A rainy weekend. Particularly rainy today, with flash flood warnings all over the place.
A good day to stay in really with a good book and some hot coffee. Except that my friend Pat has invited me to go hear Maya Angelou speak at a local community college. I am psyched. More later.
First more coffee, since I didn't get enough with my breakfast.
I'm here to tell you that I spent 2 quality hours with Moveable Type on Saturday. oh wait, first a
DISCLAIMER: I do not know anything about scripting languages or writing scripts. I am neither a geek nor a web designer, nor have I played one on TV.
Ok, where was I? Oh yeah. I started at the beginning and followed along, step by step. When it told me to run some CGI something to see if everything was there and ready for the next step I did. When it reported back that all was well, I moved on. Finally, the big thing - log in. I knew I was in trouble because there was no graphic showing on the log in screen, but I tried anyway. I even knew what the problem was, but how to fix? Rewind, rewind a ways through the instructions and find the one thing (so far anyway) that I missed and BANG - there it was the user interface. AND, it worked. Sort of. I have, safely out of public view, one of the butt ugliest MT homepages ever seen. But it's there and it works. So I went out and bought a book on CSS and well honey, it's back to the days of writing those first html things. eeeks.
What have I learned so far? Just put down the table code and walk away. Hey, I just got the book yesterday!
As a break, I started writing a presentation in Keynote tonight.
aaaaaaaah. Saturday at last. Go for breakfast on the way to do some errands. At the next booth, the customer from Hell. When we first sat down, I thought WWIII was a possibility over there. More than an edge or tone in the voice, if you know what I mean. The man, who is doing all the talking is facing me. His companion never makes a sound as far as I can tell and is the recipient of all the tone. But before you knew it, nothing about the food there was right, and the waitress was making multiple trips with more and more fresh platings of everything. No! I want my homefries on a separate plate. blah blah blah. The manager made two trips there as well. It was a relief when they finally left. No amount of cajoling or apologizing makes someone like that happy. I told the waitress that I recognized that sort of customer right away.
From there we went to a national-chain truck rental place to rent a truck for a couple of hours. No truck, only a van available. Fine. It went downhill from there, as the counter person demanded an "alternate contact phone number" (uh, a what? - someone else's phone number - why? Well, if people didn't break the contract all the time we wouldn't need it.) and the amount of deductible on our auto collision insurance. Ron had gone out for the insurance card. I allowed that if the counter person had told us we needed the insurance card at the beginning Ron would have retrieved it right away. "I didn't know you wouldn't get the collision coverage" was the reply. Ron comes back and is asked for the amount of collision deductible again. At that point Ron grabbed our license, insurance card and credit card from the fellow and said no thank you very much. We've done this lots of times and have never been treated like this or asked for information like this. Bye bye.
You may be wondering what edge of the world I dropped off of. Turns out, our cable modem went south, not us, so while doing email and basic internet stuff was manageable, doing other things was too slow. At least, too slow for those accustomed to much faster activity. So what's been happening?
I'm filling in for a co-worker who is out experiencing fatherhood for the first time. Baby Alena was born late Sunday night and it wasn't until today that we saw photos of her. She's a very relaxed and sweet looking baby, and we're very happy for Doug and Emily.
Meanwhile I am plunged into doing something that I'm about 70% certain of, in a time of day that isn't my normal biorhythmic setting. Today for about 20 minutes I thought I was on top of things and even anticipating the next big to-do thing. Alas, a mere email 30 minutes before my scheduled leave time changed all that. Apparently I missed something posted to a web to-do list on Monday and so didn't complete step one on Wednesday and ooops will have to scramble to do the whole thing tomorrow. My boss stayed and helped me do a bit of catch up and another manager chipped in and that was a huge help! 2 or 3 sets of hands and eyes is much more productive than just one set. So tomorrow my day is definitely planned out for me.
On the non-paying-job side, my journal quilts are being sewn by hand to the display sleeve and that's just something that has to happen. Last night I just couldn't so I worked for a little bit on a new project that's just underway.
I wonder how long it takes to re-set one's diurnal settings? After this many years of being a night owl (from day one my Mom would attest) I'm thinking it will take more than two weeks to make me not want to stay up. I can get up in the morning OK, and I'm reasonably with it (pass the coffee please) but by the time the work day is over I'm done. And that's just not a longterm possibility for me.
