Websites are back

The budget is squeaking like a mouse in a trap, but I managed to get the hosting bills paid. Next step is to get the updates finished and set up the Project Wonderful ads. Then I can go back to the creating content and crossing my fingers so nothing breaks while I'm concentrating on other things.

Yeah, I think I can check in on things again in December. After I turn in the Faulkner paper and get a new diploma.

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Funeral done

It was really nice and there was no family drama to end up on the evening news. Yes, I do find that amusing in a dark comedy kind of way that my threshold for a successful family gathering is that low.

The next minefield is what happens to my grandmother now. The biggest issue with deciding anything among the family is best described as herding cats.

Yeah, I'm taking the weekend off for DVD-watching catch-up.

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Papa Gene

Mom just called. We don't have any details, but my paternal step-grandfather has died. It's no big shock since he has been ill for a long time, and we were told on Father's Day it was getting worse.

I only hope his children give us relations-by-marriage enough time to attend the funeral. Gene was our grandfather since Kai was two-years-old and I was five and he was always good to us. Sometimes better than our blood relatives. There's been family squabbles about my grandmother's care since the sitters were supposed to be caring for both of them, but I hope those don't lead to us getting cut out of the funeral arrangements.

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Atticus Golfing

There's a lot of golfing Atticuses on YouTube, but this one is my nephew. :D



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This Doesn't Bode Well For the Rest of the Year

I don't think a single month has started well this entire year. July is no exception. There's no money to renew the BookWorm's Library or Alt. BM Site's hosting. I'm hoping I don't lose everything in the server while waiting on money to become available. Yes, I made backups but I'm not a hundred percent sure the database backup worked for Alt. BM Site.

HOPEFULLY, the budget will work out with the next paycheck and I can pay the bill. Meanwhile, if there was something available for download on my blogs that now doesn't work, send me a message and I'll see if it's not too big to email.

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Number Crunching #157

Actually figured on 12/13/2009

Quicken Cash Flow = -437.20
STEF Total = 5.77

June Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: I didn’t make a budget the month before. $572.00 in bank charges.

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If I'm silent for a while

I managed to slice the tip off my middle finger on my right hand, which really screws with everything I have to do since I'm right-handed. Blogging counts as unnecessary typing, so I'll be back when it doesn't hurt as much.

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Come on Google, the Internet made this possible

Vote to change the Google banner one day to show support to the Iranian people.

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Thinking About Rituals

Namely as explained in this post, how ritual helps your brain cope throughout the day and changing tasks. This shouldn't have to be lectured at me--after all that is why Ritual exists within Wicca. I suck at applying knowledge to daily life.

Undoubtably, one of the reasons I'm at such loose ends at the end of the day is because I haven't been following my GTD and making my weekly lists. But another strong possibility is the lack of ritual before bedtime. What I do now: eat supper while watching Bones on TNT (David Boreanaz in daylight *sigh*), spend an hour or two saying "ACK, I've got so much to do!" and finally go to bed. Not a productive use of time established? Good, moving on.

This isn't about filling every second of every day, but rather stopping myself from having that "ACK!" reaction. Deadlines don't care how drained you feel. And most days of the week, I'm not drained--just lost. So I decided to spend this week being mindful of what goes on in the time frame.

June 16: I decided to mindfully get some work done that I can't do on the paying job computer: building some website graphics. Sit down at the computer with the task firmly in mind. The issue was losing my temper over the computer taking fifteen minutes getting the program up for me to do anything1 I put myself on the timer so I'll remember to get up in move.

Question one: how much of my avoidance dance is not wanting to work and how much is it not wanting to get pissed off at my computer?

Once the computer got over being a sluggard, I got a few graphics done before bedtime. What I noticed besides the meltdown at the beginning: distracted by the TV. I reached the point where I was only working during commercials. Now my TV and computer are in two different rooms, so being distracted physically removes me from the office.

Question two: how necessary is it for me to turn the TV off?

