Musings of my life

Finishing the Flashlight

2012-01-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

I am pretty much done with the flashlight, assembly and all. There's just one or two exercises to go - interference testing and I think a revision of the handle if I recall correctly. This chapter is going by quickly. When I get to the end of the book I'm not sure what I will do next. I suppose I could go ahead and buy a newer version's textbook and try my hand at using 2007 on it. May not do me much good as far as practicing the new tools (since I won't have them!), but maybe it will get me introduced to the concepts so I'll know what to look for when I get to try my hand at SW 2011 or 2012.

Here I copied that profile from the lens cap to create the internal thread:

The housing had a handle, hole and ribs to add - almost complete here:

Once I put the pieces together, I used section view in order to see the internal parts for mating them up. The parts that I built for this project (all shown except the lens which was suppressed during the bulb mating), include the housing, lens and lens cap, o-ring, bulb, switch, battery and battery cap.

All together now:

I want to click the switch.

A Little More Profile & Path

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000-06:00

Didn't have time for much SolidWorks play today, but I did use the pierce command and a profile and path again - to make a thread. This is a very rough one with no finishing on the edges, but the general idea is here.

The profile (the trapezoid - "ThreadSection" in the illustration) and path (helical spiral) are highlighted in green:

Spirals are fun. Makes me want to animate springs.

More Drafting

2012-01-22T16:07:00.000-06:00

In an effort to balance my leisure reading and my educational efforts in drafting, I split my Friday up a bit and did a little bit of each both morning and afternoon. Marcus' Meditations are good (mostly practical philosophy but occasionally peppered with superstition common to his day), but the dry moral reading benefits from frequent breaks.

So I pulled out the SolidWorks textbook. I'm on section 5, second-to-the-last section. This one I had put off for a few weeks during the holiday season, especially right after I got my Kindle. But I delved in with ease.

Upon following the instructions to draw two circles, one large and then one small, on two different planes, I wasn't quite sure where this was going. And the "pierce" command was a new one. It snapped the two circles together like so:

Following the next instruction, to insert a sweep, brought on another of those "aha!" moments, and it suddenly all made perfect sense.

I could do this with any profile now. Sketch a path, establish the profile ... What sounded like a foreign language when simply reading the text is now readily apparent since I actually used the software.

Reading the Harvard Classics

2012-01-18T20:39:00.000-06:00

As I make my way into the Harvard Classics, I'm three books in and starting a fourth. The first three I downloaded through the Amazon store directly. Much to my chagrin, I discovered these were just raw scans - not cleaned up at all. Missing letters, jumped lines, out-of-sequence text ... not pleasant to read at all. But I got through them.

As for the content of the work themselves, I greatly enjoyed Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. Much more interesting than I expected. The next two were more dry and moralistic, not nearly as engaging, but informative nonetheless. William Penn's "Some Fruits of Solitude" is wordy but provides some insight on the moral instruction of the day. Likewise, "The Journal of John Woolman" is repetitive and over-lengthened with unnecessary words, but this seems to be the standard of the time. However, I found this one much more interesting than "..Fruits" simply because the author was instrumental in spreading his conviction against slavery throughout the New England Quakers, influencing a great number of persons during the years immediately prior to the American declaration of independence.

Woolman wrote extensively of his low-key pleadings with his peers for freedom for all men, the argument being that plain living (such as prescribed by the Quakers) makes for more equitable treatment of others (therefore making slavery incompatible with the Christian man), as piling on wealth and giving in to vanity can only be made on the backs of others hard labor. Think Apple / iPhone for a modern comparison.

His message of moderation, humility, charity, consideration and awareness of one's fellow man still speaks to us today.

Now once I finished his book, I was ready to crack open the next set of three. I started by loading three books of the Harvard Classics at a time on my Kindle, so in continuation of such, I loaded the next three when I neared the end of the first set. However, this time I went to Project Gutenberg for properly formatted works.

It was a great pleasure to open Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and see clear words, clean pages, formatted chapter titles, hyperlinks - ahhhh. So much better! Beautiful, in fact. Thank you pgdp.

Now reading the famed emperor's words, I begin to understand the historical respect he holds and yet am surprised at the simplicity of the wisdoms. Reading through this "bookshelf" is promising to be an entertaining adventure for my brain.

Automotive Repair

2012-01-14T14:51:00.003-06:00

I've just recently been reminded how unusual some of my pursuits are. When I was just out of high school, within a year's time I helped with:

1. Replacing a 302 V-8 engine in my 1977 Mustang II (first car)

2. Changing a master cylinder

3. Restoring a Buick Skylark from the ground up

4. Changing an alternator (my guy friends had to be the muscle to hold it tight with a crowbar while I tightened the mounting bolts)

5. Installing a car stereo

6. Replacing a U-joint in my 1972 Oldsmobile convertible

7. Towing by chain and completely restoring an Impala (was that a 1964?) that was so far gone it had grass growing in the floorboards

8. Replacing a starter solenoid

And these are just the projects that I can recall. I remember days spent wandering the junk yard, searching for and pulling parts off old cars to help the guys with their restoration projects.

And then of course much more recently was my dabbling in cell phone repair, where I went in with no knowledge whatsoever and managed to score highest out of a group of eight including soldering. I had never soldered anything in my life, but I had watched over a friend's shoulder many times, so I was just up to the challenge, and it sure seemed more interesting than answering phones. And it was. Granted, I was the slowest tech on the floor, but I am such a perfectionist I can't let a repair go out sloppy. Anyway, I digress ...

To me this was all great fun, but I often forget that it's unusual for a girl to have had such experiences, so when I get into a conversation with a girl who has not had such experiences, my stories often get an amazed response. It's quite gratifying.

Kindle Cover

2012-01-03T17:57:00.011-06:00

If you have a Kindle and find the choices of purchased covers lackluster, for less than $10 and a couple days somewhat fussy work, I made my own Kindle cover. For those who aren't inclined to make their own, there's a diverse selection of handmade covers for sale on Etsy - which is where I found the inspiration for my own design. Overview:

1. Cut all the pages out of a used hardcover book

2. Construct the liner: sew four 45º angled elastic strips to one side of a fabric rectangle, with at least 1" overlap allowed

3. Mount liner: Glue said rectangle to inside of (empty) book, wrapping & gluing edges around the front

4. Construct exterior: Sew edging or hemming tape onto a rectangular fabric cut to fit the outside of (empty) book

5. Mount exterior: Glue prepared rectangle to outside of (empty) book

6. Finish: Seal edges down with glue and hand stitch to finish

Pictures:

Used hardcovers books in various sizes can be found at our local used bookstore, Gardner's - there is a bargain shelf outdoors where you just drop a quarter in the slot for any book.

Remove all the pages with a box knife or such.

Cut strips of elastic with enough allowance to sew the rough edges under.

The fabric I bought as remnants at Hancocks. All the supplies together cost just over $8.00.

Here I've laid the elastic strips under the Kindle to figure out placement.

I marked the placement with plain white chalk.

A more distant view for explanation.

Here I've sewn the elastic in place and now I'm planning how I should place the lining on the book.

I decided to mark the edges with chalk so I could best keep the lining lined up properly while I glue it.

Chalk outline. Maybe I should read some murder mysteries. I used to love those as a teenager.

I used the basic tacky glue. It turned a bit lumpy with the satin, but actually when I bought the satin remnant, it was wrapped up so tightly I didn't know it was satin - I could just see the crepe back and thought I was getting a thick polyester that would hold up well to glue. The satin is pretty but it shows every lump.

Wrapped and glued around. Just a rough edge is all that's needed for the lining - this side will be covered shortly.

I decided to pull out the ol' t-square for the outside fabric. I chose upholstery fabric because I wanted that rough fabric feel of an old-fashioned hardcover book. Due to the the thickness though, I saw the corners would give me trouble and so decided the hemming tape would be the best choice for edge wrapping, and I should just cut the upholstery exactly to size - squared off - thus the t-square. (This is a relic from my college drafting days - yes we still used drafting boards back then)

Laying out the hemming tape to size.

At the top of this picture you can see I used a zig-zag stitch to attach the hemming tape.

Squaring off the last side.

Who else do you know that has a Tonka toy from their childhood on display with their sewing supplies? My mother has a picture of me with this toy when I was about 18 months old. I've loved this toy for many years.

Here I've glued the outside fabric in place.

The hemming tape has a little glue applied as I wrapped it and pinned it down. I let one side dry before doing the other to avoid getting stuck to the work surface. I also stitched around the inner edges for a better finish.

Reading = joy. The texture of the fabric is pleasant to the touch and allows a comfortable hold on the Kindle where it used to slide out of my grip.

Reading on the Kindle

2011-12-29T20:22:00.004-06:00

So the Kindle has been a very entertaining gift. I am very pleased. I finished The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, as downloaded via Amazon.com, and am now halfway finished with the next book on the Harvard Classics list, Fruits of Solitude by William Penn. This version is a raw scan of the book and is desperately in need of the Project Gutenberg polishing treatment. While I can read typo and can make my way through the book so, it is not pleasant to read.

I will definitely be looking for the next books on the list at Gutenberg.org. I may have to soon resume my volunteer work with proofreading if I keep reading as voraciously as I have been these past few days.

As a side note, I've also sent some PDFs of my SolidWorks drawings to my Kindle. They are clearly viewable, even if the screen is a bit small for trying to really look in detail at a drawing. It does have zoom and pan capabilities. Nifty.

On another side note, Google+ being what it is, I am finding myself posting there rather than writing a blog post. I may migrate all my posts there; I'm yet undecided which is better for what exactly. G+ doesn't seem to have the nice organized history function though.

Dog Update, and SMH

2011-10-26T18:51:00.006-05:00

We choose a new vet based on a couple of recommendations from people we know, when we got our puppy, and I liked the new vet, so I took Lucky in last Friday. This vet immediately said the odor was typical of yeast. He recommended with wash her first with dish-washing liquid such as Dawn to get rid of the thick nasty stuff in her fur, and then wash her with prescription shampoo that he provided.

Friday night I got in the shower with her (in my lawn-work clothes) and scrubbed her down. The difference was amazing immediately. She's a different color - the right color. And last night (Tuesday) I treated her again with the medicated shampoo. I am so impressed. And she is wagging her tail and energetic again. He also prescribed antibiotics, an oral yeast treatment, plus ear ointment for yeast. She has a follow-up in two weeks.

Should have sought a second opinion a long time ago.

Anyway, on another note, I do a bit of reading during the day at work when it's slow. I like to read news mostly. I used to read MSN news sites, but the frequency of grammar and spelling errors drove me batty. I switched to CNN because the spelling is noticeably better.

Look, I know I make my own share of errors here, and if I catch them, even when reading months later, I like to fix my mistakes. I don't expect much from blogs. We don't have editors to review our work.

But on news sites and even in scientific work, I have found spelling and grammar errors. I suppose that it is endemic to the age of the internet. We have increased the speed wherewith news can make it to the end user, and it seems to me that with this ease of getting news to the masses, the quantity of news published has also increased. And with greater quantity, quality suffers.

Either editors are overwhelmed, or no one is actually editing stories.

CNN usually has high quality, error-free news, but we are all human and something will slip through occasionally. Here's a find from yesterday's news at CNN:

Aigh! The little old librarian with the grey bun in me is shaking her head.

The Story of our Dogs

2011-10-20T21:07:00.002-05:00

We got a puppy three weeks ago. This is our second time of raising a dog from puppy-hood, and this is our second pit bull. I have mixed emotions and regrets about our first pit bull, and working through those and facing my own guilt has been hard. I definitely want to extol the virtues of crate training. If we had understood crate training with our first pit bull, I sincerely believe she would have been able to live with us for the rest of her natural life. The adage that 'bad dog behavior is not the fault of the dog, one needs to look at the other end of the leash,' has been painfully and personally learned by me. I was a bad owner and let down a very good dog.

Beta, our first pit bull terrier, was a rescue dog of sorts. A family member had adopted her from a veterinarian in a small town nearby and was told she was an American Staffordshire Terrier (I am aware there is an unsettled debate over whether there is any difference or if it's just semantics and pit bulls are the same breed - I do not care to address that debate here). After owning her for a few months, and her having full run of the house with a single female owner, she was energetic, playful, watchful, a great guard dog, but entirely undisciplined when it came to digging in trash or tearing out couch stuffing. We agreed to take her in as she was a really beautiful dog, and after all, she was well behaved and obedient - when supervised.

Beta, American Staffordshire Terrier

She only tore up a few things of ours - dragged a couch across the living room and ripped off the skirt, broke down the screen door to get on the balcony, chewed on an old journal. Just a few things like that (sarcastic tone). But we put up with it because we didn't know what else to do. And she really was a wonderful dog as long as we were right there with her. We let Beta have her free rein of the apartment when we were working, every day worrying and hoping she hadn't destroyed anything.

We had downstairs neighbors who bought a boxer, and they had a crate, but it was the first we had ever heard of such a thing and it sounded terribly cruel. Plus their boxer would poop in the crate, so I'm not sure what they were doing wrong, but it didn't seem at all successful. We didn't try crate training till years later.

Within a couple of years, we had our first child. We decided to move into a house, and although the landlord allowed dogs, Beta was now more work than I could cope with between trying to keep her corralled and behaving while I tried to find time to sleep between every-two-hour baby nursings.

We found a family with older kids who wanted to take Beta in. They kept her for a year, but then brought her back. By that point, we had moved to a duplex that didn't allow pets, we were expecting our second child, and our first child was eighteen months old. We were going to try to convince our landlord to let us keep her, but then she circled our daughter, growling, every time she got close to her food bowl. It was classic food aggression.

We weren't going to take the risk of an attack. Distraught and in tears, I took her to the vet and asked them to put her down. I loved my dog, but my duty as a parent made me protect my child. My grief is still with me to this day. I let down a very good dog. If only I had known how to train her.

Sadie was approximately 8 months old when we adopted her through Animal Aid of Tulsa, in September of 1999, and our youngest child was over two years old. We went looking for a gentle breed, and I specifically called around the shelters and rescue groups looking for a border collie or beagle mix, as I was familiar with both breeds from my childhood. Sadie looked to be a border collie / Australian shepherd mix. She was a very calm dog, albeit a little too timid, but we liked her anyway.

She was already crate trained, having lived at the vet's office for a few months. We went ahead and bought a crate as per the vet's recommendation, plus my husband's co-worker was a professional handler (for dog shows), and had introduced him to the virtues and proper use of crating.

Sadie was amazing. She loved her crate. The vet had also recommended a book, "The Art of Raising a Puppy," and it taught me to be a good owner. We didn't have to come home to a crazed stressed dog, or torn up house. She would be sleeping peacefully and with nothing more than a happy "yip" of a bark upon seeing our return, she would come out of her crate to be let outside, and we were all happy - dog and owners alike.

Two years later, we started talking about getting another dog, preferable another rescue dog but less timid than Sadie, and wanted to look into boxers or bull dogs as we both like the look of those breeds, a mix being okay as we actually prefer to avoid the problems that can come up with purebreds (genetic problems, nervousness, and the breathing problems inherent in bulldogs, etc.). But then one winter day, another co-worker of my husband's found a little puppy under a truck in the parking lot, abandoned, alone. We brought her home.

Lucky was only four and a half pounds at approximately eight weeks of age, but she looked to be a German shepherd / Labrador mix, so we knew she'd be a big dog. When she was older and fully developed, our veterinarian suggested she looked to possibly be a Belgian Malinois.

Tiny puppies often grow into giant dogs

From the reading of the puppy book and other materials from the veterinarian, my condition of bringing this puppy home was that we had to enroll her in obedience classes, because I was certainly not going to have a puppy tearing up the house. The obedience school gave wonderful lessons and explanations of crate training, and how it makes a happy puppy and a happy owner. And you know, it works. Lucky is goofy and silly, but is trained in basic obedience.

She went from a 4.5 pound baby to a 75-pound behemoth within a year. Poor Sadie didn't quite know what to think about this giant playful dog, but they got along.

A few years later, Sadie the border collie, became epileptic. She had her first seizure on Thanksgiving day. We had stayed home and prepared our own meal that Thanksgiving, an unusual circumstance. We were just sitting down to eat, and Sadie was lying on the kitchen floor, when she began to seize. We called the emergency vet, and they told us what to do (and what not to do) and what to watch for, and we took her to our regular vet the next open day. He examined her and advised us to just watch for another seizure; we wouldn't have to do anything unless her seizures became more frequent or lasted longer than a few minutes.

By February of 2008, she had two seizures within two weeks. Her vet prescribed primidone, twice a day. After a few days of it, and her obviously acting drugged and confused (she stood in front of the couch she had used as a bed for years, just standing there looking at it, not getting up, not even trying, just staring - and she did the same staring at the wall over in a corner she liked to lie in), I researched and found that her dose could be possibly reduced, and so I discussed it with the vet and he agreed it could be reduced to a half pill twice a day. She acted less druggy, and her seizures reduced to about one every 2-3 months.

She lived for another two years. In fact, she outlived her vet. He passed away, and the vet that took his place had to be the one to make the call to put her down when the primidone, that although it had reduced her seizures and extended her life, had a bad side effect. It caused so much swelling of her liver and other organs that she was terminal. This was just last year. We miss her. She was a good dog.

Lucky is getting old now, she is ten and has strange skin problems that the new vet hasn't been able to figure out. The closest thing we've found on the internet has been "cyclical hair loss" as it does seem to temporarily improve and then worsen every three months. We've tried thyroid medicine, food changes, medicated shampoos, and skin scrapings showed no sign of pests or yeast.

Lucky's mystery skin problem

The cyclical hair loss description advised Vitamin A and melatonin, so she's been on that for two and a half months now, and while she did improve markedly at first, she is back to balding again. It is a puzzle. Just this week, she has started licking the fur off her front leg again, to the point of getting down to bare skin and making it bleed. She hasn't done that in at least a year. I clean it and bandage it - of course she removes the bandage within a few hours. But this is so sad.

Perhaps it's just age. As a big dog, we know her life span is nearing the end. We miss Sadie and we know Lucky is going to be gone probably within a year or two. So this year we started talking about getting a puppy.

We knew it would have to be a puppy, because we now have a cat that adopted us when he, as a little kitten, jumped in my husbands' car at the Walmart parking lot. Being a black cat, there was no way I was taking him to the pound (I love black cats), so he has lived with us five years now. While he played with our adult dogs, especially Lucky (Sadie mostly ignored him and would just get up and walk away from any overtures he made), he was adapting to them, learning to play nice. Now that he is the older one, any newcomer must be a baby in order to adapt to him. So in deference to our cat, we had been casually discussing getting a puppy for a few months now.

Then we decided we wanted a pit bull again. We learned our lessons on proper crate training and obedience through our time with Sadie and Lucky, and we realized if we had known those lessons back when we had Beta, we could have saved her life.

