I have questions.....

So things I've noticed...I am a whole lot more coordinated when I get to use the right side of my body..but forget the left side- it's like an alien. I am utterly and completely uncoordinated. Just goes to show how your brain really does get used to things and needs to keep learning!

So there really is such a phenomenon as ADT...because I must have it. It's why sometimes no work gets done. It's like there's so much to do you get going in so many directions you cannot focus and you cannot finish a thing. Email, web pages, student accounts, IM, printer jams, log in problems, email, web pages, oops, did I just say that?

So when was the last time you laughed? I was actually asked that in an interview once....thank goodness for crazy friends who send wicked funny emails...

What was the name of the last book you read, that you didn't have to read for some course? Sorry, I cannot finish a book...ADT.

And then there's movies that I've never seen...a ton, I'm sure....and when I get the chance to see a really good movie that has been out forever, it is like some miracle that at the exact moment I step on the elliptical at the gym and plug in my headphones and turn on the TV....there' s Tom Cruise. What is that movie? I don't recognize it...because I've never seen it. And I feel somehow that I am getting something for nothing because I never had to pay for the movie. I am not a Tom Cruise fan....but I will watch it until I know what it is....The Last Samurai...I believe a man does what he can until his destiny is revealed....I stay on the elliptical and can't believe what I am seeing....

Imagine a virtual world, a Second Life, where you can be whoever you want to be, go almost anywhere you want to go, and do things you have never done before, like take a ride inside a hurricane...meet people who are not who they appear to be, and perhaps never see them again...or meet up with them regularly on their island. Kinda like MySpace next generation. Why go out at night when you can be a couch potato in your jammies, while your SL avatar is rockin the night away with her girlfriends down at the club? You can enjoy a fantastic night on the town from the comfort of your own home where you are sitting all alone...

It's a question of power....

Electricity, battery power, borrowed power, perceived power, virtual power, powerful, powerless.....sometimes hidden beneathe the day's garbage a theme emerges, and clearly, the TOTD is POWER.

It all started on Black Friday with a trip to Staples to see if I could get ANY of the half dozen really, really fantastic bargains advertised. Now the reasonable side of my brain said, why bother? You know the deal...they let you in the store...there's nothing left on the shelf, so you buy something you don't really want, for way more money. The POWER of advertising. There was only one thng I really, really wanted..a Microsoft wireless optical keyboard AND mouse for 24.99!!!! So I thought, "Hmmm, I'll go home and get online and see if I can get it for the same price." Me and about a million other people! So, traffic jam....really bad....an hour later and many hits of the back button, refresh, start over, I finally am able to click te PLACE ORDER button....waiting, waiting, waiting......ERROR PROCESSING YOUR ORDER. YOUR ORDER CAN NOT BE COMPLETED AT THIS TIME. So try again.....waiting, waiting, waiting......WE'RE SORRY, THAT ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE!! So now, after spending an hour on my computer for what should've taken 5 minutes on any other day, I decide to send Staples an email....thinking, maybe I'll get a coupon, or something. Nope. I get an email telling me they're constantly working to improve their website so I should keep visiting it!!

So I hate to lose, but I let it go. Welcome to Cyber Monday. I check my email and lo and behold, an Order Confirmation from Staples.com!! YES!! The keyboard is on its way! So no need to do and Cyber Monday shopping. Life is good.

Tuesday. More POWER struggles. Do you have any batteries? Is there an extra power cord? Do you know where the power cord is? Who decides who gets to go to this conference? Who are these people accountable to? Who decides? Who's in charge?

I let the Vista laptop battery die following a presentation, and can't get out of POWER safe mode. I am surrounded by people who have the power to make decisions that will change peoples' lives. Everyone thinks they have the ultimate power. It's all a game of Chess....trying to figure out who will make the next move,and how you can prevent Checkmate. Yup, sometimes I feel like a pawn...and let other people think I am the pawn, but really I am the Queen.

