Letters From Home

Life looks at infmom / infmom looks at life

April 14, 2010
by infmom
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Medical jewelry, plain & fancy

Table of contents for Making medical jewelry fancy

  1. Medical jewelry, plain & fancy, part 4

I’ve been a MedicAlert member since the mid-1980s, and I’ve changed my bracelets and necklaces often as time has passed and my medical conditions have changed.  I might go out without my Amex card, but never without my MedicAlert emblem.  My family can’t be expected to keep track of every single condition and medication.  Plus, if I’m out alone, the emblem gives people a way to reach my family members as soon as possible.

MedicAlert offers a wide selection of emblems and jewelry and there’s something there for just about everyone, but it’s a fact of life that their budget priced emblems are usually rather plain and their fancy emblems are usually rather expensive.  I don’t mean this as a criticism.  The purchase of memberships and emblems supports a fantastic organization.

But even if you’re on a budget there’s nothing that says you can’t have a fancy emblem too.  Embellishing your own emblems is surprisingly easy.  In the next series of posts I’ll give simplified instructions for making your everyday emblem look like party wear.

For these projects, you’ll need two small pliers, a small but sturdy wire cutter, and if you’ll be working with a stretch bracelet emblem, a small flat-blade screwdriver.  I’ll talk about other materials you’ll need when I describe the projects.   If you don’t have the tools on hand already, there are a bazillion good places to get them, from your local hardware store to Harbor Freight Tools to jewelry and craft suppliers like Fire Mountain Gems.  Just don’t get them from the 99¢ store or some other ultra cheap supplier–you don’t want to break your tools before you finish your project.

In the next series of posts I’ll go from simple to fancy.  You can re-imagine any of these any way you want.

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April 12, 2010
by infmom
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There’s writing, and then there’s publishing

Bookshop in Much Wenlock, UK

Image via Wikipedia

I talked a bit here about finishing my first novel and writing my second (which actually got finished before the first one did).  Of course, everyone who writes a book hopes to see it published.  The problem is that the publishing industry has gotten ever more insular and harder to break into, in the face of declining book sales and the rise of the internet.  If you’re not going to rival the current best-selling authors, especially with a work of fiction, the likelihood some publisher would bother with your manuscript, even with an agent representing it, is depressingly small.

However, with today’s technology, publishing one’s own works one’s own self has become ever easier.  The self-published author undoubtedly won’t be rolling in money as the result of his or her endeavors, but the self-published author will have actual books in print where the big-corporation hopeful most likely will not.

So I’m thinking about self-publishing.  I’ve gotten excellent advice from a good friend who published several books through mainstream channels and is now self-publishing.  He recommended high-end layout software for formatting the manuscript to send to the publisher, but I can’t afford anything like that.  I was wondering how to get the layout done properly when I picked up a book called Self-Publishing Fiction: From Manuscript to Bookstore and Beyond, by Gavin Sinclair, at the library.  And in that book was the answer:  Desktop publishing software!  Of course!

I did a lot of work with desktop publishing software years ago, using, believe it or not, a Commodore 128 and a program called GeoPublish.  Which stacked up quite well against high-end, high-priced Ventura Publisher in a review by Computer Shopper magazine at the time.    So I already know the basics and I’m sure today’s software is even more comprehensive and easy to use.  Since I’m happy with my Serif web page creation software, I ordered their PagePlus X4 from Amazon today.

Next on the list, a thorough investigation of print-on-demand publishers.   That route makes the most sense to me, since I won’t have to pay for books I can’t sell, and books printed by the reputable companies will be available for sale through Amazon and other booksellers.  And I’ll have to create my own publishing company, probably in association with my family.  But that’s a ways down the road.

There’s a lot of work yet to be done but I’m fired up about it already.  🙂

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April 6, 2010
by infmom
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The things I do for love

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A few months ago, pouting over not being able to run the “World of Goo” game my daughter gave me for Christmas, I decided that I would build myself a new computer this year.  The old one was (and is) still going strong, but its components are approaching computer-hardware senility and what was pretty close to state of the art six years ago is now pretty much Granny speed today.

