xkcd on Converting to Metric
Since I have so many Canadian friends and associates, I thought this would help me in my conversing with them.
Category :
Not Silly Stuff 
0 Comment » It’s a glorious 76 degrees (F) outside with mostly clear skies. I sawed some branches that needed to be cut down to size. When my elbow began to hurt from the repetition, I moved on to an experiment.
We have thirteen crepe myrtles along our back property line that have been allowed to get completely out of hand before we bought the house. We have another ten or so that due to local zoning have to be kept shorter than four feet tall. I know properly cared for crepe myrtles can be lovely, but ours had vines growing in them, and they’d been allowed to bush out. I started on one side of the driveway and began trimming back the overgrowth and cutting out the vines. So far, I’ve done a tree on each side of the driveway, and they look loads better. Since these are tree height, I decided to leave the tops on instead of trimming them back the way I would with smaller versions.
I have eleven more of the full-size versions to go and then the ones that have to be kept cut back. We’ll eventually remove the latter in favor of a plant that naturally stays shorter, but, for now, I have to keep them unnaturally groomed .
Our downstairs heating unit is on the fritz — I suspect it needs a relay or something similar. Our heating and A/C guy is under the weather, so he won’t be able to stop by until next week. The weather is supposed to be decent until Monday morning when temperatures will drop to the high thirties and low forties. Fortunately, our upstairs units are working fine, so it’s only a mind inconvenience. It also helps that the weather is comfortable for the moment.
Hershey’s been doing a great job of meeting his New Year’s resolution by taking me for a daily walk. How’s your new year starting out?
Happy New Year! My wish for you and yours is health, happiness, and prosperity.
Here are some of the things that help me along:
I’m sure there are a few more, but that should help you get the year started. Remember, health is key. You have a lot of people who need you, you say? You can’t do anything for those people if you don’t take care of yourself first.
This has been a roller coaster year. On the up-side, I’m thrilled to have been able to retire this year after 28 years on active duty. I never would have imagined I would be able to do so back in April 1980 when I signed my enlistment contract with the Air Force.
I have some less than ideal memories from the Air Force — one hundred percent of them related to my troubles maintaining a completely ridiculous maximum allowable weight for my height and build (at least until the latter years, when I have to agree I was way out of tolerance). The rest of my Air Force experience? Tremendous.
Where else could I have completed three associate degrees, a bachelors degree, and a master’s degree all while working full time? I made enlisted rank ahead of or on time, and when I applied for Officer Training School, I was accepted during the years when they were accepting very few applicants. I had excellent opportunities as an officer, and when my time came, I have been able to truly retire.
I sacrificed a lot of time with family by being married to a husband who had a profession which did not permit him mobility, but we were committed to one another and achieving our ultimate goal of each of us achieving as much as possible from our respective careers. That done, we now have time to devote to one another and our interests.
In the fall of this year, I saw my retirement accounts get hit for nearly fifty percent of their value from the beginning of the year. Thank goodness my military retirement income is not dependent upon the stock market. Those retirement accounts should have a chance to rebound before I’ll be old enough to draw upon them, but that wasn’t fun. Hubby’s retirement account took a hit, but it was mostly protected, and his management firm moved all of it to a stable place as soon as possible after the crash began, so he should be ok. Overall, we feel fortunate that both of us saw this coming several years ago and were prepared by ensuring we don’t carry any debt.
We have the two houses we’re traveling between, and that’s taken some getting used to. We’re quite blessed to have them both, and we haven’t decided what we want to do with the house in San Antonio yet, so you’ll just have to keep wondering. I love both houses, and both towns have their advantages, so I’ll just have to learn to deal with the hassle of going back and forth.
The ranch needs lots of road work and some old appliances that were there rotting when we bought the place need to be hauled to the scrap metal place. We have a cow that’s been wandering the property for at least two years that we can’t catch and don’t know which side she should go to if we could catch her. Unlike the bull we chased off several years ago, we can’t get close to this cow. She’s a pretty girl but not socialized to people.
I’ve read 43 books this year. That puts me nine short of my goal of 52. That’s not too bad. I have several non-fiction works I’m chipping away at, but they won’t be done until next year at the earliest.
I didn’t get very far in my efforts to take up drawing and water color painting, but I’m not done with that goal either.
I still cheer the Spurs on as they push through the regular season to the playoffs. They have their ups and downs, but I like the team they built this year, and I think it has strong potential to do well.
I’m beginning to learn more about web work — CSS and php and light coding stuff. Maybe I’ll reach a point where I can really update the personal website.