So the game continues....for another day. And when I check my email? Staples .com Order Status.....We're sorry, but the item you ordered is no longer available and we could not find a suitable replacement. We have not charged your account. Who has the POWER now?

To Dust or Not to Dust..that is the question!

So have you ever used a sander? Well, what started out to be a simple day of cleaning bugs out of lights and sealing a wood frame on a new window, ended up being a dusty, dirty cloudy mess when the new electric sander came out of the box. What is it with guys and toys? There was no need for electric anything in this case. A small scrap of old sandpaper and a little elbow grease would've done the job nicely. Instead, what we got was a four hour sanding extravaganza....oh, and did I mention NOTHING was covered up...sofa, photos, lamps, dishes. "What? It's already dusty anyways...it's not like it's a lot worse than it already is."
"Do you see where that dust is going???" Dust on the counter, on the canisters, all over the sink. Dust on the pillows, the sofa, the rug,t he screens, the windows. Beautiful clean, smooth windowsills.....Ahhhhh..the price I pay for not dusting. A trip to the gym....a bottle of Reisling...and darkness settling over the living room. The dusting can wait... There's still another set of windows to do....let me know when you're done.

Wil you be my friend?

Okay, I admit it! My curiosity has gotten the better of me once again....spending time with my recently graduated daughter, home for Thanksgiving, has exposed me to some of her world. Facebook? My Space? It is all so complicated. Since when do you have to create a virtual environment in which to "hang out" with people who are your"friends?" And since when do you have to invite people to be your friends? It reminds me of the playground at school, maybe when I was 5 or 6 and there were groups of kids playing on the monkey bars and you would think to yourself...."I want to play with them!" And you could just run over and join them and see if they accepted you..but you knew you were in trouble if they ignored you and ran off to the next piece of playground equipment and left you hanging upside down by yourself.

So I was curious..and I checked it out, because I don't get it....so I may have clicked on things I didn' t mean to and now I must wait and see what happens...like the playground. Not that I am worried...really...but when you don't know what you're doing it can be a bit stressful.

I know my kids all have myspace pages and facebook pages, and it seems like it could be a lot of fun...if you are a fun, social kind of person who likes to "hang out" on occasion. It also seems like a TON of work. Why not just pick up the phone and call? Or send a text? Or meet for coffee at Starbucks? Seems kind of false and not very meaningful if you ask me, to invite people you haven't seen or heard from in 10 years to be your "friend."

I got an email from 2 of my kids inviting me to their Myspace pages...inviting me to be their "friend." Cool! Hey, don't forget to shut the lights off before you go to bed.... After visiting some of my "friends" none of whom were actually in the same room with me, and some of whom I am related to, I have determined it is a lot more fun to interact with real people-friends or not. Why do you need 84 friends? At least with real people you have a real face and a real space. And eye contact....if you want someone to be your friend, smile, be friendly, engage in conversation, be interested and make eye contact. There's a novel concept. It cracks me up to see my kids, who are in bedrooms next to each other, by the way, sending each other a message on Myspace. "Hey!" " What's up?" how many steps does it take to do that? Just knock on the wall.

Maybe Facebook and Myspace have their purpose in the universe....seems like it should be called FacelessBook and Everyone's Space....so now I must ask permission and invite random people to be my friends. I think I'll make a list and send a card or a personal email. Or call. No invitation necessary. And if you're not sure whether you are really my friend, call me and I will invite you to my My space page or I guess I probably have a Facebook account now, too. Oops.

Giving Thanks

For family, friends and the simple things in life. For the ability to learn and change and grow as a person; and the ability to be inspired and be creative. For the ability to read and remember...For always wanting to know more, but realizing that there is no such thing as having all the answers....For peace....and being at peace...for realizing a lifetime is a very long time and you don't always get your rewards right away...maybe not even in this lifetime...for a new season of Project Runway! And Gray's Anatomy...for my Starbuck's connection...and my Olympia Sports connection. For hybrid golf clubs...for the view from my deck in October with Venus hanging just underneathe the crescent moon as the sun sets on the horizon...for the Internet (yes I am addicted), for discovering new oceans...But most of all for the ability to appreciate it all....in a moment of clarity.

