Pain In the…

Technology can be such a pain, but then it can be amazing, too. I used to be pretty good at figuring things out on my own. When I got my first desktop computer in 1993, within just a very few hours, I had it all set up, working, and I was able to get around very comfortably and I had not ever used a computer before that day. I think it took me about three hours to set it up and get on it and feel rather comfortable. That was in the days of Windows 3! A very long time ago. I could also set up whatever electronics we had in the house and get them working just fine. I could figure it all out and make things do what I wanted them to do.

That was then. Now, well in the past ten years at least, I’m not very good at it. Or rather, I should say, I’m not wanting to figure things out on my own. I’m tired of it and it is getting to the point where it takes too long to figure out how things should work and how to get them to work that way. For example, the laptop I use now is running Windows 8. I never got around to upgrading it to 10 because I was using a Chrome Book at the time and because I really wasn’t feeling up to finding out how to do the upgrade and then do it. But now I can’t find the charger for the Chrome Book so I got out the older laptop. So I am thinking that Google, in all its wisdom, should figure out a way for us to make it look like we want it to look without needing a Ph.D in computers. I use the thumbnails on the home page to navigate to different sites. However, I accidentally deleted the one for Google search. Now I can’t get it back. You can’t add thumbnails because they are determined by how often you use a site. So Google search should be up there but I think that because I removed that thumbnail, it won’t create one for that site, even though I use it a gazillion times a day. Apparently, there is no easy way to do it. Some people on the public forums say you can deleted your browser history, restart the browser and then start from scratch. Do I want to do that? Does deleting my browser history mean that it deletes my passwords? Because if it does, that kinda screws me because I don’t remember my passwords. The browser does it for me. So Google needs to find a way for us to do that simple thing. Don’t you agree?

But then this morning I was reminded of one of the good things about technology. An old friend from high school (yeah, about three lifetimes ago) posted a question about one of the teachers at our high school. You know how something gets in your head and you can’t get it out of your mind until you figure it out? Well, he was trying to remember the first name of one of the English teachers at our high school. I knew it and posted it for him. So I think it’s pretty neat that he could go on and post his question at 9:43 and I could answer it when I went online at 10:02. It’s one of the things that makes the internet amazing. It lets me keep in touch with people from all over. If I can’t be in the same room talking to an old friend, I can still feel like we’re in touch and have a few laughs and share some memories. (Thank you, Al Gore! 🙂  )

So I guess I won’t throw the laptop out the window. I’ll continue to be frustrated because I can’t get the thumbnails that I want back on my screen. I guess I could wait and see if my son can figure it out when I see him in a couple of weeks but then I would have to bring the laptop and I wasn’t going to take it on that trip. Hhm. I’ll figure it out, I guess.

 

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Thoughts Over Coffee

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If we were having coffee, I think I would want to listen more than talk. It is that kind of a day, or I guess it was that kind of a week. I don’t have a lot going on. There is a lot I want to do but still don’t have the doctor’s thumbs up so I’ll wait. I find that I tire easily these days anyway so I guess I still need to take it easy on myself.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I am a little nervous about my kids. My oldest (and only son) is in Japan, working. In Tokyo. He has been there since March and will be there through June. And my youngest is leaving for Tokyo tomorrow where she will visit her big brother for ten days. I was fine with that until yesterday when word of a volcano eruption in Japan and then this morning when I woke to the news of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake which shook all of Japan, including Tokyo. Now I’m nervous. I will be happy when they are both home where I can get to them in a matter of hours.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that Anderson had his last day of preschool on Wednesday. He was a bit out of sorts that day, not wanting to stay when I dropped him off. He hung on to me and they had to come and pull him from me. Then when we went to the certificate presentation, he was cuddling with one of the aides and apparently he had not wanted to participate in any of the activities that day so he just sat in the corner and watched everyone else. It makes me sad when he’s sad, especially when he doesn’t say why he’s sad.

If we were having coffee, I would talk about a movie I saw the other night. It wasn’t the first time I have seen it. I stream it often. It’s called The Way and was written by Emilio Estevez and stars Martin Sheen. The movie is about the road that people take when making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a pilgrimage that people have been making since the Middle Ages. It’s an inspiring movie. I’ve talked about it here before and mentioned that I would love to be able to travel that road; to make that pilgrimage. However, that was in my unhealthy days when I knew it to be physically impossible for me to do. Now that I’m healthy, the thought has entered my mind again and now it is finances that keep me from doing it but if there were any possible way for me to travel to France to begin the journey which begins in France and goes through Spain, I would do it in a heartbeat. It takes an average of a month. I’m sure it would take me longer. I need to work toward finding a travel partner to join me (or more than one would be great) and the finances with which to do it, the air fare being the biggest part for me. I don’t know that I will ever do it but it is certainly something to strive for.

Is there any kind of a trip or pilgrimage you would consider making? Why? What keeps you from doing it?