Pits are excellent guard dogs, loyal and sweet family dogs, and if raised correctly, are downright friendly. "During WWI American Pitbull Terriers were used on American war posters representing our nation’s strength." - source

We like pit bulls because they look very similar to boxers and bulldogs, with the wide chest and strong back legs for pulling, but with a regular snout so that they are minus the drooling and breathing problems. We also decided we wanted a female. We have always chosen female dogs as they have less issues with dominance.

Once we started looking in earnest, it wasn't long till we found an eight-week-old female pit bull. Although we didn't set out to find a purebred, that is exactly what we ended up with. And she is amazingly smart, and checked out well at the vet, too.

Is it safe to approach now?

She is mostly brown, with white markings. Somewhat like a classic boxer, she has two white toes on each foot, and a white facial stripe that continues down into a nose-to-chest marking. We're leaving her ears floppy and her tail undocked. Before we got her, I didn't know that the noise that Snoopy makes on the animated cartoon show was an actual sound a dog could make. She makes that squeaky sound - like Snoopy's exasperated noise - when she yawns. It was the first sound we heard her make actually, when I was carrying her to our car from the flea market where we got her.

From this angle, she resembles Snoopy - in brown

She has a crate that she sleeps in at night, and when we're not home. Of course there are accidents, when we haven't been paying attention (I need to find my egg-timer - where is that thing?? - and set it for 30 minutes so we will remember to take her outside frequently). But we know that's our fault and it is our responsibility to help her be the most excellent dog possible - by keeping on schedule and praising her for good behavior. And so by having realistic expectations, and following a precise routine, she is a happy puppy and we are happy owners.

Be a good owner: 1. Crate-train; 2. And like they say on The Price is Right: "Spay or neuter your pet!"

More SolidWorks - Exploded View

2011-09-09T20:11:00.000-05:00

I'm amazed at how super easy this is.

Yep, I made all those parts except the air cylinder. And that was supposed to be on the multimedia CD included with the book, but after exploring every part file on the CD, I confirmed the air cylinder was not on the CD, so I spent some time hunting down an acceptable substitute on 3D Content Central. This one already had an extra axle in it, so my linkage assembly is only able to show two axles being exploded from the assembly, but point is, this is so super easy. Just a few minutes and there it is. Playing in a video on screen.I'm sorta proud that I can do this, but at the same time, it's like ... hmm ... that was too easy.

Moon Buggy has a Sad

2011-08-23T18:11:00.000-05:00

Top Gear is a really great show for anyone who loves motorcars - and it might rub off a bit of British accent on you to boot.

Last night they played the last season's finale (I suppose it was actually a marathon that ran all day -we saw the 949 and the F41 go up against each other-sweet), and the last car driven was the new lunar rover. A tear welled up in my eye as they sadly noted this lovely moon buggy will likely never make it to the moon.

I read about this buggy excitedly just a few years ago - I was really pumped up about it. Fascinated. And now it's likely doomed to be Earth-bound.

Sad. Sad little buggy.

Work is Play

2011-08-11T19:12:00.000-05:00

Is it strange that I get excited about work? Sometimes I wonder. I really do love to work, and I love that I get to do a little drafting at my job now.

I know it's not a glamorous field, it's not the most challenging work I could have gone into had I decided to skip having a family. But I decided to spend fifteen years doing the family thing, so I didn't pursue the masters in engineering that I know I am fully capable of, that my sixteen-year-old self imagined I would do.

And so I'm just in the fledging beginnings of a career where most people starting this level would be 20 years old. But all that doesn't get me down. I am really excited at the things I get to do.

I am excited that I am finally on this path. It's been right here in front of me for twenty years, but I was behind this locked sliding glass door. I could see the road out there, calling me, beckoning, I wanted to go out there so badly and play, but I knew I had to wait just a little longer. I had duty to attend to, cares and responsibilities that outweighed my desires and longings.

And now I am still savoring that exhilarating moment like that when the door comes open with a pneumatic hiss, you hear that sound and you're like a child waiting anxiously to run out to the playground after being indoors for hours for some boring sermon. That tip-of-the-moment ecstasy, of tensing your leg and ankle muscles to take off flying, free.

I can imagine my leather-soled oxfords hitting the ground running. That's where I am. And I love working.

In Which I Recount my Single Awkward Experience as a Female Gamer on Ventrilo

2011-08-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this post, essay, whatever, today, extolling the trials and tribulations of women gamers and that awkward moment where you talk on voice chat and ~~the~~ some boys suddenly realize they're playing with a girl and either react with ooo's and aaa's of flirtation, or react with aggravation in the assumption you're a bad player because of your gender.

The linked article was (thankfully) not a feminist rant (yawn), but rather it was honest and points out all the positive experiences we female gamers have in contrast with the old horror stories of a decade or so ago.

I am decidedly anti-feminist, and I feel embarrassed by strong feminist rants that are a slap in the face to the greater majority of nice chaps out there.

And yes, I wholeheartedly agree with the author: there are many more gentlemanly male gamers out there than there are jerkwads.

Nevertheless, I would like to relate my most awkward moment on voice chat. It was Guild Wars PvP, Hall of Heroes, and I was pugging as a healer on a bonus-fame-points weekend.

Yes, pugging HoH took mustering up every ounce of bravery in my soul. I got into a couple of good groups, but I got in a lot more awful groups. Losing repetitively is not conducive to happy teammates that stick together, but that's just how HoH bonus weekends go - cycling through one group after another - everyone searching for the "perfect" group and never finding nirvana.

The worst reaction: I logged into the given Vent, and upon saying "Hello" I was greeted by sudden silence followed by giggling and then "Wow! You're a girl??! Girls don't PvP!" They sounded like young teenagers. Yes, awkward. But the moment was far more wryly humorous than discriminating.

Fortunately we did ok, and the group stayed together a few rounds. Also fortunately, we split ways after a few rounds. I was relieved. Being the center of awestruck attention was really weird.

I did get on voice chat with a few other teams, and none of them even batted an eye, but then again, they all sounded older. It's a maturity thing, really.

And so giggling boys was the worst reaction I've ever had on voice chat. Not so bad, eh?

Moral of the story: If you're a girl, don't be afraid to log on to voice chat. If you're a guy, thanks for being cool with us gamer girls.

The Heat Wave

2011-07-24T19:13:00.003-05:00

The heat wave across the entire United States is oppressive. Our predicted high today is 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Earlier this morning as I played online in LotRO - still in the underground stone Mines of Moria - I got to venture into the cooling chamber. As I walked through this area,seeing the water churning around the center, I ooooh-ed and ahhh-ed and said "Oh this looks wonderful! I can just imagine the spray of the water."

Nature took the hint and obliged us shortly afterward with a spray of rain outdoors. I went outside and stood in it, spreading my arms to feel the wonderful chill as the wind blew and the rain came down. I even got goosebumps it cooled me so much. That was exquisite.

It dropped the temperature by almost ten degrees! Unfortunately, the rain only lasted for a few minutes, and although the clouds hung around, the temperature was back up to 100 within a couple of hours. But at least I don't think we will hit that predicted high of 109.

Our parched yard needs some more rain.

No, we don't water the yard. I do water the vegetable garden - but it produces food - or that is, it usually does. The tomatoes and okra have stopped blooming. The zucchini succumbed to the heat a few weeks ago.

My mother tells me she remembers the summer of 1936 that the weathermen keep mentioning when comparing record highs (she was 8 years old). So I am thankful for air conditioning, and that we are not doomed to languish in this heat outdoors under the darkest shade to be found. And I am thankful I can travel through a pretend world of cold dark stone amid the sights and sounds of splashing water.

Solidworks: Quickening

2011-07-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

I am amazed at how much my speed has increased in creating drawings. Although I have only picked up the textbook a couple of times, I am already almost finished with the first project. Maybe a total of a half day's work all together.

And that's even with learning new tricks like the rollback bar for the above rod - the drawing shown is a reconfigured option, and below I've learned to use dynamic mirror and linear arrays.

Ignore the mouseover text; these are not the words you are looking for.

Online Game: LotRO's Moria is Amazing (old news)

2011-07-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

The oppressive summer heat keeps me entrenched firmly within my house, happily playing pretend online. The cold stone of the Dwarven halls of Moria is a welcome sight on my computer screen when I come in from the record-breaking days-in-a-row of 100+ degree temperatures.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria expansion was released a long time ago, in November 2008, but having just joined the game last fall upon the Free-to-Play conversion, my progress is a bit behind the times.

Yes, I play in a fantasy world pretty much every day. I certainly like it better than watching television. My affection for these little video game distractions is almost embarrassing (especially when mentioned to people who look at you like something green and purple just sprouted out of your head when you start discussing them out loud).

Anyway, as for Moria, it is vast. My only gripe with LotRO is that, spoiled Guild Wars player that I am, the artwork leaves much to be desired. Guild Wars is stunningly beautiful; LotRO is blocky and semi-cartoonish. BUT - and this is a huge plus - they really understand how to use the z-axis: the dimension of height, up and down in space.

Guild Wars has a few staircases here and there, but nowhere near the depth and layering that has been accomplished in LotRO, and especially in the Mines of Moria area. Even the enemy creatures are successfully separated along the z-axis so that sufficient vertical distance prevents aggro (unwanted attention), unlike GW.

Being a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien since childhood, the famed author of the Lord of the Rings book series, I have thus far enjoyed stumbling across the many lore-consistent tidbits, persons and places in the game. Even with everything I had been enjoying over the last ten months travelling across the lands that are so familiar to me from the stories, now that I have finally arrived here, I have been more pleasantly surprised and even awed by Moria.

At least six levels of staircases seem to surround every small outpost, and then when you leave the area, you will go up or down again to another wonderful maze.

In one "small" area alone you can wind around a central open mine shaft for comparatively hundreds of vertical feet, and this is deep beneath at least 10 levels of decoratively carved stone above.

Walking up and down and around these vast halls and mazes of stone staircases and ramps littered with statues the size of a castle, I get genuinely lost. Humorously, the NPCs will occasionally add "Are you lost?" to the standard "How may I help you?" dialogue. And correct they are in asking.

Yes, the graphics leave a great deal to be desired in comparison to Guild Wars. I wish Guild Wars 2 would hurry up and be released. But I fervently hope ArenaNet (creators of Guild Wars) will take serious note of Turbine's (creators of LotRO) ability to build all over the up-and-down in our fun fantasy play space.

Lighter Notes

2011-07-10T19:48:00.000-05:00

The "Convert Entities" tool was useful again on Friday when I dimensioned the four parts for quoting. Nice! I am really making progress in my drafting skills here!

And we bought a little upright freezer today, so dinners will be so much easier to plan now. I get to go pick that up Tuesday in my handy station wagon. And yes, that is why I bought a station wagon ten years ago - it comes in handy when you don't have a truck.

Makes me wonder what I'll do since I'm planning on trading it in for a convertible in a couple of years. May have to invest in a convertible that can handle a light towing load and get a little trailer. Would a Mustang be up to that I wonder? I think that plan would surely nix the MG or Miata.

Not easy to be practical when choosing a fun car. Decisions, decisions.

Repressed Grief, and Continuing

2011-07-07T19:55:00.000-05:00

We who are left behind keep putting one foot in front of the other. This existence does continue, with or without us.

I received my book, the used SolidWorks book, in the mail awhile back. I hadn't had much heart for working on it these past days, but I found a couple days to do so anyway.

Also I had a distraction this weekend as my 82-year-old father was admitted into the hospital Friday afternoon for complications related to a mysterious swollen hand: after being treated with Bactrin shots in the wee hours Wednesday morning, the following days he had dangerously dropping blood pressure and weakness to the point of being incapable of standing or walking unassisted. So my sisters and I spent a great deal of time with Mom and Dad at the hospital till yesterday when he was finally released.

That definitely refocused me.

So today I made it almost all the way through the first section of the textbook. This book is divided into six sections. They appropriately call these divisions "projects" instead of chapters. Each project addresses one fundamental function, or set of functions, of SolidWorks.

Project 1 covers the basics of sketches and extrusions. While I have already learned a great deal of the functions utilized here, I have come across at least one new trick: Convert Entities. I had a chamfered end of a rod on which I needed to sketch while including both inner and outer circles of the chamfer in the front plane geometry. Convert Entities brought a ghost outline of the recessed edge forward, thereby including it in the sketch plane for reference.

This tool will solve a problem I was having with one of our in-house parts I was trying to sketch up (yay).

And then as if I was emanating a wavelength of drafting vibes, my VAR consultant dude dropped by the office. That turned out to be fortuitous as he answered my question about imported solids and trying to puzzle out the dimensions for a quote request we received.

So tomorrow I will be focusing on drawing up the dimensioned parts so we can actually come up with a price on these puppies.

Yes, life does go on, even if our hearts are heavy and our minds are full of questions, questions we repress with pained sadness, burdened with the reality that we will never receive an answer.

Numb

2011-06-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

Riding across the landscape online. Certainly not as good as real life, but the sounds of the horse galloping and the sights of stone and stars and trees, well, it is relaxing.

The suicide of a second member of my extended family has had me in stunned mode for a week now. My brain has a strange numb feeling all through the entire back half of my head. My heart has been tight and heavy in my chest. My eyes burn. Sleep does not linger long enough.

I will not detail the event here. I will only say: please don't leave without a word.

I blare the music in my car to drown out the pain, an attempt to drum the beat back into my heart.

"A little piece of paper with a picture drawn
Floats on down the street till the wind is gone
And the memory now is like the picture was then
When the paper's crumpled up, it can't be perfect again."
- Linkin Park "Forgotten"

Only I Can Push Myself Onward

2011-06-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

Nothing quite like a 25-year high school reunion to make one reflective. I had big dreams. I even spent the first three years out of high school on relatively the right track, the best I could: two years to establish independence so I could apply for the FAFSA (required for admission), and then got enrolled in Platt College instead of OSU.

I had a scholarship to OSU but couldn't use it right out of school because I was not offically independent, and the required paperwork for a dependent student, well, let's just say I could not get permission for that. My scholarship was only enough for one semester, and after my two years away from home to establish my independence, I wasn't sure how to go to OSU without a couple thousand dollars to enroll (and it didn't occur to me to ask a counselor - I just looked at enrollment fees in a book and timidly decided that was an unobtainable dream).

Big dreams often get usurped by real life.

So after last weekend's reunion, I indulged in a couple days' depressed reflection on my lack of success, and when I got sick of that, I gritted my teeth and determined to continue my Sisyphean strivance on this old dream of mechanical drafting and engineering: I finally broke down and bought a SolidWorks 2007 book, albeit used, but it should arrive from Amazon this week.

Even if only by inches, and I am just now arriving where I should have been 20 years ago, at least I am closer to my dream than ever before.

SolidWorks: Still Learning

2011-06-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

So today I got to do some official company drafting work, simple part drawings but I certainly would not have known how to sketch these up in SolidWorks six months ago. I was so excited (quietly to myself of course) when I got the first one printed. Plus it was a crazy busy day. I guess the first of June has everyone and their dog thinking about getting business done.

After getting a couple pointers from my nearest and dearest drafter type friend (my husband), I will clean them up some more tomorrow and reprint better prints for the boss.

Good day, good day.

And this evening wasn't too bad either. Got a nice fire going strong in the firepit, made s'mores with the kids. Only problem was the distractions of the city: helicopters, airplanes, neighbor's music, bright lights ... not exactly conducive to enjoying the nighttime chorus of nature. Pah. Oh well.

SolidWorks: Continuing my Training

2011-05-05T18:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am still practicing my SolidWorks. I am actually very happy with the integrated tutorials - the methods they use are fast. Last week I started Lesson 1, and then work got crazy, and then we finally bought the 2nd Guild Wars book "Edge of Destiny" so that distracted me a couple of days, and then today I finished the basic lessons, plus finished 2 of the 3 AutoCAD conversion lessons.

I made this part and filleted the edges in about a minute:

Then I rotated it to see the back side:

The back face has to be selected when the "shell-extrude" feature is added (the green highlight indicates the selected face) to begin the process:

Then it's just a simple matter of setting the thickness of the wall and clicking the green check-mark! Voila! The part is shelled.

That was all accomplished in just a matter of minutes. Then today I completed the two additional lessons to make a second part, bring these two parts together for an assembly, and create a 2-D drawing sheet for the parts and assembly. Here I've only pictured the 3-D assembly view with one part shaded and the other part shown with lines only:

The AutoCAD conversion lessons were a bit more mysterious as I was just given instructions to follow with no explanation of several of the options during the import and conversion process. But I did successfully import a dwg file, delete the unnecessary information from the 2-D drawing, and then use the trimmed sketch to create a revolved 3-D part.

Plus I made the instructed modifications to the drawing, reducing the number of through-holes from 6 to 4, and evenly distributing them around the axis.

So there I am. There's still about 30 lessons to go if I remember right.

LotRO: Still Playing

2011-04-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

We (the husband and I) keep plugging along in Lord of the Rings Online. This weekend was the 4th anniversary celebration. I've only been playing for a few months now, just since the free-to-play option launched. Guild Wars 2 doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get released, so I keep buying little bits and pieces of LotRO as I go.

We've made it to the Misty Mountains, but I don't think I'll buy that quest pack. I don't like snowy cold areas. I plan to just get through the epic quest line (which is free) and skip the side quests (optional purchase). I've bought the Trollshaws, which is a beautiful wooded map with Rivendell at the far eastern side. What other packs did I buy? I don't remember. Something over by Bree. Haven't been back to Bree in a long time. Oh, the Lone Lands and the North Downs. Should have just picked one or the other - didn't really need both of those.

I've purchased three skirmishes though. These are repeatable instanced quests that first become available at level 20, scalable to level and group size. After we figured out the excellent reward system (bounties sell for gold, marks for armor, weapons, rare crafting items, pretty much anything you could ever want in-game, plus easy XP) of skirmishing, we try to do some or all of those daily. The game gives you a few skirmishes for free, but at least twice as many more are available for purchase.

Anyway, during the anniversary celebration, tokens randomly drop that are exchangeable for random gifts in town. Along with more practical items such as potions, I got two pretty dresses. This is my Snow White look.

Funny, I do run around with a dwarf all the time.

SolidWorks: Integrated Tutorials

2011-04-20T21:42:00.000-05:00

Wow, sheepish moment today. Was reading a newsletter from our SolidWorks retailer (aka our "VAR") - yesterday I joined two free webinars sponsored by them but due to work busy-ness was only able to focus on the presentations about 5% of the time - and a prerequisite for one of their training classes is to go through tutorials 1-3 inside the program's help file. At first I was doubtful, figuring this would be something added only to the newer versions, but in the hopes I could be wrong, I went seeking ... and I found.

Sure enough, "Tutorials" is right there on the menu under "Help." /facepalm Quite happily I dove in.

The first thing I found, just in the first lesson, was that these tutorials work backwards compared to my library book. You choose the intended end (an extrusion), and then choose your sketch tools and plane.