So what is it about red vs blue??

Red on the left, blue on the right, right?

Evidently there is an everyday reason for red on the left (could that be hot?) and blue on the right (cold?) if you don’t get your plumbing mixed up….. but there’s a whole nother world of red vs. blue out there.

Who knew?

That for a three button mouse, the left mouse button is the “red” button,, and the right-mouse button is the blue button. The one in the middle is yellow, but you don’t really need to know that.

That Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles is a machinima comic science fiction series distributed primarily through the Internet and DVD by Rooster Teeth Productions (who has created videos, some under commission from Microsoft). The series chronicles two opposing teams of soldiers fighting a civil war in the middle of a desolate box canyon.

Oh, and you used to be able to order 3D anaglyph glasses with a red lense on the left and a blue lense on the right...the kind you need to wear when reading 3D comic books or watching a 3D movie. .but the company closed in 2004.

The real fun begins when you start linking red vs blue to the political parties…because the left wing has typically been considered Democrat politics, and the media has decided to color code the Democrat states red, while the states that are primariy Republican have been color coded blue- hence, the red on the left, blue on the right explanation. But this one is up for debate.....

So the next time someone randomly asks you when you think of red and blue or blue and red which one is on the left and which on is on the right..don’t think too long and hard about it. A quick trip to the bathroom and the faucet on the sink produced the likely answer, although Google has yet to give up the obvious answer. But I swear I have never noticed the thin red line on the left hot water facet, nor the thin blue line on the cold water faucet before this evening.

But if you want to take full advantage of how technology plays a role in all this red vs blue hot vs cold thing, then go to Equa System’s Light Delight http://www.equasystem.com/eng/index.htm to see how the color of your water varies according to its temperature..by using light.

Except in Africa, where blue means hot and red means cold…..

The Curiosity List

Okay, so I decided the things i am curious about need to be categorized. Does that sound weird? Because my brain is haivng a hard time keeping track of things. Maybe this is what happens as you get older..who knows? So here's what I have so far in no particular order:

1. People..I am curious about people; there are things I wonder about...


2. Learning...I wonder if it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks and how long that will take? Can we still learn what we wanted to learn when we were younger?


3. Places....So there are some places I just want to visit, see, explore. Some are close to home, others are not...


4. Sports..I wonder about a lot of things here..rules, players, venues, schedule, history, etc..
5. Technology...what's new, what' s happening, but most of all, how do you do that? And my favorite....whywon't this work?
6. Self....why, why, why...the list is long, but not impossible..first up: FOCUS

So these things I wonder about...and of course under each category there are specifics, but we're not going there today.

So how do you.....?

I want to know how to do it myself. I am impatient by nature, and I do not want to wait around for someone to fix things so that I can move on with my life. In the same respect, sometomes it takes me an incredible amount of time to try to figure it out by myself.

I used to be shy. I used to sit, quietly, trying not to bother anyone, hoping noone would notice me. But as I got older, I figured out that wasn't gonna get me very far. So now, I figure out what I want and I find a way to do it.

I have lots of questions....how do you do this? How do you do that? It takes patience and practice to learn something new and you need time to practice, practice practice. Sometimes we do not want to follow our own advice. Sometimes, we try to take on too many new things at once, then the practice time needs to be divided up into very small chunks. It's better to tackle a couple new tasks and learn to do them well.

And keep a notebook. Write everthing down. Categorize it and refer to it often. My notebook needs some new categories that are not work or technology related...things like recipes, quotes, practical advice, golf, shopping, and people, yes, people. Oh and websites, but that's why I have de.lic.ious.

Learning new things is good for the brain. I have a list of new things I want to learn and do. The problem is, many of the the things I need to learn in order to get stuff done are not on the list....and I didn't know what I didn't know....and that's a lot.

