Jun 18, 2010

War is Hell (So is Moving)

If you're thinking about moving, here is some friendly advice:

If you want your friends to help you, have cold drinks. Especially if it's over 100 degrees outside.

Take your cat somewhere. Board it. Get a friend to keep it for a day or two. Something.

Every box can say "Misc" if you want, but one. Label the box that contains the fire extinguisher.

Trust me on that last one.

Jun 10, 2010

Calendars & Date Books

I live & die by my calendar. The children know that if an item is not on the calendar, it doesn't happen. If you have a meeting to which you need Mom's Taxi, it had better be scheduled.

Not that we don't have room for spontaneity, but when you have so many people going so many different directions, why take chances?

I keep appointments both on my paper calendar and on my cell phone. I can pull up a day on my phone, and see at a glance what I've got scheduled that day. I can even set an alarm so I don't forget any of these appointments.

My phone died a few days ago. The touch screen went out. No calls. No texts. No calendar. The phone was under warranty (for a couple more weeks) and AT&T was nice enough to swap it out for new.

One problem. The new phone didn't have my photos, my ringtones, or (gasp!) my calendar.

Always keep a paper back up. Electronics are fragile. Phones get dropped, lost, or stolen. Don't depend entirely on your electronic organizers. IT Gurus talk about "redundant backups" of data. That means that files on a computer, if they are important, are backed up several times, so that if one of the backups is unavailable, for any reason, the files are still recoverable.

My calendar items are recoverable. Disaster averted. Thanks to paper.

What old fashioned communication will you bless today?

Jun 8, 2010

Summertime, and the Livin' is...

Summertime
by George Gershwin

Summertime and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is HIGH
Oh your Daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush little baby, don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're goin' to rise up singing
YES, you'll spread your wings
And you'll take the sky
But till that morning
There's a nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by

------------

My summer doesn't look like this. Ok, we can sleep in a little. If the fish are jumping, it's to get out of the BP oil spill. The cotton isn't high until about October. Daddy sure ain't rich. Mama, well, beauty moves from the face to the heart as we age.

Music is about dreams. It can inspire us to want something better. I want something better. There will come a day...

What better thing are you counting on today?

Jun 1, 2010

Computer Viri & "Protection" Money

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I have long believed that the people who sell virus protection software write the virus programs from which they protect you. How else would they know what anti-virus programs to sell you?

I was proven right yesterday when I learned that one of my computers was infected with something called bankerfox.a. It's a popup that tells you you're infected, then asks you to download their protection software - for a price.

Hey, buddy, give us your money, and we'll make sure ya don't get hoit - heh heh.

Cosa Nostra much?

I read about this virus on a number of sites but was just unable to fix it myself. I sent the computer to my guru who can clean it up for me.

It saddens me that those who are so technologically gifted use those gifts for "the dark side." And if I'm going to have to pay someone to clean up the computer, I trust my guru a whole lot more than I do the guy who gave me the virus in the first place.

Lots of people claim to want to "help" you. Who gets your money today?