Strange Weekend

I ended up with a four-day weekend because I had an open revolt staged by my body: fatigue that I have never felt before coupled with sinuses acting like a cold or a sore throat was oncoming. I stayed home and dosed myself with Vitamin C and liquids. I thought I would go to the paying job Friday until I slept through all my alarms.

Saturday I got volunteered to help Mom and my sister reorganize the closed-in garage room so Mom can have room to go through the store inventory and decide what to do with it. The only issue I have is there was no clear plan for the boxes of items to donate. Me and sister voted for hauling them away right then, but neither of us knew where to take them. Those boxes ended up right back where they started so Mom can double check them. *rolls eyes*

I ended up with an old steel filing cabinet and a mirror cabinet thingy Mom is positive I can work into my house somewhere because I always need storage.

I am dubious of that claim.

The filing cabinet was a bitch to get inside, but it fit perfectly into the space I have had pegged for my eventual paper pantry. I moved the paper I had been storing in the not-made-anymore Sterlite Ultra drawers and consolidated so much of the spread out storage, I freed up one of the small bookshelves under the leg of my L-shaped desk. I took off that extension since it was broken, and rearranged the shelving. The I had to take the telephone jack apart to shift it so the shelves would fit. Then shuffled the books around.

All this after giving Mom four hours of heavy lifting. I told her that I wasn't moving jack-shit for the next six months. Though, I will break that if the opportunity comes to get my mother's furniture off my front porch so I can use it again.

Shuffling the office and the books made me crave for the built-ins I want to do but still not sure about. One reason for the indecision is money for lumber. Two goes back to how much am I going to change the house footprint when I remodel? If I add a room to be an office, why should I line cypress walls with shelving?

Sunday was a recuperation day by straightening the story folders. Which while needed to be done, took my focus from writing for the umpteenth day in a row. All I can do is hope my subconscious has been plugging away at whatever the problem is, because I have to finish the story while I still have time to edit. :p

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Blah week?

That time of the month and fatigue is hitting hard. I'm getting up on time, but find that I don't want to do anything but go back to bed. *headdesk*

Over the weekend, all I accomplished was figuring out that most of the careful instructions I had made in setting up virtual hosts for website work under XP doesn't work under Windows 7. I finally managed to get the Library's sandbox working before running out of weekend.

Part of the problem, I wanted to set the development area so it was portable originally. Very few people do this, and then it turned out I have no where else to really build. :p So in take two, I'm moving everything to the C drive, which is what most online directions tell you to do regardless. :p

Now to get through the day with my eyelids propped open.

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This makes me realize I haven't traveled as much as I would like

visited 16 states (32%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

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And because I needed to share a laugh

Five Science Fiction Shows Turned Into Children's Books

My favorite:



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Friday, It Is Friday Right?

I thought I was doing pretty well nipping the failure panic over Convergys in the bud last night. And then their site is broken and I couldn't apply. *headdeak* Currently waiting for them to respond to the message I sent about the issue. It could be an IE thing on my end, but ugh. Just ugh.

This weekend I'm going back through the list and find the next company to apply to. I also want to catch up on fiction words and do the website updating stuff I have written down to do. I moved website stuff to the weekend rather than trying to dedicate an hour everyday to it. That didn't work at all last year.

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Day of silent screaming

Scary how good I am at that now. It's not a skill class I want to be proficient in, mind you, but practice makes perfect.

Bedtime Helper worked, but by the time I finished setting it and the parental controls up, it was time for bed. So because I had to stop at the hospital and check on my grandfather.

Don't with the condolences. Just don't. It's a long story that I don't want to share, but I won't miss him. This is not my usual stoicism at play either. I don't want him to suffer, but beyond that nothing. It killed an hour that I would have had for housework, so I didn't get to finish the list last night.

Today's schedule went much better, got up mostly on time, got things done around the house, some writing, left on time. Then at the paying job, it all went to crappy-ville on four flat tires. Hence the silent screaming at the top of my lungs and listening to Metallica to calm down. No, that isn't a typo.

