My internet connection has been running so slow for most of the afternoon that I'm about ready to open a vein. I don't know which is more annoying...the fact that it's so slow or the fact that I'm still sitting here instead of finding something much more productive to do.
I got all (or almost all) of the photos uploaded to Shutterfly, but then have not been able to save more than the title page. I was on page 2, but only got 3 photos on it, having to wait FOREVER between drops. I saved it once and then closed it without saving...how much could I lose? Very frustrating.
Another frustrating thing that's been going on for a while in Blogger is that when I reach the end of a paragraph and hit "enter" twice to start a new paragraph I never know where the cursor is going to land. Usually it's at the beginning of the paragraph I just finished. Sometimes it's higher up in the text, in a previous paragraph. What's up with that? I finally realized, after using the mouse or the touch pad to move the cursor to the proper position (numerous times), that if I just start typing, it actually does go to the right position. But still, it's stupid.
And another thing...on this fancy laptop when I want to use Caps Lock, I hit it and then have to wait several seconds while it puts a message on the lower right had corner alerting me to CAPS LOCK: ON. I put that in caps because that's how the message is shown. Then the same thing happens when I turn CAPS LOCK: OFF. That just seems unnecessary to me. I really think that one would notice whether it's on or off within the first 2 letters.
Now I have to go make supper. Pizza. Not frozen. I have to open a package and take out the crust. Then I have to open another package and spread the sauce on the crust. Then I add whatever else I want on it. I think I'll do half hamburger & jalapenos (for Wayne) and half supreme (for me.) He called my cell phone from the bedroom downstairs a hour or so ago to see if I wanted to go out to eat. I declined, as I look hideous.
Oh, and just one more thing before I go. After about two and a half weeks signing in on this laptop, the facial recognition software still doesn't recognize me 97% of the time even though I look EXACTLY the same every time.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Just Wondering
For no particular reason, I suddenly wondered why people don't have their belly buttons removed when they are having surgery in that area. Surely, belly buttons aren't necessary for any reason. Or would you just look too stupid without one? At least your tummy would be nice and smooth...even if it's not flat.
I think the belly button is used as a positional spot for the Heimlich maneuver, though...so maybe it is necessary if you plan to choke on something.
As I said, just wondering.
I think the belly button is used as a positional spot for the Heimlich maneuver, though...so maybe it is necessary if you plan to choke on something.
As I said, just wondering.
Such a doofus!
I've been uploading photos to the Shutterfly website because I got an email from them saying that I could get a free photo book. You might remember from a previous post that I had uploaded over 200 photos to the Snapfish website because they had 50% off on photo books. The website slowed down so much, however, that I wasn't able to get even halfway through a 20 page book before the offer expired.
So, now comes this deal from Shutterfly, which means I have to upload the 200+ photos again, this time to their website. They have an Express Uploader that can be downloaded. That worked pretty well for the first 100 photos, but then it all bogged down and would only upload 1 or 2 before the uploader stopped working. I uninstalled it once and reinstalled, but that didn't help. Then I tried uploading using the old uploader. But, no luck there either.
I looked at the Help section and found out that I could upload directly to Shutterfly from the Picasa program that "captures" (my word, not Picasa's) all the photos I download to my computer. I installed Picasa a year or two ago. That's where I do my photo editing. It has some other cool bells and whistle, such as facial recognition...which tries to select faces from every image I save to the computer and group them with like faces. In other words, every time Wayne, say, is in a picture, it saves that picture in a folder with all the rest of the Wayne pictures. Seemed like a good idea when I enabled that function...but, now I'm beginning to wonder why I would ever need such a file.
But here's why I'm such a doofus. I have been popping back and forth between the recliner in the bedroom and the computer in the office, looking to see if the photos have finished uploading so I can select and upload the next batch. After doing that several times, I thought, "Idiot! You have a laptop and a wireless connection!" So, I unplugged the laptop, and wiggled the A/C adapter from the power strip thingy. I took the plug into the bedroom and plugged it in and then brought the laptop in and got comfy. I can watch television and upload pictures and post to my blog...all at the same time! Nice...but kinda dumb that I forgot I could do that.
As if that wasn't dumb enough, when I got into the recliner with the computer on my lap, I forgot to plug it in. I never noticed until the display dimmed a little bit. By then, it had only about 56% battery life left. And that was the second time in less than 24 hours that has happened. Last night I had used the laptop in the bedroom and when I finished, I unplugged from the laptop and then from the power strip. I took the A/C adapter back into the office and plugged it in, and then took the laptop back to the office. And forgot to plug it in. It was backing up some files to Carbonite, so I didn't shut it down. It ran out of juice sometime during the night, poor thing. I suppose I should just get in the habit of taking the laptop and the A/C adapter at the same time. I think I might remember to plug it in if I did that.
