nicer it is to work with my wonderful 17" screen and all of my settings just the way I like! I edited several pictures today, which I will dole out to you all 1 at a time. Even if I don't have anything to say, at least you'll get a picture! 

I'm look forward to getting back into things like Wordless Wednesday, Monday Photo Shoots, Weekend Assignments... So, in that spirit, I decided to go back and pick up the first Weekend assignment that Karen did after John left us. I'll also be doing the actual assignment for this week later.

Weekend Assignment #197: Now that the WGA strike has had lots of time to affect the prime time television schedules, how is it affecting you as a viewer? What show do you miss most, aside from reruns? Do you miss your weekly appointment with that ill-behaved doctor, or your visits to Wisteria Lane? Does it bother you not to laugh at fresh jokes on your favorite sitcom? Or are you just as happy watching reality shows, or new episodes of shows that have been held back until now? We want to know!
Extra Credit: how are you spending the time instead?

 

Frankly the WGA strike has had little effect on me. I don't watch a whole lot of network TV other than my guilty pleasure of 1 hour of All My Children each day... and I don't even necessarily watch that on the network either. I am much more likely to catch it on SoapNet at 8pm than I am to watch it in the middle of the afternoon. Other than that, most of my favorite shows are on other channels, and so far haven't shown much effect. Torchwood, Eureka, The Dresden Files and other shows of the type seem to be unaffected so far. Part of the reason I don't watch network TV can also be laid at the door of DirecTV. For some reason we are unable to get local channels thru them other than NBC, and the only channels we can pick up off a regular antenna are ABC, and fuzzily FOX. So even if I wanted to watch something.... I couldn't!

Besides, I have found that for most programs, we like buying the whole season and watching at our own pace. I am currently in the middle of watching Season 2 of Supernatural, Season 1 of Criminal Minds (I have Season 2 waiting in the wings) and Season 2 of How I met Your Mother. If you watch and catch them on sale, the seasons aren't that expensive and you don't have to watch commercials, you watch when you want, not when the show is 'on', and you never miss an episode and wonder what happened last week!

Extra Credit:

Well, so far I haven't spent my time any differently because I haven't been affected at all. I guess when the shows I watch start to be affected I will go and pick up some seasons of other shows I've been meaning to watch. Besides, I only spend a couple of hours a day watching the TV (although it is usually on for noise). Now if the Internet goes on strike.... then I would really have a problem! LOL!

Tags: Weekend Assignment

Yes, I am still a Geek...

I know that I have established over the last few years that I tend to lean towards being a geek. Today was a prime example...

I mentioned a couple of entries back that once again the Christmas Jinx had struck my laptop. It seems that during the Dec/Jan time of the year something happens to send my poor laptop off to visit the nice technicians.

Last years visit, although waaaaay to long ended up netting me a brand new laptop. Can't beat that! This year's visit however was not technical, but mechanical. The hinge on my Precious cracked. Since I had gotten this computer just last year in January, I wanted to get it in right away before the 1 year anniversary of purchase so it would still be under manufacturer's warranty. This wasn't vital as I have an extended warranty, but it wouldn't  hurt. The hinge had cracked the last week in December and I backed up all my picture/audio files and took it in on Sunday the 6th. The nice tech looked at it, nodded and said the dreaded, "O.K.... We'll send it off in the morning and it should be back in 2 to 6 weeks". Knowing from experience (3rd year in a row that I've sent off a laptop during the Dec/Jan time frame) that this is a slack time for people sending things in for repair because of the holiday season, I figured I would have it back closer to 2 weeks than 6.

Sniffling, I went home, drug out my old Sony, and proceeded to make it usable for the hopefully short period my Precious would be away. Since I didn't think I would need it for more than 2 weeks I just updated Windows, got a firewall/antivirus and a couple of spy/adware programs up to date, downloaded the newer version of Firefox and called it usable.

On the Saturday marking the 2 week anniversary of dropping the machine off, I gave a quick call to my local tech guys to see how things were going. They checked the computers and said, "Oh, because it was a hinge and not something swappable like a system component they had to order the piece. Look for it back around the 26th" After hyperventilating, I accepted this. I was surprised. Wouldn't you think that if you sent an HP laptop to an HP service center they would have things like.... Oh, I don't know... HINGES available?? But, I accepted it and settled down to make do with my little... 15 inch screen... 1/2G of Ram... no photo editing software loaded... OLD laptop.

