I am a NaBloPoMo Dropout…

Le Sigh! I did not manage to post every day in November, so I guess I am a NaBloPoMo failure. But, I have an excuse don’t I always! I looked back over the posts I was making and realized that I was posting things I normally wouldn’t just so I would have a post for that day, and I wasn’t happy with that. I would rather post less often and post something interesting not boring semi-interesting than to post a bunch and not be happy with it. So, I am going back to posting things when they strike my fancy. LOL!

In the spirit of stuff striking my fancy….. I give you a computer they have taught to think like a cat. Now, at first, I thought “Cool!”. Then I took a moment and looked at my cat considered the implications of having a computer that thinks like a cat. Really…. consider it… do you really want a computer who thinks like a cat? My own cat is capricious, does what she wants, does strange things for no apparent reason, and I have seen her tease the dog, just for fun. Oh wait… never mind! My computer –already- acts like a cat at times, doing what it wants instead of what I want it to!

Procrastination… or Just Pure Laziness?

I have espoused the wonder that is LiveWriter before, and probably will do so again. Anyone who is blogging should at least give this FREE program a try. It not only gives you a WYSIWYG interface, it allows you to post to more than one blog with ease and the touch of the mouse, and it makes the handling of links, catagories, pictures, etc simple and requires absolutely zip knowledge of HTML, CSS, or any other acronym.

With the above paragraph fresh in your mind, you would think that I would be using the newest version of my favorite program, especially since (as before mentioned) it is free. You would be wrong.

I recently turned a returning Blogger on to my very favorite posting miracle and when she had questions, I promptly answered them…. only to have her e-mail back that her version didn’t have a button or some such in the spot I said it was. Turns out that I had an older version of the program on my machine and that the older versions do not check for updates on their own.

So…. the moral to this story? If you have (and love) LiveWriter, you might want to pop over and make sure you have the newest version. The version I have now has a ‘Check for updates’ option under the Help menu. Something that my previous version did not.

End of Public Service Announcement – Oh, and if any one from the government wanders across this endorsement, let it be perfectly clear that I receive nothing from Microsoft for endorsing their product… although I am open to any monetary recompense they would like to pass on to me at any time and for any reason……

Veteran’s Day—2009

Have you hugged a Veteran today?

For this or any previous years official poster click here.

Very Cool Hand Paintings...

I've seen several of these before, including the 4 I have included here. They never cease to fascinate me. The time and artistry that goes into them is amazing. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Click on this Link to go and see more….

Just in Case You were Worried about 12/12/2012

I love when the doomsayers and fanatics grab onto a specific date and start predicting the End of the World. Let’s see, there was the Y2K bug. Uhuh.. computers continued to function, more or less, even until today. Then I remember the world was supposed to end on Jan 1, 2000, even without the Y2K bug (which was only going to destroy technology after all), then when that didn’t happen they realized the new Millennium actually started on Jan 1, 2001, so they changed the day… and still the world didn’t end. This is not a new thing, there have been doomsayers for all of human history, and probably before. I can picture an early human, soon after words were invented, “Ugh! World go away if too many people” or some other such nonsense.

The current End of the World scenario is based on two very different theories. One being the end of the Mayan Calendar. Uh, No! It is only the end of the current calendar cycle, and the Mayans aren’t happy you are trying to make disaster movies out of it. LOL! The second is the ‘discovery’ of a planet that wanders around and is set to crash into ours. Again… Uh, No!

Curious about where these ideas all came from and what the actual scientists have to say about them? Check out this Link from NASA. I think they may be a little more reliable than the guy standing on the street corner wearing the sandwich board and telling you to sign over all of your worldly goods to him before the world ends and you are considered a sinner!

A Public Service Message for the NaNoWriMo Peeps…

I don’t know how many of you out there are doing the NaNoWriMo thing, but I DO know a few of the people who occasionally pass thru here have written a novel or two. Some of you don’t plan to ever publish and only wrote for fun and your own satisfaction. (Pat)  But others have written in the hopes to someday publishing. (Karen) Still others have probably written things I don’t know about.

This link is for you. It’s a link to a Kim Komando article in the USA Today on self-publishing. You may already know of all of these places, there may be a few surprises, or you may never have heard of self-publishing at all. Still, I thought it might be a help to someone, so I’m including it here!

