Archive for April, 2006

B is For …

Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Fun Stuff

I was given this letter by John. The idea is that I have a letter and I have to come up with ten words starting with that letter and then talk about them. Let’s see what I can come up with for the letter B.

  1. Books. One of my favorite things to do in my spare time (I know, that’s kind of funny), is read books. I’ve always liked reading, even when I was too young and had books read to me instead.
  2. Brown. The color that my hair would be if it weren’t somewhere between the red that I’m coloring it and the grey that it wants to be.
  3. Brief. Something that I honestly have never learned how to be when writing or talking. SMILE!
  4. Bubble Bath. Okay so that’s two words, but it’s all one thing. I never seem to have enough time anymore for these, but I used to love sitting in the bubbles and trying to squash them all in the tub. I kind of made a game out of it.
  5. Breakfast. This is the meal that I most often don’t bother eating. I don’t like getting up early, but I like eating something early in the morning even less. It kind of makes my stomach turn.
  6. Blush. People enjoy embarrassing me, and unfortunately there are times when it happens a lot. I’ve been told that people can really read my moods on my face, (which means that I’m an absolutely terrible liar too by the way), and people love to embarrass me. It’s all good though, nothing cruel.
  7. Brownies. Is that too close to brown? Too bad. I absolutely love brownies, especially if they don’t have any nuts. I’ll have to write an entry about the ones I made for Jim’s birthday though. Man, what a disaster!
  8. Breathing. Something that we all have to do, but typically don’t even think about. Hey, I’m getting desperate here, leave me alone!
  9. Burgers. Give them to me any time! I love them with mushrooms and cheese, and pretty much any kind of sauce.
  10. Bubble-wrap. Now this stuff is fun! I love to take it and try to pop it as quick as possible, and get as many of the little bubble things as possible at one shot. I finally end up giving up and jumping on it. Kind of dorky maybe, but it’s a great stress-reliever.

Okay, so now it’s your turn. If you’re feeling so inclined, comment on this and I’ll assign you a letter. We’ll see what happens.

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Have a Banana!

Friday, April 28, 2006 at 1:55 pm · Filed under General

I got this as an email, so not sure exactly what the source is, so hope I’m not going to get arrested by the cyber police. Just think, bananas are one of the fruits that I’ll eat!

After Reading THIS, you’ll NEVER look at a banana in the same way  again!
Bananas, containing three natural sugars -  sucrose, fructose and glucose, combined with fiber, give an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.  Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout.  No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.  But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit.  It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and  conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression:
According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst  people suffering from depression, many felt much better after  eating a banana.  This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a  type of protein that the body converts into serot onin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS:
Forget the pills — eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which  can affect your mood.

Anemia:
High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure:
This unique tropical  fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it  the perfect way to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to  make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power:
200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power.  Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation:
High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers:
One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to  make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood  sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn:
Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness:
Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites:
Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin.  Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves:
Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the  nervous system.

Overweight and at work?
Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads  to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients,  researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs.  The  report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood  sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers:
The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness.  It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases.  It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of  the stomach.

Temperature control:
Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit that can lower both the physical  and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is  born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD):
Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking:
Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking.  The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress:
Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance.  When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes:
According to research in “The New England Journal of Medicine,” eating bananas as part of a  regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills.  When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrates, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.  It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around.  So maybe its time to change that well-known  phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”

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Oops

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 3:52 pm · Filed under General

Well, I gave the site a facelift yet again. I noticed the other day that the theme I was using didn’t have the archives listed, and I wanted to make sure they were there somewhere. So, since It’s late April, and spring is really trying hard to come, I figured I’d go with a theme that might make people think spring. I just wish sometimes that I could create my own custom theme instead of having to pick from an existing one. Oh well, things could definitely be worse. Please let me know if it’s hard to read or navigate and I’ll try again.

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Jim’s Last Birthday Present; The Wave of the Future?

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 8:59 am · Filed under Updates

At 8:45 this morning our phone rang. It was FedEx delivering Jim’s package that I wrote about on Monday. I got a shipment notification yesterday, but wasn’t expecting it until later this week or the beginning of next week. If this is any indication of the company’s customer service, I’ll take it. Anyway though, I can talk about it now because Jim knows what it is, and in fact, has played with it.