June 17: I got three hours of Bones today, and I still think I missed an episode. (Double checked--I actually didn't, because they didn't give a whole episode to Booth's fake funeral.) When it got to episodes I have seen, I spent more time in the office. And one would think the time for the graphics program to go bugging would be after I had left it running all night and all day, but nope I never had any issues and finished all the website graphics I need at this point.

Since part of the issue is getting pissed at the computer, I think I'm best off turning on whatever the program I need while I'm concentrating on supper and Bones. That way I don't have to sit there and watch it be a sluggard and fume that my precious time and energy is slipping away.

And if the deadline is looming and/or I need to focus, I'm better off saving those projects for the morning or turning off the TV. Right now, the website revamp work I'm doing doesn't take that level of concentration so I don't feel bad for jumping up and watching what unexplained images Ghost Hunters International came up with.

I still have to see how tonight and tomorrow night goes. Now, I have some lunch and maybe go foraging for more food. Needed a bigger salad.

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Nothing in these numbers makes me happy

But at least this graph is easy to understand.

Who's responsible for the debt?

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Year-Round school?

A year round school option that sounds reasonable. I really like the sessions that allow in-depth exploration of a topic.

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Go Iran!

Freedom is a precious, precious thing. It makes things like this possible: The Mouse That Roared

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The O.Z. Map Project

Otherwise known as that thing that drove me crazy for a whole month.

DUF: Tin Man: Pirates Notes 06

Yeah, it's done. Yes, it will be getting its own webpage now that I can work on the update again. :p I hope it's appreciated, but I'm not holding my breath on it getting noticed until I'm ready to start posting Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic.

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Finished the Bleeping Map

Lord and Lady, don't ever let me be a glutton for that kind of punishment ever again. And if that doesn't work, at least let me remember to reduce the damn file size so the program stops freezing after every command.

And please, please, please, please, let the final three maps get made smoothly and quickly.

Blessed Be.

Er, okay, for the non-divine readers some background is probably necessary. I read every Oz book I could get my hands on back in the fourth grade (possibly third, it was before I transferred to Springfield's school system and I lived in libraries). I'm fairly certain the collection only had Baum books. So I was really clueless when I found Tin Man fanfics referencing the East - West issue. Did a little research since I needed other countries names for Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic and found the answer. Then I got annoyed with Maguire's illustrations for compounding the problem and Tin Man Meta for not looking for the answer. And I needed maps for what I was writing.

So my bright idea while creating my own maps, I would offer copies of the original Maguire maps; the directionally-corrected Maguire maps; a mash-up of all the Maguire maps, which according to me was how Oz looked when Dorothy arrived; a map of Nonestica when Dorothy arrived; a map of modern O.Z. with elements mentioned in the Tin Man miniseries; a map of modern Nonestica, which I needed for my story; and two maps of the principles islands, which are affected in the novel so before and after. Readers deserved something for the rant I had to go with these maps.

I had this brainwave back on May 4th. Finished eight of them rather quickly. Then found hell with the map of the modern O.Z.

I finally finished it last night.

At 11 p.m.

After I had really started on it at 7 p.m. and only had four things to finish on it.

And I should've been finished at 10:30 p.m. only I realized I had forgotten Milltown.

Tonight is an early bedtime. Insanely early bedtime. Before the sun sets bedtime. Which probably means Thursday will be the first day I've felt normal in about two weeks.

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Number Crunching #156

Actually figured 12/13/2009

Quicken Cash Flow = -182.78
STEF Total = 214.77

May Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: I didn’t do a budget the month before. And boy does it show in $642.00 in bank charges.

If April was the month I stopped watching, May was the month where the falling apart happened that I’m still recovering from today.

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Decent writing advice

13 Tips For Actually Getting Some Writing Done and I found it pretty inspiring. I also found her post Quiz: Are You a Moderator or an Abstainer?, equally useful for the health portion of my life.

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The map project just won't die

A three day weekend. One image manipulation project that I just can't seem to finish. So I dedicate one whole day to it. Paint Shop is the only program running, that's the only file open, and when it gets hung up (for whatever reason) I will turn to BMFM: Turbo paper edits. I started at 10:30 a.m.-ish, went to bed at 11:30 p.m.-ish, worked on it more the next day though not exclusively.