Directed to make an extrusion via the extruded boss/base tool, and then define it using the rectangle sketch tool, I created a square, and then repeated the same steps to create a circular extrusion (Extrude2) on the surface of Extrude1.

To my amazement, I was able to create this part (below) in about 15 minutes.

It was part of the very first lesson, a mini-lesson really, called the "Thirty Minute Lesson" designed for true newbies to SolidWorks. I took more time than required with the drawing, changing the font size and arrowhead styles to my own preferences, and moving the views around on the page.

The off-center section line bothers me, but the afternoon got a bit crazy and I did not have time to come back to it. However, these integrated tutorials are promising to be a nice bit of educational material to go through. I had seen mention of "the tutorials" in passing on the SW forums, but I just passed it off as meaning website tutorials. Well ... it's good to be wrong sometimes.

SolidWorks: Learning by Web Surfing

2011-04-13T23:33:00.001-05:00

Today I was able to spend some time reading SolidWorks goodies around the internet. I started on a link I had found at the official SolidWorks forums, and found myself following links like stepping stones to more and more interesting and informative tidbits.

I found keyboard shortcuts (those were fun to fiddle with in SW), an engineering forum, and an intriguing e-book found within a large list of recommended mechanical engineering books.

Now I need to go by Gardner's, a local used book store, and see if they have any used drafting textbooks or maybe even a CSWA guide book. I imagine that'll be one I'll have to buy new. But nothing ventured, nothing gained! I will look.

I also modeled up a part that a customer faxed over 2D prints of - it's proprietary so can't be shared - but it was a satisfying diversion. I modeled up the solid part within an hour. That was an excellent exercise as I had to search for various options on the tool bars without the help of a book telling me exactly where to look. I need to add a series of through holes tomorrow ... excited.

Coincidentally, I was moving a large box of discarded junk out of the garage to the trash this evening, making more room for the kids' bicycles, and the bottom fell out of the box. Good thing, because I found I had stored some old correspondence and keepsakes there, plus some of my drafting work from my time at the Art Institute of Seattle. It was visually entertaining work, although not the study field I wanted to pursue. I actually have both the original pencil drawings and a bound blueprint set of interior elevations and reflected ceiling plan that was our final project. I got a B+. I remember being annoyed that I did not get an A.

A few months back, I found some other memories, better preserved fortunately, and so I keep a little stack of special papers bed side. Silly sentimentality. It was so long ago, and yet the more I look at drafting papers and the more I play with SolidWorks, it's starting to feel like it was just yesterday.

Too Busy to Draft

2011-04-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

Not only did I have to relinquish the book, work has been crazy busy. This is good! But all I've had a chance to do was to set up a drawing template with our company name in the title block. There are several drawing projects I can work on without a book, especially things that we already make. But finding time now is another matter!

SolidWorks: Correctly Oriented

2011-04-02T10:49:00.001-05:00

Directional choices are crucial in SolidWorks. Choosing the wrong plane for sketching can result in serious alignment flaws. Choosing the wrong direction for a series of features or an assembly explosion can make for some humorously impossible pictures on-screen. My first attempt at this pizza cutter failed, when I had used the wrong sketch plane for the handle and so the guard and blade were cross-ways.

Thursday and Friday I managed to squeeze in a little drawing time. I finished rebuilding the handle Friday. I might have been able to correct my error by editing the sketch plane, but I wanted the drawing practice, and it went much faster this time.

Fortunately, changing the orientation of a series or most any directional feature is as simple as clicking a button. Pressing the button indicated (below) would flip the gray arrow downwards, but I want a series of grooves (copying the extruded cut made using the small square illustrated in the previous post) repeated upwards, so the currently pictured direction is correct.

With the spacing and quantity set to a measurement that will actually fit on the handle, just another press of the green check-mark button will set the grooves in place.

After finishing the handle, I went on to assemble the parts and was very happy when all the mates went together as expected this time.

Now my pizza cutter looks functional!

Next I can move on to modifying the handle for injection-molding knowing it will align correctly.

I'm really very excited to be learning SolidWorks. I looked at a sample CSWP test Friday and was a bit daunted by the complexity of the illustrated parts. But quite frankly, I need to learn this stuff. After I finish this library book I'm working through now, I'm likely going to have to purchase a book, as the next books I want are not in the library catalogue. I requested an inter-library loan on the chance another state might have one, but I'm not holding my breath.

Now that it's the weekend I suppose I should go put some time in the yard and garden. I missed having my own okra and tomatoes last year. Mmmmm.

SolidWorks: Handle Do-Over

2011-03-30T22:43:00.000-05:00

Wow today was busy. Hardly a moment's breather, but I did begin the pizza cutter handle. It starts as a fairly simple rectangular shape with a trimmed corner, a rounded top, dimensioned and revolved around a center-line.

The next feature is a series of grooves along the edge of the handle. This begins as one small square sketched off to the side of the handle, dimensioned, filleted on one side, and then moved into place via the "Add Relation" button found on the Sketch toolbar. The relation established here makes the right edge of the square collinear with the right edge of the handle.

Tomorrow is doughnut day at work. Spelled correctly, the word "doughnut" brings to mind a raw mass of bread dough in the shape of a threaded nut. Doughnut or donut: a funny word, but either way a nice treat!

SolidWorks: Simply Extruding

2011-03-29T22:07:00.000-05:00

The beginning of the week is always busy, so I don't get much spare time to play around with SolidWorks. Monday I opened a blank sketch and didn't get much further than just making up something funnel-shaped and moving the lines around a few different ways.

Today I had a little more time, and actually started over on the pizza cutter as I had decided I should do in order to fix my original goof-up. I sketched the guard, and soon was ready to press the extrude button.

Like the "revolve" function, the "extrude" function automatically draws the solid part on the screen, except instead of going in a circular shape, an extrusion extends a sketch along the X-Y-Z planes, expanding a flat sketch outward into three dimensions. There a few options from which to choose in order to customize the extrusion as needed, such as depth and thickness.

I added the required extruded cut and completed the part with fillets on the four corners as described in the book, and saved the re-made guard for use in my corrected pizza cutter.

I decided against re-doing the arm, blade, cap and rivet as those are all correct. Tomorrow - or at the first opportunity - I will re-do the handle, and then should be able to reassemble the pizza cutter correctly.

The book is due back to the library this weekend. Last time I took it in to re-check it as I was already past the 2nd check-out time: I don't know if this is different other places. Our library allows two weeks for a book to be checked out, then you have the option to renew your checkout over the internet or by phone for an additional two weeks.

After the four-week renewal time, you must return the book or begin to accumulate a fine of $0.05 per day. If you physically take the book to the library to show it really is still in your possession and not lost, you can renew it for another two weeks (as long as no one has placed a reserve on the book).

That's where I am now. Up to the six-week mark. I may have to relinquish the book for a bit this time. I did back in December I think it was; someone had requested it, and I could not renew. It was returned quickly, much to my happiness.

I can't imagine it's in much demand since it's for the 2004 version of SolidWorks. I really should just buy myself a newer book. Well, there's one on my wish list now, and it's actually for SW2007.

On an entertainment side note - we watched "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" tonight - the one with Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy. That was fun. I love to watch Jeff Goldblum. He is a master of dialogue - and just simply fascinating overall.

Now I just have to hope I don't dream of flittering white root hairs climbing around me. Lovely fodder for a 3am rousing, yes.

SolidWorks: Playing with Revolve

2011-03-25T21:20:00.002-05:00

A little background information on how SolidWorks works: you make a preliminary sketch, just like sketching on a piece of paper. Draw some lines, add a curve here or there if needed. No perfect to-scale lines are required, relative size is not even necessary. A very rough approximation, just the general shape, of a part is all you need to begin.

Dimensions and relative size are all added later, and then the computer does all the resizing work for you, changing your rough sketch into a finished, manufacture-ready drawing.

Parts symmetrical to a center line are perhaps the easiest to draw. One side of a symmetrical cross-section is all that is needed to create a fully developed model with one button push.

For example, today I played around with some of the first chapter's problems. The book provided three two-dimensional drawing views of each simple one-piece part: an isometric view, a cross-section, and a right view. The assignment was to sketch the cross section that would be required to revolve the part (none of these required dimensions).

From going through the book work previously, I knew it would only require sketching half of the cross-section. The first one was very simple.

The next one required a little more thought, and I made an error at first. The part is supposed to have stepped holes.

I would have had to add multiple extruded cuts to finish the part correctly, and the first rule in 3D CAD is to create your model using the fewest steps possible. I started over and changed from my original staircase approach (green sketch lines pictured above) to double-sided "steps" (blue sketch lines pictured below) to solve the problem.

The next piece looked challenging at first glance, but with just a few minutes thought and realizing it would be simpler to create the inner surface above the center line and use the center line as the reference for the revolve (just as I had done in the previous 'double-sided staircase' part), I was able to create it quickly with no do-overs.

The next piece gave me a bit of trouble keeping track of which corners were the correct placement for the chamfer and fillets. This was close (below), but in order to correct it, I had to re-do the right end of the part, juggle filter selections, surface vs. edge choices for the chamfer, and delete and redraw the corners more than once.

The final correct part:

It's quite satisfying to realize I have the ability look at a piece, and glean the information I need from it, draw the sketch, and click that "revolve" button to make the part appear. It's especially satisfactory when I make an error, and then have to puzzle it out. Seeing the part appear magically on the screen when I've fixed an error, well, that's right good stuff.

SolidWorks Journey, continued ...

2011-03-24T19:34:00.000-05:00

We learn from our mistakes. Yes, yes ... that we do ... Today I learned from the mistake I made far back in the beginning stages. I chose the "right" plane on which to sketch a part instead of the "front" (correct) plane. At the time I noticed what I had done, I shrugged it off and figured I'd be able to rotate the part, but it's not quite so simple when I didn't take into account the placement of two assembly-critical cuts.

So my right plane was the wrong plane and resulted a critical design flaw. I had to laugh at myself - a hand wouldn't be very well protected from this blade:

But I got the opportunity to fiddle around with editing parts far more than the book intended. I cleaned up all the interferences as well; ended up adding another coincident plane to solve the arm insertion problem. I don't think that's what the book intended me to do, but a working solution is a good solution when it comes to mechanical functions.

I ravelled out the differences in the 2007 commands vs. the 2004 version (the book I'm using is for an older SolidWorks - I think 2004 - and while most of the time I have been able to find the moved/renamed buttons and commands easily, the "explode" function has changed dramatically) and managed to create a fully exploded view and learned how to correct direction choices and placements, and I animated the exploded view and played it on a loop (entertaining, and made for quite a satisfied chuckle).

After I was happy with the exploding and collapsing functions, I decided it would really be best if I go back to the beginning and redraw my handle on the correct plane. So with that next on my agenda, I turned back to the beginning of the book.

I did get a little distracted by some simple sketch problems at the end of chapter one. These little problems give instant gratification: sketch a number of lines (just seven on one, a dozen on another), revolve and cut - voilà. So fast and simple. Maybe I'll do some of those first, yes, just a little easy fast stuff for fun.

I feel like a kid picking through a candy bowl for my favorites.

SolidWorks Journey, continued

2011-03-23T17:48:00.003-05:00

It was the rivet I had to do. I got that done quickly, after one re-start (didn't read carefully enough the advice to un-check the box for "auto-solve" when updating the dimensions and so had a very messed up part on my hands for a minute there!).

Regular work gave me interruptions as expected, but I was able to start on the assembly, and finished the cutter sub-assembly shortly after lunch, and began the final assembly with the handle, cap and guard.

A not-so-regular interruption was a swarm of mayflies that came out of the fax room. We closed the door after some excitement of staring at them, catching them, jumping away from them, or squishing them (depending on who it was who came to look at the swarm). Thankfully they were all wingless and mostly dead by the end of the day. Yes, I was the one catching them by their wings.

I left off today with the sub-assembly inserted in the final assembly space, and aligned the planes. Tomorrow, after finishing the final assembly, the next step is to check the assembly for interference.

I am eager to dive right in to the upcoming chapter wherein the handle is modified to be an injection-molded plastic handle, since that is what we do at my work, after all!

And then at a future point I intend to go back through the entire book, faster, and doing the optional exercises at the end of each chapter. I'm stoked! Woot!

My SolidWorks Journey

2011-03-22T16:57:00.020-05:00

Still teaching myself SolidWorks, I am excited to report that the pace has been quickened enormously.

Today I completed drawing another part in an assembly tutorial, straight out of Learning SolidWorks by Richard M. Lueptow and Michael Minbiole. But this time I did it at my own desk. This means I can work on SolidWorks during any spare time.

I started at this job almost a year ago. Hired as a receptionist, I didn't think I had much chance at learning anything new or exciting here, but they were very nice people and I needed a job. And much later I found out they had SolidWorks (first referenced here).

So then, at every opportunity I would - with permission - go work (more like "play") on SolidWorks. The computer with SolidWorks was rarely available; going through the tutorial was very slow. I rechecked the book from the library many times.

I was so proud of myself when I made my first engineering print that I showed everyone at work, and also brought a copy home and taped it up on the wall in my home office.

So after I made the print, the suggestion was made that I could move SW to my computer, except my computer didn't have the graphics to handle it. So they bought me a new computer (!). Then we couldn't find the install disk for a very long time. It turned up a month or so later, but I ran into difficulties.

I installed SW2007 on my machine, but it wouldn't open. The software couldn't find the license, even with the USB dongle connected. I tried many different ways of installing, three different ways of registering, slept on it, thought about it, came up with new ideas and re-tried to no avail. I even posted on the official SolidWorks installation forums, but no one replied.

Then I decided to ask if it was okay to call our vendor to see if they could provide free advice (and was told by my company that they would buy support time if necessary, but I wanted to avoid that like the plague - nothing like costing my boss money for something I'm too green at to profit the business). The vendor provided me with a batch file for a clean uninstall and reinstall instructions ... it didn't solve the problem.

So I decided to post again on the SolidWorks forums, this time in the general forum where I hoped it would get more views, reworded my question and added screen shots, as I noticed people who included screen shots tended to get more answers, faster. Sure enough, the very next day I had the answer I needed.

I was missing the license server software. It comes on the SW DVD, but auto-play doesn't prompt you to install the license server, just SW. After installing that, and then just one more day of beating around to figure out where to find the license text file, I got it working. Hallelujah.

I finished the handle today (after a ding-y moment of trying to fillet an edge with a 0.50 round instead of a 0.050 round), and am now ready to start on the cap. If I remember right, that will be the last part to do before I can make an assembly drawing (!). I am incredibly pleased.

A few days ago I was digging through some old papers and pictures at home, and found an ancient resume which referenced my Minor Technical Certificate in Mechanical Drafting from Platt College. Obviously I have added that to my resume now (whereas I had deleted it when my "career" was limited to only whatever office work I could find part time or at night to work around raising the kids). I do wish I could find the piece of paper to frame. I was just starting my major in Structural Drafting when I moved to Washington State.

It is such a peaceful thing to envision a career path in front of me now. So many years the pause button has been pressed on my career interests. I still have to temper my dreams with the necessities of responsibility to family, but I am enthusiastically looking forward to delving back into mechanical drafting full force.

Keep School Closed Please

2011-02-06T09:39:00.003-06:00

The snow is melting and the height of the mush on the road is much shorter. We are able to get out! I really don't want the schools to re-open yet, though. The superintendent Keith Ballard was on KRMG radio this morning and sounds like he would prefer to err on the side of safety as well.

Most Oklahoma kids that walk to school aren't properly equipped to keep dry in the deep drifts they would have to navigate, and would likely be walking in the street, endangering themselves, rather than trying to climb through snow drifts in yards.

With more snow coming, it's beginning to look like another week of no school. Or at best, one or two days open this week.

Record Snowfall

2011-02-03T09:30:00.007-06:00

Fourteen inches of snow.

I sure wish I could go to work but my car is too short to get over the ruts in the street. While she handles the snow beautifully when it's more than halfway up her tires (have I said how much I love my all-wheel-drive Subaru?), after her belly gets high-centered, I'm stuck. We got her moving again and turned around - and backed her into her parking spot, facing forwards. But the ruts in the street are just too deep.

If it was all flattened out she'd do fine. A tractor came down to our neighbors' yesterday with a box blade, but the ruts from tall vehicles on the street are still too deep to navigate. I am sad. I like to work.

MySpace, etc.

2010-10-30T09:13:00.005-05:00

I heard that MySpace is going to be doing a major overhaul, changing their format and purpose completely, so I thought it'd be a good idea to go save my old blog posts just in case. While I figured that meant a big copy/paste job, I had no idea it would be a 138 page monstrosity. It's bloated due to the layout of the page with the translation buttons making each page of text twice as long, so I guess it's still over 50 pages of actual text (!). I looked at pulling it by RSS feed but couldn't figure out how to get all the older pages. I'm certain if I would have spent two more minutes reading I would have found the way, but, meh. I c/p'd it all and will just save it as a giant bloated document on my hard drive. I started to delete the extra spaces but that's turning into a huge timewaster (and of course I alt-tabbed and deleted several pages' worth; cut it down to 108 pages now).

Anyway, it's fun to go back and read some past thoughts.

So the work thing and drafting is making a little progress {EDIT-I should explain how I got this far-didn't realize I hadn't posted about this! After my initial lunchtime forays, I had a chance to play on the SW computer for two entire afternoons, and so I completed 5 parts and printed a full engineering print of one of them and showed it to them (I was grinning like a satisfied cat of course). This is how they decided to go ahead and get me set up to have SW at my own desk (girly squeal!).}; they got me a new computer that can handle the graphics requirements of SolidWorks, now we just have to find the install disk.

So since I can't play with SW yet, I did the next best thing and went browsing around the web, looking at the official website and a couple unofficial ones, and found some great stuff to read and one particular thread at the official forum where folks have posted examples of their work. Some really cool stuff there - warning - this is a graphics-heavy link and the forum doesn't have pagination so if you clicky, it will take a long time to load this thread.

I am really itching to get going on this! Aigh!!

As for gaming stuff, I've been spending all my time on Lord of the Rings Online. Although Guild Wars has updated the Hall of Monuments, I am quite content with where my reward status stands (27), so I don't have much of a reason to play GW any more. I really should get on this weekend just because their Halloween decor is always amazing, but that would be the only reason. LotRO is very engaging and is fulfilling my gaming desires quite nicely for the moment.

Drafting, and Forcing a Break

2010-09-25T07:36:00.004-05:00

Am I dreaming? Am I really seeing the door of opportunity crack open? Am I actually finally finding the way back to my original career goals? I can hardly believe it myself.

I am getting the chance to learn SolidWorks. I am getting back on course to being a drafter after many long years of doing other things.

Back in high school, I had the idea I would be an architect. I took drafting, placed 2nd place in the competition with my house design and plans (probably could have taken first easily if my line work had been stronger, bolder). But when I began applying to colleges, my counselor pointed out that I needed to submit a FAFSA form. My parents refused.