One of the podcasts on Blind Cool Tech talked about something called Play Away audio books. The idea behind it is that there is this little device, (basically nothing more than an MP3 player), that has the audio book loaded onto it. It’s small, (smaller than the Book Port for those who have those or know the size of them), and has 8 buttons on the front. There’s a little tiny visual display, but that’s not important for the functioning of the book. It comes with a battery preinstalled and a set of ear buds which will likely never be used by either of us because we can’t stand them. The buttons allow you to play and stop (of course), navigate by chapter, rewind and fast-forward, change the volume, and change the speed. Apparently changing the speed doesn’t have any effect on the voice quality either, but I haven’t played with that yet. There is also a bookmark button, but the review I listened to indicated that the bookmark may have been pretty visual so I don’t know much about it. The nice thing too is that the buttons are really well defined. They’re not like the buttons on some newer cell phones that only take up about a quarter of the size of the phone. (Sorry for anyone using a Nokia phone that matches that description. SMILE!)

Anyway, ever since Jim was a kid he’s always liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. All the way through school, and even all through college pretty much, he’d get that book from the library at Christmas time and read it. He’s watched both movies also. I heard that this was one of the titles available and thought it’d be a really cool thing to get him. I went to the web site to see where the closest retail location was, only to discover that there was one possibility in our area, and it was a location I had absolutely no intention of going to. So, the other option was to purchase online. I went and looked at their titles and found Charlie, with a bonus. Not only does it have the original book, but it also contains Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. So, on this little MP3 player thing he’s got two books, read by a guy that he really likes, and it’s something that he’ll be able to keep and read any time he wants.

I said that it came with a battery all ready, but obviously you can change the battery if you need to. It’d be kind of pointless if it only worked until the battery went dead. It would sort of defeat the purpose of paying for the audio.

So, that’s it. I personally think that if this thing takes off and becomes available in more stores, it’s going to be the new wave in audio books. I mean, who wants to carry around a box of tapes or CDs when they can carry around a little thing in their pocket or purse and not have to change the tape or disk every hour or so. Kind of a no-brainer, right? Let’s hope that this thing takes off!

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Man I’m Weird!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 7:16 am · Filed under Fun Stuff

I saw this on another blog yesterday morning, but wasn’t tagged. Today however, I was tagged by Puppybraille so thought I’d do it. Let’s see what I can come up with for this. SMILE!

  1. I like to mix chili with macaroni and cheese. It makes this really interesting yet flavorful meal.
  2. When at a place, like McDonalds, I don’t mix foods. I start with my fries and then my burger. It is, however, all right to mix soda with fries and burgers as long as the fries and burger stay separate.
  3. When riding in a vehicle I have to be on the right side. If I’m on the left I feel really funny and tend to get nauseated.
  4. I keep my cell phone on 24 hours a day just in case it rings.
  5. I don’t like any sport; baseball, football, basketball, that kind of thing.
  6. I don’t like seafood or eggs, and they tend to make me sick. However, I can eat tuna on a sandwich or in casserole, and I will eat deviled eggs by the pan.

Okay, that was actually harder than I thought it would be. Now though, the next part of this is to pick 6 people to tag to do this next. Two of my regular people have done it all ready, so not sure I can hit 6, but here goes anyway.

  1. Sas
  2. Wynter
  3. Jim
  4. Snowflake
  5. Anyone else who has a blog and is reading this. If you do this and I didn’t list you, please leave a comment so that I can see what you’ve written.

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Pizza Pizza

Monday, April 24, 2006 at 3:09 pm · Filed under Updates

Well, today is Jim’s birthday, and he wanted to celebrate it by going to Rocky Rococo Pizza which is his favorite pizza place around. For anybody not familiar with Rocky’s, they specialize in square, deep dish crust pizzas. If you don’t like thick crust, don’t go here! I happen to prefer thick crust so this wasn’t a problem for me. So we ate there and went to Barnes & Noble and got him a couple of books on the history of Great Lakes Ship wrecks. I got his main birthday present of two Chicago Cubs shirts a while ago. He doesn’t consider the Milwaukee Brewers to be a real team even though we’re right in Milwaukee, so he’s a diehard Cubs fan. I got him one other thing, but I can’t write about it here yet because I ordered it at about 10:30 PM last night and it won’t be here for a couple of days. If he didn’t read my blog I’d write about it but since he does … I could always write about it in a passworded entry and then have anyone who wants the password send me an email and ask for it, but I don’t think I’m even that cruel. SMILE! The one thing I will say is that it’s something I heard about on the Blind Cool Tech podcast from a couple of days ago. It’s a review of something done by two women. I’m not saying any more than that, but if you listen to that podcast you may figure out what it is, even if you don’t know which one I got.

