Saturday 9: Heartbeat

Saturday 9: Heartbeat Song (2015)

 . . . because Cat recommended it
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Kelly Clarkson is singing an upbeat song about falling in love. Think of your favorite love song. Is it about finding love or losing it?

A. Finding it and keeping it. Longer by Dan Folgerberg (my brother sang it at my wedding).

2) This song was co-written by Kara DioGuardi, who was a judge on American Idol. Kelly was, of course, the first American Idol. Do you watch Idol, The Voice, or America's Got Talent?

A. I do not watch any of those shows.

3) In this video, Kelly is blonde. Clairol based a famous ad campaign around the assertion that "blondes have more fun." Tell us another commercial catchphrase (it can be for any product at all).

A. Where's the beef? That's an old one - 1984 Wendy's ad. At my age, maybe it should be Help, I've fallen and I can't get up.

4) As a young girl, Kelly wanted to be a marine biologist. She jokes that she changed her mind after seeing Jaws. Tell us about a movie that really scared you.

A. Rosemary's Baby (the 1968 film, not the new version). In the movie, a pregnant woman thinks her husband has made a pact with their weird neighbors, believing he may have promised them the child to be used as a human sacrifice in their occult rituals in exchange for success in his acting career. I watched it when I was 10 and it scared the life out of me.

5) Kelly is very involved with NASCAR, performing at pre-race concerts and appearing at their Champions' Breakfast. Are you a race fan?

A. My husband is. He watches most NASCAR races. By default, I know more about the sport than I would otherwise.

6) Kelly is married to Brandon Blackstock, stepson of country superstar Reba McEntire. Are you a country music fan?

A. Not really. Pop country, or crossover country, maybe. There are some country songs that I remember from childhood and still sing. I listen to adult contemporary.

7) The Blackstocks have a baby girl, River Rose. In May, the family visited an Australian wildlife preserve and introduced her to koalas and kangaroos. Have you visited the zoo this year?

A. I haven't visited a zoo in 30 years.

8) Upon learning that she was getting criticized on Twitter for being "big," Kelly responded, "Say what you will. It's a free world. It doesn't bother me." How about you? Do you worry what other people think of you?

A. Of course I do. But not as much as I once did. I'm older now and it doesn't matter so much. Unfortunately, I have always had very thin skin and while time has aged it, it hasn't necessarily made it calloused.

9) She bid over $200,000 and won a ring that had once belonged to Jane Austen. (She doesn't have the ring, though; the British government banned its sale because it's a historic artifact and Kelly's money was returned.) She also has a first edition of one of Austen's novels. Who is your all-time favorite writer?

A. I cannot name a single favorite author. If pressed, I would have to respond with Tolkien, I suppose.


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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Windows 10

So my new Dell was determined to upgrade to Windows 10 yesterday even though I had asked it to schedule the upgrade to today (Friday). Yesterday morning at 7 a.m. the computer began asking me to do the upgrade. I had a few hours before I had somewhere to be, so I hit "install now."

All was going well and then the power blipped. We've been having strange electrical outages for about a month now, usually at 10 minutes to the hour, as if something at the substation is cycling through and not working properly. I'm not an electrician, so I don't really know.

I have my computer on a battery backup so the computer stayed on. But the blip interrupted the internet signal and the next thing I knew my computer had reset itself back to Windows 8.1.

I was infuriated because the first attempt failed, having wanted a clean and untarnished effort, but the power blip was not Microsoft's fault. I think things like that come back to haunt you, though, with little trickles of data stuck someplace they're not supposed to be.

Windows 8.1 had problems and I was not a big fan. I have it on my MS Surface, which I rarely use because I find the OS frustrating. My Surface has not received any kind of notification about the update, so I am assuming it is stuck with Windows 8.1. It's a first generation product.  After using Windows 8.1 on the PC, where I could figure it out, I was able to make more sense of it. But that OS is made for tablets, not a desktop.

