blabbery: adobe cs2 ccleaner cs3 mac air studio 8 super antispyware
by Blabby
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fix my computer, part deux
Thanks for all the recommendations, guys. I had a spyware program, but the crap cleaner really helped, I think. Well, I don’t know if it helped yet, but I assume it will because it removed a lot of crap and repaired a lot of registry files. The windows registry alone is enough reason to get a mac.
Last night the commercial for the mac air came on, and I was just staring at it, and my husband said, “do you want that?” Of course I want that! But what about all my PC software…all my adobe CS2 is for windows, as well as my studio 8 bundle. I’m not rebuying that crap - even though CS3 is out. We’re talking thousands of dollars. Well, almost $2000 to replace it all. But for as little as I use it, I certainly don’t need to upgrade yet.
Plus…I don’t really NEED a laptop. I just REALLY want one. So, that’s the story of our lives, right?
fix my computer
I love my computer. But I’m afraid it’s becoming an albatross. It’s getting so slow…is it the programs I’m running? Is it my internet service? I’m getting lots of new error messages that seem to be a foreshadowing for doom. I got BURNED by the Geek Squad once - they ruined a hard drive with 4 years worth of pictures on it. So I’m gun shy. I call Dell on the phone, and their tech people talk me through fixes, but this doesn’t seem very thorough. I’m considering something like FastTeks, who come to your house and do things like repairs or network installation. Any ideas on this?
Uncategorized: accomplishments effort exercise hygeine makeup mascara plus size clothing self esteem
by Blabby
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The care and maintenance of…
Recently, on Bill Maher’s New Rules, he mentioned that adults shouldn’t wear crocs. I personally have nothing against the shoes, but I don’t really like the way they look. I’ve considered them lots of times because I have foot problems, but I just can’t ever bring myself to actually purchase them.
Anyway, his point was about how Americans are getting more and more casual, aiming for the final outcome of wearing nothing but a diaper in public - the ultimate in casual and comfortable. Although, I would be very uncomfortable wearing only a diaper anywhere. But we get his point, right?
How much are we going to dress down? I am particularly guilty of casual dressing. My basic uniform consists of jeans and a black shirt. Sometimes a black cardigan, but usually a black hoodie. I also enjoy my black converse. I have other clothes, nice clothes even. But as a work-at-home-mom, I don’t have much cause to wear them.
Then I go to albertson’s in my uniform, and I see other mom’s with curled hair, full make-up and very cute outfits. Granted, they’re not usually shopping from my normal selection of plus size clothing, but even that’s no excuse. There are tons of cute options for my size 16/18 booty. In fact, I even own some.
What it really boils down to is effort, right? My hair is unruly and difficult, so I’m going to skip that part for another blog post, but everything else is too easy. A little mascara and lip gloss, actually putting in earrings, trading in my hoodie for a nicer sweater. That’s easy, right?
Well, yesterday, I did those things. I put on a button down white shirt and a nice sweater. (I like preppy clothes.) I put on mascara. I wore a belt instead of letting my pants droop down all the time. I put on cute stripey socks.
I really felt a lot better about everything. Now if I could just get my big ass to the gym!
blessings books iPod Nano Ira Glass: atonement audible audiobooks bill maher books Ira Glass kathleen mcgowan libraries political gabfest slate the expected one This American Life
by Blabby
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Library vs. Audible
I love my iPod nano. It’s cute and perfect and holds a million hours of entertainment. It fits in my pocket. I love love love it. This is why I thought I’d love Audible.
In theory, I do love audible. I always have my iPod with me, so I thought having the audiobooks I’m listening to on there would solve the problem of always having to listen to audiobooks in the car. First of all, my son understands (perhaps ‘repeats’ is a better word) curse words now, so lots of books are out. Second, he gets tense and whiny when there’s a tense scene in the book. Not good. Plus, he loves air guitar and drums, so I’d rather let him enjoy music.
In comes Audible. I can listen to my book anywhere. Except, I’m really picky. I check out two or three audiobooks from the library each trip. I usually only listen to one all the way through. If I don’t like it, or I’m not looking to listen to the next installment, I give up on it and return it. With Audible, I feel like I have to choose so carefully because I’m paying for it. My first selection was Atonement and I could care less about it. (To be fair, I’m only on chapter 5 or 6, so I haven’t really given it a chance.) Now I have another credit sitting in my Audible account, and I’m kind of gun shy. I don’t want to waste it.
My first idea was to try out books from the library, and then, if I love the book, use my Audible credit to get it. But with the last audiobook I listened to, The Expected One, I felt like I already had it for free, and it would be wasteful to return the free book just to purchase the same book from Audible.
There’s one other problem. Lately, when I have the chance to listen to my iPod, I catch up on episodes of Slate’s Political Gabfest, This American Life, or Real Time with Bill Maher. Which is also why I haven’t given Atonement it’s proper attention.
So is the problem time? Maybe. How do I best use my time?
How do people deal with these dilemmas?
Please understand that I appreciate the bounty of my blessings as I write these things. I know there are people who can’t read, who don’t have books, who don’t have libraries, who can’t afford iPods or Audible accounts. These things don’t really help me. They just make me feel guilty.
And what do any of these things have to do with tool storage? Ha, I got you on that last one, didn’t I?
WWW gems
I get bogged down trying to maintain everything sometimes. I forget the vast wonderfulness that is the web. Here are a few favorites lately…
- Indexed: Wit illustrated. She’s got a book coming out next month - not bad for doodles! She’s also got a super cool website with some of her extra witty ads on it. Very talented girl.
