Conundrum

I am very content to play and piddle with my wordpress.com blog and don’t go too much for all that fancy plug-in stuff.    I’m seeing quite a few blog-buddies ‘upgrade’;  I’m assuming to wordpress.org?  am I right?  and I’m curious as to why?   I thought the only reason was to include advertising?   I’m wrong, aren’t I?

I love the personalities of these bloggers (you know who you are) and I don’t mind having to sign in every time I leave a comment.  You are worth it to me.   

I suppose that might beg the question why I don’t have auto-form-fillers or some such and the answer to that is ‘I don’t know.’    I recently changed the security system on my PC and I can’t get the form filler to work even though everything tells me it is setup for it.    I have yet to punch numbers on the phone (do we still say ‘dial’?) to call support and see what’s up but I did notice that this security suite of products is only to be used with Microsoft IE.  

So, that puts off my decision to investigate FireFox.  

Am I in the dark ages?    Do I need to take a class in…   what, exactly?

Then, yesterday, I met a very nice man who requested some PC help through our library’s tutoring program.   He wanted an overview of WordPress which is why they asked if I could help him.  They know I am a bit enthusiastic about all this blogging nonsense so the match was made.

However, he has it all setup with wordpress.org and I haven’t a clue how to help him.     He really doesn’t want help - he wants to HIRE someone to do it.      Should I have him buy the WordPress for Dummies book for himself or make him buy it for me?    Would you recommend this book?     I’m afraid he might have to buy me a whole new upgraded all-the-bells-and-whistles latest COMPUTER, too.     Now, that  might make it appealing…   

 

 

 

Follow Up and Then Some

First.    Hmmmm, I don’t know what to address first…   I want to respond to a few of the comments to a few of my latest posts.   

Ah, let’s address the question of Wilhelmina.    A few of you will remember Wilhelmina, yes?    I had posted about her, oh back in February?   And then zipped off to Costa Rica, got obsessed with my tan, flew to AZ, Palm Springs, involved with a wedding, and of course, my favorite time filler:  blogging, and.   well…   Wilhelmina has ended up like this:

 

So, sndra of no link, I can’t show you ‘how it turned out’.   I have only the heart I glued on and maybe, not sure the pencil marks will show up in the photo, but I drew on her to get an idea of how to map out my idea.    I have collected a few more items that are concave and convex to attempt a ‘fit’ with her curves, and that’s about it.   Guess this calls me a procrastinator.   Have I ever told you about the Christmas stockings I was cross-stitching for me and Hub?   I got one done a couple of years ago.   The other is still only a half way stitched design and I started these is 1990.     I have dresses cut with their patterns still pinned waiting for me to just sew up that were begun in 1993.    Which means that the cross-stitched stuff has been stored in SEVEN houses, and the sewing project has been following through my last FOUR houses.   Did you all know that I move a lot?    Yep, I am living in my 7th house.   in under 20 years.    It was a much worse average before the last 3 houses but the 6th house was lived in only 4 months so maybe not?   whatever.

My messy craft room, Wilhie up close:

      I glued the ♥ a little too high…

Second, on my artichoke post, JavaQueen mentions that she saw artichokes in the store and wondered how to cook.    Honestly, my first thought is RUN TO GOOGLE and look it up?!     What I really did was actually open up the WordPress search and entered How to Cook Artichoke and found some good resources.    Whenever anyone asks me “How Did you Know…”, I can usually always answer, “I GOOGLED IT!”    Ok, somebody tell me what you call a word that has been watered down to mean the universal non-specific noun/verb and not the brand?  ie, Xerox, kleenex, etc?   ’Google’ is becoming such a word, don’t ya agree?   (crap, they are going to come look for me now and demand a nickel.)

and Lastly and or Thirdly, my rant about commenting in the first half of the artichoke Wednesday post, was in no way to admonish any of YOU to leave me a comment (or I won’t visit you.?!  ha)   That is SO not the case!    I was only expressing a slight dissatisfaction with a particular activity on my other blog that is supposed to inspire community (duh, comment-leaving) where I felt I did MY  duty to the others and got no love in return.   It would be similar to my Photo Fridays if I always posted, commented on the other participants’ photos and NONE - ie, NO ONE, in the 6-7 weeks of ’sharing’ - EVER came by to say hi.     And I can only assume it’s due to the variety and thus ‘chore’ of commenting on so many types of blog platforms.     (oh, PFers!  I love our sense of community but I know it’s not always possible to visit everyone each and every week, especially when we start getting hundreds involved, right?   good.   AND, btw, the theme tomorrow, FRIDAY the 13th, is UNLUCKY.)

