Letters From Home

Life looks at infmom / infmom looks at life

January 20, 2007
by infmom
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tra la, tra la

MP3 players.

When you get right down to it, I can’t decide whether I want one or not. This, despite the fact that I have one. Not an iPod, but a 256meg Creative MuVo.

It works fine, and is about the size of two packs of chewing gum, so it’s extremely portable. But I rarely take it anywhere. I’ve tried it at the gym a few times, mainly because it includes an FM radio and I can tune that to the soundtrack of the TVs in the workout room. But reading the captions does just as well (and nothing makes a mile on the treadmill go faster than zoning out to “Judge Judy”).

Using instructions I found online, I made myself some nice earplug-style headphones. They work well and block out noise around me (like the radio blaring away in the next room–F’zer turns it up way too loud but absolutely will not get his hearing tested). But like the Etymotics earplugs that I often wear in noisy situations (and from which I created these ‘phones) I can’t wear them forever. Earplugs are a necessity for me but my ears don’t like even the foam ones for long periods of time.

Bottom line is, mostly the player sits here on my desk, un-listened-to. Every now and again I’ll take some of the music off that I’ve gotten tired of and put some new stuff on, from my CD collection. The space available doesn’t allow for a huge playlist.

So maybe I’d like a bigger player better? Creative makes some bigger ones that have come down dramatically in price. Vengeant’s been threatening to buy me an iPod for years now (and Apple has the black refurb 2g nano that I’ve decided would be the most Mom-compatible model for about $100 on their web site).

Truthfully, though, a bigger player would probably just sit here too.

Because mostly I just like quiet. I don’t play the radio or the TV when I’m here alone in the house, and if someone else has them on for background noise I’m forever turning them down. Too much noise is like itch powder for me. Oh, occasionally if I’ve bought a new CD I’ll put it on and crank it up. Or I’ll blast the radio in the car if they’re playing a song I like.

But mostly…. I just like quiet.

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January 17, 2007
by infmom
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make it so.

I’ve been catching up with Wil Wheaton’s TNG-episodes blog. Got a long, long way to go before I’m done. He’s a very entertaining writer and he had me the first time he described Wesley Crusher as a “weenie.”

When TNG was on, a group of us had great fun writing song parodies about the various episodes, in the Science Fiction Forum on CompuServe. I’ve saved many of the ones I wrote (thought I’d saved them all, but some of them appear to be irretrievably lost, doggone it) and Wesley Crusher was often described as a weenie by me and by others.

I’m going to search my archives and find as many of those song parodies as I can, and upload them somewhere for the general amusement of all and sundry. One of my songs was actually sung at a Trek convention and I’ve got an MP3 of that. The quality is the audio equivalent of a cell phone camera, but what the hell.

Now I just need to figure out where to put all this stuff once I find it.

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January 12, 2007
by infmom
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once more into the breach…

I don’t know why I always put off upgrading WordPress so long. It really isn’t difficult to do. This is one of the best software packages ever, in that regard. Do a backup, shut down all the plugins, overwrite the old stuff with the new, reactivate the plugins and you’re set to go.

Except that there is something in one directory that tends to make WiseFTP hiccup and close, and even though I watch the screen, it happens too fast for me to tell which file it is that’s causing the problem. At least I know what directory it’s in. The solution is to transfer the old files over one directory at a time rather than just sending everything all at once. No biggie.

Also, Spam Karma seems to be doing a dandy job of getting rid of the spam trackbacks. Seems like there’s a solution for just about every problem. Wish the real world worked that well!

Hope you'll recommend my posts via your favorite social media. Just don't copy the material as your own.

January 9, 2007
by infmom
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hey, look it over…

What I’d like to see, somewhere, anywhere, is the reasoning behind the proliferation of “info-videos” on the internet these days. Seems like everyone who’s got a hot tip to offer, wants to do it via video.

That might be appealing to people who can’t, or won’t, read. Or for people whose reading speed is slower than the pace of speech. It’s also a useful way to deliver information that includes a demonstration of how a particular process works. But for everything else, come on, folks, the written word is much more efficient.

If someone’s explaining something complex, it helps not to have to take notes while they talk away. Far better to have written instructions, perhaps supplemented by a video if there’s some physical process involved that one needs to see to understand.

Have we become so addicted to the boob tube that everyone assumes we no longer remember how to read? How are we going to save and remember the information–bookmark the online video and keep watching it if we forget how something works?

I might well be interested in some of these products people are peddling, but if the only way to get the product is to watch a video, forget it. If you want my attention and my money, folks, kindly allow me to RTFM.

Hope you'll recommend my posts via your favorite social media. Just don't copy the material as your own.

December 28, 2006
by infmom
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…and so it goes

It is always hard to believe that another year has gone by.   I suppose if we each took time to pay attention to every passing minute it might be different, but who can manage that?

I got some things accomplished this year that I had wanted to, and left other things un-done.   Those will give me something to work toward in the next year.   I’ve certainly got enough materials on hand to do what I want to do.

Life has been relatively good, financially, but could definitely be better.   I’ve got materials on hand to work on that, too.   After all, I’m going to Egypt when I’m 60 and I want to have plenty of money to spend there.   That’s about the best incentive there is!

My family members seem to be happy.   There have been some major changes in their lives this year, but everything, no matter how stressful, has been for the good.   That’s always encouraging.   A Mom worries, after all.

I didn’t always learn something new every day, but I learned a lot.   I have new skills.   I have done new things.   F’zer and I got a vacation all to ourselves where we didn’t go visit relatives.

2006 was a good year.   Onward and upward for 2007.

