I'd Rather Read

For I don't know how long, I have been addicted to playing "Words with Friends" and have accepted their challenges.  And have tried to complete the challenges.   And, I knew that as I did so, I was not attending to other interests in my life.  I justified it by thinking that sharpening my word skills was a valid endeavor. And it is.

But, I realized that playing "Words with Friends" limited my other activities.  Most recently, I have started reading again instead of playing "Words with Friends", and I realized how much more meaningful reading is to me, than playing "Words with Friends." It is not that I will not play, it is just that I will play on my own time frame, and not to complete  a challenge or otherwise be co-opted  into playing when I have better things to do.  

Words With Friends

Have I written about Words with Friends before?  I do not think so.  https://apps.facebook.com/wordswithfriends/.  Well, this is a Scrabble  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble like word game that Facebook promoted.  There was a time when you could play Scrabble on Facebook, and I had several friends who did so. But then Words with Friends took over. I think you can still play Scrabble on Facebook, but no one I know does. And then, Words with Friends started promoting "challenges" which will earn you a "badge."  The challenge is a two part challenge, to earn a certain number of points, and then to complete some other task, like making so many 30 point words, or making so many 3 words with one play or making so many JQXZ words.  All challenges in a week. 

When these challenges started, I started getting invitations from strangers to play.  Words with Friends will suggest people who play at your level, more or less.  The more people you play with, the more likely you will reach your challenge, but there is a maximum number of games you can have open.  Sometimes, all I do is play Words with Friends. I realized at one point that I was "addicted" and neglecting other things, like reading.  (I still do my household chores.)  So, I have had to manage myself, and play Words with Friends when I would be watching TV, or for a time limited session.  

Sometimes, I meet the challenge, and sometimes, I do not. 

Words With Friends

Okay, I admit that I am addicted to playing Words With Friends. And, I have started accepting the challenges that they send out.  Some are amazingly easy, like scoring 8 30 point words in a week. Some are tough, like the one for last week, in which I needed to score over 7100 points.  I did this, though, and have a similar challenge this week.  Completing challenges earns badges.  I do not care about badges. I am just competitive enough to want to meet whatever reasonable challenge I am offered.  I did not think that some of the Words With Friends challenges were reasonable, and I had trouble meeting a 3200 point challenge just a few weeks ago, but evidently there is a network of people out there who want to win these challenges, and they send out invitations to play for that purpose.  So, I have a large list of people with whom I am playing Word With Friends, and we are submitting our words on a regular basis.  I even make playing Words With Friends a priority when I sign on, before attending to other activities, such as reading emails or playing other online games.

Haiku is Nothing if Not Persistent

I am sitting at the desk tonight, working on the computer.  Every time I move, to get a drink, use the bathroom, get a Kleenex, Haiku gets on my chair. She is just sitting on the tray next to the chair, waiting for her chance. She has been doing this all night, even before I turned on the heating pad, although she really likes the heating pad.

I am offering Haiku the opportunity to sit on me.  She stretches from my shoulder to my lap, but only sits on me for a brief period of time. I hate that she is unhappy about me being on my chair, but sometimes, things are what they are.  I have been thinking about getting a new chair with a better lumbar support built in.  Maybe that will help us, as she can have a chair, and I can have a chair. As it is now, I have a metal folding chair out for her, but she does not like it.  Previously, I had a nylon folding chair out, and she did not like that either.  That chair broke, and went away. 

Haiku likes my chair when I have been sitting in it and it is warmed, but she also likes it when it has not been recently used.  Although it does not have a really good lumbar support, it is a good chair.

Toshiba, Microsoft, Suddenlink, and Me

So, I have written that I purchased  new laptop computer.  I purchased a Toshiba Satellite http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite?src=MAXQ&cm_mmc=SEM_Direct_Bing&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc because I was pleased with my old computer, a Toshiba Satellite, until it became outdated, including because of the software, not the hardware, and I decided not to put new money into an old computer.

I was not really happy about having to use Windows 8.1, but I can learn to live with it.  Because the files on my old computer were not compatible with the new computer, I have been entering all of my many hundred email addresses manually. And made quite a number of mistakes, which I fixed as I could.