Please, comment when you want to, don’t when you don’t.   Really, it’s OK.   I’m a big girl and I will get over it, and move on.    LOVE YA!    

OH, you didn’t think I was done, did you?!    I just HAVE TO SHARE THIS!   I planted zucchini!    Last FRIDAY!  and now yesterday they are not just babies, they are toddlers!!

 

  Yes, I know, I KNOW I planted too many.  I’ll thin the grouping down to one eventually, which is sad, maybe I’ll transport some instead.

 

Spring Is Sprung

I’m all worded out from a fun trip to California.  My internal clock feels like it’s wound funny and I’m just starting to wake up.   My poor hub worked after we got home last night and was up at 5 am to get into the office.   Me?   I’m off to Dunkin Donuts cuz I don’t feel like making coffee, but I am up for driving(?!)   My fingers are typing words that I’m not sure my brain initiated;  I thought I would post a few pics and not be pressured to think up any more words.    I meant to show you what I came home to:   FLOWERS!

The crocuses are blooming and I have one vibrant daffodil.    And, of course, I missed the pup who I suspect is resenting that I picked him up from his doggie resort - he was having so much fun there with his friends.   Now he has to sulk and pout while I play on the computer…

So, What Do You Do?

I do love it when I log onto my blog and see comments from such wonderful bloggers on lots of different posts!     You make my day.  Thank you.      [ToDo #1:   Consider this IDEA:   "Do I respond to all individually or in one big post?" and then JUMP to it!]

Then I saw that one of my comments had a request so I JUMPED on that already.    If you ever have commentors whose ID won’t link back to their blog, just tell them to read this:  My POST on IN SERVICE:  the WordPress Comment Linking Issue.

After that, I saw that I had 21 trapped spam in my Akismet folder.    Most were for drugs and naughty things like “Do you want to cheat on your wife?”   But I don’t have a wife so I deleted that.     But one of them was a website that STOLE MY WORDS!!!!!!      RRrrrrrrr.

WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THIS?

I have my copyright  banner in the upper right of this page…   But what does that DO, really?    Here’s an IDEA, “C”…   Go to copyscape and jump on some RESEARCH…   [ToDo #2:   Visit copyscape and see what they have to say.]

OK, now that I’ve got some IDEA of what today’s To Dos to Do, I best JUMP on ‘em.

Happy Thursday!

I Just Realized…

I just realized that I blog cuz I don’t have enough people to talk to.    It truly can feel like one of the job fairs or better, the vendor room at a conference, where you stand awkwardly in front of some goofy placard selling your wares (I had the term ‘touting’… is that better?) and HOPING that some nice person will stop by and talk to you and yet not be too dorky.      [Or in Bound&Gags case, you have a big sign to warn the dorks NOT to engage in silly conversation...   Display in RED for "WARNING!"]

And then when they do stop by, you yap and flap your gums and hope you are making a good impression but knowing deep down, you’re a dork, too.    

I sometimes need the safety of my blog (or to keep my analogy imagery going…  the placard/table) so I don’t have to wander around and talk to anybody else!    

[Giving credit where due - if you are in need of a conference placard thingy, just click on the photo of the two very nice people from MegaPrint showing off their event banner....]

Yes Joan, I did walk 5 miles yesterday and I think I will attempt 4 today.   These are all on my treadmill.  I have a strange head condition that makes being outside in cold temps extremely painful after about 20 minutes of exposure.   I think it might be related to air pressure but I’ve never been scientific with it.    And I tried bringing it up to a doctor but it never hurts when I’m at the doctors, so - hard to figure it out.   I just don’t spend time outside unless it is warm like 60 degrees or higher…   Otherwise, I start acting like I’m one of those characters on the old Star Trek when being exposed to some highpitched noise that I assume feels like someone is stabbing my brain with an icepick.     [Couldn't find a pic...  had to go with this one instead.]

Another thing, isn’t it AMAZING when blog-block breaks and the difficult part isn’t what to talk about but what topic to choose today?!    I’m flooded with ideas right now!!!!!!!!!   Which is sad when I come up with this crap instead.   Oh well, I’ve said it before.  It’s my blog, and I can cry if I want to.

To respond to Annie at WriterChick (and someone on my other blog!), I didn’t realize you could cut and paste from other places…     I always saved an image to my PC and then used the upload feature in wordpress editor.    I think I must have attempted the cut&paste exasperation on one of those wordpress-trouble days when you can’t get the carriage return to work or the edit buttons to do anything, etc.    So my 3GB is getting full and thought I needed to delete out all the jpegs!   But wordpress only allows you (last time I tried) to delete them one at a time with WAY TOO MANY page clicks to make it happen.      And I also wonder if past posts with images then don’t allow the image to display if I delete it out of my collection.   Which would be sad on my FOG post, huh.