And here is where Windows 10 also fails. Why does MS want to make everything work the same? A desktop is not a tablet nor is it a phone. Microsoft appears to want to force things to the cloud, ultimately doing away with the need for hard drives. I don't want my stuff in the cloud, thank you very much. My documents belong to me, not to Microsoft or anybody else. I have no illusions that at some point in the future, there will be proprietary issues over manuscripts and other intellectual property stored on the cloud. Written a best seller? You stored it in the cloud - now give Microsoft its cut. Maybe I am paranoid but that is what I believe will happen in a future closer than we think.

At any rate, after the first failed attempt, I tried again later in the afternoon and this time all went well. I spent several hours fiddling with the new OS to set up my "charms." There are still a few things I'd like to tweak but I can't find the way to tweak them, however.

So on to Windows 10. What do I like? I like that the start button is back, and it doesn't take me three steps to find the power button. I immediately turned off the much-touted Corona, which is supposed to be a helpful digital assistant but which to me was such an invasion of privacy that I would prefer to have the option to remove it completely, but do not.

Microsoft Edge doesn't work with Norton, yet, so I am still using Internet Explorer (also available). They put Solitaire back where you don't have to enter Xbox crap to play the game, but the update of the game is messy and I prefer the cleaner lines of earlier Solitaire versions.

All of the programs that I had installed a few weeks ago under Windows 8.1 work fine, including my outdated version of MS Outlook 2003, which I use for a calendar and contact list, along with Office 2007. I am not going to a subscription version of Office ever, which makes me think that at some point I will need to try out OpenOffice or some other word processing program.

Windows 10 comes with a calendar and I think a contact list is in Corona, but I haven't played with those items enough to determine if I will switch or not. The inability to "print" things, if there, is not immediately obvious and I am a print girl. I don't carry a smart phone or a tablet with me, I keep a little calendar in my purse, and I print out a monthly calendar to keep on my desk so I know where I am supposed to be. I am not changing my habits simply because Microsoft thinks I should.

My husband's computer has Windows 7 on it, and I dislike Windows 10 enough that I plan to not install the new OS on his computer. When he buys something new, he will have no choice but to switch, but for now Windows 7 is fine for what he does.

In fact, Windows 7 was fine for what I was doing, and I would, I think, revert back to Windows 7 if the old computer was still running. This new desktop tower came with Windows 8.1 and I knew when I purchased it about two weeks ago that I would upgrade as soon as I could. Windows 10 feels a bit like Windows 7 except junked up and things are hidden and buried. Microsoft obviously doesn't want you to make changes.

One thing that people don't seem to get about Windows is that it is still actually DOS based. I smiled a little when I found the old C:/ prompt, still hidden but available in all its glory. So "format c:/" is still something one could do, should the insanity to do so prompt such action. I daresay other DOS commands, most of which I have forgotten, are also hidden in there (I used to be decent at DOS but when Windows took over I gave up trying to keep up).

Because Windows is DOS based, still, it will never function without issues. That's the biggest difference between a Mac and a Windows-based computer. The MAC OS is completely different; it's not functioning as something that it's really not, which is what Windows does and always has done.

If I am wrong about my assumptions on that, I am sure someone will tell me, but that is my understanding of it.

At any rate, the verdict on Windows 10 remains a shoulder shrug. It's an improvement over Windows 8.1 but for a desktop, Windows 7 was cleaner and easier. After a few more weeks of use, I'll try to remember to report back with an update on what I think.

Thursday Thirteen

Recently I became a Downton Abby fan, scarfing up episodes like I was reading some fantastic novel. I'm just starting Season 5 so no spoilers, please!

One of the things that caught my eye in watching this show is the idea and notion of "class" amongst people. The show has an obvious upper and lower class (the wealthy Earl and Countess above, the servants below) but it is more intricate than that. The butler Carson, for example, is above all of the staff, putting him in a different class than say, the kitchen maid. There are tenant farmers, teachers, and shopkeepers, all of whom have their own type of working class. As the show progresses, there seems to be a growing middle class.

Here in the United States, many people think we are a "classless" society, but I personally do not believe that. It is a nice thought, but all one need do is walk around to see that we are indeed a land full of various classes of people.

At any rate, I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of classes I could come up with for the U.S. I went to Wikipedia, source of all Internet knowledge, if not real information, to come up with a list.