So, this month I started buying the bits and pieces.  I got everything on sale, either mail order or locally, and while this is not quite gamer equipment I went for the most power and memory I could afford on my budget of roughly $600.  Last Friday, after a trip to Fry’s to pick up the last two items, I spread everything out on the office floor and started building.

Truthfully, building a computer is not difficult.  No, really.  All you’re doing is attaching bits and pieces to a box and to each other.  You need a screwdriver and reasonable eyesight and a willingness to read the directions (an anti static wrist strap is a good idea too).  Take the sides off the case, affix the motherboard, snap on the CPU and its fan (the fan is the fiddly bit), plug in the memory, slide in the drives and fasten them down, plug in the power cords and you’re good to go.  I worked slowly and carefully and the whole thing took less than two hours and that included cleaning up all the boxes, plastic and wrappers off the office floor afterwards.

The complicated, tedious, boring, frustrating part comes next–installing all your software.  If you’ve been using the same computer for a long time you’ve got stuff galore that needs to be moved, reinstalled, re-passworded, etc etc etc etc etc.  Registration keys have to be found.  CDs or original files have to be found.  The stuff you’ve been using for so long you couldn’t remember your password if you wanted to has to be started from scratch and hoo boy, what on earth did you use for a password.

Ugh.

The computer was up and running before dinner on Friday, and here it is Tuesday and I have finally gotten all my software transferred and most of it installed and working.  I have not yet customized Word (and I have to do that before it drives me flaming nuts) and it took me way too many tries to remember the passwords for my web sites so my newly installed Wise-FTP would work properly again.

But now it works.  I am typing on it.  The difference in speed is nothing short of amazing.  And best of all, since I bought good name-brand components, this will last me at least another six years before I have to go through all this again.

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April 1, 2010
by infmom
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If it’s the last thing I do….

Ever stop to think about what you do last?  People talk about the start of a journey or the start of a project, but what about the end?  I got to thinking about this the other day when I realized that there are certain “last things” I always do.

Last thing before starting to cook:  Make sure the water in the faucet is cold, so if you burn yourself you don’t have to wait.

Last thing before you turn off the car:  Turn down the radio so you don’t get blasted when you start the car.

Last thing before turning off the computer:  Make sure you don’t have CDs in the drive or flash drives plugged in.  They might be bootable.

Last thing before leaving the bathroom: Put the seat AND the lid down.  If both genders put everything down, nobody feels put-upon.

Anyone else have any last words?  🙂

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March 22, 2010
by infmom
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I can’t believe I wrote the whole thing. :)

Page from a Renaissance manuscript Gradual ori...

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Last night, I finished the manuscript for my first novel, Closed Circuit.  More than 20 years after I started it, and four months after I wrote its sequel.  No one ever accused me of doing things logically.  🙂  It’s not a FINISHED finished manuscript, if you know what I mean–I still have to go over it and see what still needs fixing.  And let a few trusted friends take a look at it and mark all over it.  But yeah, I got the story done, and I like what I did.

I printed it out today, since I do serious correction work best on a printed page, and gleefully went out and bought a nice binder to put it in (thank heavens for printer paper that comes already 3-hole punched!)  That will make it easier for other people to mark it up too.

Now, I’m in the process of designing the cover picture.  I don’t suppose that if I get it accepted by a publisher, they’ll keep the cover I designed, but what the hey.  I know what I want.  A combination of Photoshop and ink and I’m on my way.

Damn, I feel good!

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

March 18, 2010
by infmom
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The 20-year birth of a notion

More than twenty years ago, I decided to try my hand at writing a romance novel.  Based on the content of the Harlequins I’d read (especially one flamingly ridiculous little number called Romance of The Rose) I figured, how hard can it be?

And in truth, if you can write, and tell a story, and format your story to fit within very rigid guidelines and follow the
formula, writing a standard issue romance novel isn’t that hard.  I know, because I did it.