I know others use different editors - I’ve even researched a few but I HATE to download new stuff to my PC!   

And when did WordPress start allowing the editing of the timestamp?   Is that new?

Have a terrific Thursday, y’all.         

One of My Top Ten Posts…

One of my top ten posts has never been commented on.

Something about that is really COOL to me.    It’s the one that most seem to find by searching on ‘fog’:    Called WONDER, you may click here to go read it… 

Now, don’t spoil it by commenting there!   Come back here instead!    (just a thought; I’m really not the kind to tell people what to do.)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Yesterday was my biggest hit day according to my stats page.     And yet, viewings of my main post counts 11.    Hmmm.   The Orange Plaid post shows 34 viewings.   Whatever.

FYI - American Idol has the top 24 ready.    Here’s why I like it:   I’m thrilled that such talent that may not have an outlet to be shared with the world may come to light.    It’s the “rooting for the little guy and he prevails” feel-good feeling.   Yea, so, the exposure and style of the show and its process can be seedy, but I still love the happy parts.    I’m in love with the Archuleta fella.   He’s just adorable and his voice is so dreamy!

 

  

I have yet to watch Project Runway from last night.  I DVR’d it and it’s waiting patiently for my date with it later this morning while I run/walk on the treadmill;  I promise to review this afternoon.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I snuck a cut out heart with “I love you!  XOXOXOX,  CuriousC” into my hubby’s lunch box this morning!   This is amusing me then, now and will until he calls to tell me he found it.   And if he doesn’t call me, then my afternoon will turn into me being even more amused wondering what he has in store for me, knowing that it is driving me crazy that he hasn’t called me yet!     Ah, love…

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Happy Valentines Day!

 Curious “C”

Ruby’s Got Some Awesome Shoes!

RubyShooz has a timely post for this time of year…   Her blog, A Piece of Peace, and this particular post, has moved me to write my own post highlighting her post.  

Which is what this great blogosphere allows us to do so easily…   Pretty terrific, huh?

Thanks, Ruby, for being a beacon of bright light on so many great ideas!    And thanks for all the encouragement you’ve given me…   

  “Don’t say that you want to give, but go ahead and give! You’ll never catch up with a mere hope.”  - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

  “Give what you have to somebody, it may be better than you think.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  

“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more”   -Anthony Robbins

Friday Stuffs

a random collection comprised of miscellani:

Misc 1…     I have a new favorite ice cream:  Dove Chocolate & Brownie Affair.     I had decided that today would be an ice cream day.    I ate a salad for lunch to balance out the calories and then devoured this scrumptious delight.  YUM!   The packaging even has purple!  So, it was meant to be.     I love dark chocolate and this is the first I ‘flavor’ I discovered that has the original DOVE Chocolate.   DO NOTE:  it is topped with a Chocolate GANACHE Layer.    Oh my!   Of course, the 4 servings is laughable.    If I wanted the carton to last for 4 servings, I would buy the half gallon size!

Misc 2…    I typically edit my posts of a third of its original exclamation points.   I tend to be over enthusiastic when I write.

Misc 3…   I wonder if I should be a daily blogger or whenever the mood strikes me blogger…   Like with this one, I am teetering on posting this NOW or saving for later - hoping for more comments/viewings of the previous FREE RICE post.

Misc 4…    My mannequin came the other day.      Be watching for updates.  (It’s to be our winter project.)

                                                                   

Misc 5…   I have had a blogger tell me that she didn’t see any woo woo on my blog and she was surprised that I find hers so interesting!     and another fave blog I read talked about how we show so very little of our trueselves, a mere fraction!   how dare we judge or think we ‘know’ someone by their blog!    I don’t know about this.    I  wonder, I do.    I just wonder about it all.    

Misc 6…   a BUSINESS that I refer…    If you’ve read this from the very beginning, you know that I had a crash which really bummed me out.   Car crashes that do not have any physical human injury are extremely annoying.   (ones that do are scary!)   Anyway, I’ve since had the vehicle fixed and was very impressed with the  Auto Collision Repair (ACR) facility that did the work.   I’ve raved and told friends/neighbors about the gentleman in charge, the incredible service, blah-blah-blah.    and then today I get a letter.   It was a thank you letter.    Very nice, very professional.   BUT IT WAS ADDRESSED TO MY HUSBAND and not me.   My name is never mentioned or referred to .   My husband NEVER even dealt with them, never met them, never talked to them, NOTHIN.     It peeves me when a business can’t adjust to the person who is actually the client.   Hub’s name is listed first on the title? insurance policy? (yea?  so?!)   Why can’t  ACR guy change his stupid software that probably generated this letter to include my name?  or - gosh, here’s a concept - change it to ME since I’m the one he was in contact with?     I’m serious.   This crap bugs me.   