1. Upper class. This includes the wealthy 1 percent that we hear talk of, the owners of Walmart and the Koch brothers, Bill Gates and others who have millions or billions to toss about. This class can be divided into a the upper-upper class and the lower-upper class. I leave you to imagine what that might entail.

2. Inherited wealth class. While rightfully part of the upper class, those who inherit wealth, born with that silver spoon stuck in their ear and all that, are more along the tradition of the English Earls as portrayed in Downton Abby. They differ greatly from the nouveau riche, people who came into money through some other fashion, either work or the lottery or whatever.

3. Corporate elite. These folks are the top executives of big companies, major stockholders, and others who rule the business world.

4. Professional/managerial class. Also called the upper middle class, this class consists of the folks who are highly educated working in largely self-directed positions. These people value higher education and include physicians, lawyers, and professors.

5. Middle class. This has become a catch-all and nobody is actually sure what comprises the Middle Class in the U.S. Some say it would be middle management, clerical staff with degrees, paralegals, and others who are loosely supervised.

6. Lower middle class. These folks work in supporting occupations. Here you find folks in good paying jobs who don't necessarily hold degrees.

7. Working class. Much like lower middle class, the working class people are the "blue collar" joes who probably constitute much of the workers of the nation. They are food service people, construction workers, etc. They may also be considered the working poor.

8. Underclass. These would be the very poorest people in the land, the homeless and others whom certain members of the higher classes disdain and completely ignore.

9. Farm workers. Sociologists place agricultural workers into two different classes, with the farm workers being the lowest class. These are the apple pickers of the world, without whom we would all starve.

10. Farmer. A person in this class would generally own and operate a farm.

11. We also divide people by racial class, whether we mean to or not. While generally speaking, class has to do with income level in the U.S., class also varies not only by race but also by etiquette, education, and professions. I believe we also divide people by health, including weight (obesity), disabilities, looks, dress, and other devices, some of which are subconscious.

12. This is straight from Wikipedia: "Class ascendancy—namely that each successive generation will have a higher standard of living than its predecessor—is a central theme in American literature and culture and plays a key role in the American dream. While social class in the United States is thought to be largely based on achievement, on a relative basis social mobility in the United States ranks below many other countries, and climbing the social ladder is more difficult for those born into less advantageous positions.

Occupation (perhaps the most important class component), educational attainment, and income can be increased through a lifetime. However, factors such as wealth inheritance and local education system—which often provides lower quality education to those in poor school districts—may make rising out of poverty a challenge. Class mobility in the United States decreased between the 1970s and the 1990s coinciding with the rise of Liberalism."

13. Do you think about class? Do you think inequality between the classes is important and should be rectified? Is it a good thing? Do we need to have people who are above and/or below others? Do you think the U.S. has a class system in place, or are those who believe we are a classless society correct?


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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 406th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

These Dreams

Last night, I dreamed I was attending a local town council meeting, along with several other reporters. I don't recall what was so important that it required a slew of media, but one item on the agenda caught my eye.

It read, "What to do about Anita."

When the item came around, the members excused themselves without reading any kind of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) notice (the law requires members of a governing body to cite the FOIA code before entering any closed session).

Another reporter asked me if I knew what they were doing. "I don't know, except they are violating FOIA," I replied.

Council returned. On a motion they declared me persona non grata, and said I was no longer welcome to attend or to write about any of their meetings.

"You have caused nothing but trouble with your reporting," the mayor said. "You find the things we don't want the public to know and tell them about it. Please leave at once and never return."

"You can't do that," I replied. "You made that decision illegally, in an unannounced closed meeting. You just violated the law."

"See," said the mayor. "That's just the kind of thing you do that we don't like. You make us follow the FOIA rules. Nobody else cares what we do. Now get out."

I began arguing more and two deputies came in, grabbed me by the arms, and began dragging me out of the room.

I woke up in a sweat, literally drenched. Even my hair was wet.

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Now, you may wonder what prompted such a dream. I suspect it came about because I am no longer freelancing for the local newspaper. I have done that for the last 30+ years of my life, but my doctor and physical therapist convinced me that I needed to stop. Attending four-hour meetings, devoting my life and time to intense government conflict, seemed to make my health issues worse. I'd kept a pain chart for the last several months and it was noticeable how the pain increased when I worked.