So every day begins with, how do you.....? What do you want to know how to do today?

Where Are All The People? And other questions.....

So upon returning from the Lone Star State I came up with a plan for all future travel. Take time to study maps, points of interest, and information in general, if you can. I did that, to a degree, but evidently I did not go to the right website. Last night, in an attempt to defend and further explain the deserted streets of downtown Texas I, once again, Googled Houston, Texas. Google Maps, and http://www.visithoustontexas.com. Bingo!It takes some digging around, but when you click on Special Offers and then click on the Houston Neighborhoods link...this is where all my questions (well not ALL my questions) were answered.

Evidently, if you're downtown during the week...which we were...the streets appear deserted! (Did I say that?) It is not a figment of my imagination..it's for real!! Everyone is UNDERGROUND! That's right, there's a 6.3 mile UNDERGROUND TUNNEL network connecting office buildings with all the sidewalk stuff you usually find in largewr cities such as New York and Boston. I wish I had known that! How bizarre, but how perfectly rational.

My friend compared Houston to Montreal ( the Galleria); little did we know how much like Montreal it really was.

On another note, there are a lot of Apple fans in Houston. HP's headquarters is also located in Houston. The Apple store did come through for us. Not so impressed with MacEdge in Portsmouth. I wonder what qualifications you need to become an authorized Apple reseller.?..obviously you do not need to be a rocket scientist...which, by the way, according to Iaonnis Maoulis, President of the Boston Museum of Science, there is no such thing as. If you design rockets, you are an aerospace engineer. Cool.

One last karmic thought... how random is it to call a 1-800 number to activate a credit card and to hear "You have reached Microsoft's Technical Blah, blah, blah " on the other end of the phone? Someone is definitely keeping track of things around here....

Missing Anything?

So for those of you who have had the pleasure of traveling with me, you know I have a hard time keeping track of my stuff. I make a list, I pack, I organize, and then, presto, it's gone! Subconsciously I am not aware of where I put stuff, because my head is off somewhere else. My brain just doesn't pay that much attention to what my body is doing.

So, they say things happen in three's, and it's true. Number one: I arrive at the hotel in Houston and go to get my camera. Which is not in my computer bag, nor is it in my back pack. Nope, it is in the seat back pocket of Continental Airlines 7flight 374 at Bush Intercontinental Airport. Or on its way to some exotic location....without me. Damn. No camera. That sucks. But I can deal, because for some reason unkown to me I have taken the SD card out of the camera and it is safe.

Number 2: Day 2 of the conference and I have spent time with Alan November, of November Learning, the President of the Boston Museum of Science, and this really cool science teacher from Colorado. I have handouts and have taken copious notes. I have tagged my pages and marked the sessions I want to attend. Somewhere between buying a T-shirt, getting my picture taken in an astronaut suit and visiting the Women's Room, I have managed to misplace my session book. Nowhere. I retrace my steps..."Did you happen to find a book laying around?" "Yes, is this it?" "Nope," Boy, a lot of misplaced session books....everyone I asked had a book someone had left behind, but none of them were mine. Damn. All those notes.

"You do know things happen in threes," my friend said over dinner. "Are you sure you haven't misplaced anything else?" "Nope, I don't think so....but I don't know." How would I know? If I knew I misplaced something, it wouldn't be misplaced, right? I started imagining I had lost my ipod..."Where is it?" I think I left it in the car. "Where's my thumb drive?" I must've left it in a pocket..."Have you seen my room key?" AHHHHH!!

Number 3: So we're in the airport at the gate and I am looking through my computer bag. No laptop power cord. "I'm sure you have it, don't worry," my friend says. "I don't remember packing it," I say. "It'll turn up," she says. "When you get home and unpack everything, I'm sure you'll find it." I don't feel sure.