Misc 7…    I do take deep breaths when I feel myself getting agitated.    In…..    out…..      What’s it matter in the grand scheme of things?    The new energy is shifting and I must embrace the negative to enjoy the entire experience….   In….. out…..    What’s my lesson here?     Hmmmmm.

Misc 8…   I need to write my grandmother.   Her eyesight is poor and I’ve been yelled at that I’m not considerate enough of this fact.    ‘Yelled at’ might be a too strong term for the rebuke I was given, but its effect has been that I don’t want to write her knowing that the rebuker might read it.    SO, why don’t I just type it and make the font size 28 or 32?   I don’t know.     It’s been on my to-do list for months.

Meme - 6 Degrees of Separation

I was checking on my favorite blogs…    When I thought I would go see if Wolfgang at  Gazing Into the Abyss  had updated lately….    When I clicked on someone who had left a comment:

Loz at Midlife Journey.   He has made up a new MEME and I was intrigued…   He wants to play 6 Degrees and see where he ends up!   I’m trying it here and/or go to his blog and see how it works.    So being curious, I decided to go visit the blog of the person who was 6th on his comments list, but instead, I chose:  Dallas Meow  OOPS!     I violated the don’t count repeat-comments; too bad.   I chose this blog because she freely solicited more readers.    I oblige…   although, her blog for some reason takes a LOOOOONNNNG time on my PC to load.   And I really am trying to stay away from blogspots.    But I liked what I read. 

Her blog of this meme is HERE.     I like this meme because it sort-of “tags in reverse” without requiring anyone to do anything.   (did that make sense?)   It does require me to do a little bit of saving links to Word so I can organize and count properly… LOL!

 

I guess the whole idea is to see how connected we are and to learn more about blogs we may not have visited - get us to explore more!_______________________________________________________________________________________ 

SO, let’s get started, shall we?  The 6^th last person to comment on my blog was:

OH!  Do I count the 1-2-3 by time commented or on any posts that had at least 6 comments (that weren’t my own responses?   EEKS – I’m not sure that is possible for me)

What to do…  What to do….

The 6^th reader OF MINE to comment IN TIME order was Beth from Avenue Z on my post here .    And, in looking for the actual post with 6 comments that had no repeat offenders and discounting mine…  Zip, nada, NOT-HAPPENin’…  [However, to help those of wordpressblogworld, all you have to do is go to Manage and see your list of posts;  one of the columns shows how many comments each post has…   You can get the list by time-commented by going to Comments. ] Uh OH.   What if I go to another blog who also does not have so many comments to count all the way up to 6?   HOW MUCH TIME IS THIS GOING TO TAKE ME!    But, that is good, right?   I think Beth deserves LOTS OF TRAFFIC!   So, I want to help her.     

I choose WENDY who commented on Beth’s post on what keeps her going…  And to my surprise!!   I’ve been to this blog before!  LIFE WITH BUCK…   Extremely entertaining.   Especially since I refer to my husband as “BUCK” sometimes…   But, alas, she does not have 6 comments (YET!) on her latest so I have to go to the next post on Sam Jackson in a Walmart?    TOO FUNNY!!!   And I’m glad Buck is OK.   And I love the robe with the Red Sox Nation patch…    Gotta go with…   a different post due to comment counts…   (Sigh, this could get tedious?!)    

BRIAN at  In Repair.  (Yea!  Brian has lots of comments!)   Cute photo.

Red, your turn!   Blog:   Dr Pepper is Good 4 the Soul  which leads me to …  HEY!  The ABC MEME!!   Cool!   I recognize some on her blogroll; this is my first visit. 

And her 6^th commentor is Laura  at  blog/post I Am The Diva  

Her 6^th commentor is Damozel at…   ooo, another Buck reference!   What are the odds?    Back to their group effort home page gets me HERE.   

I think that does it.    My 6 stops were 1. Beth, 2. Wendy, 3. Brian, 4. Red, 5. Laura and 6. Damozel.    Very nice to meet you all!       Whew, that took some time.    All this linking and reading and tracking!   I need more coffee…