I had an older cousin who had gone to college and ended up dropping out after too much partying, so that was used as an example of why. And me being the timid, accepting type, I did not press the issue. Although OSU gave me a scholarship, I did not go to college as I needed to complete the federal loan form for them to allow me admission. I took the counselor's advice that I would have to be independent for two years before I could apply on my own, and I moved out of mom and dad's the day after graduation so I could get that two years over as quickly as possible.

Two years went by and I enrolled in Platt College, thinking this the fastest way to get my foot in the door somewhere as a drafter. I found myself interested in structural and mechanical engineering, although the instructors were pushing us toward electrical engineering instead. I applied at one job and was so eager and excited to begin drafting that I think they thought I was a little crazy (I still remember the one lady looking at me as though I had fallen off an alien spaceship - I was grinning from ear to ear I was so excited) and so needless to say I didn't get the job. I kept going to Platt for a year, and completed my certificate in AutoCAD, but not the remainder of the program. Instead, I moved to Washington state to be with my love.

At that time, I wanted to find a similar program in the area, but I did not know that "community" college was the same as "junior" college, and this was back when Tulsa Community College was still called Tulsa Junior College. My sweetheart tried to convince me to enroll in Everett Community College, but I didn't know that "community" college was an accepted, normal introductory college type place - the "community" word made it sound like a social program to me. I shied away and found the Art Institute of Seattle as the closest thing to Platt College (see I didn't know the Platt was basically a rip-off and non-transferable and that I should have been going to TJC in their drafting program all along).

But I digress. I took Interior Design at AIS since it was the only thing even remotely related to drafting; it wasn't really what I wanted, but I thought it was still my only path to a drafting job at the time. Youth and ignorance, right?

Anyway, financial troubles came about and we married and moved back to Oklahoma where jobs were more plentiful, this was in 1991 and computers were just beginning to be of widespread use in businesses, and I because I had taken a couple classes in word processing and spreadsheet use at the Everett Goodwill as a displaced worker, I was able to get a job as a secretary here in Tulsa, where I stayed till we had kids. I quit to stay home with them, but quickly found that wasn't financially feasible, and when I found a great-paying job at WCG, the kids went to daycare.

Then when daycare turned bad - our son got bit and then four weeks later he bit someone else and I was not going to have my kids learning bad manners - we pulled them out and I was going to quit, but when I told my boss I was going to look for a part-time night job, he asked me to work for him at night. So I did that for two more years, going in all alone and going through stacks of invoices and contracts to find discrepancies, and even got to help my boss recover more than $4 million for the department, and then the fiber optic construction project was completed and the whole department was closed down.

I kept working nights as I could find work, just anything I could do office-wise, and soon the kids were both in school, so at that time I began looking for part-time day work, and continued doing more secretarial type stuff as that was all I could get. I kept applying for every entry-level drafting position that came up in the paper, but as the years kept going by, time inexorably increased the distance from my schooling in drafting, and conversely increasing my experience as a secretary. I felt doomed to a life of mediocrity, running spreadsheets and financial figures. It was okay, but I at least wanted to get back to being near the engineering department like I was at WCG.

I had loved my time at WCG and had learned a lot of complex research and organization skills from my brilliant boss and another co-worker who I referred to as the Excel Goddess. So those skills were an invaluable asset to me; I just was not so fortunate to find someone looking for a data guru on a part-time basis.

But now my kids are older. They're teenagers. They don't need me here every waking hour and I am free to pursue my career again. I thought I would find work doing something again like I did for WCG - cost analyst or something similar. I still kept applying for entry-level drafting too, and also looked at combining my spreadsheet skills with engineering and inventory type needs so as to at least work with an engineering type group of people again.

But the economy and job market is horrible right now, and it took me three months to find this reception job I have now, so I figured it would be a couple more years before I could really find an opportunity to get back into an engineering department. It had been so many years I had grown accustomed to the idea that I would never get to draft anyway, I just thought I would eventually find work in engineering support.

So it was to my great surprise (almost five months into the job) to learn they have SolidWorks. They are a manufacturing facility, so they don't actually do much drafting - most customers bring their own print in, and we manufacture their part. But it turns out that we do have occasion to draft something up once in a while. We have a guy who board drafts in the tooling room as needed where they build the molds. They don't generally use SolidWorks except for opening files, and so lo and behold, they're going to let me use it to see what I can do.

I am so shocked that I've stumbled upon this chance, that I barely can breathe for fear I will jinx it. After I learned they had it, I wasn't sure what to do or say to get the opportunity to try it. A couple weeks ago, I checked out a tutorial book from the library, and I read through the entire thing, and kept looking for an opportune moment to talk to someone about it.

And then I heard one of Dr. Tom Harrison's "Perceptions" on the radio - he's a local minister that broadcasts these great, short, inspirational tidbits on regular radio stations - about "forcing a break." It was something from a football coach, but it got me thinking. I drew up my courage to ask about it again.

And so inspired, I asked if I could try it out on the computer at lunch time, and they let me! So on the days when that computer is available (it's not always), I will be working on SolidWorks.

So far all I've done is change the dimension settings from decimal to fraction, the tolerances, sketch and dimension four lines, two angles and two fillets on the front plane. The tutorial book is written for an older version of SW, so I'm having to search for many of the commands and buttons that have changed. The next step is to extrude the sketch into 3-D space and then add further details. I ran out of time on my lunch break and I don't think the computer is going to be available to me at lunch next week.

I suppose I could ask, but I don't want to push my luck. You'd think I'd learn that having courage has its rewards. While I know this logically, my heart is still timid.

But still, I am so very happy that my career is coming back on course after being sidetracked for so many years. I promise myself to keep touch with my courage now that I've found it.

Anticipation

2010-08-21T22:47:00.004-05:00

Well, turns out it's easier to proofread at home with the way my desk is set up here at home. Ah well, word search puzzles are still entertaining. Oh shoot, I meant to pick up another one when we went school-supply-shopping today. Will have to pick one up at the grocer tomorrow.

So today I watched NCSoft's live feed from Germany GamesCom for the Guild Wars demo and then later the recorded Q&A session with Martin Kerstein presenting selected fans' questions to Isaiah "Izzy" Cartwright (posted on YouTube, ncsoftwest's channel).

The demo was interesting - presented some concepts I'm not warming to just yet, but nothing deal-breaking for me. I'm still excitedly anticipating the release of Guild Wars 2. The skills and the way they change with whatever you pick up or hold make logical sense, and the positioning battlefield tactics are awesome, and the group experience sharing and dynamic events are completely outstanding. But the monster's day-glo highlight when targeted makes me somewhat less enthused. I love the area-of-effect fire, earth and lightning effects we've seen thus far, but I hope any glowing effects aren't too Vegas-y.

The battle "feel" sounds like it will be very intuitive and natural, so I would hate to have neon glow spoil that "naturalness" - I suppose some folks would use the word "immersion" there, but I don't ever feel "immersed" in a game, sorry that's going to take a holodeck-level of tech for me to feel "immersed."

Semantics aside, it's an interesting time but the anticipation is agonizing. From all the hints I'm picking out of various interviews and the ArenaNet blog posts, I'm gathering it's going to be mid-2011 before we get to dive in. Maybe they're shooting for the six-year anniversary of GW1. I could accept that; I could be happy with that. But I'm afraid it won't happen that soon. Pessimism. Hard to stave off at times.

Back to Proofreading

2010-08-14T08:08:00.003-05:00

So my new job is super-easy, mostly because it's like I've stepped back 20 years in my career and started over again. I'm a receptionist again. Wheee. I do daily posting in the books (and they use paper ledgers o_0 alongside using QB), invoicing, and price verifications on incoming customer orders, but *yawn* I do about an hour's worth of work and the rest of the day is spent waiting for the phone or fax or email to ring or beep.

The first couple of months, I cleaned up the desk drawer where the supports had fallen in, relabeled the peeling files, typed new labels for some customer pages in the shop and p.o. books that had changed their names over the years but we hadn't updated our book tags although we use their new name on their invoices and in the price book, so just updated the other books to match. Oh, what else? Made a couple new A/P files as needed. Anything miscellaneous I could find to do. I was sorely tempted to ask if I could dust and label all the part sample shelves, but after watching what they use them for, I decided they might find that annoying, so I didn't ask about that.

Oh, I've made some new templates, both paper and electronic. Fixed their fax cover sheet using the correct letterhead that matches their invoice. Oh, yes, and when the one computer that had a USB wireless adapter kept having trouble staying online, I fixed that by hooking up an unused hub between that computer and the other one in that room that was already wired in to the network.

I've run out of things to fix unless I really start going around and poking into stuff that is not in my area.

So I started spending a lot of time reading e-books on my Blackberry, or browsing the net on my BB, but lolcats load really slow on the BB, and I didn't think it would be appropriate to browse lolcats on the work computer. My counterpart (or I guess she's supposed to be an assistant? I don't quite get why that position was created, but I'm not going to pry since it sounds like they've had an assistant for my position for many years), anyway, she plays Solitaire all day and occasionally checks Facebook, and an IM program loads on start-up on her machine - I noticed this when she was gone for two weeks) so I suppose she chats, too, but I haven't actually seen her use it.

I can't bring myself to play Solitaire - ugh - and I generally don't type-chat with anyone; for gaming we get on voice chat if there's really anything going on. So I dove into reading. After I read a variety of books, both paper and electronic (Slan, Homonculus, Snow Crash, Moby Dick, and The Iliad, plus several short stories from a 1930's sci-fi magazine), I downloaded The Odyssey to my BB and started it, but I ran out of steam and needed a break from the classical works, but also wanted to do something other than read all day.

Then I was at the store and spotted a word search book ! aha ! so I bought that and took it to work last week. I did half of it Monday and Tuesday, bought the Guild Wars' book Ghosts of Ascalon and read that Wednesday (yes all in one work day), and then finished the word search book by Friday. All 64 puzzles. I bought another one to work on this week, plus bought a new game for my BB - Mahjong - so Monday I started on the word searches again and played some Mahjong. Tuesday and Wednesday, same thing again. I could tell this was only going to entertain me for a couple of weeks before I would have to do something else, but I was okay with the thought that I could alternate between word searches, Mahjongg, and reading books and that would suffice.

Now, I had been to Project Gutenberg to download those e-books I just read, including the 1930's magazines, so pgdp - Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders - had been on the horizon of my mind, but I hadn't consciously dwelt on it.

And then I got an email from pdgp. It was an automatic notice that someone had posted in a thread I was following at the forum. I hadn't been back to pgdp since last July! It had crossed my mind a couple of times, but see, last August was when I started that job that I never should have taken but it was an adventure so then again it's neat to think that I did it, and anyway that job had me wiped at the end of the day every day, so I didn't even think about pgdp till this year a month or so after I was let go (they lost their contract with US Cellular) and I had been job hunting for awhile. But then I was so busy sending out hundreds of resumes that I didn't have the time or the inclination to do volunteer work - I was too worried to relax.

So receiving that email couldn't have been better timing. I'm in a better state of mind, I'm searching for something to occupy my time while still being able to instantly focus on the phone or visitors and easy to set aside or abandon (pages that are inactive for a short period of time automatically get returned to the round), and I really do enjoy doing something productive rather than just wasting time with games. Games are great for a temporary diversion, but it gets tiresome playing them all day long.

So Wednesday evening I logged on at pgdp and refreshed my memory on the guidelines and such, and proofread a few pages. And Thursday, not quite an hour after I arrived, and when work had nothing more for me to do but wait, I logged on and started proofreading. And omigosh, the day went so quickly. I felt like I was actually doing something productive. And Friday morning I awoke looking forward to the day!

Aaaaah - it's so much better to be busy than to feel like a seat-warmer.

Twelve Degrees of Separation?

2010-07-26T21:42:00.004-05:00

Wikipedia home page: did you know...
Moon Museum
Moon Museum discussion page
Human Spaceflight Portal: on this day...
Juno I

{gap I can't find where I went now (cry) because my Blackberry's Bolt browser history got overwritten as I kept browsing all day long} somehow led me to:

Opal
Mineraloid
Vulcanization
Ebonite: aka vulcanized rubber

It was just twelve steps from a penis drawing on the moon ... to vulcanized rubber. Yes, as my friend Pete said, rubber is very logical.

Living Your Faith

2010-06-28T21:07:00.005-05:00

Today a friend posted a quote on Facebook which has me on a philosophical bent. "It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action." - Lin Yutang

Hypocrisy is such an integral part of the human condition. We all struggle with it every day in our own lives, whether we open our eyes to it or not. Are you living what you're speaking? Or are you just pointing fingers and finding fault with others?

Criticism of others surrounds us daily: in the news, at work, at home. Is it necessary? Is it harmful? Turn away from the unnecessary, spurn the harmful.

Consider your faith. Are you living it, every moment?

Milestones

2010-06-24T18:56:00.004-05:00

I've recently realized that my mother is twice my age. This little mathematical milestone is crossed by most other people when they are in their 20s or 30s, but not me. I am 41. Yes, my mother is 82. And 41 years was her age when she gave birth to me.

I can't imagine having another child at this age (even if I still had a uterus, which I don't - hooray). My kids are both in their teens now. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I love them like crazy, and I like them as people much better than I liked them as little dependent children. I do not understand mothers who are sad for their babies to grow up. Me? It's been pure joy with each step: when they could wipe their own butts and fix their own lunch and go do stuff on their own. I don't have to wait on them hand and foot anymore, thank goodness! I will be even more thrilled when they have their own jobs and can get their own places and pay their own bills!

Maybe it's just another one of those things that make me different from a lot of females. And I've always been proud to be different, that is certain. My career (feels like my life) has been sidetracked for the last 16 years - I'm chomping at the bit to get back in the game.

Negative Ads Backfire

2010-06-14T18:28:00.003-05:00

Surely I'm not the only one out there that is instantly put off by negative commercials. There's a radio station or two around here that criticize other radio stations "You won't hear this song on _____ because our music selection is bigger" or "You won't hear {short clip of heavy metal thrash song that I happen to like} on our station like you will on _____, just good music." And my immediate reaction is to give the radio a dirty look and change the station.

You know, just because you are playing a song I like, doesn't mean you should trash your competitor. I like the stuff they play, too. You just happened to catch my fancy with one or two songs. Don't get all uppity and put other stations down. You just pissed off a listener - err, scratch that, I'm not listening anymore - I just switched channels.

Recategorizing

2010-06-10T18:39:00.002-05:00

I'm recategorizing - consolidating really - some of my lesser used categories here on my blog into the catch all "Everything Else" category, starting from the very beginning, so this could get messy. Editing commence!

2010-06-05T10:10:00.004-05:00

The new Tulsa Driller's stadium is nice. Our son wanted to go to a game so we took him last night, and stayed for the Friday night fireworks of course. The new downtown location has an excellent view of the downtown buildings, which was very enjoyable for me.

I've never been one for watching sports, though. I strongly prefer to play games myself, not watch other people play. But anyway, we arrived an hour late so we wouldn't have to sit through so much waiting, so it wasn't too terribly bad. The smell of watery beer, sunscreen, and 15 different colognes wafting through the air was really the only bad part. The sun was setting and a calm breeze was blowing; it was a lovely evening to be outdoors.

I so love the old downtown architecture like the Mid-Continent Tower, the left-most tower above. My mom worked there before she was married. So many beautiful buildings, so many stories about Tulsa. ♥

Concert at the Cain's

2010-05-28T22:03:00.006-05:00

Five rows of people from the stage, smack dab in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by 20-somethings ... yes, I was at a concert Tuesday night and survived it. It was my daughter's first concert. An early birthday present.

We got the full concert experience - the two guys in front of us sharing a fat doobie, and a passing slob dropped a beer right behind us, soaking our jeans and shoes with watery beer. I expected all that, and had also prepared myself for barely tolerating the music and just counting down to the end. But I was pleasantly surprised.

It was Of Montreal, an indie group she discovered a couple years ago via Pandora and for which she has developed a definite liking. They performed at the historic Cain's Ballroom. And the opening band Noot d' Noot was actually pretty awesome - a funky hard soul/rock/jazz blend. I'm more of a rock & metal girl, and the headliner band is a little more techo/glam/campy stage show stuff. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared, being a non-fan going along just to chaperone.

So after three+ hours of being on my feet, I dragged us home and have been trying to catch up on my sleep ever since. I am so glad I've been doing a little exercise every morning for the past year or I think my back and legs would have given me fits. I stood my ground, didn't get stepped on, held our good viewing spot fairly well (there's always rude ones who cut to the front but they weren't squeezing right in front of me!) and kept up with the lite-mosh crowd.

First concert where I've stood in the pit since Ratt and Joan Jett way back in the late 80's. Yeah. (and although I prefer metal, I don't think I have the muscle to withstand the pit at a metal concert anymore lol)

Addicted to the Mesmer

2010-05-12T17:17:00.004-05:00

Hmmm. I said I wasn't going to do anything else with my mesmer after trotting to the Hall of Monuments to place her "trophy" for LDoA there, but darned if the promise of updates to mesmer skills and gameplay got me all excited. I've been playing her almost every night. Hubby and I are actually playing mesmers together (he has a second account that has two of his favorite characters on it, a ranger and a mesmer, but with GW2 looming he decided to re-create them on his primary account) and his new mesmer is leveling up as we go. And we're in the desert, doing missions in preparation for ascension. Yippee.

Anyway, it's been so much fun this time around playing my mesmer. The last time I had a mesmer, we did not have heroes in the game to help out in the hard areas, and also I wasn't the one who chose her face, hair and name (I was letting my daughter try out the game but she abandoned it back then - this was at least four years ago - long before she had her own account). So by the time I took that character to the desert, I was not at all excited about playing her and ended up leaving her to languish, and she was eventually deleted.

This time around, I created my own mesmer character initially for the purpose of having a perma-pre-sear character, as I had a romantic fondness for that beautiful tutorial area of the game. And since I had learned to love mesmers in PvP, I decided it was finally appropriate for me to have a PvE mesmer, and where better but surrounded by the idyllic charm of pre-searing Ascalon?

So, voila, she was born. My choice of hair and face naturally made me like her much better, but I considered her a slow, long project - I did intend to eventually get the LDoA title, but did not intend to leave pre-searing - so I just played her occasionally. It took me almost three years. By the time I had death-leveled enough to get LDoA, my mind had changed about staying in pre-searing forever. I got to looking up pretty armors; I found out that if I didn't take her to the Hall of Monuments I wouldn't get to display her trophy; and amazingly I was finally getting a little tired of looking at the scenery in pre-searing. I decided if I got nostalgic again in the future, I could always buy another character slot if I really wanted to go back that badly.

And so I said a cheery farewell in Ascalon and left the town behind, to be seared by fire, the entire countryside forever broken and marred, towns destroyed, stone walls shattered, towering crystals impaled from on high in the inferno that destroyed all of Ascalon and the surrounding lands.