Until Thursday night.  I could access the primary email account I have with Suddenlink http://home.suddenlink.net/, but not the secondary email account which is the one with most of the email addresses.  I was afraid this might happen. For security reasons, in the past, Suddenlink would lock me out of this account if I had too many bounce back emails.  The first time I reported it, the technician fixed it right away.  The next two times I reported it, I went through customer service hell to convince the technicians that this was the problem, but finally, we got it fixed.

So, Thursday night I called Suddenlink, and was connected to a nice young lady who heard my story and immediately told me I was not locked out of my account. We spent an hour or so changing all kinds of settings to try to activate the account, to no avail.  She transferred me to Microsoft http://www.Microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx for further assistance. The first representative I got was not very helpful, had a very heavy accent that I could not understand, took my phone number "in case we were disconnected" and when we were disconnected, did not call me back after about 8 minutes. Fortunately, the Suddenlink representative had given me the Microsoft number, so I called back, and was connected to a very patient and very knowledgeable representative. We tried several things, and discovered that when I signed onto Suddenlink to access my secondary (problem) account, I was indeed locked out. He suggested I totally delete my secondary account, and not set it up until Suddenlink unlocked this account. He also told me that I had free access to Microsoft technological help for 90 days from the date of purchase of Microsoft Office. That was REALLY good to know.

By this time it was well after 9 PM. I had not eaten dinner and had other things to do on the computer, so decided this could wait a day.

Friday night, I called Suddenlink again, and explained the entire story and problem, including my interaction with Microsoft.  The gentleman I worked with was very nice. I told him I was older, had bad vision and difficulty reading the small fonts and adjusting to a new key board, all of which contributed to my typographical errors.  He related to me as an older user, also.  He had a good sense of humor. He accepted the premise that I was locked out of my account (probably verifying it on his end.)  I had trouble resetting my password.  He helped me, accepting the unimaginative process I was using to reset the password, and it worked. I had to run a virus scan before he could submit the request for reset, and we had time to chat because it took so long.  When it was reset, he told me the manager who did it was a reliable manager and he trusted that person. He gave me the setting to re-establish my Microsoft Outlook account. And he made sure that I was able to send and receive mail with the Suddenlink account I had previously had trouble with.  He was great! 

Every time I think I have everything set up with this new computer, something else happens.  I had hoped to set up the new printer and the mail merge files I need to do last weekend, but that did not happen, as I was still trying to update email addresses and figure out the Outlook program. 

I am in hopes that this weekend, I will be able to set up the new printer and the mail merge programs.  Although I will have to move the old printer, I can set it up to use, with the old laptop, if I cannot figure out what I need before I need it, using the new computer.

This has been an adventure.  Not a bad one, but still, an adventure.  And more work and much more time consuming than I had bargained for. But, it will be okay.

A Full Day

It was a full day.  The cats wanted me up before the alarm, but I put them off. Haiku kept slapping the inside of my nostrils.  I do not know how she figured out this was sure to wake me up and get my attention, but she did. I did get up shortly after the alarm went off, which meant I was ready for work early, and went in early.  I stayed at work, although I could have gone home mid-day to check on the cats. Sake's eating is so sketchy, a trip home may or may not have been productive.  I probably did the wrong thing. I never know what to do.

After work, I went to a reception at Catholic Charities http://cclubbock.org/ for the graduates of the Parent Empowerment Program. It is so heart warming to see people the agency has helped become self-sufficient citizens.  That is so great.

I stopped at a nursing home on my way home:  A co-worker had been there for wound care and antibiotics. She left today. That was great, it is her birthday, and going home is a great birthday present.

I had some mail that could wait. In fact, some I will bring to work.  I am behind in my plan to set up the new computer, but it is going along. Tomorrow night, I hope to update two more address books from the old computer.

If I do that, I will send out some announcements from the new computer. If it extends beyond Wednesday, I will do the announcements from the old computer.  I still need to work on written postcard announcements, mail merge and so many things.

Tonight I watched the Yankees lose to the Texas Rangers.  Tomorrow night, the game between these two teams will again be televised on a TV channel I can watch.