To be honest, my doctor told me almost two years ago to stop working, and I didn't listen. I didn't do as much, but I didn't stop writing for the newspaper.

Now I have.

The dream also reflects my dismay with the state of the news in general. These days our media are filled with reports that are full of lies and deception. Mostly, the "news" now is entertainment, things written to play on emotion and not intellect. We have become a society guided by emotional, thoughtless turmoil, reacting to the latest screeching of the day. Last week it was a restaurant owner who yelled at a kid. This week it's a dentist who killed a lion. But do we do anything or read about things that matter? Where are the stories about abject poverty, the struggles of the single mother or father, the real unemployment numbers (today's numbers don't reflect people who have given up), or the real state of the economy.

No, our media has given us a false world, full of illusion and drama, in order to keep us from watching what is really going on. It is not the government that doesn't want you to know - it is the rich and powerful individuals and corporations who want to change the government who don't want you to know what is going on.

Secrecy is a detriment to democracy. It is how plutocracies and oligarchies come to be, and how fascist regimes rise to power. When citizens stop paying attention, and when those who represent the citizens such as the former Fourth Estate (aka news media) cease doing their jobs, then you have a rupture in the system. Through this rupture slithers greed, malice, and contempt. Once those have taken over - and they have already taken over - then it's all over but the shouting.

That is a lot to get from one little dream. But real dreams are dying every day, and those are the things the newspapers and media are not reporting. Little by little, democracy is dying every day.

The Sky on July 22, 2015

The Baptism

My niece and my sister-in-law received their baptism in the James River in Buchanan on Sunday afternoon. They have been attending Fincastle Baptist Church for about 18 months.

Fincastle Baptist Church has a long history in Botetourt County. It was founded in 1831 and up until 2005, the ministry was located in the town of Fincastle. The congregation now worships in a large new facility on the outskirts of town.

The church is lead by the Reverend Kevin Cummings.

The river was quite busy Sunday afternoon with people canoeing, floating, and swimming.

The pastor readies his flock for their baptism. 

My niece, Zoe, getting ready to be baptized.

Zoe going under.

Coming up, anew.

Getting out of the water.

My sister-in-law, Dina, with the pastor.

Dina going under.

Dina rising up, born again.



Leaving the water.

Dina, Zoe, and my step-mother after the event.



My nephew, Trey, looking on.



My father and husband, also watching.



My father and nephew.



My brother and step-mother.



My niece, my sister-in-law, and my brother



Dina receiving a congratulatory hug.



My brother and nephew.



Dina, glowing.

My niece and her father.



My husband, my father, my stepmother, and my brother.

Sunday Stealing: Spreading Wings

From Sunday Stealing

I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly Meme

1. Have you ever had a pen pal?

A. I have an e-mail pal in England that I've written to for about 14 years. We started writing to one another shortly after 9/11. Most of the emails go through a private yahoo group, and at last count there was something like 15,000 back-and-forth responses there.

2. What’s your favorite breed of dog?

A. Poodle

3. Can money buy happiness?

A. No, but it can pay for health care.

4. Do you listen to music when you’re down?

A. I get up, and nothin' gets me down.  You got it tough, I've seen the toughest around. And I know, baby, just how you feel. You got to roll with the punches and get to what's real. Might as well jump!

5. What is one thing you spend way too much money on?

A. Books. Video games. Computer stuff. That's actually three things but I never said I was good at math.

6. Can you honestly say you’re okay right now?

A. I'm about the best I have been in over two years. That is not "okay" yet but it is better than it was.

7. What was the last thing you spent money on?

A. Groceries, which included bananas, chicken, bread, and medicine.

8. Is your current hair color mostly your natural hair color?

A. It is ALL my natural hair color. Including the gray, which I describe as "soft white," like a GE light bulb.

9. Who have you texted in the last 24 hours?

A. I don't text.

10. Were you in a good mood last night?

A. I was pretty irritable, actually.

11. Do you have a reason to smile right now?

A. Not particularly, though I always enjoy Sunday Stealing. Yay thieves!

12. How often do you hold back what you want to say?

A. Well, apparently I have a reputation for being blunt, or so I learned this week, so not as often as I thought I did.

13. Do you think that in the end, everything will fall into place?

A. Life events don't have a "place," they happen, it's life. Whether or not they are good or bad is a matter of perspective.