I just this week finished two Catherine Ryan Hyde novels, the first was called The Language of Hoofbeats and the second was The Electric God. I really enjoy her books. Have you read any of them? Most are familiar with her bestselling novel, Pay It Forward. I’m slowly making progress to catch up to my own reading goal of 80 books for this calendar year. I’m now only 9 books behind instead of the 17 books behind schedule! It’s doable now!

What have you been reading? Anything you would recommend?

By the way, the movie, The Way is on Amazon Instant Video Prime so if you happen to have prime on Amazon, then you can stream it for free. It is set in some of the most beautiful places and it follows the story of several people making the pilgrimage. They aren’t really making it for religious reasons. One is doing it to lose weight. Another to get over writer’s block. And the main character is completing it for his son. It’s a very interesting and thought provoking (at least for me) movie. Give it a try if you get a chance.

Movies. Have you seen anything lately you might recommend?

That’s about it for now. The sun is shining and it’s warm out so I have to find the key to my storage shed to get my oscillating fan out or I’ll have to go see if I can find one at the store as it is getting to be hot enough to need one now!

Until next time, enjoy life and family. Don’t take either for granted!

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Coffee, Coffee, Who Wants Coffee?

To join in the fun, write your coffee share post then add your url to the Linky at Part Time Monster here.

If we were having coffee today, I would try to stay away from talking about recuperating after surgery. It seems like that’s all I’ve been talking about. I guess that’s because that’s all I’ve been doing! So come on in and help yourself. I know there’s coffee and tea. You will have to get your own. I hope you don’t mind.

Come on in and check out the new chair my daughter got for me. It’s a chair I’ve wanted since I moved to Oregon in 2008. At the time, I didn’t have the money for it. It’s not expensive. It’s from IKEA but you had to get the chair, the foot rest, and then the cushions. Everything was sold separately. Now the price has gone down and it comes with the cushion. I only got the chair. I’ll get the footrest later. I remember that once I had saved up money to get the chair back in 2009, I went to IKEA to get the chair but they were out of stock on the color I wanted. I had wanted the dark red one. My daughter ended up getting me the black one. I mentioned to her that the chair in my room at the hospital was very similar to the one at IKEA that I had wanted and it was very comfortable and easy for me to get in and out of. So she headed over to IKEA and got it for me. I like it. It gives me a different place to sit, different position than on the couch. And it’s closer to the window so I can open the blinds and look out onto the street from there. Check it out.

Poang chair from IKEA catalog found here http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S29805381/#/S89825201

If we were having coffee, I would have to tell you that I am excited to finally getting back some of my concentration. I have been able to read for long chunks of time which I hadn’t been able to do in nearly a month! I’m so way behind in my own personal reading challenge for the year (on Good Reads, to read 85 books in 2015). I think I need to read about ten books this month just to get caught up, never mind ahead.

I have my follow up appointment on Tuesday. I will be glad to finally be getting the staples out of my belly so maybe I’ll be a little more comfortable but I’m also a little nervous, okay a lot nervous, about the pathology report. I had hoped that my daughter would be going with me to the appointment but she won’t be able to. In fact, the hospital program they put me into is sending a taxi cab for me on Tuesday afternoon. So I’ll go on my own and listen to what the doctor has to say and then get back on the taxi to head home. It’s about a 40 or so minute drive and it will be in rush hour traffic. Not really looking forward to that part of it but it is what it is.

I’m reading a novel called The Disenchanted Widow by Christina McKenna. I picked it because McKenna also wrote a book called The Misremembered Man that I absolutely loved. However, this second novel is not any bit like the first one I read by her. I keep waiting for it to get better but I don’t think that’s going to happen. It’s not a bad novel. It’s just not what I thought it would be. I’ll be glad when it’s over so I can find something that flows a little easier and faster for me. How about you? Have you read anything interesting?

I’ve started watching Orange Is the New Black. I’ve only watched about four or five episodes and so far, I am liking it more than I thought I would. I like how the back stories of each of the inmates is interwoven with the storyline so we know who they are and how they got into the prison. It’s good writing. I think it was Sabina that recommended that one, so thanks, Sabina!

The A to Z Blogging Challenge is all done with. Well, just about. There will be a reflections post coming up this week. Not sure if it will be on Monday or Tuesday but it will be early in the week. We’re supposed to write about our experiences and/or share links to some of the posts we enjoyed or those we wrote. So there’s that coming up. Also, Monday should be the next installment of my Introducing series but this month it is not going to happen. Because of not being able to concentrate on things, I didn’t get my ducks lined up so I don’t have a writer to introduce you to. So I will do a recap of the previous writers and maybe point you to a couple of others and then I will get someone lined up for June. Again, if you have anyone you would like to see featured here in the monthly Introducing feature, please let me know. It should be someone who has published a book independently.

That’s it for me this morning. It’s time for a pain pill and maybe a short nap. I’ll be by to read the other coffee share posts throughout the day.

Thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you all again next time!

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