The problem was, when I got done with it, I knew it was not the book I wanted to write.  The story wasn’t just about these two people finding each other again after all those years.  There were other people involved, and a backstory that needed to be told, and plot points that would not fit the standard mold at all.  Besides, in those days, romance characters had names like Blaise and Chanterelle.  From the start, I chose deliberately plain names for my main characters.  Well, that part wouldn’t have gotten my manuscript binned by the romance publishers, but not following the formula definitely would have–and this story rejected the formula with as firm a hand as a Harlequin editor would have.

So I set the manuscript aside for a while, and thought about it, and worked out another storyline that had to be woven in with the original, and brought in some new characters.  And started rewriting, till I came to a stopping point for some reason or other.  And there the manuscript sat.  I’d pull up the files from time to time and look at them.  I think I rewrote the first two chapters about five times each, but somehow I never got moving on the rest of the book.

I knew from the get-go that there had to be a second book that would tie up loose ends for some of the secondary characters in the first book.  I even knew the name of the second book and the name of the new character I’d bring into the small town I’d created.  Yeah, I knew all that, but I didn’t have the story beyond a very vague idea that we’d find out who the father of 10-year-old twins was, and who would complicate their mother’s life.  But last November, I decided to get off my literary duff and by golly write that sequel.  And I did.

So then I had a finished sequel to an unfinished first book.  And when I asked a few people to read my second novel, of course there were references to plot points from the first book that didn’t really make much sense because of course the first book wasn’t to the point of being readable by anyone else, yet.

So, a few weeks ago I dug in my heels and dug out that manuscript.  Looked at the dates on the files.  They were created in DOS Word, which I had to give up due to Y2K issues (pity, because it’s my all time favorite word processor).  None of the file dates were more recent than about 1994.  Shame on me.  (When I was cleaning up a pile of old floppy disks I found a version of the book from 1990… so yeah, twenty long years.)

So, I imported the whole mess into Word 2003, cleaned it up a bit, and exported it again so I could work on it with Scrivener on the Mac (my new all time favorite word processor).  And I started plugging away at it.  It was immediately apparent where I’d left off with the rewrite, because after a bunch of reasonably good chapters, all of a sudden I had a whole chapter that didn’t do anything, the subplot and new characters went away, and the main characters reverted to standard-romance mode.  Yuck.

I decided to at least go through to the end and tighten up what was there and put it more in line with the new storyline, and that job was finished two days ago.  Now, I need to get rid of that nowhere chapter, put in a new one that advances the new plot, and move along from there.

Bits and pieces of the backstory keep impinging on my consciousness from time to time, though.  Today, I edited some of the early chapters to bring that all in, in a natural way (if I do say so myself).  When I finished that, I was ready to dance on air.  Because all of a sudden I realized…  I LIKE this book.  If I hadn’t written it, I’d read it.  What a feeling!

No idea what I will do when it’s all finished.  Send it out?  Publish it myself?  Lots to think about.  But I do think it’s a good book, and thank goodness I wrote such a lousy romance novel and gave myself the chance to write something better–given enough time.

photo credit: dasjabbadas

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

March 6, 2010
by infmom
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The Evolution of God

Symbol of the three Abrahamic religions.

Image via Wikipedia

I got The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright, from the library a few days ago.  I put it on the hold list so long ago that I don’t remember why I got the idea to do it–but I’m glad I did.

I’m only a few chapters in, but I’ve already determined that a library copy of the book is not good enough for me, I’m going to buy one of my own.  Because this is a book that deserves a thoughtful reading and re-reading.  It’s packed full of historical and linguistic information, some of which I already knew or had deduced on my own, but a lot of which is entirely new to me.

And yes, the title is apt.  Wright starts out with a discussion of hunter-gatherer spirituality (whether one can call it “religion” in the sense that we Westerners usually mean the term is debatable, since there’s no dividing line between religous and secular, in the way we understand it) and then goes on into a discussion of the beginnings of the Abrahamic religions (Judaiam, Christianity, Islam) and how we can still see how they changed over time.  (Interestingly enough, he says there is no word for “religion” in ancient Hebrew either.)

