Crying at my Computer #locked-in-the-jail-of-technology

I believe that I have spent more time crying and being frustrated sitting in front of a computer, than anywhere else in my long life.

And yet again. I tried to add some pix from on-line, only it seems the changes they have made to the site won't allow it.

 

Why do they keep changing and updating everything?

I don't understand.

Just when I think I have it together, BOOM. I get an update and I can't get into my own blog. I can't find my old home page and assorted other issues.

This week, I tried to print something from online and the computer lost my printer. Yup. It was on my husband's network and he could print, not that he should be hooked in, but I spent 4 and one half hours, not being able to get it on my computer.

I was in a groundhog day loop.

Somehow, the next morning, after trying twenty-five ways to leave my computer, I hit it and got it back.

That was great, but so much else has gone wrong that I just want to sit here and scream and cry.

I hate technology. It hasn't made anything that much better. Not really. When you look at all we've gained and then at all we've lost, it wasn't worth it.

Russians hacking our elections, Nigerians scamming old people out of their savings and for what? So we could become too lazy to go to the bank? Or write a letter?

We are locked in the jail of tecnology

This just plain sucks. And there's no way to stop it.

When you are old, these are the only tools you need in any room.

And so it goes, or so it went. What a morning. What a week.  I'd give up, but I'm not a quitter. A whiner, yes, but not a quitter.

oh, if you get it from a Google search, maybe it's okay.

Thanks for reading. Or screaming or crying with me. I obviously need your support.

OP-ED THANKSGIVING OUR COUNTRIES ORPHAN HOLIDAY

WHEN THANKSGIVING WAS ABOUT FAMILY AND GIVING THANKS.

Just like the good old days

Good morning everyone. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving with minimum family drama. Did you shop on Black Friday? I didn't.

Even if I weren't on the road coming home that morning, I wouldn't go near a store that is brick and mortar.

yup. I want to get up at 12AM so I can shop.

When my mom was still alive and living in Connecticut, I used to go up to spend Thanksgiving with Mom and her two sisters. I'm guessing that was 25 to 30 years ago. I won't say that those were wonderful times, because I had a tough relationship with my mom, but still, it was family. And by then, I already had so little left. So, yeah. I miss it. No one is more surprised than me.

 A Picture of my mom when she was still young

But, as usual, I'm getting sidetracked.

I would get up at 7 am and drive the 20 minutes to the mall. It's so long ago that I can't even remember the name of it. It was built during the time my mom and aunts lived there and it was new and filled with sunlight and lots and lots of stores. Good stores as I recall.

At that hour, I would be one of the first shoppers as they were just opening up. Ah, the good old days when they opened early. At 8 am. Not the kind of "early" we have now. 12 a.m. is not early. It's crazy.

The parking lot was nearly empty. I would go in and wander in and out of the shops. I usually had quite a few shopping bags by the time I left, which was maybe two hours later. When there aren't lines and you walk fast, you'd be amazed at what you can accomplish.

The cars would be filling the lots as I was leaving. I was so glad to be on my way. I'm not a very patient person. If you've been reading my blog you'll know that.

honestly, I get woozy looking at this

I suppose that, when you do this marathon shopping with friends and family it becomes an outing or an experience. That must be why people do it. I love bargains but my time and sanity isn't worth those few extra bucks. Again, I'm not like most people.



What is really sad to me, is that Thanksgiving has become an "orphan" holiday. My friend and I go out for lunch and shopping once a week. We watch as the seasons pass and the displays come and go.

yeah, but it's autumn stuff. not Thanksgiving.

There is a very brief window of items for autumn. That may be the only time you might find a Pilgrim Platter or a decoration for Thanksgiving. Oh, wait. Halloween comes first so that window of opportunity is about 4 hours before all the scary and commercial items come out. And boom. Before its Thanksgiving, Christmas is on display.


I have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful that I live in a country that made it a holiday for us to celebrate. I am thankful that it was on a Thursday which made it possible for many companies and agencies and banks to give us a four day week end.