I know one thing...I need to buy a 2nd A/C adapter so I can leave the one in the office plugged in. I'm going to leave parts of it in the power strip one of these days if I have to keep wiggling it out. And then I would be, to quote my mother, who never cussed, "in a mell of a hess."
So, now comes this deal from Shutterfly, which means I have to upload the 200+ photos again, this time to their website. They have an Express Uploader that can be downloaded. That worked pretty well for the first 100 photos, but then it all bogged down and would only upload 1 or 2 before the uploader stopped working. I uninstalled it once and reinstalled, but that didn't help. Then I tried uploading using the old uploader. But, no luck there either.
I looked at the Help section and found out that I could upload directly to Shutterfly from the Picasa program that "captures" (my word, not Picasa's) all the photos I download to my computer. I installed Picasa a year or two ago. That's where I do my photo editing. It has some other cool bells and whistle, such as facial recognition...which tries to select faces from every image I save to the computer and group them with like faces. In other words, every time Wayne, say, is in a picture, it saves that picture in a folder with all the rest of the Wayne pictures. Seemed like a good idea when I enabled that function...but, now I'm beginning to wonder why I would ever need such a file.
But here's why I'm such a doofus. I have been popping back and forth between the recliner in the bedroom and the computer in the office, looking to see if the photos have finished uploading so I can select and upload the next batch. After doing that several times, I thought, "Idiot! You have a laptop and a wireless connection!" So, I unplugged the laptop, and wiggled the A/C adapter from the power strip thingy. I took the plug into the bedroom and plugged it in and then brought the laptop in and got comfy. I can watch television and upload pictures and post to my blog...all at the same time! Nice...but kinda dumb that I forgot I could do that.
As if that wasn't dumb enough, when I got into the recliner with the computer on my lap, I forgot to plug it in. I never noticed until the display dimmed a little bit. By then, it had only about 56% battery life left. And that was the second time in less than 24 hours that has happened. Last night I had used the laptop in the bedroom and when I finished, I unplugged from the laptop and then from the power strip. I took the A/C adapter back into the office and plugged it in, and then took the laptop back to the office. And forgot to plug it in. It was backing up some files to Carbonite, so I didn't shut it down. It ran out of juice sometime during the night, poor thing. I suppose I should just get in the habit of taking the laptop and the A/C adapter at the same time. I think I might remember to plug it in if I did that.
I know one thing...I need to buy a 2nd A/C adapter so I can leave the one in the office plugged in. I'm going to leave parts of it in the power strip one of these days if I have to keep wiggling it out. And then I would be, to quote my mother, who never cussed, "in a mell of a hess."
Monday, August 23, 2010
Holy cow, Batman!
Or maybe I should holy smoke...as it's almost hot enough for items to self-combust. My computer tells me it's 105 degrees!!! The Weatherbug program says 104.9, but it got rounded up that tenth when it migrated to the taskbar. That's just crazy. Sure would be nice to have a pool, although I'm pretty sure I don't have the energy to wiggle into my swimsuit. Even if it were clean. I haven't washed it since my last trip to the bay...I really ought to go put it in the washer right now...
I'm currently trying to restore the email stuff from the Carbonite backup drive. I can't really tell if it's working or not, although it is on a different file from the one it was (apparently) restoring before the computer performed a mini-dump. I don't know what that means...the screen suddenly went dark (or blue...don't remember) and a message came up that said a bunch of stuff, which I didn't have time to read before it disappeared again. All I read was something about needing to restart the computer...blah, blah, blah...blue screen...blah, blah, blah...and then it shut down. When I started it up there was another (more professional looking) message that gave a little information and invited me to click on a link that would give me more details. I declined the invitation, however. From what I read I could tell that it might as well be written in Navajo.
I don't even know why I'm trying to restore all the old emails from the old computer, really. I have it on the old computer if I need to find something. And about finding something specific. Come on. I have (probably) thousands of messages on there stored in at least 20 folders...the Inbox and 19 sub-folders. I have filters directing which folder an email should go to when it hits the Inbox. Some go directly to the Trash folder. If this Restore process doesn't work...or at least complete by tomorrow...maybe I just won't worry about it. I did copy all that stuff to a flash drive, too. Anyhooo, just because I remember getting an email about a certain subject or sending one, doesn't guarantee that I will be able to find it again.
My bluetooth mouse is suddenly acting like it's on crack again. The cursor is acting like an anti-magnet. Is there such a thing? When I try to land the cursor on, say, the minimize button, it circles around it but refuses to go near it. Well, now it's acting okay...it must have been distracted by the mini-dump.
And I can tell that the Restore is actually doing something. No sooner had I expressed doubts than the Restore window jumped the numbers and gave me an estimated time for completion. Of course, it could be wrong. It said 9 hours. Six hours ago when I started it, it said 10 hours.
Gotta bounce! I have a pot of pinto beans working that need draining and rinsing, etc.