Today, out of the blue the phone rings and it's the local tech, your laptop is here. Joy ensues! I would have rushed out right then to retrieve my Precious, but it is an hour or so round trip to the 'city', and I had to feed horses in an hour. Rats! I would go as soon as chores were finished!

I arrive. I spend the required several minutes looking around just to 'see if they have anything I need since I am there anyway' , then I go to the service desk to retrieve the long gone very missed HP. While talking to the tech as he's finishing up the paperwork, I mention that the only thing missing when I got this laptop last January was that it came with 1G of Ram and I had really wanted 2. I had looked a couple of times at upgrading, but because of the configuration it came with I would have to replace both memory modules.

Side Rant: Why do manufacturers put 2 modules in to add up to 1G instead of putting one 1G module in and leave the second slot to fill later??? I think they have stock in the Ram manufacturers! End of mini rant.

Anyway, since upgrading meant I needed to buy 2 of the 1G modules and then I usually pay to have them installed because... well if anything goes wrong I'm not responsible (See story last year at this time of how having memory installed in the old 3 year old laptop netted me a brand new laptop) this meant a cost of around $250 to $300 according to what kind of memory I chose.

He looks at me and says, "I think we are running a deal right now that I can get you 2G of memory AND have it installed for around $100." No way, I say. What brand of memory I want to know, figuring it would be some cheap or off brand. He answers Kingston, which is a good brand, not some knock-off.

Still not convinced, I casually say, "How long would it take to get it installed?"

"Hmmmm... let me check and make sure I have the right kind for your machine in stock, first..." He wanders off to return bearing 2 packages of RAM. "Yep, got 'em... and" He looks around, "Oh heck, leave it with me and you can pick it up tomorrow."

I couldn't resist. Price was right. Timing was good. I return home with a charge on the debit card and no computer. G looks at me.

"Where is your laptop?" His tone a little worried as I am not happy separated from my precious. And, he remembers last year when I would go to pick up my laptop from repairs to find that it hadn't been repaired and needed to be sent off again on three separate occasions before they finally replaced it. "Everything O.K.?" He questions cautiously.

I explain the way too good to pass up sale, the reason 2G of Ram would help with Photo editing, and the good timing. His eyes glaze over. He asks if it was a good price/good quality  and something I needed/wanted. Upon my Yes reply he just says, "O.K."  And wanders off happily content that I wouldn't be throwing things.

Anyway, with any luck I'll have my baby back tomorrow with all my settings the way I like them and all the programs I like best. I've been missing some good photo memes that I like to participate in, including the 2 new ones based on John Scalzi's Monday Morning Photo Shoot, and of course my favorite Wordless Wednesday that I enjoy.

Yes, I am a geek and it is the Geeky things in life that seem to make me happy. Jewelry, bleh... More Ram? Oh Yeah!

Bridge to Terabithia

 

 

Bridge to Terabithia was the 'New Movie of the Week' on the Starz movie channel this week. Since I hadn't seen it, and it seemed to be the type of movie that I would like, I tuned in expecting a happy, pleasant movie experience. I mean, this was a movie based on a kid's book with a couple of children with such wonderful imaginations that they create a whole world... it was bound to be a happy, captivating, warm-hearted adventure... Right? Let's see... the tagline for this movie was: 

Discover a place that will never leave you, and a friendship that will change you forever.

The official blurb: 

From Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media comes Bridge To Terabithia, the exhilarating and heartwarming fantasy-adventure about the power of imagination and the magic of friendship. Tired of being bullied at school and neglected at home, Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke escape into the woods, where Leslie opens Jess's mind to the amazing kingdom of Terabithia. It's a secret land where they reign supreme among the giants, ogres and other fantastical creatures they create. As their imaginations soar and their friendship deepens, they discover how to rule their own kingdom, fight the forces of darkness and change their lives forever.

I was ready to be entertained by a cute little fantasy... little did I know that the story I was about to see was not what I was expecting!