Last night I decided to try putting Calamine Lotion on my neck and I’m really impressed. Despite the fact that typically expensive medications are prescribed to get rid of this thing, the calamine is doing a really good job of both reducing the itch and shrinking the blisters. Who needs the doctors anyway! SMILE!

Well, I’m going to go for now and read a book. I’m currently reading The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card. It’s different, but I’m enjoying it. It’s a Science Fiction book about a group of people on a planet who lived their lives with no pain or accidents until one day it’s as if someone tampered with their minds and made them start feeling again. Then these two people show up who can read minds, and they want a 14-year-old boy to write a book about their story. I’m not good at giving descriptions of this kind of thing, and from my description it sounds kind of boring, but it’s really not. So, I’m going to go read.

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Sunlight Is Not My Friend!

Sunday, April 23, 2006 at 4:26 pm · Filed under About Me, Updates

Well, so this isn’t entirely true. I actually really like the sun. Unfortunately, it doesn’t like me very much. I don’t tan in the summer, I burn. My skin is so light that some people have said that it looks like I never get out. This is, in effect, mostly true, but there’s a good reason; one that I tend to forget about each year until I am painfully reminded.

During my senior year of high school I was around some kids who had Chicken Pox. I’ve all ready had it, thank you very much, so I wasn’t overly concerned. Unfortunately, the same virus that causes Chicken Pox is also responsible for a couple of other things. Not long after being exposed to these kids, I developed these major sores on the right side of my neck. They were painful and itchy. I had a really hard time turning my head, and my right ear felt like it does when I’ve got an infection. It took several doctors, and about three weeks of no treatment to discover that the source of this problem was caused by Herpes Simplex Virus 1. Don’t confuse this with HSV2, which is the genital form; I most likely wouldn’t be writing about that if it were the case. Anyway, there are also a couple of other names for this, the most common one is Shingles. Unfortunately, unlike Chicken Pox, this is not a one-time deal.

My first outbreak was, as I said, during my senior year, and the dermatologist I saw attributed it to being around the kids with Chicken Pox. The next time I got it I did at least know what it was, but not what caused it because I hadn’t been around anyone. It turns out that because this thing stays dormant there are several things that can trigger it. One thing is stress. I’m pretty sure it was during my first semester at college, and that was the semester from hell, so I’m not surprised that I broke out.

Since then I’ve had it several times, and in most cases it’s been okay. I broke out around the time Jim and I got married, (again probably due to the stress of planning a wedding), and other times. None of them were as bad as the first time as far as the discomfort, size, and number of blisters, with the exception of last summer. I went to the Wisconsin State Fair and spent several hours in the sun. A couple of days later, there it was, and it was awful! I can’t even begin to describe the way it feels, but people have told me that on me it looks like a giant hicky. It doesn’t help that it’s always right on my neck either. SMILE! So, add another way of calling up the magic, so to speak.

So, I know that putting myself in the sun can cause this thing to come to the surface, but I never seem to be able to remember. On Thursday when I went on my road trip I was in a car and the sun was coming in my window both coming and going because of the time of day. I didn’t even give it a second thought, until yesterday morning. I happened to reach up to the spot, and there it was; the beginning of yet another outbreak. It didn’t itch, and it really wasn’t all that painful, so I hoped that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Well, today it’s as annoying and painful as it usually is. So, this means I need to start making sure that I keep my hands clean, don’t touch the spot, and avoid, whenever possible, coming in contact with people. It’s contagious, and normally requires medication to treat. Unfortunately friends and neighbors, that’s not in the cards so it’s just going to have to do its thing and go away on its own. Just keep reminding me though that sunshine is not my friend. Sunshine is my enemy.

It kind of reminds me of that song that Peter, Paul and Mary did about the Lemon tree.

Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet. But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

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What Does My Name Mean?

Saturday, April 22, 2006 at 4:14 pm · Filed under Fun Stuff

I agree with most of these. Not too bad …

CAROLINE
C is for Charismatic
A is for Arty
R is for Relaxed
O is for Outrageous
L is for Lucky
I is for Intense
N is for Naive
E is for Emotional

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I’m a Flower?

Saturday, April 22, 2006 at 4:10 pm · Filed under Fun Stuff

Well, I have a really hard time thinking of myself as a flower but … And me, delicate?


You Are a Blue Flower


A blue flower tends to represent peace, openness, and balance.
At times, you are very delicate like a cornflower.
And at other times, you are wise like an iris.
And more than you wish, you’re a little cold, like a blue hydrangea.