14. Are you currently looking forward to anything?

A. I have new furniture ordered. I am looking forward to receiving it.

15. Do you have any TV shows on DVD?

A. I have all of Xena: Warrior Princess, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Legend of the Seeker, Cagney & Lacey, Band of Brothers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a few seasons of Hercules, the original Charlie's Angels, Six Feet Under, Star Trek: Voyager, and probably a few more that I am not recalling.
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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: All the Way

Saturday 9: All the Way (1957)

 ... because The Gal Herself is into Sinatra
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Frank sings, "who knows where the road will lead us?" Which leads Sam to ask, does your vehicle have GPS?

A. Yes, it does, and it tells me to turn into the cattle gate and not my driveway every time I have it on headed for home. My driveway is about 100 more feet down the road. It has yet to give me the proper way to anywhere.

2) Sinatra introduced "All the Way" in the movie, The Joker Is Wild. During that film he also sang "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)." A few years later, in the movie Robin and The Seven Hoods, he declared Chicago as his "kind of town." Besides Chicago, can you think of another city Frank immortalized in song?

A. New York.

3) When Frank was 19, he saw a pretty girl sitting on her front porch, giving herself a manicure. He went and got his ukulele and serenaded her. That girl became his first wife, Nancy. Tell us how one of your romances began.

A. My girlfriend and I were standing around under the goal post at the high school football game (which they no longer allow). She edged me towards this fellow she'd been wanting me to meet. She introduced us and then he stood there not saying much. I asked stupid questions about the game, even though I know football and didn't have to ask what was going on.

He asked me out for the next night, but I was going out with my parents for their anniversary. After the ballgame, I ran into him again at Mike's Market, where I'd stopped for a soda. My girlfriend coyly told me she had another way home and I should go with the fellow to the local dance spot, which at the time was a bar in the Ramada Inn off the interstate. I went (I was 19 and too young to be in there). We danced. We kissed. I drove him home.

He called the next day and on Sunday he went with me to take the Sunday school children to Waldron Park, and one of the kids puked in the backseat of my mother's station wagon. He helped me clean it up. We've been married for 32 years. 

4) Both Frank and Nancy grew up in New Jersey. When you think of NJ, what else comes to mind?

A. Atlantic City. Shores. East Coast.


5) Sinatra made Las Vegas as famous for entertainment as for gambling. He was so identified with the Strip, that when he played Caesar's Palace the marquee simply said, "He's Here." Have you ever been to Vegas?

A. I passed through it when I was 12. We had a cross-country drive with my mother, father, brother, grandmother, two young uncles, and myself, all crammed into a huge van. By the time we hit Nevada, my mother was screaming, "Let me out! I want a divorce now! I can get one here quick!" 

 6) Thin for most of his life, Frank was blessed with a metabolism that allowed him to whatever he wanted without gaining weight. He especially enjoyed clams posillipo. What's your favorite Italian dish?

A. I am afraid I don't know the difference between Italian or anything else. I will say spaghetti even though I don't know if that is really Italian. It has tomato sauce in it, so maybe.

7) Perhaps because of his hardscrabble childhood, Sinatra was a soft touch for charities devoted to kids. One of his favorites was Variety, which sends disadvantaged children on day trips to museums, zoos and sporting events. Here's your chance to tell us about a cause that's near and dear to your heart.

A. Volunteer fire and rescue squads are very important to rural communities. Most communities would not have emergency services if people didn't volunteer their time and money to train and learn how to put out fires. I have been to and helped out at many barbeques and other fundraisers for the local fire departments as they tried to earn enough money to buy equipment, including vehicles, or build new structures. I remember one Saturday all I did for hours was wash potatoes, slap Crisco on them, and wrap them in foil. Hundreds and hundreds of baked potatoes.