If anyone actually uses this and publishes something, be sure and let me know so I can pimp you!

I Would Walk 500 Miles

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) Lyrics

Chorus:

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked 1000 miles
To fall down at your door

**preformed by The Proclaimers**

I don't know why but when I hear people talking about walking their 10,000 steps it makes me think of this song. If you want the full lyrics, just click on the link.

That seems like a lot of steps... 10,000. And, you are supposed to do them every day. Supposedly if you do that you will lose weight. Just by walking. That sounded like a great (read easy & cheap) idea to me, so I checked out a couple of sites to see what they had to say. The first thing they recommend is that you get a pedometer (you can get a very inexpensive one almost anywhere) and track how many steps you take in a day.

O.k.... easy enough. A quick trip and about $10 later I was in business. I clipped that little guy to my pocket and proceeded about my day. I was ready to find out just how few steps I actually took in a day and then I would know how many more I needed to add to reach the 10,000 step goal and to combat and hopefully get rid of that 7-10 pounds the evil scale says I've picked up recently.

Phhhhtt! I checked it after doing my morning chores and I already had over 5000 steps! I don't even wear the silly thing when I am in the house, and I've done more than 10,000 steps on every day I've worn it. Sigh! So maybe I'll have to do something waaaaay more drastic, like give up chocolate food to keep from getting fat.

Seriously though, the good thing about choosing walking as your exercise is that it is cheap, easy to do, requires practically no equipment other than a pair of comfortable shoes and a little bit of time. I'm working on adding about 2000 more steps to my day starting tomorrow by going for a walk in the evenings. I'll let you know if it actually helps. LOL!

 

No Brainer...

Tonight's entry is a no brainer. I was wondering what I would do for an entry tonight when I realized that I was about to finish Extras by Scott Westerfeld. This is the fourth, and currently last, book of the Uglies series. I have enjoyed these books so much that I am actively seeking out the other things Scott has written, including his newest steam punk novel, Leviathan.

The first 3 books of this series followed Tally Youngblood as she discovers that her society, based on Uglies (unaltered children under 16) and Pretties (people over 16 who have had surgery to make them 'pretty'), has a major flaw or two in it. We followed Tally from a young 'tricky' Ugly, through her discovery of what a Pretty really is after surgery, and finally as a Special as she discovers the scary flaws behind her world and watch as she tries, in her own way, to make it better, and in the process changes her world completely.

The Fourth book, Extras, opens with a new set of characters, in a world that has been altered almost overnight. Each citystate is trying to find it's own way of dealing with the changes, and we enter the world of Aya. In her society, it's all about being famous, and Aya thinks that, if she can only raise herself up into the top face rank and quit being an Extra, she will finally be happy. The first half of the book is all about Aya chasing a story and finding more than she bargained for. Just as Aya becomes the famous story Kicker that she has always dreamed of, it all starts to go terribly wrong.

The second part of the book finds Aya discovering that the world is not always as it seems, and maybe, just maybe, there is more to the world than having a high face rank. With the appearance of one of the most famous 'Faces' in Aya's world, Tally Youngblood, Aya finds herself caught up in what she thinks is an effort to save the world, but turns out to not be quite what she thought it was.

I enjoyed all four books in this series and would recommend them to anyone, young or old. I'm also hoping that this won't be Scott's last foray into this fascinating world. If I had a teenager on my holiday list, this set of books would definitely make a great present. 

Procrastination...

Today is the 4th of November. It has been 4 days since Halloween, and I still haven't managed to 'decorate' around here for the next holiday. I did, at least, manage to get the Halloween stuff gone and throw my everyday (i.e. boring) template back up here. Now, what does all of that have to do with the word Procrastination? Follow me here and you shall be enlightened.

• Because I always want something unique, I can't just go out and find a Template. Oh no! I have to create something.... And, since I am going to need something for Christmas also, let's make both templates at once. Since this seems like it will take some work, I manage to keep finding something else to do and put it off for another day.
• What better place to procrastinate than... The Internet! Why Yes, I do have a FaceBook account. And someone whom I care about sent me a 'gift'. To accept the gift I had to start a Farmville account. This has led me down the rabbit hole of planting/harvesting/gifting that is the Farmville addiction  experience.
• Which led to one of my Farmville neighbors sending me a Yoville invite. The rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper.
• And then there are the Blogs.... Oh the blogs. You people have so much to say and your lives are not boring like mine interesting and your views enlightening and must be read as soon as you post.
• Also, let's not forget about making Blog posts. Sitting and looking at a blank screen and trying to come up with an idea cause it is NaBloPoMo.
• And e-mail... and RSS news feeds... and...