What began as a history lesson has morphed into a weekend of face stuffing, shopping and football.


I am thankful that I can choose the way I want to celebrate. I hope you chose the one that works for you.

Happy Holiday.

WILL A WALL KEEP OUT THE DIRT? I THINK I KNOW.

THIS  SHOWS TWO PEOPLE SITTING OUT ON THE LANAI. BEHIND THE SETTEE IS WHERE THE DIRT CAME IN.

 

 This was personal for me. I had a problem with dirt blowing in through the screens into my lanai. For those of you who don’t live in Florida or Hawaii, that’s usually an outdoor area that has a roof and one or two walls and screens instead of walls.

It’s lovely to sit outside, but be inside at the same time.

So. If you go back quite a few posts, you will see me railing against the dirt that blows in from the screens and comes out of the concrete blocks around the pool.

It's now painted blue,  And that's not my floor.

 

I decided that to keep out the dirt, I’d build a small, but, inexpensive wall.

 

HYPOTHESIS:

If you have an area that is bordered by dirt, the dirt will come over the border.

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD:

Building a wall and objectively measuring the dirt that comes in, compared to the dirt that came in before the wall.

 

Description of experiment.

Okay. I didn’t measure the dirt. I eyeballed in and know after years, about how much comes in.

I built a two story Styrofoam Wall that is about 9” high and covers the entire area in question.

Digression. The building of said wall was delayed due to Hurricane Matthew.

 

The wall was completed in good time. Furniture moved around and some decorations put up to cover the wall which is plain (read as ugly).

 As was expected, less dirt blew in from outside. That would be a win.

EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES:

For those of you who are not scientists, that means, stuff you can’t predict beforehand.

Just a little piece of I think, cigar paper.

In my case, my husband taking up cigar smoking. The occurrence may or may not have coincided with the wall, but was definitely  related to having a nice place to sit and smoke cigars and not be in the house.

 I now have “new dirt” from an unexpected source.

crushes in ashes on the rug.

 

CONCLUSION:

Over the millennia people have attempted to combat dirt by cleaning. As those of us who clean know, it always comes back.

In this case, it had changed form.  Therefore, although the hypothesis was correct about the dirt being blocked by the wall, the dirt found another way in. It always has and it always will.

 

I am tempted to make a joke. Like, I’d like to hire someone to clean up the dirt, but if the Big Wall goes up, where will I find someone to hire?

But I wouldn’t say that so I didn’t.

 

Thanks for reading.       

 

PS. My husband will tell you the story about us driving in the car and me yelling at him for making dirt from breakfast. I pointed to the dirt, and he said, "That tiny crumb?"

We have very different ideas about dirt. Just to be fair.

THE ELECTION MAY BE OVER BUT THE STENCH LINGERS ON. GET OVER IT!

I had to stop posting on my other blog,  since there was a problem with sabotage. I had 17 thousand spaments. ( My word for comments that were really spam).
I hope it's fixed so I can get back here and voice my humble opinions.
The election is over and yet no one has stopped complaining, digging up new dirt, questioning the future and anything else you can imagine.




WHY?                  Theories:


1) There is nothing else going on in the world that needs to be reported on because it's not important.





2) Trump insulted the "liberal media" so often that he hurt their feelings and they are going to keep slamming him, because they can.

3) All "media" likes to scare the "people",( that would be us), so they keep  writing scenarios of what ifs. Like anyone knows.

4) People are having election withdrawal. After such a long time they became junkies and are still in need of their fix.



5) Our country is so divided that we've forgotten that we are one country.


I could go on, as you already know. I'll stop here. 
Am I happy with the outcome? No. Do I want to keep complaining and hearing about it?

Also, no.  Do I want to hear my friends gloat? No thank you.

Do I want to hear pundit opinions about the future?  No.



I would like the regular media and the social media to move on.

Thank you.