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Caboom!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 at 6:50 pm · Filed under General, Updates

Well, the title about says it all. Today I went down town to the Wisconsin Regional Library to meet with someone that works at the Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped, which is housed in the same facility as our regional library. Everything went well, and I was ahead of schedule. The buses were on time, the weather was nice, and I was enjoying the day. The only problem was that since Milwaukee is right on Lake Michigan, every spring if the wind is out of the east everything smells absolutely horrible because of all the stuff that has been washed up on the shore, so I had to deal with that for a while.

So anyway, I was walking home from the bus stop, which is only about a block and a half away from my apartment building. I have to cross one street, but the crossing isn’t a big deal at all, and normally I have absolutely no trouble with it. Unfortunately, today I wasn’t so lucky. I brought Jim with me today just for fun, and he and I were talking while we walked home. When we were almost up to the corner this person on a motor cycle pulled up to the intersection. Those engines are so loud, and even though I seriously doubt that this machine was a Harley it was still loud enough. It messed up my orientation just enough for my left foot to slip off of the curb and I went down. Considering what could have happened I’m just fine. I’ve sprained my ankles so many times that normally every time I fall it’s because of a twisted ankle. Not this time. I can say that for once my ankles didn’t twist. I landed on my right hand and my right knee. I skidded a little bit and was expecting either torn pants, torn and bloody skin, or both. When I got home though I discovered that there was neither. I’m really sore from the knee down to my shin, so I’m sure it’s pretty bruised up, but I’m not sure I want to know. My muscles everywhere else are pretty sore now too; probably because I think I tensed up really bad as I was falling. I know, probably the wrong thing to do, but it was sort of instinct. So, we’ll see how I’m doing in the morning. Just call me grandma. SMILE! The only other averted tragedy in this was my Pac Mate. It landed face-down on the cement. Fortunately it’s working normally and was very well protected in the Executive Products leather case that I bought for it. Way to go leather!

Speaking of leather, me and my Book Port have had some interesting experiences all ready. It’s typically in my purse with me whenever I leave the apartment. Unfortunately, even with the keypad locked, I’ve had a couple of occasions where it had reset itself to factory settings, or lost my place in my book. So, I placed an order on Friday for the leather Book Port case, also from Executive Products. It’ll be here on Friday. I didn’t exactly like the $44.95 price tag for a little case, but I really feel that in the end it’ll be worth it, especially for protection.

Well, I’ve got to pack up my laptop because I’m going on another road trip tomorrow, and American Idol is coming on in about fifteen minutes, so I’m going to go for now. more later.

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Stuff

Monday, April 17, 2006 at 5:37 pm · Filed under Updates

Well, I’m back. I was really hoping to post yesterday, but due to the fact that Word Press was down I couldn’t. Anyway though, I’m back today.

First off, I finished My Sister’s Keeper last night. All I can say is, WOW!!!! I totally wasn’t expecting that ending. I’m not going to give anything away here but WOW!!!!

Yesterday I made pretty much the traditional Easter dinner of ham. We also had corn, cheesy mashed potatoes and biscuits. We ended up with a 5-pound ham, so we’ve got lots of left-overs. I really like it that way though because it means sandwiches and other things. I divide it up enough so that we don’t start getting the uncontrollable desire to go rolling in the mud squeaking and squealing. It’s nice too because then I don’t have to make something new every single day. Left-overs are just never a bad thing, unless they were bad to begin with, and then they’re even worse later. SMILE!

Last week I decided to make home-made pizza. Okay, so I cheated just a little; we got frozen crust. It turned out really great though. I got a pound of ground sausage and a pound of sliced mushrooms, and we won’t even talk about the amount of shredded cheese! A jar of pizza sauce and I was set. I ended up making two pizzas since the crust was a 2-pack, so we had one one day and one the next. It was great, and you can’t compare a home-made pizza to a frozen one or even from a pizza restaurant. My toppings were the best! SMILE!

Well, not too much else has been happening for me. I’ve been working as usual, and enjoying the chances I have to sit around and do nothing. Tonight is the first of the last four episodes of Seventh Heaven, and I’m totally bummed about it. that’s an awesome show and I’m really going to miss it. I’ll have to find some other way to spend my Monday nights.

Okay, so that’s about it for now. I’ve got to get on Skype pretty soon for a conference call for the AAWSVH Program Committee/exhibits subcommittee meeting. Is that a mouthful or what? My two committee members are both on Skype, so I figured I’d use that for our way to meet rather than using another form of conference call. Hey, it’s free, right? SMILE!