I'm currently trying to restore the email stuff from the Carbonite backup drive. I can't really tell if it's working or not, although it is on a different file from the one it was (apparently) restoring before the computer performed a mini-dump. I don't know what that means...the screen suddenly went dark (or blue...don't remember) and a message came up that said a bunch of stuff, which I didn't have time to read before it disappeared again. All I read was something about needing to restart the computer...blah, blah, blah...blue screen...blah, blah, blah...and then it shut down. When I started it up there was another (more professional looking) message that gave a little information and invited me to click on a link that would give me more details. I declined the invitation, however. From what I read I could tell that it might as well be written in Navajo.
I don't even know why I'm trying to restore all the old emails from the old computer, really. I have it on the old computer if I need to find something. And about finding something specific. Come on. I have (probably) thousands of messages on there stored in at least 20 folders...the Inbox and 19 sub-folders. I have filters directing which folder an email should go to when it hits the Inbox. Some go directly to the Trash folder. If this Restore process doesn't work...or at least complete by tomorrow...maybe I just won't worry about it. I did copy all that stuff to a flash drive, too. Anyhooo, just because I remember getting an email about a certain subject or sending one, doesn't guarantee that I will be able to find it again.
My bluetooth mouse is suddenly acting like it's on crack again. The cursor is acting like an anti-magnet. Is there such a thing? When I try to land the cursor on, say, the minimize button, it circles around it but refuses to go near it. Well, now it's acting okay...it must have been distracted by the mini-dump.
And I can tell that the Restore is actually doing something. No sooner had I expressed doubts than the Restore window jumped the numbers and gave me an estimated time for completion. Of course, it could be wrong. It said 9 hours. Six hours ago when I started it, it said 10 hours.
Gotta bounce! I have a pot of pinto beans working that need draining and rinsing, etc.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
In the house, thank goodness!
My Weatherbug application tells me it's 102 degrees outside. It's 6:17 PM, for crying out loud! I guess it could be worse. It could be hot AND humid. Oh, wait...it is hot and humid.
So, I'm sitting here watching a movie that I'm not very interested while I mess around on the computer. I'm making an attempt to copy all my folders, filters and messages from the old computer. Don't have complete confidence in what I'm doing, but no guts, no glory...right? I've copied the emails on the new computer to a file on the desktop just in case they get lost during this process.
Carolyn and Kate came over for a little while after lunch. She carried off some of their (her) things that were still here. And that's a good thing.
I was looking through some folders of scanned photos yesterday and found this one of Gage at about 18 months or so. I clearly remember that we couldn't quit laughing and poor Gage seemed to know how ridiculous he looked. He had that look that dogs get when they have to wear that "funnel" collar. I can't decide which he looks more like...an oompa loompa, Tweedledee & Tweedledum, or Humpty Dumpty. This will have to be in his wedding video someday. But, for sure it doesn't look safe. It looks like all the bouyancy is right in the middle and the suit wouldn't care which end was up. He looks like a bobber on a fishing line, doesn't he?
It's been fun having to go through the computer looking for stuff. I keep finding these wonderful photos!
So, I'm sitting here watching a movie that I'm not very interested while I mess around on the computer. I'm making an attempt to copy all my folders, filters and messages from the old computer. Don't have complete confidence in what I'm doing, but no guts, no glory...right? I've copied the emails on the new computer to a file on the desktop just in case they get lost during this process.
Carolyn and Kate came over for a little while after lunch. She carried off some of their (her) things that were still here. And that's a good thing.
I also found this one of Cousin Hannah holding baby Robin back in 1981. Hannah is expecting her own baby girl in a few months. What a sweet picture!
It's been fun having to go through the computer looking for stuff. I keep finding these wonderful photos!
The router adventures
Picture me dancing around the room singing. I actually got my router installed and I am sitting in my recliner as I type this...fully expecting it to work exactly as it's supposed to.
It was a challenge, though. Not that it was really difficult...but, when you attempt to do something for the first time, the instructions sometimes take a while to sink in. Plus, as usual, there were interruptions galore.
My brother Andy and one of his sons, Jason, stopped by this afternoon for a visit. We had a nice visit and I had Jason look at the router box to see if it looked like there was any reason it wouldn't be suitable for my computer. He thought it looked like what I probably needed, so after they left, and after I finished watching the movie I had paused when they arrived, I headed to the computer and started opening the box.
About that time, Carolyn called to say that she and the kids were coming over for a little visit. So, the installation had to wait a little while longer. Once they left, I headed upstairs again and tried to decipher what were actually very clear illustrations of the connections between the computer, the existing internet modem and the router. The process was made more difficult by my not realizing that an actual physical connection to the internet was required during the installation...even though the instructions clearly stated that an actual physical connection to the internet was required.
By then it was time to make supper...so, off I went to create another culinary masterpiece.