You know, until I brought this character post-searing, the utter destruction never really moved me. I actually found myself with a lump in my throat as I looked around Old Ascalon and walked around the broken land. Having spent so many hours playing this character in pre-, I had landmarks burned into my mind and I actually recognized walls and buildings that I had never noticed on my other characters. Previously I had rushed through pre-searing so quickly, that the landscape had not had time to set such a strong imprint on my mind. But now I find that it's like my home was destroyed. Familiar landmarks, once green and bright, are now dull, ashen lumps of crumbled rock.

The difference was startling. And maybe that's another part of what pushed me on and kept me playing this character. I don't know. It's been fun playing through this story again, like a favorite storybook, making new discoveries with each re-telling.

Two Big Deals in One Week!

2010-04-23T08:55:00.007-05:00

Yes, it is done. I made it. Legendary Defender of Ascalon. I'm not getting any other big titles like that. I'm going to casually drink my way to Kind of a Big Deal, and that's it. No more purposeful title-hunting for me! Since there's no practical application of these titles in Guild Wars (which I'm thankful for), the only reason to get them is if you actually like the title itself.

Right now I am sooooo thrilled - the fifth anniversary celebration of Guild Wars is underway, and I was able to get in to the Roller Beetle races early enough to get on the leader board - and even all the way up to #16! I'd never even made the leader board before, and my highest scores are still around the same level as always, averaging around 462K, but after my first showing at #73 with a 450K score I was stoked, and then about an hour later I hit 462K which jumped me to #16!!!! Wheeeeeee

And then later I hit an even higher score, 466K, which due to the fact that more people were getting higher scores also, ranked me at #32 at that time.

Of course, other people have gotten even faster scores since then, so my name has been steadily sliding down the board. But still, I am happy. I've never even had a showing on the board before, and I've been RB racing at every event since the first Canthan New Year celebration. Usually by the time I get to play the board is already filled with 465K+ scores all the way to the bottom, and by the time I warm up enough to beat that, the bottom of the board is 475K+. So - yay!

So Close - LDoA

2010-04-18T01:07:00.003-05:00

Disconnections have plagued me all week long, so I haven't made as much progress as I hoped, but I did charm a bear (with hubby's help - Thank You!!) while I was taking a break from death-leveling. Black Bears are difficult to charm in pre-searing with their special Break Charm skill, and although I had helped someone else charm one a year or so ago, I hadn't yet charmed one of my own.

I named him Yogichu for Yogi, my favorite stuffed animal as a child, and with the "chu" suffix for the April Fool's faux skill update joke for voice activated pet attacks that GW posted on their website ("Moachu! Use Bestial Fury!").

So now I am 89% to level 20. I have all the Charr now at the shrine that I need to make it within 158xp, and then I will be able to turn in my final quest reward (250xp) and have the coveted LDoA title. Not that it means much, just that I've spent a lot of time afk.

But here we go: twelve Charr lined up and ready to kill me all night while I sleep.

Please please please don't get disconnected. Please?

Inching Towards LDoA

2010-04-02T12:25:00.003-05:00

Legendary Defender of Ascalon. I can almost taste it. Never thought a "grinding" title would bring me such pleasure - I am generally so anti-grind, detesting repetitious tasks. But this has been different in that most of the time is spent afk, so the repetition is only in the task of gathering the groups of Charr up to the shrine, which is less than a one-hour endeavor, and then the inconvenience of the inability to do anything else in GW during that time.

So here I am, the Guild Wars game window reduced in the background, watching the Charr kill me over and over at the rez shrine, waiting for them to level up to my level. And I am now level 18, and 38% of the way to level 19.

At that point, I will only have to do maybe 3 or 4 more death level sessions, if that, and then I will just need to run around pre-sear Ascalon and complete all the remaining quests. I have about 10,000xp worth of quests waiting for me.

Not long now. A week perhaps. Two if I spend a lot more time on helping hubby vanquish. That's been a nice break from death-leveling (and bonus- it earns me a good deal of plat towards buying my last two elite armor sets), but with the end in sight I am finding myself reluctant to pull away.

For Ascalon!

Death Leveling and a Video Guide

2010-03-22T07:54:00.009-05:00

Sunday I finished a video series teaching the finer details of pulling the Charr to the rez shrine. I had noticed a lot of people posting or asking questions about how to do it, even after reading the guides. And I remember how much reading and "huh?" moments I had when I was learning.

So last year at the request of one of my guildies, I made a video, edited it for time, and posted it. However, I needed to come back and do a part two as I had only shown the first part, how to pull them to the west side of the map, and hadn't gotten to the part of gathering them all together and bringing them south past the gap between the hill and the rock wall without losing them.

So I finally decided to get the rest of the project done, and Friday I recorded a video using XFire, MTV Network's free chat software that integrates with hundreds of PC games, but then was having horrid lag in-game complete with a red ping indicator and freezing. And sure enough, when I watched the resultant video I was disappointed - the voice didn't match up with the action on the screen.

Ended up scrapping that one completely and re-recorded a new video Saturday, and at that point I decided to divide it into two shorter videos. There was a lot of time wasted in the first one that could have been better distilled, so it's just as well that I had other problems with it.

So now it's all done, and I give you my Guide to Pulling Charr for Deathleveling (intended for level 15+ characters that are working for the Legendary Defender of Ascalon title in Guild Wars).
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Guide to Pulling Charr for Death Leveling - Guild Wars LDoA

Once you have reached level 15 in pre-searing Guild Wars, you will notice the Legendary Defender of Ascalon title track now shows up on your character interface ("H") titles tab. But when you solo bosses, you're only getting 16xp for each kill. It's time for the dreaded deathleveling. This is the hump on which so many falter, but be assured, all it takes is time and patience, and once you learn the ropes, it's a downhill run from there. And hopefully the following videos will reduce the amount of time you spend learning the ropes.

For reaching level 15, I suggest you visit presearing.com for the basic guides on reaching level 15 by having either farmed the Charr at the Gate quest or other options to level 8 or so, and then solo or team boss farming. You will also find other helpful guides on pulling Charr, plus a discussion forum for even more help.

What I most want you take from this is that it's okay if you suck at it. It does get easier each time you level up as you will get another health boost at each level, helping you survive pulls; but for getting past those hardest levels, 15 and 16, persistence is the thing that will get you your title.

The first video is a ten-minute video edited down from one hour-plus raw footage that explains the differences in the Charr groups, how to pull them and when to re-aggro, and how to get them stuck so you can save them for later when it's time to gather them all together.

The second video is less than half the length, recorded straight through, showing one pull to the lower west wall/hill and explaining my split stacking.

And the last video shows how to gather them all together for the final pulling to the rez shrine.

Of course, once you head down to the shrine little by little, dying here and there to keep them interested/aggroed and preventing them from getting all strung out in a stretched-out line, as you head to the rez shrine remember to not run out the door. While I haven't done it myself, I've come across mentions of it happening to others.

Once you have brought them in to the rez shrine area, just go to the far corner so to get the Charr tightened up as possible on the shrine area, letting them kill off the Ascalonian Guards and the Academy Monk (as pointed out in the video), and you need to kill the one Shaman you brought along (you did bring just one, right?). Don't let him stick around to level up.

Then remove all your armor (put it in your inventory - NOT on the ground or you run the risk of losing it to a disconnect!) and any health- or armor-enhancing weapons or hold items, and just let GW run all night long (approximately 8-10 hours) before you come back and kill off the highest level group - they should be your level when you kill them - higher is okay, but killing at your level for 100xp is optimal time-wise.

Remember to not use AOE or degen spells when killing the leveled-up Charr. If they die while your corpse is on the ground, you do not get the XP.

After those first 3 or 4 Charr have graciously given themselves to your purposes netting you 300 or 400xp, again leave GW running for a few more hours (it takes about one hour for the highest group to go up one level, i.e., you've killed a group of level 15s, and now you have a group of level 12s, a group of level 9s and a group of level 8s, so estimate 3 hours for those level 12s to be "ripe" at level 15) and you will have one more group ripe for slaughter. Rinse and repeat till all the Charr have leveled to your same level or thereabouts, killing each group off every few hours.

Remember, once you level up to 16, then you'll want to also let your Charr groups come up to level 16 before killing them, and same for level 17, etc.

If you are working on this title in Guild Wars, feel free to message me with questions, or post at the deathleveling discussion forum at presearing.com where many other helpful players are happy to anwer questions as well.

gl and hf (good luck and have fun!)

Back to Death Leveling

2010-03-07T09:52:00.004-06:00

So Friday I finally decided to get back to working on my Legendary Defender of Ascalon title in Guild Wars. I'm not much of a title grinder at all. Just a few days ago I surprised a guildmate who asked about my titles and found that I've only maxed two, where he was getting ready to get another 25 maxed on another character (25 maxed titles get you the auspicious title of "God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals").

The whole appeal of Guild Wars to me has been the casual aspect of it. Titles are not required for power, strength or playability. They're just a little footnote to "wear" under your name, and sometimes give a little extra emote animation or some such bonus, none of which affect one's ability to beat the game, nor do they give you any bonus in PvP, as GW is set up so that PvP play is on an equal footing from the get-go. It's a measure of practice and skill rather than a measure of how much time you've spent trying to get uber gear, and this is why I respect it so.

The "uber" gear in GW is for looks only - the stats are available to anyone using PvP unlocked equipment sets. Sure it might not be pretty, but the pretty stuff doesn't have any advantage over pure vanity. And so with the titles. Since they don't get you any advantage (and I wouldn't play the game if they did anyway), I only work on the ones that appeal to my personal sensibilities, such as the Drunkard title I am determined to max out on my main character eventually.

So anyway, I decided to go work on this LDoA title, one of which a lot of people choose to neglect because it does require such a frustrating amount of time (set up minimum 30 minutes, more usually it takes more than hour, then just leaving it running for six to eight hours) left to hope your connection to the server doesn't get lost (which happens approximately half the time) while the Charr level up by killing you repeatedly at the rez shrine in the Northlands of Ascalon - the only way to get all the way to level 20 in pre-searing thereby attaining the Legendary title.

It's been several months since I last worked on it. It's an easy title to get burnt out on. Not anywhere as bad as Legendary Survivor (that's one I won't be even trying to achieve), but still repetitive and requiring a great deal of patience.

Friday morning I set up my first session, and then left the Charr to their leveling while I went outside and played in the yard, occasionally coming back inside to check on their progress and kill a pack as they reached my mesmer's level, 16, for the 100 xp each they give me. By Friday evening I cleared all those packs and set up another session for killing Saturday morning, and then set up another pack Saturday afternoon and killed a couple of those packs Saturday night, leaving just two more packs of Charr to level overnight.

Fortune had it that I awoke shortly after 3am and couldn't sleep, so I got up and slew another pack that had reached level 17, netting 120xp each, and left the last lonely trio to level up, killing me over and over while I went back to sleep. I consider myself lucky that this was the only pack I lost - when I got up a few hours later my connection to the server had been lost, and with it my little trio of Charr.

Not bad for having gotten three death leveling sessions out of one log-in back on Friday morning. Suppose I will set up another session again here in a bit, to let them level while we go to see the new Tim Burton "Alice" movie. But first, off to scan the job postings!

Space Invaders - Really?

2010-03-04T11:07:00.005-06:00

I wonder if this means my vintage twin-size Space Invader sheets will be worth money now ... haha -not - ... But now I think I had better start wearing my geek-girl doomsday shirt a lot more often before the movie gets to be popular knowledge, because I'll probably be mortified to wear it afterwards ....

Oh So It Has a Name

2010-02-26T19:51:00.006-06:00

So I'm feeling a little sheepish now, for more than one reason. But some things are better left unsaid. Something I can admit that I feel silly about - for as long as I can remember I've liked heavily ornate metal and stonework, filigrees and arches, all that medieval and Victorian style stuff.

So lately I had noticed more metal work becoming common in jewelry and eyeglasses and I was really excited about some of the new eyeglasses that were on the market, and found a pair that I love, and bought them back in December.

And just the last couple of days I have learned there's a name for the new metal work jewelry, based on the fantasy fiction genre called steampunk. So I feel silly because I didn't know the name for this "new" art genre, although I've been seeing it in movies and such ... and my eyeglasses bear some semblance to the art movement. But I still love them. In fact, I may love them more now. And that makes me feel more silly.

Um .. yeah .. so ...

Now that I know a name for it I have been searching for images and designs - and have been enjoying a rich world of visual delight (and before I even spent five minutes exploring, I stopped and browsed through some reviews of the fiction and made notes of books to read). I've resized some free backgrounds and have loaded some on my Blackberry. I've been searching for a complete theme for my BB, but the one that was apparently on Crackberry at one time has disappeared into oblivion, the link dead.

I taught myself to use Plazmic (the GUI software for customizing Blackberry themes) last year and made a couple of my own themes, my favorite was the "Making Fiends" one, but I only customized screens and icon placement. I meant to go on and learn to load custom icons too, but I gave up when I could not find a pre-made icon set and dabbling in creating my own was a disaster. Now I think I must dig into this again - I am certain there are existing icon sets that would coordinate well with a steampunk theme.

But first I'm going to search a little while longer for a da Vinci or Victorian theme. Either of these would adapt nicely, and I can use any of the backgrounds that I just resized. My favorite so far is a picture from the Museum of Victorian Science. The rich colors go very nicely with my red berry.

And the programming practice will do me good, for the direction I need to go. My path is not yet clear, but I will continue .. I must continue .. finding my way.

Guild Wars Special Events again

2010-02-14T19:31:00.003-06:00

So today wraps up the Canthan New Year festival again. Our alliance sponsored three districts this year because we had soooo many supplies left over from last year's enthusiastic farmers. I helped in a few of them but have to end earlier than I used to due to my new work schedule - I work early. I have to be up about three hours earlier than I used to.

But I got to rollerbeetle race again (whee ♥) and although my scoring wasn't so great this year, it was still a lot of fun to race around as a shiny beetle. I also got a tiger mini-pet, so that was cool. I didn't get an oxen last year, but a thankful visitor to our sponsored district gave our group one and I was the only one that still needed one there, so it came to me.

I've been away from Guild Wars mostly the last few months since I started this new job. It has taken me a long time to adjust to these hours and a new sleep schedule. But I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Plus with having a laptop (got for Christmas, thanks hun!), I can go play in the living room and visit with the kids at the same time.

So I think I'm going to start working on my pre-searing mesmer again. She's my LDOA contender, and I had just gotten the hang of pulling Charr for death-leveling when I pretty much quit playing. Job-hunting stress was killing me. So now I'm feeling better about all that and am more settled in at my new job, I feel like I can think about playtime again.

Guild Wars 2 is supposed to out next year (hopefully), so I need to kick it into high gear to get some titles completed for my Hall of Monuments. The LDOA is one, plus I need to max my drunkard, lightbringer and sunspear, and then I might think about cartographer titles - might. That's a stretch. lol Vanquisher I probably won't ever touch. I got quite annoyed with Hard Mode from the beginning - it turned a group of comfortable friends into bickering nits. They kept on and completed their vanquishing within a few months, but I couldn't take the squabbling and dropped out of that project.

Oh, and after my mesmer gets her LDOA, I'm going to have to take her post-searing. I thought I would keep her in pre forever, but ya know, she's been there two years already. I think she'll be okay with leaving.

Seems really weird that I've been playing this game for four and a half years now. Nice game, good ol' Guild Wars. Yeah. That's bizarre.

Hot Drinks on a Cold Night

2010-02-13T09:38:00.005-06:00

A few nights ago, wanting a nice hot drink - caffeine free as it was near bedtime - I came up with the idea of heating up juice. Yes, apple cider/juice has been a long-time tradition, but I didn't have any already mixed up plus the fridge already had three pitchers of other drinks!

So I thought about my usual favorite, Sleepytime tea, but I really wanted something a little sour. I'm not much of a hot chocolate fan; I have to be in the mood for that. All our other flavors of tea are caffeinated: regular Lipton, two different green teas, oh and another caffeine free one I have in the cabinet is straight mint, but the flavor is very crisp and better for summertime.

Sour, hot, sweet .... Hmmm... I have a variety pack of those fruity teas, purchased at the behest of my daughter even though I warned her they don't taste as good as they sound, and sure enough, they have been resting undisturbed in the back of the cabinet for more than a year now after her initial taste trials. Those sure weren't going to be the thing I wanted.

Sometime I drink hot Tang - yes the orange drink mix stuff. It's quite good actually. Ever drink hot liquid Jello? Same idea. That's sort of the sour hot taste I was going for.

And eventually I looked at the juices we had in the fridge, and decided the Pomegranate juice might be interesting warm. And I took a little mug and heated half a cup in the microwave for about 30 seconds till it was nice and warm, and oh it was very nice. I added a little brandy and it was great.

I like it both ways, with or without brandy. It reminds me of mulled wine. Warm, comforting and with just a nice little sourness to it.

Three Cheers for Electricity

2010-01-30T09:24:00.004-06:00

We have heavy snow on the ground with ice underneath, but this time we still have power. There was a moment of panic last night when the lights flashed twice. I thought I would wake to a cold, dark house this morning. What a relief and how happy I am to have a steaming hot cup of coffee, working central heat, humidfiers wisping happily, and a cuddly kitty cat snuggling under my arm.

Later today I plan to venture out with the boy - he wants to build a snowman - but for now we are both quite happy to lounge in our pajamas and play on our computers. I imagine this would be a great day to go sledding, too. Maybe this afternoon once everyone is awake.

Enjoy and stay safe, Tulsans! (toasting with a mug of coffee - hear hear for having power!)

Contentment

2010-01-09T10:03:00.003-06:00

Okay, yes, I have not posted anything to my blog in months. Biggest reason: I got a new job, so I'm usually too wiped at the end of the day to even think about writing. Second reason: most of my computer time gets eaten up by Facebook (evil monster lol). Since I haven't been playing Guild Wars at all, except to get on and say "hi" here and there, or to accept that AWESOME gift from Revan (Thank you Thank you Thank you - guildmate of ours for years - he gave me a mini rollerbeetle - the miniature Black Beast of Arrgh), so I've been playing little Facebook games as a distraction.

Anyway, probably going to try out the upcoming Star Trek Online with hubby - we're planning on getting the pre-order so we can try it early while it's still in the beta, and if it's good, I suppose we'll play. What with my work schedule I may just be a weekend player, but we'll see. If I can spend an hour on Facebook every evening I imagine a really good game could pull me away from there.

Anyway, just sharing a word of wisdom I needed to hear last night from the cartoon series The Avatar: "Life happens where you are." - said by Uncle (General Iroh) to Prince Zuko. Embrace the moment. Don't deride the place/time/circumstances of where you are - make the most of each day.

Cooking by Guesstimate

2009-08-21T18:19:00.004-05:00

Today I'm winging it for dinner. I like to boil two whole chickens and debone them, separately and freezing the meat for future dinners. Favorite uses are Amish Chicken (noodles, mushrooms, white sauce, and mozzarella) and Senora Chicken (a Tex-Mex casserole), or chicken pot pie (homemade crust is always so wonderful). But today I had scribbled down in my advance planning that I would make chicken casserole today, but I didn't have a particular one in mind.