Our area now has a combined emergency services department that is a mix of paid people and volunteers (and yes, it creates problems), but the volunteers remain the heart of the service. That is changing and eventually I imagine it will all be paid, but that means raising taxes, and unfortunately people would rather watch their neighbor die of a heart attack than part with an extra penny.

If you receive a solicitation from your local volunteer fire department or rescue squad, please make a donation.

8) Sinatra was a neat freak who couldn't stand dust or clutter and showered at least twice a day. He got this from his mother Dolly, who was compulsive about housecleaning and hygiene. Can you think of a time when you caught yourself doing something and thought, "I'm just like Mom/Dad!"

A. When I play guitar, sometimes I think about my father.

9) In 1998, Sinatra was buried with the things he always had in tow: a bottle of Jack Daniels, a pack of Camels, a Zippo lighter and 10 dimes. Why the dimes? According to his daughter, "He never wanted to be caught not able to make a call." Of course, 17 years later cell phones have replaced pay phones. Anyway, tell us what you always carry.

A. My asthma inhaler, my car keys, a hair brush, a credit card, and dental floss.

Seed Spittin'

A very long time ago, a hundred years now by my reckoning, aging ancient woman that I am, watermelons had seeds.

No kidding. They harbored big black huge seeds, and lots of them.

When an adult split the melon in half, the seeds were everywhere. Melons were bigger back then, too. They were long and too heavy for a kid of 12 to lift, at least not without a lot of grunting.

After the first cut, the melon would be sliced into smiles. The fruit would grin at you with huge black teeth, those seeds just waiting for you to take a bite.

I remember my father would bring one home and he'd haul it down to the springhouse to let it get cold. It was much too large for the refrigerator. And we'd think about that melon for a day or two, waiting for dad to bring it up and take the big knife to it.

Sometimes on a hot summer afternoon, usually a Sunday, I'd sit on the back porch at my grandmother's house where we'd chow down on some glistening red melon. It tasted sweet and the coldness against the heat was like an iceberg making its way through your stomach.

And the seeds? Oh, we spat them out. At each other. Sissy girls like me would wave our hands and squeal if the mood struck, but mostly I spit back. Sometimes we'd put a can in the yard and see who could spit seeds into it. Or see who could spit those seeds the farthest.

But mostly we spit them at one another. Sometimes you'd gather up a great number in your mouth and then try to send them out rapid-fire like, taking your target by surprise. This took some finesse and tongue work, but it was manageable if you did it right.

If you had a front tooth out, then you'd try to spit the seed through the gap. Sometimes that was hard, especially if the seeds were large.

Occasionally you'd end up with a watermelon with soft little white seeds. While the fruit tasted good, the seeds were a disappointment. Not much spitting went on when you ended up with one of those bad melons.

Nowadays, those bad melons - seedless watermelons, they call them - are about all one can purchase in the store. I haven't seen a regular ol' big oblong fat seeded watermelon in years. Whole generations of children have grown up without spittin' a seed at a sibling and watching it stick to his or her cheek.

They don't know what they've missed.

Thursday Thirteen #405

1. I win Jeopardy when I play along at home, but I doubt I'd fair well in the actual TV program.

2. The rumor is there may be a reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess in the works. This was my favorite TV show when it was on from 1995 - 2001. I think though the rumor is simply that - rumor.

3. Have you noticed the lack of originality in TV and movies? Seems like the networks and Hollywood simply recycle the same stories and storylines over and over. I mean, how many times can you remake Batman? I like Batman, but can't we come up with a new superhero?

4. I recently started watching Downton Abby. I am late coming to the show but I do find it intriguing. From what I've read, it is historically accurate, or as historically accurate as historical fiction can be.

5. I am a big fantasy reader and watcher, but two of my three closest friends neither watch nor read the genre. I find it interesting that opposites attract in this area.

6. TV used to be the biggest part of most people's social down time, but I think these days that time is taken up with social media, funny cat videos, and video games. Not all of it, of course, or TV would fail, but the TV's share has fallen. Might that have something to do with the lack of original programming?

