Monday, May 01, 2006


Joanna Lumley
60 years young today..
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I'm late posting because I overslept. This is partly due to the fact that I was up very late last night trying to recapture some of my lost posts. While a sizeable percentage are indeed lost forever, I was able to find at least the text to many. I have saved these into Word documents in order to recreate the entries as I have the time. The most difficult part is that when you copy from Word to Blogger and there is an image involved, it doesn't always appear. As I have all of the original images on my external drive it is more of a time consuming issue than anything. Last night I played around with my Adoption post from this past January, and linked it once again to the sidebar. I also reinstated my blogroll, which for obvious reasons I had been reluctant to do for the past two days. Still tweaking the template to get it back exactly as it was Thursday and that's coming along well, might even create a new Banner tonight, the orange is starting to irritate my eyes.
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Yesterday was spent first with my mother in the morning and then afterward we picked up lunch and headed to grams where we were met by my Aunt. The topic of discussion focused around a trip my son and Aunt are taking on Wednesday to D.C. While this is his second trip (his mother took him about a year or so ago) , it will be a completely different experience, as this is school sponsored with chaperones. The highlight will be my son placing something (I forget what exactly) on the tomb of the unknown soldier. He earned this honor by writing an amazing essay on his family's (immediate and ancestral) contribution to military service starting with the American Revolution right up to and including WWII and it's aftermath. I had a chance to work with him (a little) on this in terms of supplying the names and dates for some of the service records so that he could make a chart. He is quite the talented little writer, and I would suspect could surpass a great many twice his age. I can't wait to see the video and pictures and even more importantly, hear him describe the experience.
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WHY would anyone still use the cumbersome pc-freezing monster that is the America Online software? I understand that there are those people (like myself) who's introduction to Windows based Internet revolved around and required this monster back in like '94, and may (unlike me) be afraid to abandon this crap for raw surfing using a web browser and free chat software like Aim/Yahoo/MSN or better yet Trillian (which is a mess in my opinion and until the bugs are worked out I'll stick with the other three). Still, every time I hear someone actually turns on their PC, logs on to AOL and never leaves the "security" of that monstrosity I just am in shock. I mean sure, my mother is like 60 and since her internet surfing skills came late and as well the simplicity of AOL in terms of Keywords, pop up reminders and an easily managed mailbox naturally make her feel safe and secure. I can understand her refusal to abandon it even given her recent switch to DSL. But what about the younger people? Why on earth would you use AOL exclusively and go through the whole slow start up PC lock crap every time you power up?

Word of advice, dump AOL, start using AIM for your buddy list (or Trillian if you dare), start using a browser such as Internet Explorer and see how much easier and more quickly pages load and your pc moves WITHOUT That monster running in the background. Yes I realize this is a ridiculous issue to post about but I keep running across people who need to read this and it's frustrating!!

anyway....I am blogging from work, not a good idea.

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Laters :)

s72 C12 149

10 Comments:
Blogger The_Gay_Dude said...
I'm kinda outta the loop....how did you lose your posts? and I like trillian cuz it puts all the messenger services into one place no matter which provider.....I C u have comment moderation.....hope u aren't having probs again!

Blogger The_Gay_Dude said...
o and I like the new look

Blogger Kalv1n said...
That's so great about your son. I personally thought the whole tomb thing was really not that interesting, but I was 13 at the time. I would say go see all the monuments at night, but he's with a school group, and you can't really fashion your own schedule. And while I don't use AOL, I think I can understand some of it. You kind of grow attached like you said. I felt the same way about my TI-85. We took so many classes together that when it was lost I was dispondent even though it was just an outdated calculator.

Blogger Steve said...
Oooh. Blogging at work... I salute you. But instead of Internet Explorer, I'm using Mozilla Firefox and love it. IE blows in comparison, so much so, if I could un-install it, I would. (I did delete the icon off the desktop, though.)

Blogger BriteYellowGun said...
What's wrong with blogging at work? I never blog at home anymore! Yeah, I remember cumbersome AOL too. I'd get mad everytime they had a new version loaded with crap I never used or needed that just made the computer run slower and slower. I was happy the day I finally cut the cord.

Blogger Polt said...
It's all Patsy's world, we're just living in it, sweetie daring!

ABFAB rocks!

The Tomb Of The Unknown is quite a place, very solemn. What an honor for your kid! I only live about 2 hours from DC and go there at least once a month I'd say. Been to Arlington Cememtary numerous times. The Kennedy grave is pretty awe inspiring as well.

Blogging from work? Jim, welcome to 2006. EVERYone does it...even when we're not supposed to. :)

HUGS

Anonymous Anonymous said...
OMG! I just saw the vast desolation here. Ugh... Just thinking that one little click in a moment of ... panic? anger? ... and this whole collection is gone :(

AOL - geez, you got that right. But some people... My ex STILL uses AOL even though the house has broadband. Nuff said there.

Blogger Joel said...
Awesome news about your son. There is nothing better than a proud papa!

As for your services. I HIGHLY suggest swtiching to BlogRoll. It is free for one blogroll and you can arrange in all kinds of neat fashions. Plus if you want it to disappear for a while it is one click however it is still at Blogroll I am not sure the addy but if you are interested drop me an e-mail. The hardest part of course is transfering all those of your blog to theri site.

Now, on to IE. I was an Internet Explorer diehard but Ethan kept pushing me to swithc to Firefox. I was scared. I liked IE. I finally thought...heck it wouldn't hurt to try it...OMFG. BEst move I ever made. It is also free to download and we all (Joel and my kids computer too) now run Firefox. SUPER FAST...easy to use...tabs in stead of windows. AGain let me know if you are interested!

Lastly, I got rid of comment moderation after my LAST fiasco by switching to HaloScan which allows you to ban by IP address. Enough said...

Blogger J.P. said...
Sweetie darling - if you really want a fast internet experience, dump Internet Explorer and download Firefox. It's much faster and it's much safer to use. (Internet Explorer is the pathway for many, many Windows based viruses and such). Plus, Firefox is free.

I was an AOL user back in 1990, I had America Online for DOS v1.3 that came on one 3 1/2-inch floppy disk. I had switched to that from General Electric's long gone "GEnie".

Blogger epicurist said...
Glad to see your back! :)