RSSsurprise

This assignment was to subscribe to feeds using a Google Reader account. No probs especially since I have been a follower of some blogs - see MY BLOG LIST in the column on the right - pretty much from the start of my blog. So I already had an account in some form and when I actually got into Google Reader itself I found all the blogs have been filed under Blogs I'm following.

When I go into my dashboard I have a Reading List, Blogs I'm Following and anytime someone posts a new entry it automatically shows up. I have only recently discovered this (all on my very own, I'm proud to announce); before I would enter into each site from my blog site and a lot of time was wasted. But, now I know that I can get into the blogs directly from my Google Reader it's even more efficient.

In answer to Library Lady's questions:

• What RSS feeds have you subscribed to? See MY BLOG LIST for blogs that I'm following. Crazy Aunt Purl was the first blog I'd ever read; recommended to me by my sister, so you could say she's responsible for getting me into blogging in the first place.  Mind & Brain News, Articles, Information / Discover Magazine (which I put in a folder labelled - mind) as I've been picking up the publication every now and then - fantastic articles on the brain. I came across it in Chapters when I was reading THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF and saw that there was an article in the mag related to one of the scientists who appeared in the book and I wanted to know more. Globe Life - Facts & Arguments because I was reading it in the Globe today. One of these days I'd like to send something in so it helps to see what gets accepted, writing styles, subject matter etc. I figure it's a good writer's reference for the short essay. I filed it as newspaper writing.
• Did you find Google Reader easy to use? Yes, yes, yes, especially since I just kind of fell into it and have used it lots already.
• Will you continue to use the aggregator, Google Reader? Yes, though already I can't keep up with all the updates that happen, even on my fave blogs. 

I see RSS feeds as being great resources for research and keeping up to date with recent findings i.e. regarding brain research. I will be adding to the list, finding websites to put into folders titled hypnosis and dream work.

OOO, I just found out that you can add notes, uh oh, I'm in big trouble. There is a lot to explore on this application and I could very well get addicted to it. Must leave now. Must get up to date on what other bloggers are doing or maybe I'll check out the latest research on the mind, dreams or...

ALL FOR NOW, 

THE THING THAT LIVES UNDER THE STAIRS

POW - power of women?

I saw Courtney Cox on Ellen the other day and they played this trailer. The show's been on for some time now and this was the clip that I saw most often to promote COUGAR TOWN before it went on air. Now, we're supposed to believe that the kid was distracted cus Courtney's so hot. And, I have to admit that she does look great especially for a 40something, but I can't help thinking that horny as he would be the kid would also be somewhat grossed out. Come on, someone his mother's age is flashing him.

The guy Cox's character is talking to has just said, "...you couldn't bag a young stud"and, this is her response. Young stud — the guy's what 14, and, riding a bike. Am I missing something here?

Reminds me of this cartoon I did 20 years ago (YIKES!) in response to some TV ads pitch for a weight loss program.

Cartoon copyright Nance Thacker 1990.
All rights reserved.
Click on photo to enlarge.


I'm just sayin' that, in the way we find value in ourselves, sometimes women are just... WEIRD. 

Wiki no wiki

On our next Betty Blogger assignment we were to create a PB Works account in order to use a Wiki (Hawaiian-language word for 'fast')...

All well and good but for the create an account part.

I have created so many accounts for this and that over the years. Do I have a Wiki account? Well let's see if I do. 


So I punched in so many names, user names, passwords, nicknames, etc that I could have used, that I got totally discombobulated. The site was so confused that it even shut me out explaining something to the effect that the library site was sending me something but that it was bouncing back. Aarrgh! This is exactly the stuff that drives me nuts. Added to this was the fact that I had a migraine and my brain was like mush, nothing computes for me or for anyone/anything around me, anything within any proximity to me, actual or virtual goes kaphlooey as we get lost in the primordial ooze that is my consciousness.

So, I gave up.

I stomped upstairs (Rod has named me "the thing that lives under the stairs" as I spend so much time on the computer in my "office" at the base of the stairs in the basement) and in my migrainy, frustrated state cooked us some grub accompanied by a banging of pans and a sprinkling of #$%@% and @^#^# and @%#@$%. (migraine pain leads to foulness of being, extreme impatience and obliviousness towards others). Poor Rod put his plate out in a silent "please sir can I have some more" gesture in an attempt to stay out of my way while I chipped some unco-operative eggs off the skillet and on top of the slightly burnt toast that I'd tossed on his plate and then quickly exited the battle zone that was the kitchen (migraine pain leads to kitchen looking like the aftermath of WWII)

So...I'm in the drop-in class this very moment and the Library Lady has led me through the steps. First step being, after establishing order to my registration organization chart (CONFESSION TIME: which I was supposed to be doing as I've been going along - but haven't). "You don't have an account. You have to make one. If you did you'd have gotten an e-mail to confirm that you did", she explains with great patience.

"But I can't because...", I protest as I try to explain in something resembling computereze combined with English; my fingers dance upon the screen, flashing ever changing images in front of our eyes second by second. "And, it seems that in order to create an account I had to sign on for OpenID. What's an OpenID?"