Let me mention, for people who don’t know me, that I’m not an Abrahamic believer.  🙂  That is to say that even though I was born into a Christian household and have been fascinated by the Bible and by Biblical history since I was old enough to read Egermaier’s Bible Stories on my own (I’m guessing around age six) I never got the idea that the stories were literally true.  I started reading Greek mythology at the same age and could never see a reason why one set of beliefs had to be “myth” while the other one was exclusively “true.”  That makes me, to this day, an interested heathen.

Some of the things Wright points out, I had already noticed in the Old Testament, and have had many a discussion with Christian friends about over the years.  Other things, I had noticed but had not considered them particularly noteworthy since they tied in with what other peoples’ gods were up to at the same time.   As I mentioned,  I’m still only into the first few chapters but already I’m so enthusiastic about this book that I wanted to take time out to say so.

It’s a book for believers and nonbelievers alike, and both groups will learn from it.  I recommend it.  But leave yourself time to do the reading.

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

February 26, 2010
by infmom
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Adventures in technological wonderland

Anyone else ever watch James Burke’s wonderful series “Connections” on PBS, or read the accompanying books?  Burke made grand entertainment out of the simple premise that because this happened, then that happened, and because that happened, something else happened, and lo and behold we ended up with something completely unrelated to the event that set the chain in motion.

Well, that’s what life has been like for me lately.  I think my motto ought to be “It’s a good thing I LIKE doing this stuff,” because so often I have simply had to out-stubborn something till it worked.  (Not to mention that it is also a very good thing that I like learning something new every day.)

So here’s a typical recent chain of connections.

On Twitter, I get into a casual discussion about Twitter apps.  Someone suggests a particular app, but it runs on equipment I don’t own.  I make a casual comment about not owning the equipment.  Another commenter offers me an older version of the item, which commenter recently replaced with a new one.  Ooo.  Lovely.

For whatever reason, however, the item never arrives.  I chalk it up to “Well, it was sure nice to think about while it lasted” and move on.

However, as I think it over, it is clear that yes, I actually did want the item, which is simply too expensive for me to go out and purchase new or even used on eBay.  There is, however, a lesser-featured similar item which does most of the same things and costs noticeably less.

I mull this over.  And realize I’ve had a small inheritance just sitting around gathering dust (and about dust’s worth of interest) for many years, and I could for once in my life quit being the Queen of Older Versions and treat myself to something shiny and new.  I spot the item on sale and I buy it.

In the course of checking out assorted Twitter apps, I idly browse to my blogs and my main web page.  Ye gods.  My main web page has been totally wiped out and replaced with the very first placeholder version I put there when I first established the domain.  I hustle to replace the page, but it won’t replace.  I then copy the code directly from my web page software and upload that and it still isn’t right–all the custom elements provided by the software are missing.

I go back to the software and browse for my theme and…  it’s gone.  I can only conclude that the theme was old and the company discontinued it.  None of my other web sites were affected.

I endure pointed (and absolutely correct) comments from my daughter about people who rely on web page software instead of writing their own HTML.  Knowing that my HTML skills are rudimentary at best (but enough to create a placeholder while I figure out what to do next) I still opt for web page software, but no more NetObjects Fusion, thank you very much.  Relying on good reviews on Amazon, a reasonable price and a rebate offer, I choose Serif WebPlus X4.

The software arrives and, be still my beating heart, actually contains a printed manual in the box!  I’m in love.  This is my kind of software no matter how well it might work.  🙂  As it turns out, the software is easy to use, but the templates that come with it are nothing to write home about.  I therefore take my daughter’s advice and start creating my own page, using the software to ease the process along.

I have to create my own graphics, and in the process discover that the font I wanted to use, something I’ve had kicking around since the Windows for Workgroups days, crashes Photoshop Elements 4 like nobody’s business.