- eMomsAtHome: Well written articles, interesting perspectives, good ideas. Something for pretty much every entrepreneur.
- GetMortified.com: Check out the shoebox show. Simply awesome.
As a dedication to Mortified, I’d like to tell a little story.
My best friend Jenny had a video camera. We made lots and lots of movies in high school. For social
studies (10th grade, maybe?), we had an extra credit opportunity where we could do a special report on one of many topics we had been studying that semester. We chose to make a movie (shocker) about Henry VIII and his wives. There were a lot of us involved…basically, all the girls that had sleep overs at Jenny’s house every weekend. I wasn’t crazy about making movies, but somehow I ended up being one of the wives that has a baby. (I think there were only two - which is why he kept chopping off heads…) We got the neighbor to let us “babysit” her 2 year old, and on camera, I miraculously gave loud, crazy birth to a fully-clothed, walking kid. They filmed me from the side, and had the kid crawl towards my feet. Then we took the movie to school and showed it to the class.
I wish I had that movie.
We got the extra credit :)
blessings blogging Crafts denyse schmidt quilting quilting patterns sewing: alexa google page rank purlsoho
by Blabby
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Holy Page Rank!
Somehow, my page rank has jumped up to 5! Who knows if these blessing will persist, but in the mean time, I’ve got to jump over to PayPerPost and see what treasure awaits me. In other news, my Alexa ranking went up. In case you didn’t know, that’s bad. Alexa goes down: good. Up: bad. So it was in the mid 700,000. Now it’s 800,977. Weird.
I also sold a rotating ad on here, but I can’t figure the code out for the life of me. I even got myself into an internal server error situation the other day, which practically gave me a heart attack.
In non-tech related news, I’m super excited because I just bought a new pattern from PurlSoho. Denyse Schmidt’s Single Girl pattern! Love it…I’ve been saving all my Katie Jump Rope fat quarters for something special, and this is it!
I also joined about 100 new groups on Flickr…trying to be more social or whatever. There are so many awesome crafters out there…I just love these sites like flickr and etsy. More ideas than I could ever use!
I’m happily sewing the binding on a quilt…pics coming soon. One down, a billion to go! Hooray for bins full of fabric :)
Rest in peace, Heath
How very, very sad. Just say no, people.
Heath found dead in NY story.
Knights Tale is an all-time favorite. What a waste of talent and hotness. And how sad for Matilda.
Sad, sad, sad.
there’s a place for us…
Thanks, Renegade Eye, for sharing this story…
West Side Story reunion on YouTube
Jeanne Ray
I love Jeanne Ray. I’ve been reading her books for three weeks now. I started with Eat Cake on audiobook. Excellent. And hunger-inducing. Then I read Step Ball Change, which even though I never took tap, made me REALLY miss dancing. I laughed, I cried, I sang along to Puttin’ on the Ritz. Highly recommended. Then I requested her first books from the library. Romeo and Julie and Romeo and Julie Get Lucky. I read the first one in one sitting, and am 3/4s through the second, which I started today. The first chapter made me laugh out loud. Now I want to go down to the farmer’s market for some wholesale flowers.
Jeanne Ray is Ann Patchett’s mom. Very talented family. If you like Janet Evanovich, I highly recommend Jeanne Ray. Her heroines tend to be in the 40 to 60 age range and funny. I feel like I’d like to grow into all her main characters.
I gave up counting my books, as I fall way behind and then feel all this pressure to keep up, so I’ll just go back to mentioning the great ones. If you’re looking for a new author, check her out.
I also read the latest Elm Creek novel by Jennifer Chiaverini, The New Year’s Quilt. Loved it. Turns out Jennifer was at the quilt show I just went to and I missed her. Total bummer. I love her books.
On audiobook, I’m listening to The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan. Excellent, but moving a little slow. It kind of parallels The DaVinci Code - like a different tangent on heretical blasphemy. Or not - depending on your religious views. Anyway, it’s about a descendant of Mary Magdelene. I really like it. It reminds me a little of The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. Big parts of it are in Mary’s voice - 1st person account of her time with Jesus. Interesting perspective.
On my iPod, I’ve got Atonement. It’s kind of dull, but I plan to finish it before I see the movie. Good reader, I’m just bored with the story. I’m not sure why, because when I’m listening, I enjoy it. I just don’t ever feel like listening to it.
I think that’s it for books for now. What are you reading?
Chargers v. Patriots
I was sad to see the Chargers season come to an end on Sunday, but I wasn’t super surprised. I seem to only follow teams that never pull out the big win. This might not be a fair assessment of the Chargers entire season, as I’ll readily admit that I jumped on the bandwagon in the post season hoping for a Super Bowl run. However, since the score was 12-14 going into halftime and then it all went downhill from there, I feel okay about saying they blew it. If only that kicker could have kept making field goals…
Anyway, as we were watching the not-so-happy game, we were totally entertained by the commercials. There was one where the scene was a house full of people watching football on a small TV. They were all leaning forward to see better. A little computer pointer moved around the screen moving vases and hanging pictures, stretching the tv screen, and moving it onto the wall, and then moving all the people back on the couch. Visually, it was a very well communicated point. I started looking around my living room for a place to hang a nice big flat screen so I could lean back on the couch, and realized there really is no place. I started thinking how home manufacturers really have to plan for these changes now. Are cable jacks going to be put up high on the wall now to hide the cords? That’s a good idea, right?
The little pointer reminded me of Dora. The whole thing made me want home theater furniture, a popcorn maker, and some good Bose surround sound.
I’d probably still keep the captions on all the time.