So I'm making one up. I'm going for a creamy casserole with noodles - that always works well with the family. I think I'll use cream of chicken soup as the base, and stir in a dab of cream cheese, just a chunk or two. And I think I'll top it with bread crumbs tossed with melted butter. Yes, I added some saltine cracker crumbs too. And of course salt and pepper in the crumbs, maybe some thyme and rosemary too.

My grandma would approve, I think. My mom has told me more than once how Grandma thought cookbooks to be a bit of an annoyance - always wanting you to measure this or that exactly. She cooked by the method of "you use a little bit of this and about this much of that..." and she had all her recipes memorized like that.

And I went to her house once to bake cookies that she had mentioned recalling from her childhood - molasses cookies - and I had found a recipe in my beloved Fannie Farmer, and so I went, cookbook in hand, and baked cookies for Grandma. But yes, I have to follow recipes most days. Especially for baking.

But this whole casserole thing is pretty forgiving. And fun to experiment with. The pasta is about done. I should see if I have some broccoli. Or would that be too cliché? Hmm...

Lime Slices

2009-08-12T17:02:00.004-05:00

Just now I sliced some lime for the onions I'm sauteeing to go with the chicken fajitas, and it's funny, I used to only buy limes to go with tequila. So when I slice lime, my mouth starts expecting a shot of the old gold that was a common companion in my early 20s.

But when I bought some lemons to go with the fish we had a week ago, I bought extra since the kids like to eat them, and I also grabbed a few limes since they are always asking me to buy one but I can't ever think of a thing to do with them (excepts shots of tequila) so I usually say no.

But this time I thought - eh - why not? It's a fruit and it's something different. Just can't buy them all the time as I don't want them stripping their enamel by eating them all the time, so yeah. Anyway.

And then tonight I was stirring the onions I had on a slow steam, covered, and had salted and peppered (white pepper), and remembered the other ingredient I like to sprinkle on the onions (learned in those days when I was a cook for a living of sorts): lime juice.

So here, lime slices, the subsequent aroma, and the resultant train of thought.

I ate a slice of lime - sans Jose.

The House pt.2

2009-08-08T12:32:00.006-05:00

My memories weren't too far off (including having the right address), but the bedroom facing Peoria was my parents room - which makes sense because that's where Mom had placed my crib. Several things have changed but many are the same.

The "engraved" carpet I remember tracing my fingers through is gone - the beautiful wood floors that were underneath are now exposed. The back yard looks much smaller than I remember, but of course I was only about 3 years old when I tasted the dirt ...

With three floors, fireplaces, plaster moldings, every room a gorgeous showpiece, it is definitely a mini-mansion. If it sat on about 2 acres of land, I might actually want to buy it.

It's just not enough outdoor space for me - but the outdoor deck that's been added on makes the small back yard a beautiful outdoor space. It would be perfect for someone who didn't like mowing.

Hmm...

The House on 20th

2009-08-08T10:35:00.004-05:00

Today I get to see if my memories match the reality. I'm going to take a tour of my first childhood home, now up for sale. An excerpt from my memories journal:

"Restless Ribbon. Peoria Avenue once was a cruising strip for the teens in Tulsa. Years before I understood this time-honored ritual, I enjoyed the light show playing across the wall in the upstairs bedroom.

“'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven …' I would count the headlights as they travelled across the room, prompted by my elder sisters, until at last I fell asleep.

"The tall house at 1234 E. 20th was my home until I was four years old. Now the nickname for the street that ran aside our house is in a song."

So first I have to see if I'm really remembering that coincidentally sequential house number correctly, and then I have to see if there is a bedroom upstairs with double windows facing Peoria. It would be above the garage if so.

I am curious.

The Joy of Summer Rain

2009-08-05T21:26:00.004-05:00

I just experienced a magical moment. It's been a hot dry week, with heat advisories in effect and temperatures hovering at 100 degrees Farenheit.

Ominous gray clouds loomed earlier in the day, heavy with the promise of rain, but only for a short time; the sun scattered them. Although some thick clouds had returned by dusk, they seemed too far aloft to hope.

And then an hour after sunset, from inside that artificial environment we call a house, I heard the music calling to me, and I went to the door, drawn like a child to the piper.

I stood outside in the dark, all the lights off, with the rain trickling down, frogs chirruping, and the sweet scent of warm summer air, and I inhaled with rapture. The light hammer taps of rain hit the parched tree leaves, creating a percussion symphony to accompany the vibrato amphibian calls.

Oh to live like that. I yearn for the days of feeling safe enough to sleep with the windows thrown open, the warm sweet smell of cut grass filling the air. To be able to be with nature every night.

I saw the sparkles of stars through the oaken canopy, winking as the one cloud heavy enough to disgorge some of its treasure moved across. And then it was gone, leaving the touch of moisture on the leaves to scent the air.

Oh to live embraced in the bosom of nature.

(Or at least to have a big roomy porch with a rocker and a porch swing.)

Proofreading for Fun

2009-07-25T08:50:00.005-05:00

So I had signed up as a volunteer proofreader at Distributed Proofreaders a couple months ago, but the stresses of work kept me from digging in, until this week. And now I'm happily buzzing right along, having gotten past the "beginner" stage, and now moving on to the next level of "easy" and "normal" projects. I am still tagged as a "novice," so that gives me a goal to work on - moving up to the next level.

Proofing one page at a time is a very nice system indeed, giving just a few minutes' work, so you can stop any time. No worries about interruptions - all contingencies are thought of and prepared for; the system has timers in place that return pages back to the queue even if you accidentally forget to come back. The multi-level proofing ensures that each and every page is examined thoroughly.

It's nice to feel productive, and to be part of a cause in which I am significantly interested. Distributed Proofreaders is the arm of Project Gutenberg that prepares works for public distribution as digital text (e-books). Primarily the texts are works in the public domain. The history of Project Gutenberg can be found on Wikipedia.

I first learned of Project Gutenberg through one of my kids' teachers, who directed us there as an option to the library to find a copy of a classic work. Over the last few years we have used this free resource for more than one school report. It immediately struck my fancy, as I love books, especially older works, and the ability to read and search through classic works in digital format excited me.

More recently, I went there searching for another e-book to read, and noticed the links to Distributed Proofreaders, and being a lover of books and editing and writing, I naturally wanted to dive in. There was a bit of instructional reading to get started, but as time allowed I got through it. And so here I am, beginning a personal involvement in what is already a huge community accomplishment, the preservation of classic literature for not only ourselves, but for generations to come.

Lunar Outpost

2009-06-23T08:36:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I came across a featured article at NASA on why we humans should go back to the moon, and an argument for building an outpost there. The article covers all the basics: practice for future deeper space exploration, testing of materials, buildings and systems for extra-terrestial use, further deep-space astronomical studies placed on the dark side of the moon (shielded from earth's interferences), and of course, the real biggie - dispersal of the human species to other worlds to ensure the survival of the species.

Yes, it's a topic that borders on the fantastic, the unimaginable. Humans living somewhere other than Earth. It can almost sound paranoid. But you know, it's not sounding all that crazy anymore. Even if Earth never gets hit by a giant meteor, or never has some crazy dictator start a nuclear war and kill off the population, or never has any disaster of epic proportions, it just wouldn't be smart of us to not try to spread out to insure against calamity.

Of course, if anything catastrophic happened to Earth, a lunar outpost couldn't survive long unless some serious work had been accomplished as far as making it viable for independence. This would mean the ability to grow food and make water. Not likely on the moon, at least not anytime soon. The first industrious task is likely to be focused on mining helium 3, while the more intellectual strategies will focus on establishing science outposts for experiments, importantly including those attempting cultivation and solving the water resource problem.

But with all the practice and the things we would learn there, the next step could be Mars. And maybe by then we will have figured out water production and farming. And if we aren't motivated to attempt to live on other planets for our species' survival, then at least to satisfy our innate urge to explore, learn and discover.

It may be hundreds of years before we can figure out how to leave our solar system - at this moment it seems like we never will - but with each step we take, we learn. And I have a small glimmer of hope that we will someday unlock the secret to (relatively fast) interstellar travel and deep space travelers' sustainability.

DDO Free to Play (and D&D hysteria)

2009-06-20T10:19:00.004-05:00

Recently I came across news that Dungeons & Dragons Online is going to a free-to-play model. In all my excitement I have been spending time at their website reading up on classes and races and all those goodies that go along with a D&D style game. For some reason I looked up the original D&D on Wikipedia - oh, I remember, I saw an article about a lawsuit that Wizards of the Coast brought against a guy distributing D&D books online. Good ol' Wizards - always out to protect their profit. They're about as controlling as Metallica.

Anyway, as I glanced over the article, I saw the picture of the D&D board and the arms of the folks sitting around the table just scream "NERD!!!" in such a huge fashion that I had to stifle a giggle. And at that point I suddenly remembered, flashback version, how I used to hear stories of how D&D was satanic and if you play it, you are invoking demonic powers and evil magic. Now I am just dumbfounded at the thought. Remember all that hysteria?

The point those superstitious folks missed was that within the human existence, there is greed, avarice, theft, jealousy, honor, duty, justice ... And the overarching story of D&D is the time-honored tale of good vs. evil - that we humans have choices to make and that we can battle evil and conquer the demons that stand in our way (and often learn something about ourselves and our own personal moral choices in the process).

Kids used to play Cowboys and Indians; kids used to play Jedi and Sith (that's newer); kids used to play Pokemon (oh wait, did we remove the bad guys from that play? No one ever pretends to be Team Rocket ... sigh) .... and D&D is just a bunch of friends sitting around playing pretend (knights+sorcerers -think Arthurian legend- vs. monsters) with the human condition as the backdrop.

The monsters and races of Dungeons and Dragons were adapted straight from J.R.R. Tolkien's world - his Lord of the Rings and other works (I am still finding my way through the History of Middle Earth; I'm on book five). I didn't realize until now how extensively he interwined European legends of all sort into his expansive mythology. He was effectively taking all ancient legends and expanding and relating them. It's amazing.

But back in the 70's those college kids that read Tolkien's stuff were enthralled and wanted to play pretend in that fantastic world. And the old miniature military stategy war games were a good medium from which to launch this more grown-up/complex form of play - Gary Gygax started in wargaming long before publishing D&D.

So I never actually played the real pen-and-paper D&D, but by the time Neverwinter Nights computer game came out back in the late 90's, based on the D&D rule books and character classes, etc., I was excited to try it out. I ended up getting stuck in the solo play of that game and didn't want to start over, and the multi-player left a lot to be desired, so I abandoned the game.

Then D&D Online came online a few years ago, but it has been a subscription-only game at $15 per month since its inception, so that kept me from trying it (I don't mind paying a purchase price for the install, but to keep paying a monthly fee is annoying - makes me feel obligated to play - which rips the joy right out of it). But now that they will offer a free-to-play model with a cash shop for optional purchases, I'm psyched.

All these choices ... What will I be? Oh the exhilarating bewilderment!

Fun-Filled Summer Afternoons

2009-06-16T23:11:00.003-05:00

Today I cut up old tree trimmings down to size for the trash, procrastinated mowing for a couple of hours to wait for the shade to cover the whole lawn (and went inside and played Animal Crossing), taxied a gaggle of teen girls to the tie-dye clothing shop, grilled (and devoured) some awesome thick pork chops, then later in the lovely late afternoon shade I discovered (with the help of my mower) neatly clipped grass hiding under my semi-shaggy lawn, saw half a dozen fireflies, watched disco lights in the pool, pretended to be a dolphin, and threw pretend fish at the pretend whales (the kids) performing tricks around the fountain. I also spotted a star and then was shown that the big dipper was out.

I'm amazed at all that I packed into this day. It's been a great afternoon and evening. I think I will sleep well.

Upcoming Space Radiation Research

2009-06-04T08:08:00.003-05:00

Today NASA's Johnson Space Center list server news announced impending research into the study of the risks of space radiation to humans living in space. This is the next major hurdle we must overcome before we embark on anything longer range than short-term visits to the moon.

Our inability to shield the inhabitants of a space-traveling vehicle from deadly space radiation is not a subject addressed on our fun fictional shows, even that famous standard of television sci-fi, Star Trek. But it does grind our hopes of interplanetary space travel to a screeching halt, at least until this problem is solved.

I wonder what possible solution may lie ahead, and if it will ever be found during my lifetime.

Terraforming

2009-05-31T09:16:00.002-05:00

Last week I was walking with our son and as usual we talked about strange and interesting topics, most always related to science in some way. He brought up the subject that we should try to find a planet to terraform and how we could go about it - identifying suitable candidates and then he posited we would need to import plants and animals for sustenance. I pointed out that perhaps there would be existing plant life we could identify as edible (or catalog as poisonous) or even larger animals suitable for meat. We talked about cross-breeding with our crops and all sorts of fun fantastical ideas. Not sure what brought the idea into his head, but yep, that's the discussion we had.

Now today as I flipped through channels, Naked Science on NatGeo, episode "Deadliest Planets," is talking about searching for possibly habitable planets near to Earth. As the name implies, the focus here is on the dangers and challenges we would face on each planet respectively.

These challenges are food for thought - problems and puzzles to be solved.

Star Trek - the new movie

2009-05-13T16:37:00.004-05:00

Oh yes, Star Trek was really good. When we first heard of it upcoming, we were skeptical, hoping it wouldn't be an utter departure from everything we all love about Star Trek. And then when I saw the trailer, I was intrigued but still very skeptical. And then when I heard the reviews were astoundingly good, I was even more wary, sure that if the reviewers loved it, that I would hate it.

But they pulled it off. It was a very well-planned and well-done movie in the Star Trek tradition (better than the old whale fiasco).

Chris Pine was uncannily able to emulate William Shatner's posture, head position, cocky half-smile, even the way he held his mouth often just screamed "Shatner." And not so much that it looked unnatural, but just like it was him. Not bad. Not bad at all. When I first saw him, I didn't see much of a resemblence, but as the movie went on he just seemed to become the Kirk we all grew up with. Funny.

Anyway, I'm really glad I got to see it. That was an awesome Mother's Day gift. That and I didn't have to cook - always a bonus.

Tolkien Reading, ongoing

2009-05-12T22:29:00.005-05:00

I am still working my way very slowly through The History of Middle Earth. Even though I skip over most of the commentary, it is still slow going. I find myself looking up words that I can't quite place - the most recent was "puissance" (yay for the internet). But I am mesmermized by the intensity of the turmoil and multiple tragedies depicted even in these incomplete sketches. The substance they convey amazes me despite the brevity of passages that imply a pregancy of many chapters just bursting to spill forth from the author's mind.

And then a precise, well-thought gem such as this will spring out from the pages and strike you with the simple beauty of the moral conveyed - speaking of evil Morgoth's shock at his enemies' coming together to overthrow him despite the huge success of the seeds of lies and treachery he had successfully sown many ages past: "For heart that is pitiless counteth not the power that pity hath, of which stern anger may be forged and a lightning kindled before which mountains fall." - from section 17 of The Quenta, HoME IV

Although friends may fight, brothers may disagree and feud, when a common enemy is found out and the friends and brothers reunite and forgive and turn their anger, the wrath that comes down upon that enemy is unmatched. Justice comes to the tale-bearers, the whisperers.

So much pain and anguish for so many, and the promise of triumph tainted by so many tragedies past that could have been thwarted if not for moral weakness. Bittersweet.

Ah, Tolkien weaves a powerful fable into a legendary story spanning millienia. It's beautiful as it is, although painfully incomplete, the promise of 'so much more to tell' just leaps from the page. Again I find myself wishing he could have lived a hundred lifetimes to flesh out these sketches into his full dream of an entire mythology.

Overzealous Citizen Watch? or just Crazy Lady?

2009-05-05T15:50:00.006-05:00

So I am still wondering if the lady who pulled around in front of me yesterday, suddenly stopped her truck in a driveway with the tail end sticking out in the road, and jumped out to snap picture of me was just a wannabe vigilante or part of a citizens' watch patrol or if she was looking for someone and thought she had found the person and then suddenly realized she made a mistake.

That was just really bizarre. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon. School is out. Why would she suspect crime of someone walking in a neighborhood? Kind of weakens theory #1; I could understand if she was doing this a couple more blocks north where the strip club and the adult movie shop are ... but in the neighborhood where houses are? Not so logical.

She didn't identify herself as being part of a citizen's watch patrol. So that weakens theory #2, which would be related to theory #1 just on a more organized basis. Six of one, half a dozen of another.

Mistaken identity is starting to be my strongest theory (#3). I think it was some jealous wife lady who was looking for her husband's lover and thought she found her and was going to take pictures and confront her. She seemed a little taken aback when I spoke to her (even though I kept walking and looked at like she was insane). I think she realized her error and was trying to figure out a way to make herself not look so crazy. She said "I just want to know who lives in my neighborhood."

Yeah.

Sheesh, lady, if you want to get to know your neighbors, suddenly swinging around, pulling in front of them and stopping your 6,000 pound vehicle in front of a 100 pound middle-aged lady is NOT the way to initiate a friendly "get to know your neighbors" conversation. Rather, it's intimidating and threatening.

But wow ... I do wish I had the presence of mind to pull out my phone and snap a picture of her license plate. It didn't come to mind till I was two blocks away and she was long gone. Lady really freaked me out.

I did warn my kids. I've always taught them to give a wide berth to any vehicle that stops near them when walking, and to run to a nearby house if approached and scream and yell. And while I certainly gave that truck a wide berth before she even opened her door, and kept walking briskly away even while giving her a "WTH?" look, I really wish I would have pulled out my phone.

She took a picture of me - I should have automatically jumped to take one of her. Duh.

And now today every time I drive through the neighborhood I'm scanning the streets for that little gray Nissan with the aqua stripes and the crazy lady. I just love feeling paranoid.

Um ... so yeah. Anyway.

If I see her roaming or snapping pictures or bullying her way around with her truck again I will take a picture and report her to the police. If she's trying to be a vigilante or protect the neighborhood, scaring the inhabitants is not the right way to go about things. And if she's looking to hunt down and confront someone, well, then she needs to be reported - I might prevent an assault.

Journalism

2009-04-30T11:21:00.005-05:00

Is traditional journalism in danger as a profession? Oh come on.

Maureen Dowd's interview of Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams came to my attention when it was mentioned on Twooting podcast #28. When the observation was posed that her tone seemed angry or jealous or that the satire therein was pointed for a real reason and that it might be because traditional print journalism has been on a long decline and that Twitter is yet another threat on top of the myriad of other social media, the wheels really started ticking in my brain.

Here's the thing. There is a huge difference in professional journalism and people just yapping whatever pops into their brain, and I find it difficult to believe that any form of social media will ever replace the professional journalist.