Today I am home. I unpacked everything and put things away. I emptied the computer bag, the Hawaiin backpack on wheels, and the Samsonite. I no longer have to worry about the third missing item. Back in room 372AB at the George Brown Convention Hall in Houston, Texas, you will find my power cord. The session book? No clue, but someone got some good notes. And the Kodak? I'm still hoping to have my faith in humanity restored....in some airport, somewhere, someone has turned in a black camera case to Continental Airlines Customer Service, where the item has been logged into the computer system with the hundreds of other items that get left behind every day. Missing anything lately?

How Lucky Do You Feel?

So, it is Friday night and there have been some more interesting moments in Houston. The AC is fixed...that's great...and the cookies have changed to chocolate with pink m & m's...The highway navigational system is still a mystery, and it must be some sort of divine intervention that has us arriving exactly where we thought we wanted to be. Like last night we got caught on the wrong highway, headed in the wrong direction, and miraculously ended up at a fantastic Steakhouse called Saltgrass, where we were introduced to the local brew- Shiner Bock. It's cheap and delicious...kinda like Sam Adams. Which, when we asked our waiter if they had any local brews on tap he replied...I think we have Sam Adams!! And we were like, "That' s from Boston!" So Shiner it was. And from our booth in the corner, we had a delightful view of none other than Talbot's Outlet! Cool, huh?

After our meal, we felt revived. We just had to head back to the Galleria in Uptown to the Lucky Brand Store to shop for comfy jeans. Once again, it was the miracle navigator that led us to the Orange parking garage (free!) and brought us upstairs into the world of Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, and Caroline Herrera. Past the ice rink and the Christmas tree, past the Apple Store, and Dylan's Kandy Bar, to our favorite store in the world ...Lucky Jeans. There we were treated to exceptional service and a dozen pairs of jeans hand picked for us to try on.

However, our luck ran out...the store did not have the jeans we wanted in our size, so off we went, without any packages!! We somehow managed to find our way back to Bell Street. Thank goodness for the red glowing roof of the Toyota Center across from our hotel It is like a beacon in the night.

Today brought more excitement and adventure as we headed back to the convention center in search of inspiration. After a morning of sessions and 1 lost program book,(Where did I leave that?) we walked down the street to the local Houston Astros Sports Bar and Grill across the street from Minutemaid Park. It was a great break,in an interesting venue. I even scored an autographed Kevin Youkalis baseball!

No luck scoring a massage, facial or pedicure appointment at the Hilton, however, so back to the conference we walked, for the remainder of the afternoon. Tonight we get ready for the main event. Our handouts are being copied and will be waiting for us at Kinkos. Our room is equipped with a sound system and a screen. All systems are a go. Just sitting around trying to decide where to try our luck tonight....

Ahh, Houston, We Have a Question.....

SO here we are, sitting in our hotel room, looking up random shit.Today was our first full day in the Lone Star State, as we await the National Middle School Annual Conference.and we managed to avoid trouble. I don't really know how....but we did. We managed to make our way to Galviston, which is an island, and back again, and got curious about a whole bunch of things which we are finding the answers to right now. Like, "Why is Texas called the Lone Star State? It's not as bad as Missouri, which is the "Show Me State." We are wondering if it has anything to do with the single star on the Texas flag. According to the boy Scouts..that's exactly why Texas is called the Lone Star State.

So another question we had was who plays at Reliant Stadium now that the Houston Astros play at Minutemaid Park? We were all around Reliant Stadium- home of the Houston Astrodome-way cool. Even cooler is Rice Village on the campus of Rice University. We spent some time on retail therapy this afternoon, hangin' out at Lot # 8, the boutique made famous by Project Runway winner Chloe.

And since we are right across the parking lot from the Toyota Center, we were wondering what was happenin there last night? Well, sure enough it was the Houston Rockets vs the San Antonio Spurs. Lots of Toyota stuff around here. Lots of One Way streets, too. Oh, oh. How many times can you go the wrong way down a one way street in an afternoon? Too many. Too confusing. Is this one way? Is it two way? Whcih way can you go? AHHHHHHH!

