Nothing is ever as it seems...

Windows 8.1 is here and mom and dad needed a new computer. Did I want to set them up on a totally new platform -- no I did not. However, buying a computer they are going to keep for the next eight years, I felt they needed to be on the latest OS there is.

Thankfully for the simple pc user, i.e. email, Facebook, home banking, it's okay. At first glance things look radically different but when you get to the nuts and bolts if you can get to the desktop - things seem the same. The Apps page is what I call mom and dad's "fun page."

"You need a new computer," seemed innocent enough but .... you don't think about the all the work that goes into the moving and installing.

First they had no need for Microsoft office so they used Works that came with their old computer. Now I have to try to find out a program that will open and edit their Works files.

Then I learned that Quicken 10 which they use for their checkbook register was not compatible with Windows 8. So I download a free checkbook register and mom started using it. Neither of us liked it,  so I tried installing their Quicken 10 on their new machine and viola it worked. A lot of aggravation for nothing, if you own old software that you like try installing it and see if it will run before hunting for a new solution.

Warning! If you buy a cheap computer that comes complete without an optical drive or monitor connections - your going to have your work cut out for you. First  their old monitor only has VGA and DVI connectors. I purchased an HDMI cable first only to discover the monitor would not accept that. Then I purchased a connector to USB off Amazon only to discover that I purchased a serial connector not VGA. Okay go in a talk to someone, so off to Staples I go and got a converter that will work with VGA and DVI and convert it to USB - $50. Then I got the idea that if there was a HDMI to VGA or DVI so once again I check Amazon and there it was! $11 and return of the USB converter.

How to install the software off a CD without a drive? Open the CD on a computer with an optical drive and copy the files off the CD and transfer them to the new computer in the method you have to transfer. On the new computer perform the auto install as normal by clicking the auto install file.

I am sure I will have weeks of working out the bugs but right now they are up and running, yeahhhhhh.

Enough for now...

Cleaning up my life or not

Today must must must be a productive day. I have pulled the car out the garage and pulled the trash can in. I plan to clean and de-clutter as much as possible. Since Dad got this new illness and my crazy work scheduled, I have allowed the house to fall apart.

When I was in my 20s I learned quickly that I hated to do laundry so I made sure I had enough girlie small clothes to last a month. I have not altered that and so I must do laundry, sweep, mop, and general clean. Yeah meeee.....sigh.

Merlin and Winston are just lazing around but will start following me from room to room as I begin cleaning.

I am really not in the mood to move. I really have not fully recovered from my weirdo illness. I woke up on Monday with my world spinning. I barely made it to give the boys their breakfast before I had to go lay down on the couch. I ended up taking Dramamine and missed three days  of work.

The week ended with arriving a Mom and Dad's on Friday to learn that Home Health called and said that they were coming to take out Dad pick line. The problem was that no one had told the family anything and quite honestly we don't trust Home Health with any of his care. We did not know if the doctors had talk with the surgeon who wanted to leave the drain in his gut in for another month. We did not know that he was done with the antibiotics. We knew nothing.

The problem when you go on hospice they tell you not to go the doctor or it will throw you off hospice and if you have any problem not associated with your original illness to go to the ER. The whole problem with this is that ER doctors do not provide follow up care. And no one is following Dad's illness to ensure its going as planned.

On Monday, mom is going to find out if we can get a doctor to take care of his new illness, diverticulitis. We are not sure that he should be off antibiotics - no one has examined him since his original diagnosis. If he wasn't on hospice, we would have had a specialist tracking his care.

Lesson learned...find out if you family member is on hospice if you can still go the doctor and demand to be able to do so. IF they say no, then demand that THEY exam and track his illness in a follow up manner that would normally be done. We have been too timid with the first round and now the gloves are off!


Enough for now...

Worn Plum Smooth

This is my new motto. When bad things happen, such as WWII, the reasoning is quite sound. But in reality when bad things or just stressful things happen what else can you do but carry on - we all have to live through the tough stuff but how we do that is up to us. I want to KEEP CALM.

Work has been hard over the last six months, I have had to learn Drupal, a content management system for websites There are many things about the new system I love and the ease of some things. I love that other people can post their stuff to the web. I hate that many things are very complicated that involve php. If you don't know what php is then you know how I feel!

Once I started the conversion, it was full boar on. We decided not to add anything new to the old website and I ended up with two looks for the web, which is not a good thing. So the stress was on to move things over as fast as I could. In hindsight I think that I would have just let the old website go stale versus do that again. Yet at the same time, I would not have finished as fast as I did because the pressure would not have been as great.