7. My electricity has been blinking off and on for a while. It did it steadily for a week, then stopped, but this morning it went off again. It is very frustrating. I have to reset the internet and can't stream my TV programs.

8. The electric company sent out a notice asking if we would participate in a program that would allow *them* to turn my air conditioning off during times of peak power usage. Here's a story about it from the local TV station. I have asthma and can't take the high humidity, so we declined. Plus we want to be in control of our own power usage, thank you very much. If we want to pay the bill then we should be able to do that. But what's to stop them from putting such a device on everyone's unit? They could do it and all you could do is complain about it. The consumer no longer has power, and I'm not talking about the electrical kind.

9. Speaking of power, who do you think really runs the United States these days? Is it the elected government, or the unelected and stock-holder owned big-money corporations?

10. We don't mind letting big corporations like Facebook, Microsoft, or Apple having all of our personal information, including private documents that we place in "the cloud" for safekeeping. We trust a big insurance company to make our health care decisions. But we distrust the government to do or keep anything. Why is that? Nobody can tell me the difference. It's not like we have a choice either way. If you want to use any technology product, you have to agree to their little EULA documents. How is that different than a law?

11. I think we have too many laws on people, but not enough regulations on companies. We have it backwards. We regulate the personal lives of nobodies but let the big guys do whatever they want. I'd rather it be the other way around.

12. In fact, the regulations on small businesses are different than those on large corporations, and generally much more punitive. This is true of small farms as well.

13. I'm not sure how I went from TVs to farming regulations, but sometimes Thursday Thirteen just works out that way.



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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 405th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

I Bought a Dell

Last week I noted I might need a new computer. I made the purchase this weekend. I bought a Dell.

The one that had lasted for six years was also a Dell. I have noted that most businesses that send folks out with laptops send them out with Dells. They seem to be the workhorse computer, sort of like IBM used to be.

One thing I like about a new Dell is that there is not so many add-ons. HPs in particular come crammed with all kinds of things you don't want or need. It is a relief to find a fairly clean hard drive.

I always do a clean install of my programs instead of copying over from the old computer. I personally think it makes the machines run better and usually I have accumulated a lot of things that I really don't need. I save my documents and pictures to an external drive and go from there.

Setting up a new computer that way can be quite time consuming, however. One must reenter all passwords, and all bookmarks are lost, and sometimes programs you may have downloaded five years ago and used frequently are no longer available, or are now available at a huge price.

Of course, many things are now "in the cloud" so I really don't have to do much with emails, etc. However, I am not one to put my documents "in the cloud" because I consider my things to be private.

Amazing how we trust a big company, set out to do only one thing - make a profit - with all of our personal documents and pictures, but we don't trust the government to do a single thing. I think this is weird. Why would you trust either one? Frankly, I trust the government more. At least it offers the illusion of accountability through the voting process.

So anyway, I don't use the Microsoft OneDrive much (their document cloud) and I doubt I use the free cloud space Dell offered for a year (mostly because then next year I'd have to pay for it). I also kept my MS Office 2007 and chose not to upgrade to the "subscription" service of Office 365. Why would I want to pay $100 a year for that? Ultimately I may have to, but only if I am still writing.

So far I like my new computer even if it does have Windows 8.1. Fortunately Windows 10 will be out next week and I am hoping that it will resolve some of the weirdness of Windows 8. Microsoft seems to offer a bad operating system every other upgrade, although I didn't think Vista was as bad as people made it out to be. Windows 8.1, though, is definitely confusing.

The sales person told me that they would not be upgrading Windows 8.1 computers in the store because Microsoft is offering a free Windows 10 upgrade for a year, so it will probably be Christmas before the stock catches up to Windows 10. If the sales person had said that I could buy a Windows 10 computer in three weeks, I might have waited, but that was not the case.

Buying a computer is worse than buying a car. There are too many choices and ultimately it came down to reliability and price. It helped that I didn't need anything but a tower, so that kept costs down.

Wasps

Wasps began building this colony on the front porch. It looks like a lot of work to make such a thing. I like how geometry shows itself in nature.

Of course we had to eliminate the wasp nest so the insects would move along. My husband is allergic to stings so we can't have them around the house.