One day at a time, one day at a time. Tomorrow, while the Rangers vs Yankee game is on, maybe I can finish the addresses.  I did not get the old printer moved and the new printer set up over the weekend as was my plan.  But I am not strapped for printing service at this point.

I am so proud of myself.  When I purchased my first laptop, I was so stressed to get everything set up and changed over in a hurry.  Now, I am not so worried.  When I purchased the laptop, my desktop was still fairly functional. So there was no rush. But rush I felt. Now, I am feeling free to work at a more leisurely pace. Even if the old laptop becomes unavailable, I can still figure this out, but with more effort.

More Computer Setup

I am still working on setting up my new computer.  I am getting used to Windows 8.1, the sensitivity of the touch screen, and setting up Microsoft Office.

I did not know it would be such a chore to set up Microsoft Office Outlook to get it to work.  I knew I would have to data entry all of my addresses and emails because Outlook is not compatible with the Outlook Express that I had been using.

And, Outlook does not actually offer me the flexibility of Outlook Express.  Or, if it does, the access to that flexibility is so obscure, I cannot find it.

So, I am still working at it, and still frustrated.  I have not even attempted to set up the new printer.  That will occur later this month.  And, I have to learn to do envelopes, mail merge, and how to print to a post card.

This will be interesting and continually frustrating. But challenging, and with help, I have met the challenges so far. So, I suspect I have many more successes in me, along with a few failures.  But failures teach me what not to do.

Google, Blogger and Me

A couple of years ago, all of a sudden, I could not access my blog, Joyce's Jabberings. I finally gave up, and re-signed onto Google with a different account, did one Joyce's Jabberings, and created Lisenby Lines.

Well, I have a new computer, and I am trying to set it up.  That has been trying and interesting, as the technology and software has changed so much.  I am getting used to the Microsoft 8.1 and the touch screen.  I have set the default, though, so the computer will open to the desktop instead of the Windows tiles.

As a Texas Tech employ, I have access to discounted and low cost downloads, including Microsoft Office.  I checked the other day, and Office 2007 was available and free.  Now, it is not on the download list.  Oh, well, I can get Microsoft 2010 for $10.  I send for it by mail, or go to the library and buy it.  I am hoping the media support center will be open this weekend so I can get it. 

I decided to open a Microsoft email account, anyway, so I could send stuff to myself. The one thing I wanted to send to myself was the Lisenby Lines access information. 

Well, that did not work, because I kept getting my first blog account for Joyce's Jabberings. I worked at it over and over. I kept having to change my password and I just could not get it to work.  It took me forever to realize the Lisenby Lines is associated with a different gmail account, and then not quite as long to figure out how to change to that account so I could get to Lisenby Lines.

Well, obviously, I am there, and this is my first blog since June 24, 2014.  At first, it was because the other laptop would freeze up too often and for too long. Then, it was because I could not figure out the access problem on this computer.  Well, this sight is now favorite placed, so I should be able to come back and post again.  Soon!

The Saga of Sake

Sake seems to be doing better. She is eating more regularly,  if not at all meals, but she may be eating in between, when I am not around. She expressed her desire to eat, and ate the smashed liver I give her.  It used to be she did not like smashed liver or paté foods. She liked chunks and gravy.  But now, she is eating smashed liver. 

Tonight, for the first time, I saw her eat some hard treats.  That was after she ate some paté and then some other food that was out. I think she was hungry.  I wish I could find the right combination of foods for her to eat, so eating is not uncomfortable.  She did not lap up the baby food.  I put out some finely chopped turkey, but that did not interest her, either.

Well, the blessing is, the liver paté will sustain her.

I will continue to offer her options, and hope that one or more is palatable to her.

A Biblical Plague

I really feel like I have been infested with a Biblical plague.  I have chronicled my automobile and cell phone problems.  Thursday night, my skin infection returned from out of nowhere! And, today, while I was doing laundry, my drains backed up.   So that put the kibosh on laundry.  The drain clean out was covered with leaves, so I thought I should clean that area of the backyard.  And, of course, I ended up cleaning the entire back yard.  I did not even plan to do that this weekend. I will say that between the celebrex and my physical therapy exercises, I am getting stronger.   It only took about 2 hours to rake the entire yard, with only two rest breaks.  That is about what it used to take before my back started bothering me.  Of course, I am very sore tonight.