My History with Journalism
I used to want to be a journalist when I grew up. Remember the board game "Life"? I loved that game. You got to have a career, get married, have kids, make money and have stuff happen to you. (Wow. It sounds so underwhelming now that I'm an adult.) But as a kid, the word "journalist" sounded so big and important.

I didn't know what a journalist was back then, but as it happens, I love to write. I have loved to write from the very first time I picked up a pencil. I wrote a lengthy grumpy note to my teacher in 2nd grade that so impressed her with my writing, she showed it to my mother (but of course I still had to get swats for being disrespectful). Mom told me about it years later after I was out of school.

Even after I found out the definition of journalism years later, I did consider it as a potential career, until I realized that being a journalist would mean writing about a lot of things that really did not interest me.

I have been writing on a near daily basis as long as I can remember, my writing progressing from fervent pre-teen love poems to lengthy diaries to newspaper articles in high school and editorials whenever I got to rotate in, and then transitioning to forums in the mid 1990's. If I'm not posting a blog article, then I'm posting something on a forum somewhere. I truly enjoy putting words together to make a point (which I will get to in this horribly rambling post I'm writing now).

So now I do function as a semi-journalist, but only as a hobbyist - I don't get paid, but I do write about what's going on around me. This very enjoyable hobby of mine has evolved into a personal editorial page for me; my very own megaphone wherewith to expound my thoughts that I would otherwise keep entirely to myself. And in that sense, blogging is a form of journalism, but I can say whatever I want with little or no repercussion and without being questioned.

Bloggers Are Not Always Credible
And therein lies the problem with lay journalists: bloggers are not generally held accountable for lack of credible sources, and while those who don't follow some sort of standard are quickly overlooked and lost to oblivion or ridicule, they still can pump out as much misinformation or just plain boring crap as they feel inclined.

Professional Journalists are the Ones Who Stamp News as Credible
And so many other persons like me also put forth their thoughts every day onto this big thing called the internet. And we all do it for free, whether anyone is listening or not. The flow of misinformation out there is overwhelming, and surely we still need professional media to sift through it all and bring us the cream of the crop, the kernels of truth, to root out what is true and right and virtuous (uh, oh, pardon me, I seem to have gotten mixed up with some other century's journalistic credo).

Really, I would think a pro journalist would find Twitter a boon rather than a curse. True there's a ton of crap on it, but you have to not look at the public timeline: just think of the hundreds of sources. It's simple enough to search and filter the tweets using third party applications and then qualify your sources the old-fashioned way. Maybe it's just annoying because news tips used to only come from a few folks who were vocal. There was a system - a tipster would call in and the reporter would follow up if it sounded interesting. If no one was calling, the reporter would go out and about and listen to local conversation for interesting leads. It's been that way for a century.

And now with all this huge flood of social media, with anyone being able to post to the internet, there is a giant flood of conversation for reporters to listen in on. Overwhelming amounts. The less vocal folks (like me) that speak very little may give you a tip via Twitter or email that you wouldn't have ordinarily gotten, because we aren't the type to use the phone, but we'll sure use the computer.

It's All About Money
The real rub for the print reporters is money and job security. So print journalists probably really do feel threatened by the internet and social media as subscription money drops off. Can the big name papers make as much money off their internet ads as they could off print paper subscriptions and purchases? While everyone looks for free content on the internet now, supported soley by advertising, the paper industry surely can save a ton of money if they transition away from paper and delivery. No ink, no presses, all their revenue fueled by advertisements, and they have the big name already, who's going to argue that there's not value in advertising on the NYT's online paper? With handheld devices, a person can hold their paper and read it at the table with coffee just the same as they held a newspaper printed on wood pulp. There's multiple ways to solve this monetary problem.

We still need professional media types. The public needs to be able to rely on their professional reputations for believable news sourcing. Professional journalism trumps random gossip any day, no matter how prolific. Someone must sort through and find the truth amongst all the chatter. Who better than the former print reporters? Yes, it takes some transitioning, some adjustment. But come on, get with the times, folks. The internet is not going away. Step up or die.

Biological Computing

2009-04-24T16:45:00.005-05:00

So I caught the end of the interview with Jim Collins, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University on Science Friday today, The article here is more of a preview and doesn't do the show justice. They've been able to turn yeast cells on and off.

Think electrical engineering and circuits and on/off in computer switches. Cool, huh? They use the same terminology in describing what they are doing with these yeast cells - networks, switches, circuits.

Of course, it's far too slow to do anything with, and there are the usual science fiction horror movie type worries about tinkering with cells that are programmed to tinker with humans, but yeah, anyway, it was a fun show to listen to. It sure woke my brain up after I thought I was all Friday-fried.

He talked about the possibilities that they are investigating: programming cells to attack cancer, or to produce things for the body, such as insulin - using oscillation they could set intervals for the cells to produce it, or program other cells to detect blood sugar levels and respond by signaling other cells to make insulin.

You know, that is exactly how our bodies work already. We have these glands that produce insulin when sugar levels indicate the need. But for diabetics, those communication systems in the body have broken down, and this could be a biological replacement. Surely this could work. But what if it got out of whack? The communication signals break down and the cells pump out too much? Hmmm. This is just the very early idea stages of this field, but like he said, it is of very high interest now to students and companies. Those who get involved in this will likely make some very useful and interesting technologies. I daydream of functioning mini-organs and programmable medicine delivery (and get squeamish thinking of what could go awry - science fiction has planted a strong seed of caution in us, has it not?).

The team Jim Collins is working with has a published paper at Nature Biotechnology; all I can view online is the abstract without a subscription, but I'm almost tempted to make a request at the local library so I can read it. I once requested one of the Dune series via the interlibrary service when I was going through that huge series and the Tulsa library did not have one of the series - it's as easy as clicking a few buttons.

Aigh - it's exciting! I wish I could be in a lab poking around at tiny cells, taking copious notes, writing papers.

Twitter = Ticker

2009-04-24T08:01:00.004-05:00

So I've split out my Twitter into two accounts - made a new one for business. I found myself uncomfortable sending messages about Guild Wars or what I'm cooking for dinner when I also had business type stuff going on.

For those who don't use Twitter and are still scratching your heads or shrugging going "I have no interest in ppl's blow by blow lives", it's not so much about finding out what people are doing every second as it is more of a headline ticker, but the headlines are customizable to whatever you want them to be about using filter and search tools, and they can be from friends, family, news media, local or regional event tickers, hobbyists, enthusiasts about any subject that you search for.

Like the guys on twooting.com said, it's like walking into a big conference room where a hundred conversations are going on about X or Y topic, and you skim through the room and can stop and join in any time.

Yeah, I'm sold on it. Now let's see how they end up monetizing it. That's a big debate as to how and when that will come.

Anyway, it's fun. And not a time waster. It can be very educational, depending on who you search out to follow.

Exploring Twitter

2009-04-16T10:23:00.011-05:00

I am really getting intrigued by the possibilities of Twitter. I was one of the reluctants that didn't really want to join and had no intention of joining (I could not comprehend why on earth I would ever have anything to post or that I would ever want to read others' posts), but I nibbled the hook from NASA's @Astro_Mike, and yep, I am there now. It's not as horrible as I originally imagined.

Okay, the public timeline is pretty lame - where everyone and their dog from around the world is tweeting about anything from the inane to the insane - so I just don't go there. It's not like it's splashed up in your face; you have to click to another page to even see it, so it's completely out-of-sight out-of-mind.

But being able to follow things I'm actually interested in, like NASA and Guild Wars news, well, that's pretty cool. I get to see a short headline without a bunch of graphics, and if they've added a link and the blurb is of interest to me, then I can go read more. I don't have to go to each places' individual websites to see if they have any news of interest for me today (and most times I don't bother going to "places of interest" websites except once in a blue moon as I simply do not have time!). Twitter is turning into a huge efficiency tool for me.*

And now it's got me jumping on another bandwagon that has been around forever that I previously hadn't found a reason to bother with - podcast subscriptions. The one at www.twooting.com has caught my interest (I found it on http://www.linnetwoods.com/twitterhood_info.html where there are some great newbie tips).

I have started listening to Twooter from episode 1. They only began last month, so fortunately I don't have much to catch up on. I've subscribed to the RSS feed, and am now learning how to set up automatic downloads so I can listen to the MP3 podcast files anytime on my Blackberry. One thing leads to another! I'm getting a real education on Media RSS, which, before today, I had no idea existed. I was still living in the world of RSS being just for html-based feeds.

As for Twitter itself, I'm pondering the project management capabilities of this. Sure, any social networking site can accept and send feeds, but Twitter being so clean and short seems a natural species for project details in miniature - at least, for those that one would want to share publicly (a completely private mass text service, to be shared only between project manangement teams, would still be better housed on a company's private servers, for example, many large companies have their own in-house networks with individual employee pages used for networking within the company - similar to Facebook, but only for co-workers and not accessible to the public).

However, the current lack of funding on Twitter is nagging. What type of funding will they go to? Although there is nothing in the works at this time, and it sounds like they have several million invested right now to support the currently free service, it makes me hesitant to jump on using it for professional project updates.

But it has me thinking. Even if I never decide to use a Twitter feed on my professional site, I can see the attractiveness of adding my own private textable feed, being able to remotely broadcast non-proprietary project info as a work showcase/portfolio. From what I'm digging up on RSS, I'm almost certain the tool I'm looking for is in there somewhere.

_____________________
*Although one could argue that all the time I'm spending on this research is a huge time suck today, learning more coding tricks is always good for business.

FOXNews.com - Can Twitter Confuse Your Moral Compass?

2009-04-14T21:38:00.004-05:00

FOXNews.com - Can Twitter Confuse Your 'Moral Compass'? - Science News Science & Technology Technology News

Posted using ShareThis

Heh. That's funny. I was just thinking along this vein a few days ago, and in fact this bugs me every time I try to watch television news. When watching newscasts, I find that most of the news leaves me with questions. It's just little blurbs. Even radio news, which I tune in daily, gives me the same unease. I get annoyed because it's too short, too fast, and too little information. It's difficult to find in-depth information from television or radio.

But over the past few years I turned to the internet for my news, and so solved that problem. Or I suppose I thought. Now having signed up to Twitter, I notice I am skimming a lot more headlines than I ever have. So am I falling prey to some hither-to-unknown and dire consequences of this too-fast too-short news? Am I losing my sense of morality?

I beg to differ. I still find myself going in and reading longer stories that catch my eye in those Twitter "tweets," just like this one, and often end up researching further by pulling up google or Merriam-Webster (my preference in online dictionaries), or reading related stories and then going offline and continuing to reflect on those stories as I go to work or around the house. And then I come back and blog when my thoughts are gathered.

Quoting from the article: "The study's volunteers needed six to eight seconds to completely respond to stories of virtue or social pain, brain imaging showed." While I admit I skip over a lot (news overload is not healthy either!), I tend to spend hours considering those stories that are of interest to me. Does that mean I think too much?

Or my compass simply functioning as intended?

Fantasy Artist Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

2009-04-11T23:10:00.003-05:00

I was really excited to find Stephanie Pui-Mun Law's blog today. I had bookmarked a gift app on Facebook that lets you send small virtual clips of her artwork to friends, and was looking at the app page today when I saw the app creator mention the blog. So yay - I'm following now of course. Someday I will own some of her work. For a library. Framed originals, hung from oaken panelled walls. Lovely ethereal faeries and goddesses and sprites, and forest dryads and nymphs - all my favorite fairy-tale creatures.

So of course I went over to her website and browsed some more, and found a new one in the Faerie gallery that I hadn't seen before. Moonrise, it is called. It seems to echo the mythology of Tolkien's world, of the Valar, surely it was Varda, who gave a strand of hair to Tilion to stay the course of the moon through the sky after the near-collision with the sun as he pursued Arien (well, anyway, I don't have the book here anymore so I can't find the right story and names now of course). Being a digital piece, it lacks the dreamy quality that I love best in her watercolor works, but it is definitely striking. I've set it as my desktop background - I usually use her artwork for that (her website allows personal use and even attributed web use)

My favorite, well, at least one of my many favorites, is Chessmates. In every corner you can find little details, and the figures and shapes express themselves clearly, yet the whole piece breathes with an eerie other-worldliness. It's like the magic of childhood imagination captured, even down to the quality of the warm golden air that seems to envelop each creature there in the forest. Of course, that original is noted Not For Sale. Ah well. Maybe I'll get my hands on a limited edition giclee.

What Happened to "Mrs" Counting for Something?

2009-04-09T16:22:00.003-05:00

Since when did being Mrs. so-and-so not count as having permission from him to know the balance on something that needs to be paid? Ugh. Fine, they can wait till they mail the next statement if they're going to be stubborn. I know, I know, some people think that just because they are married doesn't mean they share everything with their spouse, and they're still "mine mine mine" and have pulled lawsuits on companies that give out information to their spouse. People that refuse to trust their very own spouse really tick me off. Don't bother getting married if you're gonna be that asinine. Grumble, grumble ... stupid society that has screwed up things for me.

/endrant

Storms are brewing - Yay. Oooo I just heard thunder. Wooooo Hooo. That always elicits a deep sigh of contentment out of me. Storms = happiness (well, in my world, at least)

Whew

2009-04-07T19:37:00.004-05:00

My work has been in upheaval. My main client, USIS, had bought out HireRight last fall, and finalized changing their name and merging this spring. In doing so, they changed their systems and so I do not have any work from them anymore. I went into panic mode and started sending out resumes and planning to go back to work full time. But fortunately my other client who I had been doing less for, and in fact had stopped working for completely the last six months due to my being very busy with USIS, was still very much in need of help. She was to the point of having decided to put in ad in the paper for help that very weekend that I called. So I gave her a discount on a large bulk project to get her computers cleaned up, tweak her data sharing, and tie up many other miscellaneous loose ends they have just been letting go for so long.

It's working out very nicely. And now I feel I'm getting into a regular routine again, maybe now I will get back to my daily blogging. Whew.

I did finally do what I thought I had no need for - I joined Twitter. See, I have been subscribed to the NASA ISS news email feed for many years now. They send out news about 3-5 times a week, especially about the space station but also about shuttle launches and other related news. And today they mentioned a Twitter feed, and I went and looked, so I got drawn in. Not sure if it's going to be interesting or annoying.

I'm getting annoyed with Facebook. Although it's been a great way to get in touch with many long-lost friends, all the applications are starting to get really ... spammy. I'm sick of notifications. I need to change my settings.

Oh, and as for the cooking thing, I don't know that I will continue that. Maybe via Twitter. Maybe I'll do my weekly planning on Sunday like I have on my flylady control "journal" (I don't do the paper journal - I use Outlook). Anyway, just kinda got burnt out on that quick.

My son was reading Fahrenheit 451 recently, and old favorite of mine, and I picked it up out of nostalgia and perused the forward by the author, Ray Bradbury. He spoke of a young acquaintance of his, a dancer, who said that he would stay up late and just dance, dance, dance, all the time, and when asked why, he replied that he danced to not be dead. And when the young man asked about his work in turn, Ray Bradbury found a commonality and answered that he stayed up late and wrote, wrote, wrote. He writes to not be dead.

Hear, hear, Mr. Bradbury. I concur.

BSG - more spoilers

2009-03-21T10:59:00.006-05:00

So my theory about BSG was wrong. They stuck with the 'angels' theory they had already laid out in the past. But they've left unanswered questions and so of course there's a movie coming in the fall. They need to explain who Starbuck's dad is and why he knew the coordinates to this planet, they need to explain who God is - as Caprica said to Gaius, "You know he doesn't like being called that." But seeing as how they're billing this movie as the story from the Cylons' point of view, I somehow don't think we'll get quite all the answers in this one either.

I think there could still be a more sci-fi-tech explanation - ghosts in the machine at the very least would be better than the angels thing. But maybe when they get around to revealing the identity of "God" it will make more sense. Ugh I hope so.

Anyway, it was still very enjoyable.

Dinner was fried chicken last night. Pork roast again tonight if it's thawed. Will try to find some different way to cook it.

Come on Rain

2009-03-19T12:37:00.003-05:00

It has been so long since I've seen the green blobs of color on the radar indicating rain that I am excited to see them, even if they are still a hundred miles away. They have inched closer, slowly, tantalizingly, but they do seem to finally be creeping this way. Oh I hope it makes it here. I miss the rain very much.

The pork was cooked through so now it is going through its cooling period in the fridge right now. It smells wonderful. I adapted a recipe from my newer Better Homes and Garden cookbook, Oriental Pork Ribs. I had everything but the preserves, so I used molasses for sweetener instead. This is the first time I've tried this cooking method - pre-cook, cool, and finish cooking. It came up on the SAHP forum (someone had a recipe for just browning the meat and then refrigerating and she said she never does it that way because not cooking it all the way through and then refrigerating sounded potentially hazardouos - and I have to agree) and I had recently seen Alton Brown do something similar, but cooked thoroughly and then refrigerated, so I decided to try it that way.

Battlestar Galactica wild theories (spoiler alert)

2009-03-18T14:45:00.003-05:00

Sheesh, Battlestar Galactica really has my brain working. If you haven't been following closely and plan to see it in the future, You Might Not Want to Read This. I have this theory that Starbuck is a resurrected human. The secret is that humans developed the Cylon resurrection as a way to live forever, and that Cylons aren't exactly Cylon after all, but are actually "grown" human clones that, using the resurrection technology, share memories via a biological database - the brain - that humans figured out how to download and save memories, and to transplant those memories into their cloned bodies. In fact, I believe Starbuck was the first one, her dad made the technology, and the music holds the key to how to build more, thus explaining why he taught her this song.

I could go really far off in left field and say the Music is a part of the Music of the Ainur, and one of the Valar came and taught the humans, but that's a totally different universe anyway, plus I'd really be showing my Tolkien geek status. I could be a movie geek instead and mention Close Encounters of the Third Kind with music being the universal language.

But isn't it always about the music? Interesting how that gets interpolated into so many sci-fi concepts. Patterns = music. DNA = patterns = music. Even atomic structure. Even science fact struggles to explain it. To understand it. To really comprehend. But there's just too much information for us to digest.

I'm planning country style pork ribs for tomorrow, started early in the morning, slow cooked for a few hours, and then given a cooling period to gel the flavors and texture, and then warmed for dinner. I would have done it today but we are one kid short so I'm cooking the other one's favorite dinner, sloppy joes. I think I'll even make homemade buns. Yum.

Food, work

2009-03-17T18:34:00.003-05:00

Well the chicken got postponed since the two chickens were still frozen, but we had that yesterday - made chicken and dumplings. Sunday was balsamic chicken - I couldn't find my recipe so I made it from memory and it turned out fine.

Today I'm making pan-fried pork chops with potatoes and gravy and corn. We had corned beef and cabbage at Grandma's house today in honor of St. Paddy's (plus the extra dumplings I took to share, and weiners for the guys, Grandpa and ds - they won't eat the good stuff - lol). That was good - the one I cooked on the stove top last year was awful. Mom did hers in the crockpot on low all night. I'll have to remember that.