I discover that I don’t remember the ftp password to my site, and therefore have to go create a new one.  Then I discover that I’ve left one digit out of the username.  Then I discover I’m trying to upload to the wrong folder.  (See “It’s a good thing I LIKE doing this stuff,” above.)

Finally, the first working version of the new web page is in place.  It looks a lot better than the placeholder even though there is still obviously work to be done.  I have learned new software.  I have bought myself something shiny and new for the first time since I can’t remember when.

And it all started with a discussion about Twitter apps.

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

January 22, 2010
by infmom
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Talking about walking.

View of the Hollywood Sign on Mount Lee in Los...
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Anyone who looks at me knows I’m not exactly an expert on the subject.  🙂

But one of my goals this year is to walk, every single day, at least 5000 steps.  So far I’m doing well, even though the rain’s been coming down in buckets here in SoCal this week (not that I am complaining about that one bit, mind you).  Eventually I will make the goal total higher, but since I had been pretty sedentary for a while (you can’t write books while you’re walking around, or at least I can’t) I wanted to insure that I set a reasonable goal at first.

There are several things to consider when you’re committing to walking every day.  First and foremost, I’d say, is to pick someplace to walk where you won’t get bored.  Years ago I used to walk around our neighborhood every day and I have covered the same territory so many times I just don’t want to go out and do that any more.  It was impossible to get motivated to go traverse the same old streets.  So, first of the year, I began going over to nearby Griffith Park and walking on their trails.  Seeing parts of the park I never knew existed even though I’ve been driving through it (and occasionally walking along one stretch of road) for 25 years was more than enough motivation to keep going back.  Well, until the rains came down, that is.  Those trails get awfully muddy and full of puddles in this kind of weather.

When weather makes walking outside chancy, a large shopping mall is a good place.  Of course you have to go into it with the idea that you are NOT there to shop.  🙂  You have to walk as briskly as you can past all the displays and around all the mall rats.  If you can go during a fairly slow time of day, so much the better.  (Being retired, I can do that.)

You can also provide your own interesting environment by listening to an audio book while you walk.  Pick a good mystery and tell yourself to keep going till you’ve heard several chapters.  Or put on some really bouncy music (I am a fan of the Pointer Sisters in this regard).  Just don’t crank your headphones up too high or you’ll do more harm than good.)

You’ll read in many fitness articles that you should see your doctor before making any big change in your level of physical activity.  Most people don’t think that walking constitutes a big change, and for the most part I’d agree with that, but there is one good reason to see your doctor before you start putting a lot of miles on your sneakers.  Many people (like me) have legs of unequal length.  If the difference is noticeable enough, it puts stresses on your body that you will definitely feel when you start walking around more.  I have needed to use a cane on occasion in the past due to pain in my hip, knee, and foot, that I did not know was aggravated by the leg length difference.  I now have a lift in one shoe and the difference is nothing short of amazing.

Even if you don’t normally walk with a cane, it is well worth while to go to a good outdoors-supply or sporting-goods store and get someone knowledgeable to fit you for a hiking staff.  These are extremely lightweight and can really help you move along.  Make sure the person you talk with shows you how to use the wrist strap.  It’s not there for decoration, it’s there to support your arm and make it possible to use the staff without having a death grip on it all the time.  I got mine at REI and consider it money well spent.

If you want inspiration to get going, try the book The Step Diet: Count Steps, Not Calories to Lose Weight and Keep It off Forever.  It outlines a very simple plan for getting moving, and it includes a small pedometer.  There are certainly fancier pieces of equipment to keep track of your daily steps (I am using a FitBit) but that’s more than enough to get you started.  If you buy a more expensive pedometer or a FitBit, the fact that you spent the money on it might be motivation all on its own.  It certainly is for me.  🙂

Anyone else have walking tips to share?

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January 13, 2010
by infmom
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Oddities

I updated to a whole new database and a whole new WordPress installation.  The restore didn’t go 100% perfectly, so if you’re reading old posts you’ll see odd characters here and there.  But I don’t think I’ll go back and fix all that.  🙂

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