Whistle Pig

This groundhog is one of many that hangs out at the house. Nothing seems to scare them off. I know where the hole is and I've put mothballs down it and other smelly things but nothing deters the groundhog.

This one looks quite indignant in the last picture because I opened the door and scared him. As you can see, he did not run far - only to the trash cans. One of his hidey holes is near there.

They live under our small outbuilding and I feel sure one day the thing is going to fall in because the ground beneath has all been dug out by these creatures.

I know animals have a place in the ecosystem, but I would like it if this one would find a home somewhere else.

Sunday Stealing: Let's Not Be Difficult

From Sunday Stealing

Let's Not Be Difficult


1. Do you like your movies and books to be more lighthearted or serious?

A. It depends on my mood. Sometimes you want to laugh, sometimes you want to cry.
 
2. What’s more important, first impressions or lasting impact?

A. Lasting impact. First impressions can be wrong, if the other party is open-minded enough to afford the other a second chance and another opportunity to acquit oneself in a more appropriate manner. That said, I think many people lose out on what might have been good friendships because of poor first impressions.

3. Order these areas of psychological health from what you need the least improvement into what you need the most improvement in: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, spiritual

A. Intellectual, environmental, social, spiritual, physical, emotional
 
4. Do you react appropriately to things and control your feelings?

A. I certainly hope so. I am sure, though, that I have my moments. Don't we all? I mean, come on, KG, why are you asking all of these questions? :::sob:::
 
5. Do you have stable relationships?

A. I've been married for 32 years. I have friendships that have lasted as long. So I would say yes.
 
6. Do you need to be in a relationship to feel good about yourself?

A. No, but a relationship is nice to have.
 
7. Which is the clearest and most concise, your thoughts, your speech or your writing? Which is the least clear and concise?

A. My thoughts, my writing, and my speech. The latter would be the answer to the second query.
 
8. Are you always trying to learn new things?

A. Yes. Today I learned that Windows 8.1 really is as bad as I thought it was, and I can hardly wait for Windows 10 to come out.
 
9. Do you feel at peace?

A. I am content at the moment.
 
10. Do you have strong morals and ethics that you believe in and adhere to?

A. Yes.
 
11. Do you think of the needs of all humanity or just the needs of yourself and those you know?

A. I tend to think of the needs of all, and we are doing a pitiful job of taking care of one another.
 
12. Do you recycle?

A. Yes.
 
13. Are you active in your community?

A. I was when I was well.
 
14. Are you sensitive to the needs of others?

A. I try to be.
 
15. Do you dress up to go out?

A. Yes.
 
16. What could make you lose respect for someone?

A. Finding out that they have chosen to be a misinformed or uninformed idiot.
 
17. If you won $1,000 every week until you die, would you still go to work?

A. No.

18. What trend has been getting on your nerves lately?

A. It would be nice if people would stop shooting one another. I hate that this has become so commonplace that the headlines scarcely cause alarm in the United States.

19. Do you forgive yourself when you make a mistake?

A. Not until I've had 40 lashes and worn a hair shirt for three months.
 
20. Is ignorance really bliss?

A. Ignorance may be bliss, but it does not make for good economic policy, nor is it any way to lead the House of Representatives in the United States Congress.
 
21. What can be described as ‘even better than the real thing’?

A. Well, let's see. Coca Cola is the real thing. It used to have real cocaine in it, I understand, so I suppose that means cocaine would be better than the real thing.

22. What’s in your wallet right now?

A. A couple dollars, a receipt for a brand new Dell computer tower (with Windows 8.1 on it, which as stated aforesaid, sucks), and some change.
 
23. Do you write letters that you never send?

A. Yes.
 
24. Do you ever get the feeling people are laughing at you?

A. I just laugh with them, so it doesn't matter.
 
25. Who’s the one person you’d like to drop a house on?

A. Oh my.  Could we put all the GOP candidates in a cluster and let it fall on them, forcing the Grand Old Party to start over, this time perhaps with people who do not make them look like a bunch of old white guys from the 1950s who are hell-bent on segregation and dehumanizing women and poor people? I honestly would like to see them field a decent candidate, not a clown.

________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.