So on the way back to the mainland from Galveston we were hoping to head out to Houston Space Center, but we somehow missed the exit. Next thing you know we see a massive Mercedes car dealership with the name "Alex Rodriguez" on the side of the building. Large, really large. "Hey! I just asked my husband who A Rod used to paly for and he said he thought it was Texas. Do you think?......Nah......That is just way too coincidental." Sure enough, A Rod himself owns that baby. We're going back there to take a few pictures, for sure. Maybe I'll wear my Dustin Pedroia World Series T Shirt.

So we still have a few questuons to answer...and lots more exploring to do. Today was about getting online, setting up the projector, syncing my ipod on the macbook, setting up messenger on the macbook, converting the wmv file to quicktime, and shopping. And lots of shopping.

After a day and a half in Houston, the room AC is crap, the bed's ok, the cookies are good, the pool overlooks the parking lot and the freeway, the closest restaurant is Chinese or Vietnamese, and we have finally managed to learn our way around the block. Tomorrow morning we check in and check out our room to see if we have audio..then it's off to the office Store. Still to come..the Boot Store. We are, after all, in Texas.

Call it Fate...call it Karma

Things happen for a reason...it's just hard to know what that reason is sometimes. It all depends on your karmic history. Prarabda Karma....destiny or manifest free will. Some things are destiny..and no matter what we do we cannot change what is destined to happen. To change is to get rid of the past karma that has predetermined habits. Unless those patterns are changed, we will continue to repeat the same actions again and again. More yoga. And be careful about your current actions..because they will determine the karma for your future lives.. Our future karma is created by the people we associate with...which in turn guide our actions.

So everything happens for a reason...but we can only see into our own backyard. Yesterday....one coincidence(?) after another....and it might seem like nothing, but it began with a simple choice. And all the pieces fell together like pieces of a puzzle that some divine being was trying to guide into place.

More choices will have to be made. Listen to your inner voice and be at peace with your decisions, knowing that some decisions have already been made for you.

Call it fate......it is Karma.

It's Never as SImple as it Seems.....

So my civic duty has ended...for now. The jury has spoken and it was not the "fun" experience everyone told me to have. You cannot predict these things in life, but you learn you can deal with them. Simple assault is not really simple. Reaching a verdict in 5 minutes does not mean it was easy. And it definitely was not fun. The entire process was interesting and unique, unlike anything I've ever experienced. It is not entirely unlike TV.

So the unanimous verdict-guilty. Reached in about 5 minutes. We waited for another 5 minutes before we called the bailiff, cuz it seemed like we reached it too quickly. The bailiff escorted us back into the courtroom where the Jury Foreman was asked the question,"What say the Jury? Does the Jury find the defendent guilty or not guilty?"
"Guilty, your honor." Done. We had to go back to our room for about 20 minutes, then the judge came to see us. "What took you so long?" He laughed. The verdict was obvious to him. "Don't you want to know what he got?" Well sure...."Well, the maximum is 12 months... so what do you think I gave him?"
"12 months?"
"Yes, 12 months. He has prior assaults......" Geeze. We did the right thing. And we knew it right away. What a creep.

Three more days to Houston. Did I mention I'm not sure WIndows VIsta Moviemaker makes the grade? There are less options manipulating the audio level between clips and audio clips...and after working about 2 hours the other night, my video stopped working altogether. Nothing, nadda, a black screen. Hope it comes back.

Oh and evidently, Keynote acts a lot like Powerpoint when it comes to saving files and saving a presentation, only more so. Powerpoint can usually find your files if they are saved locally on the machine in their own folder. With Keynote, however, you need to actually save your image folder in the presentation folder in order for Keynote to find them! A couple hours of useless searching of discussion groups and voila.....let's try this and se if it works...it does!!

Lots of questions answered this week....but the week's not really over yet, is it? And I still have a new Dell computer in the box. Think I'm gonna go by a connector to suck the data off my old hard drive onto my new Dell. Maybe not today, though. Today is Multimedia Moviemaking Day.

3 days to Houston.