I'm going to spare you most of the rest of this adventure. There were multiple user names and passwords, both generated by the router and me. There was registration, confirmation of registration, upgrade of firmware, question submitted to the support team, email from the support team, closing down, unplugging and finally trying the wireless internet connection.
Which didn't work. But Windows very kindly took me by the hand and led me to the place I needed to be and did everything except input the Network Security Key for me. Unfortunately, as it turned out, because I didn't know what the hell that was. I went back through all the passwords and eventually figured out what was needed and input it. And voila! I was connected.
Truth be told, the router installation CD, the router website, and windows did most of the work...I was necessary to connect the pieces, put the CD into the slot, and a few other things. It reminds me of a joke about NASA sending a monkey and an astronaut into space during the early days of space flight. At a press conference it was explained to the media that the monkey could take off, pilot, navigate, operate the computer and land the spacecraft. Someone in the audience asked, "If the monkey can do all that, what does the astronaut do?" The answer..."Feed the monkey." In my case, I guess I'm the astronaut.
So, as I said at the beginning, I am now sitting in my recliner with my feet up, typing like mad while Blogger saves every little while. It seems like a better connection than when I was wired, but I don't know how that could be. It's probably just the way it is at this moment. I'll have to see how it does on the Snapfish website.
Oh, and the printer decided to be wireless today, too. I don't know why.
It was a challenge, though. Not that it was really difficult...but, when you attempt to do something for the first time, the instructions sometimes take a while to sink in. Plus, as usual, there were interruptions galore.
My brother Andy and one of his sons, Jason, stopped by this afternoon for a visit. We had a nice visit and I had Jason look at the router box to see if it looked like there was any reason it wouldn't be suitable for my computer. He thought it looked like what I probably needed, so after they left, and after I finished watching the movie I had paused when they arrived, I headed to the computer and started opening the box.
About that time, Carolyn called to say that she and the kids were coming over for a little visit. So, the installation had to wait a little while longer. Once they left, I headed upstairs again and tried to decipher what were actually very clear illustrations of the connections between the computer, the existing internet modem and the router. The process was made more difficult by my not realizing that an actual physical connection to the internet was required during the installation...even though the instructions clearly stated that an actual physical connection to the internet was required.
By then it was time to make supper...so, off I went to create another culinary masterpiece.
I'm going to spare you most of the rest of this adventure. There were multiple user names and passwords, both generated by the router and me. There was registration, confirmation of registration, upgrade of firmware, question submitted to the support team, email from the support team, closing down, unplugging and finally trying the wireless internet connection.
Which didn't work. But Windows very kindly took me by the hand and led me to the place I needed to be and did everything except input the Network Security Key for me. Unfortunately, as it turned out, because I didn't know what the hell that was. I went back through all the passwords and eventually figured out what was needed and input it. And voila! I was connected.
Truth be told, the router installation CD, the router website, and windows did most of the work...I was necessary to connect the pieces, put the CD into the slot, and a few other things. It reminds me of a joke about NASA sending a monkey and an astronaut into space during the early days of space flight. At a press conference it was explained to the media that the monkey could take off, pilot, navigate, operate the computer and land the spacecraft. Someone in the audience asked, "If the monkey can do all that, what does the astronaut do?" The answer..."Feed the monkey." In my case, I guess I'm the astronaut.
So, as I said at the beginning, I am now sitting in my recliner with my feet up, typing like mad while Blogger saves every little while. It seems like a better connection than when I was wired, but I don't know how that could be. It's probably just the way it is at this moment. I'll have to see how it does on the Snapfish website.
Oh, and the printer decided to be wireless today, too. I don't know why.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
I mowed...big deal
I mowed. Nothing funny happened. I didn't think of anything funny to post about. I didn't see a single cow or any other livestock. What a bore!
On a more positive note, I'm showered and have nice clean hair...all dried and purty. I feel GOOD! I feel so good it makes me want to....SHOUT! Throw my hands up and SHOUT!...
Wait...that wasn't what I meant to say...must be the margarita kicking in. Just kidding...it's only noon...too early for a margarita. Maybe I'll have a beer. Just kidding again, although if I were making a hot dog I might actually have a beer with it. It is Saturday, after all.
That's not what I meant to say either. I meant to say it makes me want to wash my sheets again. Almost.
On a more positive note, I'm showered and have nice clean hair...all dried and purty. I feel GOOD! I feel so good it makes me want to....SHOUT! Throw my hands up and SHOUT!...
Wait...that wasn't what I meant to say...must be the margarita kicking in. Just kidding...it's only noon...too early for a margarita. Maybe I'll have a beer. Just kidding again, although if I were making a hot dog I might actually have a beer with it. It is Saturday, after all.
That's not what I meant to say either. I meant to say it makes me want to wash my sheets again. Almost.
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