"I don't know. But, I do know that you don't need one. So," her gaze finally grabs my attention and I'm finally in her capable hands as she leads me step by step through the "create an account" process. Which, migraine-free, was a piece of cake,

TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BB POSED:

• What dish am I bringing to the family meal? I'm "the bun girl" so I think that's pretty clear.
• How was my PBWorks experience? Was it easy to use? See above.
• Do I have any need for my own wiki? I have signed on for one and hope to use it to help organize stuff around my Mom's needs and also for council get-togethers.

AFN,

N

Too many cooks...wait, no cooks in the kitchen

I think the title of this post just about sums up my situation. For my Betty Blogger course I'm supposed to write a cooking story. Me? I used to be the "bun girl" at pot luck suppers, it sort of went like this...

At the end of particularly gruelling week-long, yoga workshops, the workshopees, overflowing with sweat and gratitude for the visiting teacher's expertise, decides that a great way to show their appreciation is for us all to gather at one of their homes with arms overloaded with our finest gastronomic offerings and pig out. They were bursting with anticipatory excitement; I however, was not. When my absence and uncharacteristic silence became deafening they broke from their huddle, looked at me hiding in the corner and said dismissively, "You can bring the buns," before resuming their formation.

I attended many such workshops over the period of a few years and as soon as I heard the words "pot luck" I would offer proactively, "I'll bring the buns" and leave them in their huddle to plan their magic. This ritual evolved to the point that, no formal announcement was needed as I'd become "the bun girl".

It's not that I don't like food; I do. I'm a good cook but I cook because I need to eat and I happen to dislike fast food and convenience food. See, they call it CONVENIENCE FOOD not FANTASTIC YOU COULD SCRATCH YOUR EYES OUT FOOD but CONVENIENCE FOOD as in, we're not sure what exactly is in it, but you don't have to make it, yea.

I just don't like the daily grind of everything around food. For all the energy taken up by food: thinking about what to eat, when to eat, what Rod might like to eat; looking for it, buying it; trying to figure out what to do with it, preparing it; cleaning up after it - and then doing the whole damn thing over and over - please, I could live on toast. It would free up so much time for: sky diving, cattle rustling, spelunking. Not that I do any of these things, I'm spending too much time on food related matters.

My mother used to say, "I look forward to the day when they invent a pill that you could take instead of food. That would make me happy." Her food is pureed now and though you or I would gag at the idea of pureed meat...she's pretty happy with it and shovels it down with such relish that I can only imagine how deliriously happy a food-pill would make her.

Since eating is a necessity, I am a good cook, and this is a homework assignment, here is the recipe.



I could eat a shoe or just about anything else if it is curried!

But, I assure you, this is much better.

Oh yah, what's up with the weird box. That too is an assignment - use Google docs to publish this recipe.

Picasso? No, Picasa.

Message from nance:
You've got to see these pics - there are about 58 of them. Worth taking the time to check them out. Amazing.
There are no tags on them, but if it was me I'd tag: sharks, bazillionschoolsoffish, bloodchilling, issheinsane? as some of them.
I believe you have to run the words together to get a tag otherwise each individual word becomes a tag - right?

That was the message I sent to the Library Lady for part 5 of the Web 2.0 course I'm taking.

Library Lady responded that when composing tags this was right.

Here is the link for the pictures I choose from picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amdmitriev/Fiji_sharks?feat=email#
I think you'll agree with the tags that I chose, except that Andre is a he so it should read isheinsane or maybe aretheyinsane because as you can see there are a lot of divers down there with him.

I think that Picasa is a good idea. But, I'm not sure about all of this photo sharing. To share with family and friends OK, but the general public...? This is both an issue of privacy for me as well as an artistic one, for as an artist of sorts I'm confused about the issue of copyright because on Andre's Gallery is says copyright All rights reserved but then it looks like you can post on blogger, twitter and others. See what I mean?

I-photo seems to be a pretty complete photo app, but I can't seem to e-mail my photos to friends/family with it. Picasa might prove to be a better way to go as long as family/friends have downloaded Picasa too - right? 

But, if family members all had the app then we could all contribute to a family album complete with tags, comments, info etc and avoid the e-mail stuff altogether. At least that's what it sounds like to me. If so then definitely it would be worth having. 

I will play around with it some more to see just what it can do as I already have downloaded it and right now pictures are in the categories of: yoga, cartoons, clutter, kitties, Montreal...
So when I go into "my photos" I have albums - who knew? And, there are multiple images of many of the photos which I thought were "duplicates" but if I click delete I'm told that that image will disappear from my blog. In searching help I find that they aren't duplicates but indicate that the same image is stored in other areas of my computer (please forgive my lack of techno jargon). But they when I see image after image of the same thing I think...duplicate.

Maybe the de-clutter bug's gone viral in me; it drives me crazy to see 6 pictures (duplicate) of the same thing! (In fact, just today, Rod and I discarded duplicates of actual photographs to clear our space in those actual albums that I've decided I want to keep. So in the physical realm I'm on a roll.) I'm told that these multiple images of the same thing (duplicates) doesn't indicate that memory is being used up. I get it, but it feels like a mental stutter everytime I see the same image (duplicate) over and over. It just bugs me. Do I really need to see them (duplicates)? Further exploration seems to indicate that I could hide them and that I could unhide them later if I needed to, that just might be a good thing.