Well, that’s it for me. More later.

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Interesting Thought

Saturday, April 15, 2006 at 3:03 pm · Filed under Reflections

At the suggestion of Sas, I have started reading My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, which I was able to get unabridged from Audible. I’m about two hours into the book and I’m absolutely hooked. The thing is, it really brings up some interesting questions about ethics. The book is about a family with three kids. The oldest girl has a rare form of Leukemia, and the younger daughter was pretty much hand-picked to be her perfect match donor. I’ve actually heard of parents who have chosen to have another child to attempt to save the life of another, but I’ve never heard of anyone going quite this far to make it happen. It’s really bringing up some interesting questions for me though. In my mind I’m asking how any parent could create a living human for the sole purpose of using him/her to save someone else. But, at the same time I’ve never had kids, I don’t know what it feels like to watch someone you love die slowly and painfully, and therefore I can’t put myself into the shoes of these parents who did this. I’m not normally one to analyze the books I read, and that’s why I had such a hard time in school trying to dissect books. When I read I read for the fun of it, not to determine why the main character did this or that. This book though has changed all that.

I think the book is made even more enjoyable by the fact that it alternates between each person’s viewpoint, and each time this happens a different narrator takes up the reading. So it’s as if you start to actually hear the voices of the characters. I’ve actually heard of this author before, and started reading Salem Falls, but haven’t gotten very far with it, not because I didn’t like it, but because I don’t seem to have any time to actually really read. At least with audio books I can do things while I’m reading. I’m going to see what other books Audible has by Jodi. This book is definitely worth the read though.

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Podcasts

Friday, April 14, 2006 at 7:04 am · Filed under General

Well, over the past couple of days I’ve been listening to several different sessions of Blind Cool Tech. I have of course been using the Book Port to listen with a pair of headphones. I read on the Book Port user list that there is a hardware issue that causes stereo audio to be reversed, so that what is normally in the left channel is heard through the right, so on and so forth. But, before going to bed last night I listened to two of these files. I don’t know what Larry uses to record, but he said that he’s using two microphones. The sound that he gets from those two microphones with a pair of stereo headphones is absolutely unbelievable! I was listening to one thing where he was eating lunch with a couple of people, and I felt like I was there with him. I heard cars on the street, and could even tell what direction they were coming from. (Actually at one point it sounded so real that I thought a car was going to hit me.) Then he had something up there from April 10 that I listened to. He was walking home from work at APH. He said the day was really windy, but I really didn’t hear too much wind sound. What I did hear though, was again, absolutely terrific stereo sound. In this situation as he walked I could tell what kind of streets he was crossing, and even if he was passing by buildings. I don’t know if what he’s doing is intentional, or if it’s just because of the equipment, but whatever it is, I love it! It was like being in some sort of 3-D soundscape thing and being right in the middle of everything. Now that I have a little bit more room on my card I need to check for new episodes but I wanted to talk about it because it was just the coolest thing I’ve heard in a while.

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About Time!

Monday, April 10, 2006 at 8:45 pm · Filed under Updates

Well, here I am again. Let’s see where this post leads me.

First of all, I wanted to let everyone know that I finished Cell at about 11:00 PM last night. Man, that was some book. Very interesting, and some really interesting twists that I really didn’t expect. I think it could have gone on a bit longer, but that’s just me. I don’t like open endings.

In other news, I heard that someone from Google said that by the end of April there will be an audio option added to their site. I hope it happens. I’d really like to sign up for a gmail account, but I’ve got two problems. First, I can’t seem to get an invitation, (I keep asking people and they keep forgetting to send me the invites), and second, I don’t have someone around to read for me, and I’d rather not have a Google employee setting up my account for me. Stubborn? maybe so, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. SMILE! I know I could have someone else set it up for me too, but it’s just something that I used to be able to do alone, and I want to be able to do it on my own again. Changing a password is a simple thing, it’s just that I shouldn’t have to rely on someone else.

I think spring has finally come to Wisconsin. We had temperatures somewhere in the 60s today, and they’re talking 70 for tomorrow! And I almost forgot what the sun was like. I’m sure we’ve got more rain coming, but at least for now it’s nice weather and I’m going to take advantage of it.

The office is going to be closed on Friday so I’ve got a short week. On Wednesday I’m going to the capital for the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired Legislative Day. We’ll be able to talk with legislators about different things, and the day is going to be packed. It’s not mandatory for Council members to attend, but I know that last year they kept track of who was all there. I think that only one person missed last year. So, that pretty much leaves me with two more days this week to work. It’s going to be a nice long weekend. I don’t have a clue what we’re going to do for Easter though, but I suppose it’s about time to start planning for that so that we can get the groceries and stuff.