With all that going on, my Dad develops diverticulitis and has been in the hospital three times. So in between work and hospital visits my life has gone to pot. Today, I will schedule the two vet visits that where supposed to be done in June. I will schedule my 5,000 mile and 10,000 mile car tune up and ask if I can have the 11,000 mile tune up.  I hope that I get my dentist called on Monday.

Here's to keeping calm and carrying on...

Enough for now...

Life - school that never ends

I have of late been teaching myself how to use Drupal. It's a content management system for websites. It has been such a struggle and fight but I am getting there. When I graduate from OU with my Journalism degree, never in  my wildest dreams did I think my world would turn out as it has.

I have become rather an expert in web design, publications and now video. The only thing I can not do is audio. I sound like a dead fish (as my co-worker says and its okay because I do) .

I am blown away how much I have learn and how little my college courses are now. Next, I will be learning how to turn my publications into ebooks. Hears to perpetual learning!

Enough for now...

Merlin's World - A New One Everyday

I love my little guy but he has been more work than any dog I have ever known. He barks and the hateful neighbor complains to the city. He hunts all the time and tries to jump into the trees. He kisses much more than one would like but he's a great dog.

He painted the fence with mud...you never know what the new day will bring with Merlin.

Enough for now...

Can a Milano cookie be called medicine?

There is not enough Milano cookies in the world for this week to be easier. Dad is now out of danger and the slow heal and long hospital stay begins to wear on a person. Mom and I are trying to be smart about it and if I am with him, she stays home and rests and vice versus.

But hospitals are exhausting no matter what. Dad is still on his high powered cough medicine which dopes him up so much that his company is limited to in-between naps.

Currently, I am losing myself in this duty. I have not eating a solid meal in three days. Just Pepperridge Farm cookies and chips and dip. All my progress on the diet is gone or going. It's impossible to diet when you sit in a hospital room from 9 to 2. If you have lunch at 2:30 then you don't want dinner till 8 p.m.

I have just stopped eating meals and have been just continuous snacking. When I go back to work next week I will be able to eat breakfast as normal but lunch will be spent with him and food crammed down at my desk when I return and dinner will be after 8 pm. Right now, Dad needs me and my other concerns don't matter but... a salad actually sounds good.

Enough for now...

Too Much! Way Too Much

Wow, we are four months into 2013 and I am not sure I have anything but exhaustion to show for it. Work has been insanely busy and it really doesn't seem to be letting up. I am currently on vacation but it doesn't feel like a vacation to me.

Dad is in the hospital. A very slow recovery from pneumonia and a discovery of pulmonary fibrosis. We are in week three of the recovery and his spirits were low today. I think he panics when he feels worse than the day before. The doctor told me that patients with this, will not have steady improvements from day to day. They will have good days and bad days.

My Dad's cousin and bother and sister are here visiting and my sister came this weekend. We are all trying to take shifts at sitting with him in the hospital. In the in betweens I am trying to keep the house, do taxes and keep up my Dad's bullet jewelry business, which has only increased with each hospital visit. Those poor nurses don't know the sales man that my father is.

I had so many plans for this vacation. Dad and I were going to play with new jewelry designs. I was going to dabble into soddering and metal work but that is all out the door. I don't resent being at the hospital only disappointed that I didn't get to work with him this week. We will have time later on after his recovery but I have been so caught up with work that I was really looking forward to the Dad time and creative work.

Currently Seamus is staying with me and Winston and still is the ever loving bed hog! Here's hoping for a better four months and that by August I am recounting all the exciting or even mundane things we are doing.


Enough for now...

When did we get past winter

Don't get me wrong, I am happy we are having 80 degree weather but I didn't notice, did we have a winter? I am just waiting for a cold snap and that horror to rear its ugly head.

I love this weather but there are few down falls to a wonderful spring your yard needs mowing sooner, weeds appear out of nowhere and I am not ready to bare my upper arms. Whimper.

I am totally uninspired. I am in the middle of preparing for our big event at the state capitol and my brain is mush.

Enough for now...

I can't drive 5!

It's 9:45 pm and I still don't feel like I have been home long enough for it to be close to bedtime. I live in Oklahoma where when I get on the highway I get to drive at least 70 mph. On the drive home tonight, I40 west was dropped down to one lane -- really? one lane.

It took me one hour 30 minutes to make what usually takes 20 minutes. I was not happy. Half way home I had to kick on my shoes because clutching and braking was beginning to hurt. I hate I40!

Enough for now...

Butterflies on steroids

Okay major project, check! Finally, I am beginning to knock a dent in all the many projects stressing me out. I didn't know if I was going to make it a 45 minute presentation without really embarrassing myself but I managed to survive. I don't think I will volunteer for another presentation for a very long time.