On the writing front, I’m nearly done with The How to Think Sideways Class — very good class. I’m committed to completing the rewrite of Twilight early this year. I want it ready to begin querying by mid-year. While I have queries out on Twilight, I plan to work on either Threads and Ties or Polar Bear on the Loose. I would also like to complete what should have been a small project I undertook several years ago — US Military for Writers. Maybe, now that I’m retired, I can get over the hump on that one. I think I’ve been making it harder than it has to be. I should know where my Thirty Days to Regularity project stands by the end of March, and I’ll adjust my personal schedule to match it if necessary.
I’m avidly decluttering and sorting a lifetime’s accumulation of stuff. Flylady helps with that, but more in the “you can do anything for 15 minutes at a time” sense than in working in step with her FLYtplans and control journals.
My health is a personal priority. Without it, nothing else matters. Hershey has put on too much weight since moving back to Texas, because he isn’t getting his daily walks like he was in Alabama. He’s going to get more walks, and I’m pumping up the tires on my bicycle. I get some exercise working with hubby, but there are plenty of days when I don’t get enough, so those are days I need to add in a bike ride and some weight work. I lost nearly twenty pounds the first three months after I retired, and the next three months, they crawled back on. That’s not how I want it to work.
I think I’m ready for 2008 to go it’s merry way, and I look forward to challenging life again in 2009. May 2009 be prosperous and healthful to you and yours.
Category :
30 Days to Regularity, HTTS, Health, House, Not Silly Stuff, PBOTL, Personal, Reading, The Spurs, Threads & Ties, Twilight, USMFW, Web Stuff, Writing Supposedly if you’ve seen more than 85 of these films, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, then put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, and add them up. I tag anyone who wants to play. Have fun.
() Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
() Boondock Saints
() Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x)Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 6
(x) The Princess Bride
() Anchorman
() Napoleon Dynamite
() Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
() White Noise
() White Oleander
() Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
() The Princess Diaries
() The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 8
() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
() American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 8
() Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
() The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
() The Village
() Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 8
(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
() Signs
(x) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
() 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
() Robots
Total so far: 10
() Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
() Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
() Meet The Parents
() Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
() KING KONG
Total so far: 10
() A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
() Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
() Flubber
Total so far: 10
() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
() Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From Hell
() Hellboy
() Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 11
() The Day After Tomorrow
() Child’s Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
() The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 13
() Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
() Ocean’s Twelve
() Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
() Bedazzled
() Predator I
() Predator II
() The Fog
(x) Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total so far: 14
(x) Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
() Christine
(x) ET
() Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
() Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
() Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 17
() Best Bet
() How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
() Sideways
() Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
() Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 22
() X-Men
() X-2
() X-3
() Spider-Man
() Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
() Catch Me If You Can
() The Little Mermaid
() Freaky Friday
() Reign of Fire
() The Skulls
() Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
() Shrek 2
Total so far: 23
() Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
() Old School
(x) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf’s Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 25
() Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
() Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 28
() Basketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
() Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three
Total so Far: 28
() Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
() Willard
Total so far: 29
() High Tension
() Club Dread
() Hulk
() Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
() Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total so far: 30
() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total so far: 30
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 36
(x) The Matrix
() The Matrix Reloaded
() The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
() Silence of the Lambs
() Hannibal
Grand Total: 37
So it’s official: I have a life. I rarely go to the theater. Now, if I could only find the life it says I have. Thanks, Tech.
Category :
Silly Stuff Merry Christmas to you and yours. If you celebrate some other holiday at this time of year, please substitute appropriate greetings.
Category :
Not Silly Stuff Yes, for real. I may have said this before, but now I’m beginning Twilight’s One-Pass Revision. I’m starting on the third scene now, which requires a rewrite from an entirely different character’s POV. The first two scenes have been marked up beyond belief, and they were both solid — so I thought. To get this right, it’s going to be a slow, methodical process, but I finally am ready to learn and apply Holly Lisle’s One-Pass Revision. I’ve resisted the process in the past, and I suspect it was because I wasn’t mature enough as a writer to grasp what was being taught. Time and the How to Think Sideways course seem to have helped. Most of all, I’m looking forward to getting something ready to query.
I was hunting in the archives looking for something I would have sworn was there but never did find, and I stumbled upon this old post. It’s been nearly three years. How much has changed? Different information is in green. Anything that stays the same will be purple.
A is for age: 48.
B is for Booze of choice: Ouzo or Bourbon (on the rare instance I imbibe…wine on the other hand? Fortant White Merlot).
C is for career: Retired.
D is for your dog’s name: Hershey.
E is for essential items you use everyday: Books and computers.