Wow! Now I'm not the type to get all teary-eyed at a movie... but... WOW! G walked in and foundme a sniffling, sniveling mess. Tears just running down my face. I hadn't looked at this book in the book store so I had no idea what it was about other than the quick little blurb they gave in the guide about the movie, but I am going to assume (at least hope) that it is a YA meant for the 13 to 18 year old crowd because.. Wow (did I say that already? LOL!). After watching the movie I went online to find a site with the cliff notes, and it would appear that the book is even sadder than the movie. It is now on my to be bought/read list.

If you haven't seen this movie... watch it! Especially if you weren't one of the popular kids at school. This movie will definitely strike a cord.

In case you are interested, here are links to the official movie site, the Internet Movie Database site, and the Sparknotes page. This movie wasn't what I expected, in fact, it wasn't anything like I expected it to be, but if you get a chance to catch it... do so. And if you don't know anything about the movie or book, don't read anything about it before you see the movie... I think it affected me as much as it did because what happened came as a surprise.

A Celebration of Kim

 

 

Today is the day that they are holding the Memorial Service for Kim. I know that most of us are unable to be there 'in real life', but I am also sure that we are all there in spirit. Kim was such an amazing person and touched so many lives both in the 'real world' and here in cyberspace.

Just in case any of you haven't seen these two things, I thought I would leave links for you here today on Kim's day. Here online obituary is here, and a guest book that you can sign, leave a personal message, and read the messages that others have left is here.

My thoughts are with her family and friends today... and with Kim.

One more link, and I'm finished. Kim's sister has started a journal. She is posting about her sadness, how she is coping, and how the family is doing. Stop by, I'm sure she would appreciate it.

Your Substitute Monday Photo Shoot #1: What's New?

It is 2008 and John Scalzi, the blogfather, has moved on leaving a large hole in our little community. One of the memes that John used to do each week was the Monday Photo Shoot. Although I didn't always participate, I still enjoyed checking it out each week, and I was feeling a little sense of loss. Apparently so was Karen over at Outpost Mavarin. She has decided to take up the discarded meme (with John's blessing) and run with it. This is the first week she is hosting it.

So, let's get on with it! This week's Monday Photo Shoot is:

 

Your Substitute Monday Photo Shoot #1: What's New? In honor of the new year, show us something new. It can be a gift you got over the holidays, something you gave yourself, or even something that symbolizes the New Year to you. If it's new, it'll do!

Since I am currently without my trusty laptop {{{waaaaaahhhhh}}}}, I decided to cheat a little bit and go online and find a photo of my What's New. Yeah, I know it is cheating, but ya do what you can do LOL!

My What's New was a sort of Christmas present. We were shopping in the local B&N Bookstore on the Sunday after Christmas because I wanted to see if the calendars were on sale yet. They were, along with some nice Christmas cards at 50%. I ended up picking up a beautiful box of cards for next year, but no calendar. I decided to check the Mall on our next day off for a calendar, as they have the huge kiosk of calendars every year. I had technically done what I was supposed to do, but come on..... it's a bookstore! So I decided to browse for a little bit.

One of my favorite animalphotographers is Robert Vavra. He does wonderful pictures, and I have a few of his books. People often think he only does horses, but I have not only Eqqus, but Eqquus Reined, The Unicorn of Kilomanjora, and.... Vavra's cats! Anyway, on the sales rack I spotted a Vavra book that I had never seen. It was huge. Not only was it thick and heavy, but it was in a large format to further emphasize these beautiful photos. I glanced at the price thinking I might beg for it later. It was only $29.99. My mouth dropped and I quickly pointed it out to G. He said, "Merry Christmas, get it!" I flipped thru the copies and picked out the one with the best dust cover and paid for it. I was happy to leave the bookstore now because I couldn't wait to get out in the car and look at this gorgeous book more closely.

 

 

After getting home I took the time to look and see when the book was published because I was surprised that I had never seen it before.... The publication date? Wait for it.... 2007! Hmmmm..... So I went online to Vavra's website and discovered the book being advertised as coming out in November of 2007. Now I was really curious. Quickly googling the book I discovered it for sale on a couple of sites, including Borders and Amazon... for $60. Why this book was on the discounted shelves and for half the price only 2 months after it's publication? I don't know... but I'm glad I grabbed it before anyone discovered the mistake.