It's 7:45 pm and I am still very wired. I do feel like it is good to push yourself in tough situations to experience and improve. However, I also feel that moderation is a good thing. The next time I will challenge myself will be around the year 2020.

The biggest problem I had today was with my PowerPoint. Somehow the slides where set on a timer, yet I didn't set a time limit on them.

I have thought about joining Toastmasters but not today. I will let you know if I start breathing normally tomorrow.

Enough for now...

It's only Monday and I am this exhausted??

Today was a whirl wind of projects that I didn't want to work on but required my attention. Since we got three to four inches of snow last night, the Commission meeting was cancelled. I was relieved that I didn't have to video tape our Director, edit the tape, and caption the video. I was going to be able to work on other time sensitive projects.

Nope! The Director called and said "I want to tape the report I would have given to the Commission." Then in his message there were many time references that really dictated that I get the video out today. To make matters worse, my assistant is out this week and I had to transcribe the audio for the captioning. At 5:30 pm, I was sending the email to the director all done!

Then to top everything off, Mom and Dad had to be picked up at the airport. Because of the chaos of the day, they had to wait at the airport until I could get the reporters out of the building - oh, did I fail to mention that I media.

I am cannot believe that I am this exhausted already. Tomorrow (whimper), I have to give my hour long presentation to the web group that I am a member of. What in the world was I thinking when I agree to present on HTML5. Shoot me now!

Enough for now...

Rock 'em, Shock 'em Robots

I am trying my best to be super mellow this weekend and for the most part, I have succeed. I have only worked on my side job, which is fresh and I enjoy it. My full time job is so exhausting that even thinking about working causes a heaviness to fall all about me.

Yesterday, I watched movies all day. First it was road kill - you know, the one you don't want to look but you do any way. Twilight, Breaking Dawn, oh my stars, do the books get as ridiculous as the movies? The wedding scenes where beautiful but the way Kristen Stewart plays Bella just wears you smooth. The best way I can explain it is "Awkward." There was one scene where she was telling off Edward and was actually realistic. The way she acts where she can't breath or can't say what she thinking just bugs the crap out of me.

Jacob's temper tantrums bug me too. Storming off into the woods to brood as a wolf is plan silly. Like I said this movie is road kill for me. I don't want to look, yet I do.

The other movie that I watched was Reel Steel. It was slow getting started but got better as toward the end. I am not a fan of people who are verbally rough on kids and so I really didn't like the lead character. But that predictably came to an end when he got to know his son.

Today won't be as mellow as yesterday. I have to clean my house company clean and I am so not in the mood. My Uncle Bill will be visiting my dad for a couple of weeks and it is bad form for show off all my dad's hard work with dirty clothes and dishes every where.

However, it's only 9 a.m. I think I will read for a little bit.

Enough for now...

IT'S FRRRRIIIIIDDDAAAAYYY

Never had I needed a week to be over as much as I needed this week to end. Three of my massive projects will be finished by Wednesday and on Wednesday I will crash.

I am paying extra care to put my day job on hold for the weekend.The only work I plan to do is for my side job but forget the day job.

So I took Mom and Dad to the airport then went and go a mani-pedi and now I sit waiting for Nitka to come on. Then I will watch Grimm and then on to Merlin. In other words, I am going for mindless entertainment. That is all I can handle right now.

Seamus will spend the weekend with us and I am rather glad that its going to be cold. Seamus is a rather big snuggler and when its cold you don't seem to mind it as much.

Enough for now...

Emotional Overload

One of the things that I hate the most about myself is that I am a complete bawl baby. And to make it worse when I get over worked or on too tight of deadlines, someone can look at me crossways and I will bawl like the world is coming to an end.

I want to stop crying at work, people think you are unstable.  I just want to be tough as nails and not care about anything. Unfortunately that is not who I am. I think the reason I am so emotional is also partly the reason I am creative. If I am able to turn it off and not care what people think, will that cause me to not to care about my work too?

Work has been way overwhelming with too many big projects. By the end of next week, I am hoping to get the Annual Report proofed and ready for print. Then I could settle down and gather my thoughts.

Delima, do I stop and rest and not make any progress on the massive workload or do I work over the weekend and get somethings done? I think I will have to a little of both.

I do think that tomorrow, I need a mani-pedi.

Enough for now...

The Shine has worn off my brillance

Lately, work has been incredibly busy and I have been traveling all over the state. I actually like it except for today's drive, the Malibu they gave me had a super rough drive. I drove to Tulsa and back by 1:30 p.m. and was plum worn out.

The flood of work won't slow down until probably May. I am not overly thrill about this but have decided that I will do what I can and the other stuff will have to wait.