F is for favorite song at the moment: Pretty much anything by Kathy Mattea, Eddie Money, Dan Seals, Jimmy Buffett, Pam Tillis, Terri Clark, George Strait, or Bryan Adams.
G is for favorite games: Wii Fit and Mercury Meltdown Revolution.
H is for hometown: Alamo Heights, Texas (or do you mean where I was born? Waverly, Iowa; mostly grew up? Charles City, Iowa; graduated from high school? Calcutta, Ohio; this is such a difficult question.)
I is for instruments you play: MP3, or iPod.
J is for jam or jelly you like: Strawberry preserves.
K is for Kids: Not on your life!
L is for last kiss: December 12, 2008 (this will be remedied on the 19th)
M is for most admired trait: Integrity.
N is for the name of your crush: Hmmmm….that would be hubby.
O is for overnight hospital stays: 1 (to have tonsils removed eons ago)
P is for phobias: Not aware of any.
Q is for quotes you like: “Sing like you don’t need the money, love like you’ll never get hurt; dance, dance, dance like nobody’s watching.”
R is for biggest regret: Buying that house back in 1983.
S is for sweets of your choice: Chocolate.
T is for the time you wake up: 7:00am.
U is for underwear: Wouldn’t you like to know?
V is for vegetable you love: Most of them.
W is for worst habit: Eating too much.
X is for x-rays you’ve had: Ummm…broken foot when I was ten, several for dental purposes, several for various knee ailments over the last 25 years, ummmm…for a banged up toe, for a banged up finger, annual mammograms for the last upteen years, and maybe a few I’m missing somewhere. Several on my knees right before retirement this year. After reading this, I realize I should mutate soon.
Y is for yummy food you make: Are you kidding?
Z is for zodiac sign: Leo.
I thought more would change. And some only changed a little. That’s interesting. Want to play? Post yours and let us know in comments.
Category :
Silly Stuff 
Flow Charts
Leave it to xkcd to point out the futility or the brilliance of using the object being taught to present the lesson. What do you think? Does this make it easier for you to use a flow chart, or did you really have to know how to use it to begin with?
I thought I lost a cat. I hadn’t seen Pericles since sometime last night. When I didn’t seem him this morning, I got concerned. Had he inadvertently gotten closed in a room? I searched the house, checking closets and rooms I’d gone into even briefly last night — just in case he’d managed to slip in behind me unnoticed. No luck.
Where could he be? He does this sometimes — curls up somewhere, and we can’t find him. I sat down at the kitchen table to separate yesterday’s junk mail into trash and shred piles, and it dawned on me. I felt the chair next to me. Sure enough. There was Pericles. Curled up and sleeping comfortably. Oblivious to my concern.
Category :
Pets Yesterday, it gave me a Wii Fit Age of 58. OK. I did poorly on the two balance tests. I wasn’t surprised. Today? I aced the walk test — perfect 50/50 balance (like that will ever happen again in this lifetime) AND another personal best balance score. I muttered to myself, “Wii Fit Age 20″ for those scores. I wasn’t far off — 21!
This is why nobody should take the Wii Fit Age score too seriously. The previous week I’d been in the more normal 30s - 40s range. But a 37 year range from one day to the next? Come on.
In other news, we finally got the couch moved upstairs and put it in the upstairs parlor, aka office/TV room. I also moved the Wii up there, so with the couch up there, I don’t have a much room to maneuver, but that’s a different matter. The really interesting thing is the cats. Pericles and Ajax seem to think we moved the couch up there specifically for them (we didn’t, really). I went up the other night to check on a print job, and they were both lounging on the couch as if they were watching TV. Cute as buttons. The Mac Mini is in the room directly below that room, and I keep hearing thumps of kitty stepping on and off the couch. Last night, I put washable throws over the couch to make it easier to clean the inevitable fur build-up.
I just installed WordPress 2.7 on my primary blog (this one). It takes a little getting used to, but, generally, I think I like the new back end interface.
I like the QuickPress feature, but it appears I can only add Tags from there (which I haven’t begun using yet) and cannot select a Category (which I do use).
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Web Stuff It looks that way. Check out the full article, including links in Hanna’s post. Apparently, the Consumer Protection Agency felt they needed to take action to protect America’s children after the influx of toxic toys from China over the last year. Unfortunately, as happens all too often, they used a biological weapon that can’t focus on a legitimate target instead of a Smart Bomb to solve the problem.