And yes, as of today, the stupid thing is STILL not finished. *headdesk*

I'm closer, so much closer to being finished. But I'm also glad that I didn't stop writing the first draft until this map was finished because the text never would have gotten finished. :p

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Once It Looks Pretty, It'll All Be Worth It

I understand how HTML coding works. I understand How CSS stylesheets work. I understand how content management works under Drupal to the point where I can set it up in less than an hour not counting downloading and searching for the modules I want.

What I don't understand is how to make the theme look like I want it to. Or more specifically, I don't know where the conflict is to make it go away.

I don't understand how PHP works. I bought books, read websites, asked questions, but there is something about it that does not connect in my head. Drupal's theme engine (from what I understand out of the Zen's theme building project) works by using the *.info page plus PHP pages to take what has been listed in the CSS stylesheet, and bam! make the Drupal site look customized pretty.

Remembering the pain in the ass time I had hacking into whatever theme I had hacked into while setting up Alt. BM Site, I was sold on this idea. Those hacks have been one of the brakes on updating Alt. BM Site, and anything that could help me build a theme I could just turn off and on or easily correct if I got something ugly on it sounds like a perfect no brainer. Circulation Desk would match the rest of the Library once set up correctly. I could fix things like poll sizes on a CSS stylesheet and watch them take effect site wide for Alt. BM Site without deleting something that allows stories to show up (for example, can you tell I don't trust myself in PHP?) And this is a great example of why theory is always more fun than fact.

So I follow their directions and set up the library desk theme. Then I cracked open the CSS stylesheet and transferred code from the BookWorm's Library. Upload and turned it on, and was greeted by brown as far as the eye can see. Okay, brown is the background color I have lurking under the background image, so that part worked. Where's the image? Dug out the CSS coding tags from HTML Goodies. Oops, I deleted a pair of parenthesis thinking I didn't need them on a style sheet. Added back, saved, uploaded, and refreshed. And still brown as far as the eye can see.

Now I didn't clean out the cache; something I didn't remember until typing this up. SCORE! I just checked it on the work computer and I got the background working. So that's probably the problem at the home computer. Maybe I can get this thing working after all without needing to find someone to do it for me.

Besides that hair pulling, I've been hit with the 'tween-projects-slump also. It's not exactly true, but it still feels weird not to breathing the story in and out all day long. More than once I've had a what should I be doing now moment during the day. It really hit me last night eating supper at a restaurant that was starting to know me as the writing customer. Sure, I could pull out the notebook and start on a new idea, but I have two stories in editing stage plus the website updating. The writing muse can put her feet up for a rest. And that just makes her feel weird.

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Sherlock Holmes

December 25, 2009

This film is either going to be the best or worse Christmas present EVER.

On the surface, I think Robert Downey Jr. is brilliant casting much like he was brilliant casting as Tony Stark. Something that gets uneven treatment in the adaptations (and was censored in the published works too) is Holmes was an addict. If his brain wasn't high from solving a puzzle he resorted to chemical means. The only thing I would worry about would be the accent, but from the trailer, those didn't sound too bad.

Action sequences: Okay, it's hard to tell some times with Doyle's writing style, but there were plenty of times that Holmes took physical action to trap the villain. I don't have my sources right in front of me, but I'm fairly certain that Watson lists boxing and fencing among Holmes strengths. And then there's a great moment in "The Speckled Band" where the villain tries to intimidate Holmes by bending a fireplace poker in front of him. Holmes straightens it out in front of Watson after the villain storms out.

And I have always had a soft spot for Irene Adler and Holmes and the non-canonical continuation of their relationship, which should be anything but platonic or domestic. The trailer raised my eyebrows hopefully for this.

I haven't bumbled around the mystery blogsphere to see what other people or grumbling about yet.

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In the people can be decent department

Back in April, CNN reported that the last Titanic survivor was auctioning off all her memorabilia and selling autographs in order to pay for her nursing home care.

Today the news is that Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, and James Cameron have all donated to the fund to help Millvina Dean meet this need.

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