I caught up on all the blogs that I read on Saturday night so I’m back up to speed there. It’s nice to know that I’m still able to keep up with this stuff SMILE!

This is a little thing, but for me it’s kind of a major accomplishment. I am admittedly normally really bad when it comes to software disks. I install the drivers for things that I need, and then the disks just sort of disappear. I have a couple of places where they usually go, and lately I’ve been getting a lot better. But, I needed to find the driver disk for my scanner before Thursday. I figured that mine was a lost cause, so I went through someone else’s disks thinking that maybe she had the disk since she has a similar scanner model. Unfortunately that didn’t work. I could get the drivers off the Epson web site, but I needed more than the drivers, so I knew I had to keep looking. I have a zip lock bag that I use for the software that is currently on my computer, along with my restore DVD in case I need to crash and burn this hard drive. Unfortunately, there was no scanner disk in there. I went through a box of disks that were collected over time, and still no scanner disk. I was about to call in to the office to say that I had absolutely no clue where my disk was, but then I had one more thought. When we moved my desk last September there were two boxes that pretty much held everything that was on my desk when it was being cleared off. Those boxes ended up in the walk-in closet in our bedroom. Normally I beg poor Jim to go in after this stuff, but he wasn’t home, and I really needed to get this disk. I knew where he’d put the boxes, so I figured I’d go in myself and have a look. I came across a bunch of stuff, and then I hit pay dirt! Not only did I find the disk that I thought was the scanner software, but I also found the documentation and slide piece. The only thing was, I didn’t know which Epson model it was for. We’ve gone through several over the last couple of years between mine and Jim’s scanners failing at the worst possible times, (oh and then there was the problem of a great scanner Jim had not being compatible with windows XP when he finally upgraded), so I had to run a test of the disk. If I’d been thinking I would have just scanned the documentation that was with the disk, but I wasn’t thinking about it at that point. I went through the entire installation and heard absolutely no reference to the scanner model number. So, I ended up scanning the paperwork anyway and discovered that it definitely was the correct disk. The CD is now resting quite happily with all my other current software on a shelf here in my office. I just love it when I find something I’m looking for!

Well, now I have to go and read another book. I can’t help it. I love my Book Port!!!!

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It’s Been a While

Thursday, April 6, 2006 at 5:45 pm · Filed under Updates

Well, things have been pretty crazy this week. I’ve actually been out every day this week, and have been doing a lot. The good news is that, after three long weeks, my Book Port arrived yesterday! It’s been great! I love the alarms feature because I can set alarms for reminders during the day rather than trying to remember certain things. also, when I travel, I now have a very nice small alarm clock. Of course, there are tons of other things I like about it too, but that’s definitely a neat thing. I’m getting a 1 GB card tonight, so I’ll be able to listen to quite a bit of stuff. I’ve got that book, Cell, that I was talking about a couple of entries back, and I’ve started reading it. So far it’s really a good book, and I’ll be transferring it over to my new card once I get it. I’ve got a couple of Web Braille books on there that I’ve been meaning to read; (maybe I should put The Notebook up there since i can never seem to find the time to actually sit down and really read it), and a couple of remaining Podcasts left over from CSUN that I want to listen to. I’ve got a road trip coming up on Saturday so I should have time to do some serious reading. The thing that really impresses me though is that even after a day, my battery is still reporting 100 percent. I hope that’s a good sign and not a problem with my unit. SMILE!

In other news, I’m feeling totally detached from the world at large. I haven’t had Feed Reader open in a couple of days, partly because I forgot to open it, and partly because I’ve been upgrading JAWS private Beta builds and need to reboot so wanted to wait until that was out of the way before opening the program again. So, I haven’t gotten to read any blogs since maybe Tuesday. I know i could read them the normal way, but I just haven’t done it yet. Tonight I’ll be able to catch up.

The weather has been absolutely wonderful the past couple of days. After sending all the rain to North Carolina I feel much better. SMILE! We’ve had lots of sun, and we’ve been able to have our windows open. I’m not talking about any 70 degrees or anything like that, but it sure beats 20 and 30!

Well, I haven’t eaten supper yet so I think I’m going to go and get that taken care of. I just hadn’t written in a while and wanted to post something so that people wouldn’t think I’d fallen off the planet.

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