On the other hand, the snow and freezing rain we had last weekend and early this past week knocked most of the leaves off the trees around my house, except the Bradford Pear, to the east.  I sometimes do not even rake leaves until New Years, because I want to wait until they are all down.  The last couple of years, I have raked a couple of times for two reasons 1) I get tired of looking at the leaves and 2) it takes me so long to rake.

I still have to do the front and alley, but that is not so bad.

I did some serious house cleaning that I was not planning to do, but did not mess with the bathrooms until I can get the plumber in. Nor did I wash the kitchen floor, for the same reason.  I called, but it was about 1 PM, and the on-call guy had 8 calls ahead of me.  I will check in the morning and see what the prospect is for repairs tomorrow.  Amazing, at 10:15 PM the plumber called.  He has had a long day, but says they only take weekend call once a month.  He was willing to come out tonight, but I told him not to: the cleanout is in a corner of the backyard where there are no lights, and he will have to get on the roof to do the washing machine cleanout.  So we have an appointment for noon tomorrow. That makes me happy.  I will be able to do the laundry in the afternoon.

The car starts once, but does not hold enough of a charge to start again. I am hoping it will start Monday morning so I do not have to bother a neighbor to get a jump start, but either way I need to be able to get to the repair shop. 

The injection that Sake received last Tuesday just did not work as well as the first time.   She runs to food, but does not eat.  She smacks her lips, but does not eat.  She did eat some baby food chicken, some hard treats, some turkey wing meat, and liver tonight. Just a little of each.  It is so frustrating. She eats a little at a time, but will not go back to something she has eaten earlier in the day.  I am thinking the next step is to have her teeth extracted.  I hate to do that, because she will have so much trouble grooming. She will just have to let me help her more. 

Well, the cell phone works.  The car is safe in the garage.  I can renew my library books online or by phone tomorrow.  I did get groceries today, but had to get a jump start to get home.  It takes almost nothing to start the car, so that is weird. 

One thing that has come out of this is that I can now back the car into the garage.  I did that for the first time Wednesday night, and I bet it took me 30 minutes. Maybe not, but I sweated over it and did it inch by inch, correcting and recorrecting.   Yesterday, it did not take me that long, and today, it took even less time. Of course, I still need to be careful, but it is nice to know I have that skill.

What is really weird, is that I do not think twice about backing the car out of the garage, it is just a straight shot, but sometimes, I end up crooked off the driveway.  Well, I am glad I have learned this new skill!

Unpacking

So I have been out of town.  I have an excellent, well trusted cat sitter tend to the girls while I am out of town. When I return home, the girls are not skittish, nor overtly in any way put off by my absence.  In some ways, that makes me sad, because the cat sitter just comes by twice a day. But on the other hand, she is meeting their needs for food, water and affection to a great degree. So, I am blessed to have such a cat sitter.

Tonight, as I was unpacking, I had the large suitcase on the floor, and was taking things out of it as I would.  I am not in a hurry, so there are items to remove that are not clothing, but documents from the training I had attended, my creative activities, including a knitting project, books, word puzzles, and other stuff I collected while I was at the conference.

Well, I unpacked my carry on bag first.  And then, when I was ready to unpack the suitcase, Haiku was laying on top of it in a very possessional sort of way.  So, I decided to do my physical therapy exercises rather than disturb her.

After I did my physical therapy exercises, Sake was on the suitcase in a very possessional sort of way. So, I decided to do some blogging.

Here it is, after midnight, and no one is on the suitcase. I have to decide if I want to work on unpacking or go to bed.

Well, I am not ready for bed, but I am not going to worry about unpacking tonight.

So Today Was Different, Too

So, today was different too.  I had a personal appointment that got me to work late.  Although the appointment turned into several things, I am relieved that it has been tended to.  I am feeling positive about this.

Because my supervisor was out yesterday, and today too, I asked the administrator if I could discuss my concern about my problem.  She was cool, thanked me for telling her before someone else did, discussed how we could handle it, and said she would let my supervisor know it was tended to.

My renewed driver's license arrived yesterday, as did my social work license.  Which means those things are no longer pending. 

