Winter 2014 March 8 Saturday

37 degrees this morning.  Miserable day yesterday, hopefully will be better today.  Good to be home, although we did have a very enjoyable conference and visit with friends.  Daylight Savings Time usually means Spring is coming, but this is one of those Winters when you wonder if it will be one of those Summers that never really arrive.  On the other hand, this Winter could mean a very hot Summer.  I am ready to see my first crocus, which to me is a sign of Spring.

Indulged in some over-eating, will get back in the groove.  Eating right while traveling is so difficult, at least for me.  Perhaps a matter of allowing an excuse for not eating right!  I have also been drinking Gatorade (which seems to be almost pure sugar) hopping to forestall a cold, although it could just be allergies or a reaction to traveling to a different climate.  I hate getting a cold and realizing I have 7 days (or more) of misery.

Aliene and her friend have been friends for over 40 years.  Started in Oklahoma City and continued though the life changes, moves to different states and other major life changes.  They don't get to visit personally a lot, so it is important when they do get a chance.

I have always known about the "familiarly trap", where you don't go see so meeting because you live so close that you can always visit when you "get a round tuit".  The Memphis area has a number of sites we see only when we have friends or family visit, and fortunately, we have seen most of this places in Memphis we would want to see (that we know of anyway!), although we probably need to do more "day trips".  For example, I never tire of the Mississippi.  It rouses my interest and actual excitement whenever I look at it.  It is truly the "nightly Mississippi".  I could actually enjoy living by the Mississippi and just sitting outside and watching it go by.  While we have lived in Lakeland, we have seen the Mississippi at way below average and in flood stage, and it is always interesting.  I can only imagine going down the Mississippi in a raft.  I will probably do the second best thing and bicycle down along the Mississippi.  

Two things we haven't done, which we will do this Spring, is visit Shiloh and Oxford, Mississippi.  I can't believe I have lived within an hours drive (more of less) of both and never gone.  Something I will definitely take care of this Spring.   I don't believe in "bucket lists", but if I did, those two items would definitely be on it.  I'm sure there are other sites or places we would enjoy, maybe we will do some exploring.  One of the more unusual places in Memphis (to me anyway) is the "Metal Museum" which includes actual artisans who create metal art.

Just checked my spam folder on my gmail account, over 1,000 e-mails!  Once I found one that shouldn't have been on there, had to scan them one by one before I deleted them.  I check this morning and there were 68 more!  I really hate the way Gmail is set up, to separate what Google feels is "social media" and "promotional e-mails".  Google isn't any better than Amazon at determining what I want to see or read.  I wish they would just stop trying, it is really irritating. 

Good to be home for awhile.

Winter 2014 February 1 Saturday

55 degrees this morning.  Actually the forecast is for colder weather, although it should reach 60 degrees today.  In my "second place"  (Starbucks) on a Saturday morning. Busy weekend and week of preparing for several events.  

While computers are wonderful, sometimes it is just easier to read printed material, so I got a new toner cartridge and printed out some material I need to review.  

Disappointed to learn the the lack of volume in my (less than six month old) MacBook Air has a defect that Apple Computer is ignoring.  I almost never use volume on my MacBook, so I didn't even realize it was a problem until this week.  On reviewing various Apple Computer sites, I learned it apparently is a defect in the computer. However, I am heading to the "genius bar" and will see what I can find out.  Of course, as usual, the Genius Bar appointments aren't available until next Tuesday (this is Saturday), so I'll see if I can get in for a no-show.  In addition, I found out that the ocassional problem in signing out of Gmail (which is an irritation) is ALSO an Apple Computer problem that they are trying to blame on Google.  I may need to rethink my loyalty to (premium priced) Apple products after my experience last week!  

Speaking of "trolls", I was surprised to find that Google/Youtube had blocked my music on a Youtube video (which is when I learned about the volume problem on my computer) because some "copyright troll" was claiming the copyright on the music.  However, it is totally original music (with some Garage Band music that is all in the public domain).  I went to protest this and of course received a threatening note from Google that they would cancel my account if I protested and they found in favor of the copyright troll!  Welcome to 1984, except big business is the villain. I will probably protest anyway, because it just isn't right that some troll company goes around claiming copyrights they don't have.  Probably try to extort some money of "grant" me use of my own music!  And of course, Google is there helping them along, I"m sure for a good sum of money.

Reminds me of some music outfit that kept trying (in my opinion) to extort "licensing fees" from the City.  I received numerous calls that were basically veiled threats that they would attack us legally if the City didn't pay "protection" fees (sounds like the Mafia!).  Of course, they had some fancy name for it (licensing fees" or something like that).  Even an attorney said it was "easier to pay", but I never paid and won't, since there is no way the City was using any music copyrights.  The tyranny of the computers and big tech companies and, like always, someone trying to find an easy way to get money.