Having Something New Does Not Mean Having Something Fun

The computer is new, and fast as lightnin'. However, I am complicating my situation by working from two computers at the same time.  I set up three documents to print, and it was just taking them forever. Finally I looked at the cable and realized that I had moved the printer cable to the new computer - to print while the other stuff was printing - from the old computer - in the middle of the print job. No wonder. I have wasted so much time. I am focused. I decided earlier to take a break, make a meal, sit outside in the beautiful weather, and just look at the book for the computer that was still in the box.  Should I take the computer out with me? Sure, just take a look. Take the WEP key with me on my phone, sent by my husband, and just get connected. OK. So, where is my phone? Nowhere to be found. So, a trek to the car and sure enough it had fallen out of my dress pocket onto the seat. Thank GOD! Well, it was just too bright to sit out there to try to do something I wasn't going to do anyway, so I came in. Now I am surrounded by printer, two computers, the TV, my dinner plate, the table with the basket full of remote controls and a growing stack of notebooks and paper. Of course I didn't stay up all night last night. How silly. I had to go to church at 8:00. So I went to bed at 1:00 am. I think I will do better tonight because the printer is right here - if I can just keep it connected to the right computer at the right time. Oh, I yearn for the mister that will transfer all that stuff over for me. But for now, I'm it and I'll just have to measure better. Wish me luck. By the way - I bought extra ink. Won't get caught by that one. Now if I can just get it on the page.

Action Plan (con't)

It took me another two hours to make it to bed. Numb3rs came on, then Flashpoint. Didn't you just love that necklace bomb - get yours on QVC. I slept well and beginning at 9:00 am I began to take care of some of the items on the Action Plan To Do List. I read through 3 binders of the Dillsburg Emergency Action Plan, getting up to speed with the rest of the members. Now I can finish the course I am taking on making an emergency plan. I had been held up because I was supposed to review our local plan. Since I had to return the materials I fixed breakfast, coffee, read the incredible 10 pages of the fantastic Dillsburg Banner and yesterday's Patriot. I'm not sure where it comes from, but there is one under the rocking chair on the front porch every morning. This morning there were 5. I don't get out much.

After coffee and uh, ... I headed out. Dropped off the notebooks and took the car for a bath. This ranks right up there with making pork chops when it comes to pleasing my husband. The car stays in the garage for the most part, but somewhere out there it accumulates what he calls dirt. I just think it is a little dusty. Of course there was that last 10 days at the R-Ranch... I decided to go to the grocery store next. I parked, then remembered that it was June and my AT&T Radio Shack place was right there. June is the month when mobile TV is supposed to come to our area. Georgia already has it. I get two months free when I sign up. I also wanted to drop international dialing that I have beein paying $27 per month for. I got it while Jay was still in Italy and then for when I went to India, Germany and Spain. But I think it's time to turn it in - for TV, which is only $15 month. But, things happen slowly here in Pennsylvania, as I have been very surprised to learn - so slowly. Maybe in July. Of course in Georgia they already had mobile TV when I bought the phone. Had to unsubscribe when I got home because it just couldn't be found. So I bought a computer instead.

Today. I bought the computer today. Didn't plan to. Had decided to wait until later in the summer when hubby and I would be home at the same time so he could transfer stuff from one computer to another. That won't happen until sometime in July. Now I have the perplexing problem of taking two computers with me on a plane to Atlanta and then to Indiana, back to the R-Ranch, then home on a plane. Hmmmm.
I got a really great deal. Actually paid less than I had planned. So, in the future you will get high-speed blogging from me. And videos. Now I can use my little FlipCam to upload videos. I have the camera but my USB ports are L---o--o-o-w speed. In fact I'm not sure they have the speed part - just low. That's pretty exciting.

About the deal I got - $689 on sale for $629 plus 10% off for the way I purchased. Then we discovered that there was not another computer in a box in the storeroom - so I got another discount for taking the display model which had only been in the store for about two weeks. In the end I paid around $572 for my new beauty. It actually was less to begin with than the computers I had researched from HP, Wal-Mart, Sam's and Best Buy. So, I am happy happy. Also got a $79 anti-virus, etc., package free. I may even let the Linux-Ubuntu man put OpenOffice on it.

So - for the action plan. I did make it to the grocery store. I do have stuff in the car to take to the church tomorrow. I will probably be up all night getting stuff ready for the copier at the church tomorrow, since I spent way too much time at Radio Shack. And, next is the nefarious vinyl letters. I plan to clear the decks at home tonight and do it on the dining room table - cut out letters that is.  Can't do the other thing with a husband in Germany.  What I didn't do was plant the veggies in the garden. It is incredible weather and it won't be dark for another two hours. I may just make it. I don't believe I should commit myself to too much. Then I would just find me "shoulding" on myself when I don't get them all done. I think I'll go eat something.

Action Plan

I once had a problem at work and was told to submit an "Action Plan" that outlined how it was going to be resolved. So, I wrote an action plan as I understood it. I was totally wrong - according to the requestor. It made perfect sense to me - as I understood it. It proved to be my downfall - as I came to understand it. Tonight I'm thinking about action plans. I started this post in order to write an action plan. I guess I just need a little to-do list for tomorrow. I think I'll start by going to bed. I'll think about action plans tomorrow. That's the first thing on my list.