The Book is huge and gorgeous. Admittedly there are no new pictures, it is a retrospective of the photos he has taken over the last 60 years, but many of the pictures are from books I haven't purchased, so they are new to me.

There you have it... my first (albeit cheating) entry in the New Monday Photo Shoot. Want to play along? Just snap a picture, post it in your blog, and pop over to Karen's and leave your link. She is extending this week's entries till Sunday night, so you still have plenty of time!

Tags: Monday Photo Shoot

Not Wordless Wednesday

Hmmmph! Because I started this year the same way as I did last year... i.e. without my trusty laptop, I guess there won't be a Wordless Wednesday post this week, and probably not next week either. At least this time the laptop went in for a physical repair. The hinge broke and needed to be sent in for repair. I dropped it off Sunday evening. I had at first planned to use G's laptop to check e-mail, read blogs, etc, but I decided to pull out the Sony that used to be his and see if I could resurrect it and make it useable... at least for the short period of 2 to 4 weeks they said my 'baby' will be gone.

Issues that needed to be addressed to make the 7 year old laptop useable included (but not restricted to):

1. The power cord. The reason that we retired the laptop this summer and got G a used Dell was because of an issue with the power cord. Since this laptop is so old the battery doesn't even try to hold a charge, it must be plugged in to work. Somewhere along the line G did something to the cord (or the spot it plugs into) that causes it to disconnect if it is moved wrong. Basically wear and tear from sitting on his lap. If this happens too many times and the computer shuts down without exiting programs correctly, then eventually you get corrupt files and have to do a clean install and start over. It was when I was doing this for like the 3rd time in as many months that I had decided that G needed a new (used) laptop for his birthday LOL!

I overcame this problem by simply placing the laptop on the table and then I just don't move it! I wasn't sure if this would work, but so far so good

2. Missing stuff. It had a fairly recent reinstall and it had already shut itself down a couple of times while I had been trying to get everything it needed downloaded before the decision to trash it.... I borrowed G's wireless Internet card and set about downloading a free virus program, a free firewall, and a couple of adware/spyware programs. Once these (and the windows updates) were installed, I also popped online and picked up FireFox. I now had a good browser and a fairly safe computer.... which hadn't yet shut itself down. It was now Monday and I was starting to feel a little more confident I could make this work!

3. A Wi-fir card.... I couldn't keep stealing G's wireless card (my laptop has built in wi-fi, so I don't have a card). O.K... I could keep stealing it, but he was going to get grumpy LOL! My solution: When we bought G's Dell the girl gave him the wireless card that she had been using since her new laptop came with it installed. We had never used the card because it was a 'b' card and G's was the faster G protocol, as is our wireless network.

4. Missing Driver. After finally finding and then plugging the card into my laptop, I found that I needed a driver that I didn't have. An hour looking about on the manufacturer website (Microsoft) and not coming up with anything, I finally googled the name and part # and finally found a driver. After installing it and a restart I had Internet access all on my own. Woo Hoo!

So, with just a few hiccups I have revived this poor thing and I'm kind of glad I did. This means that we now have a 'backup' in case either of our computers are out of service AND a laptop we can let someone use if they are visiting instead of having to let them on one of ours. Pretty much a win-win.

5. Final problem/hurdle is that all of my programs for photo editing and keeping track of photos is on my 'normal' laptop.... I contemplated downloading something like Gimp, but decided that it wasn't enough of an issue to bother.... G suggested loading my Photoshop Elements on here and I cracked up. That program gives my brand new, fairly robust machine a run for the money... It would choke this poor thing right down! Bottom line? Expect a couple of 'wordy' posts, maybe with an old picture I already have online, and a return of posts with new pictures in the near future.

Last note: G just mentioned to me that I had been playing with the idea of experimenting with Linux on his machine since he really only uses it to access the Internet and nothing else. He thinks I should turn this machine into the 'experimental' Linux box to see how I like it.... That actually sounds like a pretty good idea, and I think I may actually try that after my laptop returns. Hmmmm.... sometimes there is  silver lining! Besides, worst case scenario is I can't get it up and running and on the network using Linux... I'll just reload WinXP back on here and reset it up like it is now. No harm, no foul!