Yah: organizing, tagging, albums, files, captions, multiple images of the same thing (duplicates), hiding, unhiding...this is going to take a while. Is it all worth it? I'm not sure.

SEARCHING FOR THE DALI LAMA

Rod and I are in the midst of a major de-cluttering. Actually Rod, finding some time on his hands, has gotten into a de-clearing frenzy and, he keeps trying to drag me into it.

Isn't it amazing how your stuff is "my stuff" and others' stuff is "your s**t"...I think that's fodder for another post, anyway...

Rod is tackling some of our "stuff" and this phase involves scanning photos into his PC which is all well and good, but he wants to turf the originals and this has me gasping for air - the same reaction you all experienced, no doubt, when I told you in this post that in the summer of '97 I'd burned all my diaries.

Somehow looking at photos on a screen isn't the same as flipping through a photo album. It lacks that tactile sense, the feeling that, not only have I thumbed over these pictures many, many times before but that others I know and love, have too. We've sat together on the couch together, poured over them and shared stories contained within the images. I don't know if I'm ready for the screen version complete with captions and "slide shows".

But I've given him the go-ahead but have asked that he put all the pictures aside for a joint effort, one evening, culling. We did this very successfully a few years ago. All the photos that had been thrown randomly into multiple shoe boxes and hermetically sealed for decades got spread out on the coffee table in batches. Only the choice ones, those that rendered the best images or captured the most complete and fondest memories, were kept. We probably did away with 2/3rds of them and it felt good to have photos that were gems clearly in view, not buried amongst shots of: people with their heads cut off, overexposed sunrises and underexposed sunsets, crowds of nameless individuals in mystery locations, thumbs, grandchildren of long forgotten acquaintances and the like.

But now he wants to tackle the sacred ground of photo albums - gulp.

Check Melissa P's comment on the same post. Anytime she let something go inevitably she found a need or desire for it so she often regretted the purge. That's never happened to me except once upon a time; a few months ago to be exact...

I was experiencing a clutter purging high. Everything was going and I was in rapture as I donated items to the Salvation Army Store, The Reuse Centre and Variety Village. I felt lighter than air.

A few weeks later I went to make payment on an item; Rod and I were splitting the cost 50/50. So I pulled out my Visa for my portion and then dug into a seldom used section of my wallet to fish out the joint Visa (which I consider is his card as I so rarely use it) and I didn't get a nibble! A few beads of sweat appeared on my brow but I calmed myself with these thoughts - no worries you probably put it in the safe place when you were away a few weeks ago and never returned it to its rightful place. Just go home and look for it.

So with that I put the item on hold, trotted off home, looked in the safe place and...it wasn't there. I'm starting to hyperventilate - no worries. Just borrow Rod's, make the purchase and do a full search when you are calm. I can't remember what story I used to procure the card from him without arousing suspicion, but let's just say that I was successful and leave it at that.

Purchase made, I returned home and proceeded to turn the place upside down, items were strewn everywhere, drawers were left half opened, doors ajar, papers scattered as my sense of panic rose. It looked like a break and enter. It was so bad the kitties were getting nervous - Ooo something's different. Change, change, too much change, their little minds were thinking. Poops and furballs were brewing.

And suddenly I heard my Dad's voice, "Where was it when you had it last?"

"Well, if I could remember that I'd know where it was, wouldn't I." was my stock response.  He actually meant - "Where was it when you remembered having it last?", but somehow it never came out right.

But that little trip down memory lane was enough to jar my brain. Wait a minute. Where is the photo card of the Dali Lama? You see my sister gave it to me after seeing him in Toronto a few years ago and I have since had the pleasure too so the card's very special to me... and I always carry it in my other wallet... The Dali Lama's missing too!

Wallet, wallet, where is your wallet. Then it dawned on me, I donated a few old purses in the clutter busting. OMG, I DONATED MY WALLET! It must have been tucked into one of them!

To make an even longer story much shorter let me summarize by telling you that:

• I had to fess up to Rod when I cancelled the VISA (unbeknownst to both of us), while at that very moment he was making a purchase on said VISA. Let me tell you it was not a happy camper that came through the door to witness me pacing amongst the bedlam that posed as our abode.
• Like a crazed animal I retraced my steps and sniffed out all the places I'd left my stuff, to no avail.

AND...

• Just a week ago, months after receiving the new VISA cards, I found the wallet on a shelf (that I glance upon a few times every friggin' day), sitting at eye level no less, with the Dali Lama smiling compassionately out at me as plain as the nose on my face. How my brain never registered these sightings remains a mystery to me. 

So my advice to you all is beware the clutter busting high otherwise you too could be searching for the Dali Lama. 

Please, please, please let this work

I am praying that I am not in the parallel universe

I'll be right back.....

*   *   *   

IT WORKED!!!!!
I got it to post from Picassa!

I'm not sure how but I'm not going to press my luck by poking around tonight. I'm going to bed now.
Goodnight All :)