Anyway, work started picking up a little again today so that was a relief. But since I had planned the trip to the grandparent's, I couldn't grab as much as I would have liked. Hopefully it will be in good shape tomorrow too.

I've been listening here and there, in between my usual heavy metal and alternative stuff, a fairly new station to Tulsa, 93.5 FM. It's really oldies - 50s and 60s. I love that stuff sometimes. Great sing-a-long music. So on that note, I leave you with this:

"It started long ago
In the Garden of Eden
When Adam said to Eve
Baby, you're for me!
So come on baby,
Let's start today,
Come on baby let's play
The game of love
Love -la-la-la-la-love"

Reading: Tolkien

2009-03-15T10:55:00.005-05:00

I am still reading The History of Middle Earth, which I have been working on for a few months now. I am just now on Book III, The Lays of Beleriand, and am entirely entranced by the beauty and tragedy of these poems. Today I came across a passage that so well describes the deep majesty of woodlands, and it rekindled that longing in my heart I have always felt towards the deep woods, as though they are calling to me:

" ...beyond the tangled woodland shade,
thorn and thicket, grove and glade,
whose brooding ancient boughs with magic hung
were ancient when the world was young."

-from The Gest of Beren and Lúthien

I once spent hours upon hours in the woods of my childhood home, wandering, exploring, just being the woods. I love the shade, the greens and browns, the creatures, the hidden places. Many of the passages in Tolkien's works are so vividly descriptive, and evoke everything I love about the woods, even the dark and dangerous aspects that often lead to a tragic end.

The books are packed with commentary and notes from J.R.R. Tolkien's son, Christopher, who compiled and edited all these unfinished works and notes from the mythology that Tolkien created. I have taken to skipping much of the commentary in favor of just reading the works; incomplete though they may be, the might and majesty is sweeping and moving. It may take me a year or more to get through this set, though. The stories are vast and the language complex. But I do love it very much.

Yesterday we just had takeout for simplicity's sake. Today I am going to boil a couple of chickens. I will be saving 2/3 of it for future use; I've found that one chicken is too large for one meal, but half is not enough, so I like to cook two and divide the meat in thirds, freezing the extra portions. Not sure what the plans are for today's dinner just yet. Maybe a casserole; maybe noodles. I really want to make that bread, though.

Just food

2009-03-13T09:40:00.003-05:00

Dinner last night was slow-cooked chuck steaks with potato soup and veggies. It was yummy. Although since I was grocery shopping, I started the meat late and so had to put it on high heat instead of low, which of course doesn't get it as tender as cooking on low heat for a longer time. Oh well. It wasn't too bad.

Still trying to figure out what to fix today. Something with ground beef I think. Oh! I have Zatarain's dirty rice mix. That and I got the buttermilk for the whole-wheat soda bread I wanted to try. Oh wait, that will take too long. I'll save that for another day then.

Work

2009-03-12T09:08:00.003-05:00

No clue what's for dinner. Need to go shopping. At least it's snowing. We need some serious precipitation.

Got part of the shopping done; now I need to go get the cold stuff - meats, dairy, frozen. Might as well go. Work is so dead. This is nerve-wracking. An announcement went out about a transition period and a merger, so, yeah. We're not direct employees, so they can't exactly have a layoff per se, but when the stream dries up to a trickle, or evaporates completely, well, that's that.

Just food

2009-03-11T14:27:00.003-05:00

Going to bake oven-BBQ chicken pieces today. Maybe some wheat rolls to go with. It's turned cold again, but maybe we can pretend it's warm picnic-ky type weather, right?

Weather

2009-03-10T09:14:00.004-05:00

The weather is gorgeous today. Although I do wish we could get some serious soaking rains (I do love rain so very much), the slight chill with the bright sunshine against the green bulbs and wildflowers sprouting, and trees in early bloom - it's all in perfect harmony to create a beautiful landscape today.

Dinner tonight - probably chicken pie. Makes me hungry just thinking about it. Unless it stays warm - if so then I'll save that for tomorrow. The temperature is supposed to drop this afternoon and stay cold all week. Time for warm comfort foods.

Waiting for Rain

2009-03-09T11:41:00.006-05:00

It's a slow day at work. Even with taking the car in for another look at the power steering rack (it's used, stiff, just still loosening up) and running pulls (trying to get more work) for a couple of hours it's just nada.

Thunderstorms are supposed to be coming today. Rain, please please please get here. Anyone know a rain dance? Care to join me?

Saturday we had had frozen pizza and Sunday was tacos. So dinner tonight I need to do something with the boneless pork loin roast I have thawed. Let's see. Okay, I've put it in the crock with a good dose of salt, pepper and thyme, and little bit of oil for moisture. It's so warm and humid that I really do not want to bake bread today. I think I'll just do rice or potatoes on the side.

Car, Wedding, miscellanea

2009-03-05T08:19:00.004-06:00

My car is in the shop getting a new power steering rack (oh boy). After three years of having "alignment" on my to-do list, it's finally going to be done. So I will be without a vehicle for the day. But the good news is, it's a beautiful day for walking.

Tomorrow is the wedding. I have the gifts, the card and the wrapping paper. Suppose I should get it wrapped and ready. I'm just thinking Thomas will attack the wrapping paper. Especially the ribbons. He loves ribbons - and that's a bad thing because he tries to eat them. Goofy cat doesn't know what's bad for him. After I wrap it all up I think I'll put it back in the shopping bag to protect it, and him.

But this means I will be missing BSG tomorrow night! Accccck!! Thankfully the Sci-Fi channel posts the episodes to the website for later viewing, so I don't even have to mess with trying to record it. I can watch it as soon as we get home! My brain has so many theories about the whole Cylon thing and humans and how resurrection all started and who or what Starbuck really is - I really hope these last three episodes live up to all this awesomely great suspense they've been building.

So today I'm going to try this recipe that I saw Alton Brown do on his show Good Eats. It looked wonderfully yummy. Sweet grilled pork chops. Mmmm yes.

Peroxide Mouthwash

2009-03-04T16:47:00.004-06:00

So after my dentist noted that I had just the bare startings of a cavity (highly unusual for me), I began to wonder if my peroxide rinse is harmful. The dentist barely had to do anything to my teeth and told me they looked very clean, so that was good news and I attribute that to my new peroxide-rinse habit. I usually get bad tartar build up on the back side of my lower front teeth, and there wasn't much at all this time.

So I did search around wondering if I was harming my enamel, but I can't find any evidence of it being harmful to my teeth. However, there are certainly plenty of warnings about the dangers of ingesting peroxide. Teeth-harming substances are of course your typical sugar, but also some folks were using acids such as strawberries or lemon juice for teeth whitening, and they received plenty of warnings that those are very harmful, as once they strip away the outer layer, they keep eating away at your enamel and do irreparable damage to your teeth.

I did notice with interest one person said if the peroxide dries out your mouth to water it down more. I have had that problem a couple of times. So I'm not sure why I'm getting a cavity. Maybe it's from all those wonderful Valentine's chocolates I devoured. Hm.

I made Chicken Contadine last night, out of the Fannie Farmer cookbook. I loved it, and I think the boys did, but the girl didn't. Oh well. I wanted to have something slightly different, and was looking for something similar to a stew. This is a recipe heavy on the chopped onions, and then slowly simmered in vermouth, and that just sounded lovely. And it was. I served it with linguini, and of course a couple vegetable choices as well.

Tonight I am roasting a whole chicken in the oven, rubbed with oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper and rosemary, with a bit of onion, carrot and celery in the cavity as aromatics. Simple but delicious. And the leftover meat will go in the freezer for use in a casserole or such.

Just food

2009-03-03T10:18:00.004-06:00

Today is a bit of a busy day for me. I have wedding-type shopping to do and also a dental appointment.

But I have chicken pieces thawed in the fridge and I need to decide what I'm going to do with them. Ack. The lovely thing about chicken is there are so many yummy things you can do with it. I suppose I can decide this afternoon when I return. I still haven't gotten around to making bread the last several days. Hmm.

Goodbye to my Morning Muse

2009-03-02T08:03:00.005-06:00

I'm listening to the tributes to Paul Harvey today, who passed away Saturday. As a child, I listened to Paul Harvey every morning before school; when his morning snippet was over at 7:35 it was always time for me to catch the bus. The voice of integrity and common wisdoms. And I continued listening to him every day as my schedule allowed on into adulthood, being more on a schedule since having kids I'd been back in the routine of hearing my daily Paul Harvey for about 15 years now, and often catching his longer noon broadcast as well.

Over the past couple of years I had gradually become used to the idea that he would be passing soon, since he frequently had guest hosts. But I knew he would always be there whenever he could, to share an audible smile with us. Others can say so much more in so much more detail than I can, and no one can say it better than the old recordings of Paul himself, but all of us share that common bond who listened to Paul Harvey's daily commentaries.

Salute to you Mr. Harvey - and good day.

So tonight it's going to be cajun style pork roast I think. I have set out a few things to thaw for the week and dinner will likely be determined by what is thawed first. I would like to make some bread again, don't know if I'll get it done though.

Dresses for the girl

2009-02-27T08:06:00.005-06:00

So I didn't plan well last night. Anyway, I already planned on frozen pizza, just need to remember to eat early on those nights I actually have shopping with the kids to do. No shopping allowed till after dinner. We're trying to find a dress for the girl that 1. she likes and 2. that fits. This could take a few days and several shopping trips. She needs something to wear to the wedding, and she has zero dress clothes. Plus she'd kinda like to find something that would work for the school dance, too. We found a gorgeous red and black dress last night at Dillards, but they didn't have her size. A classic A-line shape with a full skirt, knee length, red cotton with black satin spaghetti straps, and black embroidery on the skirt. She loved it. It came with a black shrug. Would have been a great dress for the evening wedding next week, and then also for a dance. Oh well. Luckily that shape and style is popular right now.

Don't know yet what's for dinner tonight. I have to pick up groceries. It'll be something from the standard American fare, pork chops or one of the chicken breast meals. Depends on what meat the grocer actually has that actually looks acceptable. I'm giving up on the butcher shop. The fresh meats go bad too quickly, but I can't see what I'm buying if I buy the frozen packages (they're in butcher paper). So it's back to Reasor's meats I guess.

Reading list for the boy

2009-02-25T08:50:00.008-06:00

So I spent several hours last night going through book reviews at Amazon and cross-referencing them to the list of books our son can take quizzes on for required reading at school. That was a lot of work, and I'm not done actually, but I am hopeful that I have found a few that will capture his imagination. He is a picky reader. When he finally finds something he likes, he will read non-stop if I would let him. He has stayed up past bedtime reading the last two nights since he started this one. But it's that whole "something he likes" part that hangs us up.

So far the books he has loved without question have been The Giver by Lois Lowry (he's now engrossed with Gathering Blue also by her), Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (he sped through this one in a matter of days, but then the 2nd book didn't keep his attention and he stopped reading), I, Freddy by Dietlof Reiche (and the rest of this series, he loved these), Hoot by Carl Hiassen (he enjoyed it the first time but isn't excited about re-reading it so he can take the quiz). Other than that, he will read the back cover and decide it is not interesting, or start a book and abandon it within the first chapter or two if it's not what he hoped from reading the back. I guess I could be more positive and say he is selective. Or discriminating.

But since he is very interested in the sci-fi and utopian/dystopian themes, I have hunted down a few more along those lines plus some others that may also interest him. He has to read and quiz over one every two weeks. Last semester it was only twice every nine weeks. So I am now armed with a list! And I have tons more to read the reviews over that I haven't gotten to yet but saved the links to those recommendation lists.

I think I need to get him started on Ray Bradbury. Several of those are on the reading list.
...

Now, what's for dinner tonight? Hm. Aha, finally figured it out. Meatloaf and baked potatoes. And I should deep fry that okra that's in the freezer. Maybe if I feel up to it.

Honor in Competitive Gaming

2009-02-24T08:52:00.006-06:00

So I had my chicken soup and the family had fish sticks. Easy no-brainer meal. I seem to be losing my voice today. Fun. Oh well, I'll be better in a few days. No biggie.

Last night I got really ticked on GW. I was watching some Guild vs. Guild (GvG) battles and saw some dishonorable behavior, guilds throwing matches to other guilds. I went and ranted on the Guru forums about it but basically got a few shrugs - while it's looked down on, there's no repercussion mechanic in place. Apparently it's common among some players who use it as a means to earn points. Disgusting.

Oh well. I'm not going to let it ruin my day, although I despise those who play with no consideration for honor. Although I have an idea to compile and publish a list of dishonorable player names that I observe. Kind of a Wall of Shame ...

What with the RA sync'ers (players that synchronize their entry into what is supposed to be a Random match) and us trying to prepare for GvGs again, I'm thinking Team Arenas is the place to go for now, and I'm going to pay closer attention to the team build - not completely dictate it, but ensure it's complete.

Tonight's dinner will be chicken something. I have chicken breast thawing. Fajitas would be nice. I need to see if I have everything I need for it. I need to run to the grocer anyway for other stuff.

I hab da colb

2009-02-23T11:46:00.003-06:00

Waah. I hab da colb. Translation: "I have a cold." I sound funny and my nose is dripping like a faucet.

So I really just want lots and lots of chicken soup. And maybe a roasted onion. Ooo that does sound good. Yesterday on what's his name's show, Anthony Bourdain?, on the food network, he was having fire roasted onions with wine in Spain. Drool.

But I will make something else for the family. Don't know what yet. Oh, forgot to mention Saturday's meal was red beans and rice. That's been a family favorite for eons. I made just a half batch of the Senora Chicken (think cheesy chicken enchilada casserole) yesterday to cut down on leftovers. Although everyone here loves it, the full recipe really makes way too much.

I played some HA yesterday in GW. That's a special PvP arena. Guess I should translate all that too - HA is Heroes Ascent. GW is Guild Wars. PvP is Player vs. Player - you fight against other players; in GW there are various arenas with various team sizes. HA is 8 vs. 8. For the first time I made it to The Courtyard, the sixth of nine hierarchical battlegrounds. I'm still an HA noob, but going with the strategy of playing monk (sort of a healer), it makes it a bit easier to get accepted into a team. I played with mostly the same team for a couple of hours, well five of us stayed together and our other three spots kept dropping, but the party leader was very fast and organized about bringing in replacements to fill the empty spots. That's the key to playing HA - be the party leader, know exactly what you want, kick whoever doesn't comply, and compliment where due. I'm not quite ready for that yet.

Okay that's all I can pry out of my cold-addled brain for now. Lunchtime. Must have soup.

Phone; and Far-reaching Repercussions

2009-02-20T10:20:00.007-06:00

You know what I am craving? That pull-apart bread, not the sweet one, but the buttery one with tons of seeds - sesame and poppy seeds, and cracked pepper. Mmmm.... I think I must make that today. I'm cooking boneless pork sirloin in the crock pot in a creamy sauce. Well, I haven't actually started it yet, but will at lunchtime.

And speaking of lunch, I saved the liver out of the chicken last night so I can have my own little custom fried lunch. I do that since no one else likes liver.

So the Blackberry theme, well I found one for my OS that is chockful of text-icon goodness. It's a great concept to start, but it's not perfect. It doesn't come in any other color and the one it comes in (purple) really looks bad with my phones color (burgundy), and the lock screen and incoming call screen are reminscent of 80's sci-fi-ish graphics. I do love the buttons' graphics, though. If I could just have those in a different color, and have a sidebar home screen, and some other graphic (or customizable graphics) for the incoming calls and lock screen, I'd be thrilled. But it only cost $2.00 so I'm not really complaining. I might just email the developer and see if they have more in the works, or actually I think I will poke around the forums and see if anyone out there knows of another text-based theme.

And now for one completely out-of-the-blue observation: why do some people at businesses act like giving their name is a matter of breaching national security? I really do not get that. What? Are they afraid of getting called? Getting mail? Um. Yeah. Okay. Whatever. It's a business. You do get mail all the time, right? Are you afraid to have your name associated with the business you work for? I really wonder when I am talking to some people. And maybe it's totally gender-prejudiced, but I have yet to speak to a male that would not give his name, but it's always females if they are going to refuse or be evasive about giving their name. Weird. Maybe they are afraid of business stalkers. lol

Oh ... wait ... Oh my gosh ... I know exactly what it is. It's the gossip-tainted females. Those who live in that world of "she said blah blah blah" accusations and mistruths and exaggerations, all. Those that carry tales; and those that listen to tale-bearers. They don't want to give their name because they are psychologically afraid of it being used against them, even in business. Wow. That's deep. And disturbing. They've had their self-esteem, their confidence shattered so completely, destroyed so utterly, that they cannot even claim personal responsibility for a simple phone call or fax in their job.

Or I'm completely reaching (but I really don't think so - I think I've really hit on something here).

New Cell Phone

2009-02-19T21:28:00.003-06:00

Last night we got take out from Sonic, yum, because it took the whole evening to get new cell phones. This Blackberry is a puzzle and a half. I've been wanting a PDA phone for a few years but couldn't justify it when I still had a working Palm Pilot, but once that went kaput I said I would get a PDA phone next time I needed a new phone, as it would be silly to buy a PDA that was not a phone (for the same cost as a phone) and carry two devices around all the time. But my silly phone kept working quite fine for a very long time. Tough old bird she was. But when the speakerphone started giving me trouble a few months ago I finally decided I was okay with giving up on her.

So I began looking around at the options. And I thought I would want the Palm phone -that was about what I had decided when I shopped around online. But when I went to the store and saw and held the Palm compared to the Blackberry, I just wanted the Blackberry. It came in a deep burgundy red. How could I resist?

But of course, now that I've been tinkering around with it for a bit, I'm not sure if I'm going to get used to it or trade it for a Palm. Hubby got the Palm, so I plan to play with it this weekend and really make up my mind. I'm jealous of the stylus. I miss the little stylus. It's just fun.

Okay, so and yeah, it has hot buttons for the calendar and such that I don't get with the Blackberry. Ugh. This is a Curve, 8330. I'm going to search for different themes to see if I can set up the interface differently. It's so icon-dependent. I like text (that's obvious by all my wordiness here, right?). There is one text theme preloaded, but it only listed four options when I tried it yesterday. Maybe with some more experimentation ... At least I figured out how to change the calendar view from daily to weekly to monthly. And got my pop3 email configured. All the setup I want to do isn't near done yet, and half of what I want to do, I don't know if it can do anyway. I have ideas about using it for some occasional remote work when I'm away from the office. I was able to receive and view a fax. But I am going to have to work on my server configurations some more to get it to all dance nicely together. So we'll see.

So tonight I fixed chicken and rice soup (chicken, onions, carrots, rice, salt, pepper, thyme) with biscuits. I needed to cook and debone some chicken meat for Senora Chicken that I'm planning for Sunday, so what better way than to boil a whole chicken and use some meat in the broth for soup, and save the rest for another day? And the kids really devour it, so that's a bonus.