This places home made toy makers in the US, Canada, and other responsible nations in the same category as the Chinese and other irresponsible toy makers. The solution was to require safety testing of all toys prior to legally selling them. The cost for this testing is in the thousands, and for the home-based toy maker who may not make more than that on his or her toys in a year or more, this puts them out of business.
If you’re a hobbyist who makes, say, wooden toy trains in your home workshop and sells them at craft fairs, you’d be selling them illegally or have to pay a comparative fortune just to partake of your hobby and income supplement (many retired people indulge in hobbies like this). The new law failed to put an exception for this type of toy maker into the wording. In the US, all the materials which go into making a toy like this are already tested. Why make the new product made from already tested products earn another certification?
Many people are turning to their hobbies as a means of making extra income now. This legislation, enacted with the best of intentions, failed to consider the thousands of careful toy manufacturers in an effort to reign in a few large unscrupulous ones. If you’re a US citizen, please look over the information and consider contacting your legislative representative and making your concerns about this known.
Category :
Not Silly Stuff I’ve decided Twilight will be only the working title for the book. My final submission title will probably be one of the two Tech suggested several months ago. Twilight is an easy one word title, but several other books have been published with that title, so I’m going to wind up switching to a two or three word title.
I’ve decided to add a character whom I hope will get us more presence at the disasters being wrought by my villain. I do have the manuscript loaded into Scrivener and broken out into scenes, so I think I’ll keep working in that medium. Also, I’ve adjusted my revision spreadsheet for Mac Excel, and it’s working well.
In other news, I did minor home maintenance things today — vacuumed upstairs, sorted a box of papers (which took incredibly long) into trash, shred, and file piles. The trash pile is actually in the trash can, so it will go out with the trash on Wednesday. I washed the dog beds and put them into the cardboard box warming houses hubby made for them today (their doghouses are in SA, but this will help them keep warm at night in the garage as the temperatures drop). There were a few other little things, but you should get the idea.
I got tired of hearing dogs bark (and the neighbor has complained twice), so I took a drastic step the other day and bought a bark trainer. After just a couple of days, there is noticeably less barking going on outside. I started with Millie and am alternating the collar between her and Hershey — Dazzle only barks when there’s really something to bark at, so I’m not worried about her. The lightest setting didn’t seem to faze Millie, so she gets the medium setting. Hershey gets the low setting — at least for now, but it seems to be effective. If anyone is looking for a device like this, it’s a PetSafe Bark Control Deluxe.
I scraped some more paint off the kitchen sink today. For some reason, the previous owners painted the sink. It appears to be a perfectly fine two basin porcelain sink — probably from the 50s or early 60s. The paint was badly chipped and looked terrible. Yesterday, I pulled out a razor blade and began scraping the paint, and, so far, it still looks fine. I have the bottom of both basins clear and about one-third of the side. The clean part looks much better. I can’t wait to get the rest of the paint off it.
I got the shared files to work from the Windows desktop, so I copied some files I wanted down to the Mac. I know other people have said this, but Macs are incredibly easy to network. I can print to the color laser upstairs through the network — easy as pie to set up and get working. Time Machine works like a dream. I got a new 1T (!) USB drive, connected it, and the Mac asked if I wanted to use Time Machine with this drive. When I told it, ‘Yes,’ it set everything up and went to work. I got MS Office for it, and, (why was I surprised?) getting it registered was a huge pain in the neck. So far, as a Windows user, I’ve managed to avoid getting a Windows Messenger or similar account with them. To register Office for Mac, I was forced to set up an account. Very annoying. (I have tons of legit MS software on my Windows machines and don’t recall having to do that — maybe I’m just forgetful in my dotage). I’m pleasantly surprised to report that I love the Mac.
And my San Antonio Spurs are on a two game tear. Go Spurs, Go.
If you haven’t picked up your copy of Murder by the Acre yet, you’re missing a treat. You don’t know where to get it? Head over to Tech’s place and take a gander at the contest he’s starting to help promote it, then click on the link to get the book from Lulu.
I finally ordered my copy of the book today, but I had the pleasure of being a beta reader back in September. I loved the book. Couldn’t put it down. It’s a wonderful cozy mystery that picks up where Murder by Dewey Decimal left off. What? You haven’t read Murder by Dewey Decimal yet either? You do not know what an enjoyable read you are missing. Both have murder, suspense, romance, and it’s suitable for readers from YA on up (although it isn’t marketed at a YA or a romance, either audience could enjoy it — the characters are all adult, so YA readers looking for kids their own age would be disappointed).
Do you prefer poetry? Check out Endless.
I digress, the contest is just getting started, so head on over to 51313 Harbor Street and check it out.
Category :
Recommendations 