I decided not to work too late tonight, as I had errands to run after work, and I wanted to be home for the game.  I got plenty of work done at work.  And, I have plenty of leave if I need to use it, for being off today or Tuesday.

I felt less productive than usual, but I did get plenty done.  And I feel good about what I need to day tomorrow, if nothing comes up, it will be manageable.

I Wrote Too Soon

Last night, I wrote about the time warp I felt because of the early start of the Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays http://mlb.mlb.com/home.  Well, I wrote too early.  It was a long game.  Tonight, they tell us the game on Monday night was 4 hours and 19 minutes long. So, it was not such a different feeling about the game, at the end.

Tonight, the game started at 7:30 PM Central Time. The Oakland Athletics were playing against the Detroit Tigers, and it was initially a close game, but the Detroit Tigers blew it out and won the game.  Which means that series is tied 2-2 and will go to the 5th game. 

So then the Red Sox and the Rays are playing.  We shall see what happens tonight!

Go Red Sox!

My Fuzzy Keyboard

I have three cats.  One has "too much hair" as a friend of mine describes her cat with the same thick coat that Sake has.  Another, Haiku, is sort of long haired, but not thick and fuzzy. The third cat, Taki, has longer than short hair and very, very thick hair.  Like an over long buzz cut.  

Well, there is fuzz everywhere in my house.  It is pulled up against the intake register for the heater/air conditioner. It piles on the carpet. And, when I vacuum the whole house, by the time I finish, there are fresh clumps of fur in the room where I started vacuuming.  The comforter on the spare bed wears a layer of fuzz. The throws on the dining chairs wear a layer of fuzz.   There is fuzz on the wall decorations, especially the baskets in the kitchen. The ceiling fan blades wear a layer of fuzz regularly.  Sometimes, unfortunately, there is fuzz in the refrigerator. And regularly, there is fuzz in the dishwater filter.  There is fuzz everywhere on the furniture.  I vacuum and brush, and wash, and still, there is fuzz. There is fuzz hidden in the laundry, and it collects in the dryer filter and pills up on to the clean laundry.  It is kind of like "The Trouble with Tribles" as it is EVERYWHERE.

Well, tonight, when I sat down at the laptop, in the middle of the keyboard was a clump of fuzz.  So, I took a straightened paperclip (high technology cleaning tool, I mean) and traced around each key on the key board. And brought out more and more fuzz. It is a wonder the key board was even functional, with as much fuzz as I cleaned out. 

I realize the next time I shut the computer down, I need to take out the air cleaner, and blast the keyboard.

Blisters

I am sure you have had a blister at some time in your life.  We are told that we should not pop the blisters, but let them go their course.

I currently have a blister on the small toe of my right foot.  A few weeks ago, I sprained my right ankle, and had to keep it wrapped as part of the care.   I have been wearing my hiking boots as they provide so much more support. But with the ace bandage, putting a sock on the foot made it too bulky to fit the boot. So, I did not wear a sock, and there was a place in the boot that rubbed the small toe of my right foot, and resulted in a blister. It is not too painful, but I can feel it and it is uncomfortable.

I am determined not to pop the blister intentionally, but to let it be. I have actually done that with other blisters I have incurred throughout my life.  As the fluid subsides, and the skin shrinks, I am amazed at how much tougher the intact skin of the blister is than the skin around it.  The human body is an amazing thing.

I think blisters are a lesson in life: Sure, they are an irritation to us. But when that irritation subsides, the skin is tougher than it was before.  Hmm, can we learn from this?  I think so.

The Knitting Magnet

Taki is amazing.  No matter what she is doing, including sleeping, when she hears the clicking of knitting needles, she is right there. She grabs at the yarn from the skein, and she grabs at the yarn on the needles.

This is problematic.  Especially when she grabs the yarn on the needles, because she pulls stitches off the needles.  Sometimes, she pulls several rows of stitches off the needles at whatever spot I am knitting.  And, I have to undo all of those rows.  That is especially time consuming when I am working on a pieces of several hundred stitches across.  Very frustrating.  I use a lot of loud "nos" but that does not help.  But I cannot not punish her. The instinct to play with moving objects, including yarn, is pure cat. 