Yep, I can find a hundred things to do that don't involve accomplishing anything at all. But, I did at least manage to get this post up before Midnight.

Oh, and if any of you are on FaceBook.... I could use 2 more neighbors in Farmville and a couple of people for my crew in YoVille........

Random Cool Photo Thingy...

I found this really cool thing over at the National Geographic site. It will take a little while to load, but be patient. Once it is loaded the fun can begin. Keep clicking on the 'yellow square' in the picture. This is one of those panoramic pictures made up of smaller pictures that together make one, but it is huge. Each time you click on a picture there are more inside of it. The site probably explains it better than I ever could:

What makes up our world? Dive into this photo-mosaic portrait of the Earth to see it through the eyes of users like you. It's made up of hundreds of photos of the natural world, each submitted by users to My Shot. (Submit a photo) Move the yellow square over an area you would like to explore, click, and go. Double-click on an image to see more information about it. Keep clicking—and diving deeper into the Infinite Photograph—to get a truly boundless picture of Earth.

Go there now! Explore! What are you still doing here?!?

Found: Missing Blogger

When we all moved over here to Blogger when AOL kicked us out, some people got lost, or went missing, or didn't make the move, or sometimes they just had a lot going on in their lives and haven't been around for a while. It's sad, but we lost quite a few of our friends due to differing circumstances.

Today I have good news. One of our little lost Sheep has returned to the Blogging fold. I know I don't have a huge bunch of people who read here, but if you remember Stacy, drop on over to her place and welcome her back!

November is a Busy Month

For the last few years I have considered October and Halloween/Samhain to be the kick-off for the Holiday Season. From October till the beginning of January we seem to be busy, busy, busy!

Today I began the process of morphing our yard/house from the Halloween theme to a more Thanksgiving one. Several of the elements are kept, some things taken down (like the ghost and the spider lights), while other things are left in place or moved (my fall leaf garlands, pumpkin bells). This seems to be a little tougher this year. I don't know what it is like in your part of the country, but here the stores seem to have gone right from Halloween decor to Christmas! I only found a little tiny corner of Thanksgiving things when I went looking. Sigh!

Besides gearing up for the Holidays, November is also a busy month because of two month long events that many in our blogging community will be taking part in. They are NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).

The one most of our community will be taking part in is, of course, NaBloPoMo. Since I rarely manage to make more than a couple of entries a month, I did not join over at the website. I do, however, plan to take a stab at it. I'm betting I'll be lucky to make it a week! Still, if you want to give it a shot, click on the link and head over there. Even though I don't see myself making it a whole month, I am looking forward to reading everyone else's efforts.

NaNoWriMo, on the other hand, is for those of you out there who think you may have a novel in you. This writing exercise actually came first and the Blogging one was created later. I know a couple of writers who are going to give it a go, and I thought I would give them a couple of links that might help them along. It seems that Justine Larbalestier (How to Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, and more) and Scott Westerfeld (The Uglies Series, Leviathon, and more) are going to be taking turns giving out tips. Here is what Justine has to say:

Tomorrow is the first day of National Novel Writing Month. Although I’ve never taken part in it and probably never will,¹ I think it’s an awesome way for beginning writers to learn the art of the first draft. I know many pro writers who also use the month to help them slay their deadlines. Nothing like knowing you have comrades-in-arms in your writing struggles.

Scott and me decided that we’ll spend the month offering tips. Scott’s tips will be over on his blog and will appear on the odd numbered days of November, mine will be here on the even days. Though as I’m still deep in Liar promotion, I can’t guarantee my tips will be 100% true. Who knows? Maybe Micah will take over for a few of them?

While I am not going to be doing NaNoWriMo any more than I will be doing NaBloPoMo, I am still going to be following these tips. Both of these people are writers I respect and I think anything they have to say would be enlightening to anyone who writes!

Oh, and this totally counts as my first day blog post!

How do YOU plan to spend the month of November?