Second job: I thought I had posted on these plans already. I found a reliable list of companies who offer virtual call center jobs, i.e. working from home. Convergys is on the list, but my old computer failed their tests and then it had the spectacularly long meltdown of trying to get it fixed. So I bought the new computer according to their specs so I could reapply. Because I need a reliable second income, but I don't think I can physically work two full-time jobs again. So the plan is to find a part-time virtual call center job that I can work at nights, weekends, and holidays until debt is paid off and I can replace the roof and remodel my house.

So TONIGHT, provided nothing else goes bonkers, I'm reapplying to Convergys.

Update: The old coot (which is the PG version of what I call my grandfather) checked himself out this morning against doctor's orders. *forehead smack*

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Bad Habits Resurfacing

Commute was hell in the morning and by the time I got home, playing games won out over the stuff I need to do. Then I stayed up way too late playing those games thanks to the extra stress caffeine I ingested. :P Woke up late this morning.

It's fairly obvious to me that this won't do. Not for the goals I have for 2011. So the first thing I did was start looking for a program that I can use to block access to the games until I have finished my chores, and conversely turn everything off at bedtime.

First thing I found is Windows 7 has some robust parental controls How to Configure Parental Controls in Windows 7. No kids use my computer, so I tend to gloss over things like that in the control panel. I'm sure it's useless for web-savvy teenagers, but I just need something to make me stop and think NOT to do it. Or at least be a hassle to change it so I can play.

The next program to install is Bedtime Help Pushes You Towards an Earlier Bed Time. The only thing that may be an issue is I usually don't shut down at night, but put the computer to sleep so the programs should be running again in the morning. *Snort* That should show me to go research more thoroughly. There are different options like Hibernate on the Bedtime Help Home Page.

While I'm on an improve Windows 7 kick, Change the Windows 7 Shut Down Button. I accidentally shut down this morning when I meant to hit sleep and it's only the fifth time I've done that. :p

Technically, this stuff falls under the clean office weekly chore I have to do today. Chores to catch up on:

• Vacuum
• Dishes
• Budget
• Put out garbage
• Clean living room and bedroom
• Apply to Convergys. -- Yes, I have managed to procrastinate too long on this. *Shakes head* Time to woman up.

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I officially declare this week to be a wash

Or a wipeout. I'm not sure which is worse.

I screwed up my sleep schedule and that has screwed up getting anything done in the morning because I'm waking up with just enough time to get dressed and go to work. Night has been a rebellious la-la-la-I'm-ignoring-my-responsibilities and then going to bed too late.

Good news: this fallow week has jogged stuff loose for the Triangulation entry story. No narration yet, but a clearer sense of what the characters are doing and how they go about it. I already had a good grasp on the why. It will be a 5000-word exercise in maintaining an alien POV that is still sympathetic to the readers, but that will still be a fun ride.

I'm also taking a mini-holiday this weekend. Spening the night with friends in Lafayette, coming back on Saturday. I'd like to do something Sunday with my nephew, but I haven't made any promises since it depends on money and weather. have a great weekend, everybody!

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Lost USB drive

Well, now I'm glad I didn't get any writing done at work yesterday because the USB drive I would have put it on is officially missing. *Sigh*

I had it at work and I thought when I couldn't find it that I must have left it at work. Nope. So it's either in the car somewhere, Mustard knocked it off the desk at home, or it got kicked somewhere really hidden when I kicked my purse in a fit a pique last night. The pocket I kept it in was open when I did and lots of stuff went flying out. I searched the kitchen this morning but didn't find it, so I'm thinking home office now. Since it wasn't on my desk where I expected it to be this morning, Mustard probably knocked it off thinking it was a great game or something.

Not losing data is the most important thing, but I still feel out of sorts, even though I downloaded the home computer files to a spare USB drive. What do I work on now feeling, even though I know perfectly well what to do. :p

Oh well, time to shake it off.

P.M. Update: Found it in a box of old computer stuff in the kitchen where it must have bounced when I kicked the purse. Good thing too, because I was about to accuse Mustard of having eaten it.

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The Cape

Store Clerk: "You're a superhero; what they call you?"
Vince: "The Cape."
Store Clerk: Pauses. "You work on that."

If you missed the two-hour premier last night, NBC is showing The Cape again tonight 8pm Central before the regular Monday night hour long shows start next week. And as I checked on Internet Movie Database for spelling, it looks like SyFy Channel is airing episodes too.