I usually try to finish the row on which I am working, but sometimes, that is counter productive, especially when she pulls stitches off the needle.  And, while I am trying to knit, I am fending off Taki, who is scratching my hand repeatedly. 

Then, I try to find a suitable diversion for her. She will not be diverted to self play.  So the diversion has to be something that we can do together, and that involves string or yarn or cord.

I like playing with my cats, but I wish Taki did not think my knitting was a toy.

A Long Day

I did not want to get up today, because I knew it was going to be a long day on the afternoon end of the day, and it was.  I often have to work late on Wednesdays, which is okay. And, which I did today.

I knew, going  into the day, that I had an errand to run after work, and then had some tasks to complete in preparation for the NASW CEU luncheon on Thursday.

Because I was late getting in, I missed the first 2 innings of the Red Sox vs Rays baseball game, but that was okay. 

I want to finish watching the baseball game, and for now, it is early enough to be able to anticipate I can do so, especially if it is only a 9 inning game.  I think it is interesting.  Sometimes, baseball games are slotted in for 2 hours on TV, but this game was slotted in for 3 hours, which is much more realistic any time the Red Sox or the Yankees play.  And, it is on a sports channel vs. an entertainment channel.

I am feeling very tired mentally.  Sometimes, the mental tiredness is more difficult to recuperate from than the physical tiredness.

Hopefully, I will have a restful night.

Dealing with Time

Since the 14th of July, when I had the sense of somnabulence, I have been having difficulty dealing with time. I recall, when I was a child, some of my teachers, and my father saying that you could teach yourself to register time: when to get up, when to go to bed, approximately what time of day it is.  I can usually do that well, not necessarily needing a clock, unless I take a nap during the day.  Or, unless I am rapt in a project.

And, when I was in college and we had an interviewing course, the professor said you would get used to having 50 minute sessions.  And, I did develop that skill, and still have it, although where I work now, I seldom need it.

But since I have had that somnabulent experience, I am feeling out of sorts about time.

I can still gauge and estimate how long tasks should take, and plan accordingly.  But I am having difficulty staying focused on what day it is.  The last few evenings have had such mellow evening air, as I sit in  the back yard and read, I have to remind myself what day it is, that I have to go to work the next day, that it is not a weekend, and that I am not on vacation.

I do not have as much difficulty during the day, but I am still having to work at reminding myself what day of the week it is. I do not recall having this problem in the past.  It is as if I am floating in time and not grounded, and have to force myself to be grounded.

It is a peculiar feeling, a little disconcerting, but very relaxing.  As if, although it is a week day night, I am doing weekend time, with no stressors, worries or concerns.  It is in some ways a nice, almost comforting feeling. The only discomfort it affords me is that I will forget what day it is and forget an obligation, such as going to work!

The Most Difficult Chore

Edging is the most difficult yard chore that I have to do.  It is not a difficult chore. But I have two weed eaters, and both are of such a length that edging means I sustain a posture that hurts a couple of the muscles in my back, and hurts my hip. The sweeping/raking/vacuuming motion also bothers that place in my back. 

But, edging needed to be done. There is a chance for rain the next several days after Sunday, so I decided I could not put off the edging any more.  It did not take long, I took some aspirin before I started, but the muscles are still throbbing.

The good news is that I will not have to do that tomorrow, and can rest.

Jackie Robinson, A Biography

As I have previously mentioned, I went to see 42: The Jackie Robinson Story twice at the movie theater. This from someone who rarely goes to see a movie.  I was very interested in the accuracy of the events, and found myself picking up a book at the library: Jackie Robinson, A Biography by Arnold Rampersad.

As I read about his entry into baseball, I was pleased to see that the incidents depicted in the movie were fairly well depicted in accord with the book.  And, now, as I have finished the book, I was really, really struck by the fact that Jackie Robinson really was the right man, a man with a mission, to integrate baseball.

The incident that lead to his court-martial in the US Army indicated he was will to fight for integration and racial equality.  The life he lived after baseball demonstrated to what an extent he took that on as his life's mission. It is a part of the Jackie Robinson story that most of us do not hear about.  

This was a very good book.