I am lacking some of the confidence I need to do my job due to the extreme workload and I feel like I am slamming things out. I don't like to make errors and yet, lately that been more abundant than I like. I need to figure out how to slow down and be okay with being behind.
I will have the annual report completed by the end of the week and hopefully get to work on our awareness day like I feel I should. I don't like planning events and not being able to devote the proper amount of time.

Then on top of working late and weekends trying to catch up at work, I am trying to complete a side web site job. Talk about burning the candle at both ends (I'm melting). To make this even harder, I have not had a coke, refined sugar, french fries, chocolate, or Mexican food since January 3. I hate diets.

My baby dog is not happy with all this working. He has taken to laying down next to me and pushing the laptop away. I think he has the right idea.

Enough for now...

Declaration Phooey

Today I had to go take care of insurance. Not exactly what you call fun mainly because it can be mind numbingly boring and confusing. My homeowners insurance went up $175 and I wanted to know why. Come to find out that when my roof was re-roofed three years ago, I had to notified my agent and provide some paperwork so that it can be entered into the master computer or else it keeps jacking up your premium.

Thankfully I am neurotic about keeping paperwork and was able to provide my agent the name of the roofers. I hope the roofers keep paperwork like I do, more importantly I hope they are still in business.

My little pitfall car has hit a new low. I no longer keep full coverage on the poor thing. Its not worth full coverage. I am hopeful to retire the little guy next year. When you drive a ten year old car with only three hubcaps, you don't keep full coverage.

Maybe, I will be less boring tomorrow. I am totally zapped looking for some mind numbing TV and then bed.

Enough for now...

I not blue, I am indigo

Bad day. Really bad day. Every time I think things are settling down, chaos ensues and I am back to square one. I don't like square one.

You know what else I don't like? I don't like baked pork  chops. I made them tonight for the first time ever and nope, not for me. I've got three more in the freezer and not sure what to do with them. I am hoping the George Foreman Grill will make them taste better than the oven did.

I also don't like it that my best Friend at work is out on sick leave. She had a knee replaced so she will be out for six weeks. I have been eating at my desk and working through lunch all week. I miss Linda.

I have too much work to complete in a timely fashion and feel the need to work through lunch, late every night and on the weekend. What do I get? "Be careful what you wish for." and "It would be better not to volunteer for big projects when you are super busy with our event because it puts extra pressure on you."

In other words don't complain and don't get out of your box. Today SUCKED. One of these days I will have made up for whatever bad things I did in my previous life.

Here's the orchid I got to kill slowly over the next few months.

Enough for now...

Thank you to all our Veterans

I want to thank all the veterans who have fought and served so that I can speak my mind and live freely.

To my Father,
  Tommie Tallon, Veteran served during peacetime;

To a family friend,
  Lee DeGraffenried, Veteran served during peacetime;

To my uncles,
   Donald Griffith, Vietnam Veteran;
   John McMurtrie, Vietnam Veteran;

To my cousin,
  Roy (Trey) Moore, Veteran served during peacetime;

To my friend,
  Maggie Artime, Veteran served during peacetime;

To my nephews,
  Patrick Logan, future veteran serving us proudly now;
  Jason Logan, future veteran serving us proudlynow.

Because of you and those like you, I am able to say Thank You anyway I want. Thank you for my freedom.

Enough for now...

What's Next? Tsunami at Tenkiller?

I know that I have been noticeably absent from my handy dandy blog. Plain and simple, I have been burned out with technology. My Facebook activity has been lacking as well.  Since I began blogging years ago, I have always written in spurts and for that I apologize.

A couple of weeks ago I was hit with a respiratory infection of the massive kind and it really kicked my butt. Everyday I would think, I will be better and go to work tomorrow and each day I was too sick to go. When I miss a solid week of work, I am terribly ill. I kind of panic when I have to call in sick. I am paranoia that people won't believe I am sick and I end up working when I should be at home. I am currently nursing that lingering cough that makes everyone think I am still sick. Being sick also made very uninterested in being on the computer for any reason.

Now on to the bazaar, Oklahoma has earthquakes. What would Will Rogers say "If you don't like the weather wait ten minutes." I don't think he meant earthquakes!  I know what to do when the sky falls but when my earth moves I have admit I just freeze. When the 5.6 quake happened, I was in bed watching TV. I first thought that a car hit my house but when it kept moving I just laid there - wide eyed shocked. Then earthquake dawned on me and I turned the TV to the local news.

What in the world is going on here? First we are tornado alley, then we have extreme draughts, or we have massive snow storms, now this - earthquakes, really? What's next a quake under Lake Tenkiller causing a Tsunami?

Now the news is telling everyone what to do when we have an earthquake. You know what they don't tell us, what to do if you are driving when an earthquake happens?

Enough for now...

Exhausted - talk among yourselves, I will be back

Enough for now...