Even taking into account I can listen to Keith David (voice of Goliath from Gargoyles) recite the phone book, I really enjoyed the beginning and it looks like it's going to be a decent series. The two-hours establishes the origin story of how Vince Faraday turns himself in the Cape, bringing the comic book character he read with his son to life. What I liked hopefully without spoilers:

Deadman was an acrobat and Bruce Wayne trained under an illusionist and escape artist, but these aspects of their origins don't get played up. The Cape brings this to the forefront as the way for a superhero to have the edge over bad guys, and for a way a Joe Blow police officer can master this stuff without being a ninja in a former life. Though they did drop hints about Vince's military background before his marriage and presumably joining the police force, so he may still have a leg up on Joe Blow police officer.

The white-out effect in comics and cartoons when a character wears a mask has always bugged me. (I have a TMNT poster I defaced trying to fix that as proof.) So I really liked that Chess uses creepy contact lenses to achieve the white-out effect in live-action. I still haven't figured out what the mark in the lens is supposed to be. It's too irregular for a cat-eye slit. I'm guessing it's the silhouette of a chess piece.

Summer Glau's character Orwell--an expose blogger--fills in the sidekick/partner role and updates the superhero mythos for the computer age. But judging by the toys we see her and Chess use, I'm guessing she will have ties to the villain. If it's not the revenge for wrongs done archetype, I think it will be a Spoiler background for her.

Building a BatCave on a budget was a hoot, as well as Vince's attempt to build a Zogger. He has established it far from his allies, so I hope he remembers that as he improves his Zogger.

And let's give the creators a hand for tying in real life concerns: the privatization of prison systems and military operations. The Cape starts in with the privatization of the police force and the second hour centers around stopping the company ARC from doing the same to the prison system of Palm City. But I thought it was handled without preaching.

Since they went there already, I'm curious if they will work in copycat media. The Cape is a comic book character first that Vince read with his son. He copies the outfit and adopts the name as a way to have a relationship with his son (and how long before his wife finds out that her traumatized son hasn't made a new imaginary friend?). I can't help wondering what the creator of the comic book would say about that in their universe? I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be up to me to explore it in a fanfic.

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Friday

My baby sister is coming in for a visit, my nephew will just die (his words) if he doesn't get to play Monopoly again, I still have a long list of computer-Internet stuff to do, and I've fallen behind on writing.

Busy weekend for me.

Add to that, Mom is getting twitchy that I haven't announced that I have a second work-from-home job yet. Given that I couldn't apply until Wednesday and then I needed to get the updates, back-ups, and missing programs squared away; I think she's jumping the gun a bit.

Computer plans in no particular order:

• Set up Thunderbird for all the email accounts I have all over the place. -- I haven't used it before, but I wasn't happy with how Outlook Express handled the email from the websites so much so that I quit checking them.
• Clean out bookmarks and Xmarks -- Simply I have put this off too long
• Make sure Quicken will talk to my bank again or at least accept downloaded files.
• Check that I have everything for Convergys and reapply
• Expanded the restored files from Mozy.com and archive
• Make sure home server works
• Plan out website updates.

Writing: I have a few paragraphs jotted down, but haven't been making my typing time a priority. I also haven't figured out what to write for the Triangulation submission. I should concentrate on that in between computer issues and lawsuits while at the paying job. :p

Yeah, that was a load od not fun earlier this week. For half of last year, we've been working on the lawsuit data entry thinking it would go away in January. Turns out the bill signed says we quit doing them January 1, 2012! So in turn we have to get bitchy with the program builders. Because if we have to use what they cobbled together to get us functional without some improvement, we're all going to go bald pulling our hair out.

That's pretty much it on my end. Later, gators.

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I'M FINALLY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Working home Internet again! Now I still have to get all my updates and reinstall programs I use before bedtime. But I'm back! *Snoopy dance*

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I really hate to start a new year this way

I still have no Internet at home. And I'm so ready to reach out and strangle someone over it. It's supposed to be on by Thursday according to the last customer support person I talked to. What kills me is that I was not told what to do when I called Monday morning!

Now I need to go do something else that will calm my blood pressure down.

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