Folks, in the grand scheme of things this is a small rant. It's proportional to the actual size of the problem that some of you have, or think you have.
I've come here tonight to advise you that there is no cause for
whining
bitterness
rudeness
sulleness
grudges
vengeful behavior
etc
just because some bit of new technology, nay, newer technology than the stuff you own has been released. Not only is that sort of behavior unbecoming, but it's plain stupid.
Technology changes. That's about the only thing you can predict about it. And that change does often go along the lines of "bigger, better, faster."
Now here's the real reason why you shouldn't do any of the above: Just because today something new and improved has come along, it does NOT mean that the stuff you have is bad. Read that again slowly until it makes sense to you. OK, if you're chugging along on something that's say 10 years old, chances are you would benefit from something new and improved. If you bought it a month ago, oh well. It still does the same wonderful stuff that was great when you bought it. I'll wait while you read that last sentence a few times to yourself.
It's the same as it was yesterday. Nope, it's the SAME. So why are you bitter and sullen? Because your friend who didn't have cash three months ago for a new computer has it now and now HIS will be new and improved and yours won't. Well, next time it will be your turn. Maybe. So get over it. Or at least, don't stamp your feet and whine at me. Get over it.
I had a wonderful yesterday travelling to the Shelburne museum with 6 friends from East Side Quilters and my mother. It's a distance from home but well worth the trip to see 100 wonderful quilts from their collection and some great scenary. For part of the trip the Adirondacks are on one side of the view and the Green Mountains are on the other.
I didn't take a lot of photos and it was too late to tinker with them last night. I put them here There wasn't any point in shooting all the quilts since there's a pretty good catalogue out there (albeit with some mistakes like a photo that's reversed.) They allowed photos but no flash. Enjoy your Sunday!
I've posted the first of my Sept.11 2003 photos. I've spent a quiet day today. No services, no memorials. Just me, revisiting some of my favorite places and having the time to visit some new places. Among those, the local "swimming hole" and a portion of the Kinderhook Creek. Lots of flower photos. Maybe these are not what you were expecting, but it's what I saw today. Peace.
I encourage others to pause and reflect photographically or otherwise on that day. Write about what's important to you and your life in our common voice - your blog.
Remember what the day is about and what really matters in life.
Do something that matters to people in real life.
Be nice.
Be proactive about something that needs doing.
Do something even if it's a small something.
Live a life you can be proud of.
Use your talents.
Inspire someone else by your actions.
Think good thoughts and do good deeds.
Smile at people.
Fight the good fight.
Be a good friend.
Be compassionate.
Give your time.
Improve your corner of the world by being a good citizen of it.
Written at:
9/07/2003 02:42:00 PM
Sometimes having a stash is a very very good thing:
Another night, another interesting sky. This is the most interesting example of "alpen glow" I've seen in the sky in recent memory. Some of these cloud forms were in the north or east of where the sun was low in the sky. All were relatively close to me rather than to the sun's horizon where all was a beautiful wash of medium yellow.
At East Side Quilters tonight, Pat led us in making these cool slashed blocks. Sue and I worked together, each of us making 6 blocks. They turned out to be different sizes of course but we cut them so we'll be able to make a nice size quilt from them. Good use of fabric and lots of fun.
I'll be taking September 11th off from work again this year. Two years ago, I was semi-employed, having accepted a job with Apple but not starting it until the 17th. Last year, I could not imagine working in the mall that day so I took it off. This year, I'll be off, probably attending a memorial service in the morning and taking part in a day-long photoblog. A group of us hope to capture what our day is like. The person who floated this idea out said:
I've been thinking about September 11th. I've been thinking about the United States response - The Patriot Act. Invading Afghanistan & Iraq. Death. Fear. Oppression.
It seems to me that this is NOT the America I want the world to know. So I propose a blogwide Photoblog your Life day on September 11th. Take your camera with you. Take pictures. Show the world your life. Show the world your daily delights. Show the world that we choose life, happiness and freedom.
On September 11th, I'll be carrying my camera with me. I'll snap pictures of my day - the good, the bad, the mundane. And I'm gonna post them here for the world to see. Let's make September 11th a day of affirmation and life.