Return to Sticky Stuff

I went back to the church basement this morning. It was raining so I opted not to take the Cricut. I have to ask myself "Was it really because it was raining - or was I in the grips of fear of failure?" I think it was the latter. I wondered if I would be able to remember the settings. Were the instructions we used in the bag? Would I get the letters the right size? Nail biter. So, I have adhered (don't you love my vocabulary?) the existing letters to the banner. They look OK. These were 4 1/2 inch letters and the N's were the hardest. There are some repairs to be made. My current intention is to re-cut the other letters here at home after finishing an on-line course I'm taking. Had to get a copy of the local Emergency Management Plan from our Coordinator. I didn't dare ask him if there was a chapter on leaving out letters in a vinyl word - afraid I would break down and cry. But I'm hoping. I realize it is a new area for FEMA's Emergency Management Institute and they may have to add a new category of ESF (Emergency Support Function). There are 13 of them now, but since that is such an unlucky number I will be the impetus for taking care of the triscadecaphobics in the emergency response community. I may have to take a field trip down to Emmitsburg, MD where the Academy is located. I may need a demonstration. They have lots of gizmos there, e.g. welding torches, saws-alls, Jaws of Life. Who says they wouldn't have a Cricut? Surely they have some leftover vinyl seat covers in their auditorium or fire trucks. No peel and stick worries there unless you are peeling your bare bottom off the chair.

But I digress. And procrastinating. Had some of that delicious yogurt with my cereal this morning. I think I'm gonna like this CSA thing. The lettuce salad was great last night. Today it's raining so I can't plant the baby veggies they gave me for my own garden. I also forgot to pick up my kale. That did not make me happy. I was too busy telling them that Chimichurri sauce was made with mint. When I got home and started to send them the recipe for folks picking up the mountain of mint they had havested I saw that I was wrong, wrong, wrong. It is Cilantro and Italian parsley, not mint and Italian parsley. But I do wonder what the effect would be if I did make the substitution. Maybe a new taste sensation. I thought it would go well on falafel. No time to try it out right now, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Inevitably I am now really feeling the guilt from not studying. So, gotta go. Right after I put on some water for tea, put another load of wash in, empty the dryer, and fold the load of laundry sitting on the sofa. I'll get it done, I'll get it done. Guilt, guilt, guilt...

Sticky Stuff

I've worked very hard lately on a project that involves cutting out vinyl letters on my Cricut Expression- a nifty electronic toy used mostly by scrappers, meaning those who preserve photos, etc. in a very attractive manner costing a lot of money. I am not a scrapper but I love the Cricut. I am making a banner for a presentation on prevention of influenza - avian or H1N1, or whatever. Today I was finally ready to peel and stick my nicely formed letters to a pristine white banner. First I had to measure. I measured 6 different ways to Sunday, got out my calculator, multiplied, divided, added and marked. I truly believe at this point in my life that I must measure many times and cut only once, or, in this case, stick only once. I have screwed up so many projects because I can't make sense out of a ruler so I was determined to get it right. Finally, a flash of brilliance! Keen observation revealed that the manufacturer had placed a grommet slap dead center at the top and bottom of the banner - directly opposite each other. Bingo! I was home free so I laid out the letters, side by side, in preparation for the big peel.

Recently I have noticed that I am not as good at this sort of thing as in the past so I cautioned myself to be especially careful, attentive, and deliberate. I started in the middle and worked outward. The word was "separation". By the time I got to it I had managed to come up with a process that was working rather well - not perfectly - but OK. I was feeling fairly confident. I had also determined that once these sticky letters hit the vinyl banner they were there for good. I confess to a few wrinkles, but I used the "gallopin' horse" adage on myself and declared that no one standing 5-6 feet above the wrinkles would ever notice them. Oh, did I mention that this was a banner that people would be walking on SO THEY WOULD NEVER NOTICE THAT I LEFT OUT THE "A" IN "SEPARTION"?

Tomorrow is another day. The Cricut will go with me to the church where the "A" is waiting to join the new letters I will cut out to replace the squiggles that resulted when I tried to unstick, move and restick the misplaced, evil, sticky, stretchable, offensive, disgusting and absolutely tormenting black, vicious and misshapened members of the alphabet! The moral of this story is measuring don't do no good if you don't pay attention to what you are doing anyway.

Peas and Potatoes

Tomorrow is my first pick-up day at our new CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture farm, Shared Earth Farm. We opted for a "Sample Share" this season, based on the premise that we have planted our own garden and perhaps the sample will supplement what we have grown ourselves. We also subscribed to a dairy and are due to pick up milk, cheese and yogurt (I think). I have a very bad habit of signing up for things and immediately forgetting about it. At some point it comes creeping back into my consciousness and then I am on the hunt for "what was it?" That goes for plays, doctor appointments, the dentist, etc. I do try to use my electronic reminders, so I have this pick-up time and day entered into my phone on my calendar with the alarm set to remind me an hour ahead of time. Believe, I'll probably be shocked the first time it goes off and I realize I should be in the car, on the road, finding my way, listening to Pester (our GPS) - all for a handful of peas and potatoes. That is on the list for this week. Probably new potatoes and cool weather crop of Sugar Snap Peas. Who could ask for more?

My biggest problem is that I won't be here for the next three or four Thursdays to pick up anything. I'm trying to arrange for my neighbor to pick up whatever is available and to use it for her family. I hate to miss out on the goodies. She might also be surprised to find out that to get the share she may have to muck out a stall or something to earn the goods. We are supposed to contribute labor to offset the cost of production. I'll see what the deal is tomorrow.

Then I'm trying to figure out how to get the garden we have planted watered. We are having pretty regular rain right now, and the weather is rather cool. However, we had a friend water for us last year and ended up with a $441 water bill because he left the hose running and used 41,000 gallons of water. There is a certain balance to be achieved when one is retired. I'm learning.

I can't believe I haven't been doing any writing

Honestly, until I read Casaubon's Book this evening I had lost the "thrill" of blogging. I have a year to catch up on. Question is, shall I? Maybe not. I think that I will proceed from here and just include some flashbacks that are explanatory of the current activities, interests, missions, studies and friendships. But not tonight. I started too late. Check back again - I'll be here.