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December 24, 2006
by infmom
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(relatively) silent night

I watch the broadcast of the Christmas Midnight Mass from Rome every year even though I am not a Christian and we celebrate Christmas as a purely secular holiday.

I got started doing that when my son was a baby and it was a nice peaceful way to end what was usually a busy and frazzling day.   As time went by, life got less frazzly, but it has remained a peaceful way to end the day.

I must admit it was odd last year not to see the poor old failing Pope still hanging in there.   No way to know how long the current one will last, or what direction the church will go when it comes time to pick his successor.

I read a book not long ago that claimed that there are documents that prove that the man we’ve come to know as Jesus survived the crucifixion and lived many years afterwards.   I have a feeling that if such documents exist, there are just too many people with too many good reasons to keep them under wraps.   But what would happen if it turned out that the story that’s been told for thousands of years isn’t true after all?

I suspect most Christians would continue to believe it anyway; that’s the nature of faith.

I don’t believe the story, but I still enjoy watching the pageantry from Rome.   I suspect that won’t change for me, either.   So in a few hours I’ll settle back and spend a “calm and bright” hour to end a peaceful day.

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December 21, 2006
by infmom
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grrrrr….

Even with Trackback Validator activated, I keep getting spam trackbacks.

This definitely warrants further investigation.

Hope you'll recommend my posts via your favorite social media. Just don't copy the material as your own.

December 18, 2006
by infmom
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a stitch in time, or something similar

F’zer has a beloved old cardigan sweater that’s all full of holes.   I’m not quite sure of the history of the thing, but I do know that he adamantly refuses to get rid of it, despite the fact that it is totally unwearable.   In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen him wear it.

When I saw an ad for a yarn sale at Michaels, it occurred to me that I might try fixing that sweater, if I can find yarn that comes close to the color.   The torn-out elbows are a lost cause, but I can either cover those up with prefab leather patches (assuming the fabric store still carries such a thing) or I could make elbow patches out of Ultrasuede.   It wouldn’t take more than a quarter yard for the two patches.

I’m going to bundle up the sweater and take it with me to the store tomorrow or the next day and see what I can find.   I’m pretty sure this sweater is wool.   I don’t think the moths would have done quite such a job on acrylic.   I have a book called Mend It! that gives clear instructions for darning knits, so if I can come up with wool yarn that’s reasonably close in color and texture I’ll be all set.

Of course, no guarantees F’zer will want to wear the sweater even after it’s mended, but I think it’s still worth a try.

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December 15, 2006
by infmom
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Yo momma

When I was in the 6th grade, I coveted a clear red Duncan yo-yo that was being sold at Pearson’s Drug Store (the only store that was within any kind of reasonable distance of our house, and it was far enough away that special parental permission had to be obtained before we went there).   I don’t know how much they cost in those days.   Memory says it was a dollar, but I’m not entirely sure I remember it correctly.   In any case, it was more money than I generally had on hand, and scraping up the required coins took me quite a while.

But I did eventually get my clear red Duncan yo-yo.   I was never very good at actually playing with it, but I loved the color and since it had taken me quite a while to manage to buy it, it was one of my prized possessions.

Alas, I got stupid one day and took it to school.   I kept it in my pocket, but every now and again I’d take it out just to look at it.   My teacher, Miss Wilmoth, told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to play with it during school time.   No problem.   I, foolish kid that I was, figured that while we were standing in line in the hall during our mid-morning bathroom break was not “school time,” and just looking at it was not “playing” with it, so I took the yo-yo out of my pocket to look at it.

Miss Wilmoth promptly took it away from me and put it in her desk drawer.

And she never gave it back.

And that was that.   I didn’t have enough money to buy another one, and I knew if I told my parents that Miss Wilmoth had taken it away from me, they wouldn’t understand.   The clear red Duncan yo-yo became yet another on the list of lost objects of my childhood.   Duncan quit making the clear red yo-yos after that time, or at least they weren’t commonly available where I could see them.

Until today, when Vengeant and I were out shopping for a present for F’zer, and I spotted a display of yo-yos in the store, among which was…   oh my…   a clear red Imperial model from their Classic series.

I picked it up to look at it, and Vengeant kindly offered to buy it for me.   I’m still not particularly good at actually playing with a yo-yo, but that’s OK.   It’s sitting on my desk right now, where I can admire that glorious clear red color.   Ahhhhh.

So, Miss Wilmoth, wherever you are, thbft, thbft, thbft.   I got my yo-yo back.

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December 9, 2006
by infmom
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silver ball, silver ball, it’s Christmas time for the kitty

We seldom have a lot of money to spend on holiday presents, but that’s never really been a problem.   Because of course the idea is not to spend money, but to find gifts that the recipient will really like.

When my brothers and I were kids, every Christmas our dad would give us $1 per gift per sibling.   And we had to think hard about what kind of nice gift we could get for that amount of money.   Granted, in the 50s and 60s a dollar went a lot farther than it does now, but even when I was in my final year of college the per-sibling spending limit had only risen to $5, and there were still plenty of neat things to be had at that price.

Of course, finding a gift on a tight budget requires the gift giver to think.   Maybe that’s why I spend a lot more time mulling things over than doing the actual shopping.   Once I’ve made up my mind, it usually doesn’t take long to acquire whatever-it-is and wrap it up.

My family almost always gets me neat things, but I must admit there are several items I’ve been given over the years that I’m still scratching my head over.   I won’t go into detail; let’s just say that the thought really does count and leave it at that.

This year, I almost took the plunge and bought an item of clothing for my daughter, but I wasn’t quite that brave.   🙂

Title of the message?   Something that came to me one holiday season years ago when I was holding our big fat silvery-grey lump o’cat.

Hope you'll recommend my posts via your favorite social media. Just don't copy the material as your own.