Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
This Blog started in 2001 as a Trip Log to record a summer in Alaska. Since then, it has morphed into my online diary.
Spent way too much time yesterday ripping audiobooks from the library into my iPod. I am willing to pay $10 to download a nice fat audiobook. But not a cent more. So, I check them out of the library as CD’s and stuff them into the iPod. I am happy to support the audiobook industry – but refuse to pay more than paperback rates for an audiobook.
Tomorrow my Olympus Pancake 25mm f/2.8 lens is supposed to arrive. That might quell my toy lust for a week or two. Maybe.
Pardon me whilst I take an old woman’s mental trip back to the summer of 1969. Things were not all wonderful then. Our president had been killed, our boy friends, sons and husbands were being killed in the jungles of South East Asia. The evil empire had control of at least half the world. And don’t get me started about the role of women in those days.
But, we were going to moon. And had every intention of getting back alive. What have we done lately? Where is the adventure. Of course, there was the evil empire – spurring us on. Can’t we go to the moon and beyond – just to find out what there is to see? Must there be an enemy to get us to do anything except eat and hone our video gaming skills?
Now, Apollo 11 – that was real reality TV.
Step away from the computer and go to the stars, boys and girls.
Still becalmed in the middle of summer. Volunteer, lounge around the pool. Life could be worse things.
So, what’s for dinner? Jalapeno sausages, zucchini and eggplant – with maybe some quick marinara sauce.
I have noticed over the past few days that the recession is starting to change little life patterns in our urban village. I see young men in the elevator – in years past they would be taking their expensive shirts down to the laundry. Not any more. The young men must have discovered that there is a washing machine in their units.
One sees fewer Minute Maids. And dog walkers. I haven’t seen the grocery delivery van in weeks. Nor have I seen the “in home dog grooming” service recently. DIY is taking on new meaning.
Another do nothing kind of a day. Volunteer, see the doctor, hang out by the pool.
Yep, the doctor gave me a boat load of “see the specialist, get more tests, come back and see me in 3 months”. Nothing I wasn’t expecting to hear. Nothing I wanted to hear. But, no surprises.
Just ordered a new lens for the Panasonic L1. It is a brick of a camera – but, I like it. There wasn’t an L2. It was an experimental camera. An evolutionary dead end.
My budget for pedicures is nil.
Absolutely nothing going on. Which is not a bad thing when you are an old person. Most of the things that “happen” when you are old are not good things.
Tomorrow, I go back and see the doctor at the clinic. She will tell me to take more drugs and get more tests. And most likely, I’ll ignore her advice. Which when you stop to think of it is pretty silly, since she has 4 years of medical school, one year as an intern and one year as a resident of experience. One would hope she knows more than I do.
As I was walking into the hospital this morning I noticed Carlton riding his bike – on the sidewalk – back home. (Peggy doesn’t serve breakfast – only lunch and dinner – so Carlton’s solution is to eat at the hospital.) Bikers on the sidewalks are a pet peeve of mine. I guess I feel about bikers on the sidewalks same as drivers feel about bikers on the streets. Maybe it is time for meaningful bike ways in Arlington.
Speaking of bikes. Lance remains in 3rd place 8 seconds back.
Last word about LightRoom. It was easy to get my new pictures out of lightroom and into photoshop elements. That alone is making me like Lightroom more. But, there is still the $300. And the “How is having Lightroom going to make my life better” question.
I decided to take a pass on LightRoom – for now. It works great and the interface is oh so elegant. But, I had no answer for the “How is paying $300 for software that is incompatible with the $100 software that has 6,683 images cataloged going to improve my life?” After I finish the cataloguing task – yeah right – like never – or when Adobe provides a migration path – then I’ll reconsider. But for now, thanks for the 30 day test – but, I’ll catch you later, LightRoom.
On my glide path into real old age – I am trying to keep things simple and uncluttered. Not cheap or even inexpensive. Just simple. If I have one of a thing – most likely that is enough. If I get a new thing – then I get rid of at least one thing.
Coming to an end to the LightRoom 30 trial. I am liking it. It comes in PC and Apple flavors. But not in Ubuntu. That isn’t a deal breaker. It is a wimpy solution – but – life really is easier if you keep an XP partition handy. Then you can run your adobe products and iTunes. Especially iTunes. Gotta have my iTunes.
And I haven’t figured out how to merge my LightRoom with my PhotoShop Elements Catalog. I have thousands of photos in my Elements Catalog. I have 4 days to resolve this issue. Maybe it will rain and I can stay inside and play with my computer.
Why is there never leftover salmon?
Once a week I cook a real meal. A meal with no help from Trader Joe or Whole Foods or the deli/salad bar at my Harris Teeter. Nothing frozen or preprocessed. I cook. Don’t actually have to grow the food or catch the fish – but a very urban approximation. This evening was the weekly real meal. Baked salmon – wild caught in Alaska. Yellow squash and tomatoes – from the farm market and Israeli couscous – from Israel.
So what now?
So, what now?
I know… Toy Shopping. How can I sneak a whole boat load of new toys in under Carlton’s radar? Do I even care about Carlton’s radar? Well, a little.
Oh, today would be MomIda’s Birthday. She would have been 88 and had every intention of making it to at least 88. But, our family’s inferior interior parts don’t last that long.
If MomIda were still around she would be really upset about how little she would be getting on her CD’s. Don’t Spend the Principal was her mantra.
No blog stuff today. The computer is 100% busy “Handbraking” some movies down to iPod format. The previously owned Dell computer is completely maxed out by the task. But, I gotta have a couple of movies in the iPod.
One more note to family about funerals. If my time comes when I am in Hawaii – on the Big Island. Use the Dodo Mortuary. I love the name. The only thing good about dying would be to have the Dodo Mortuary burn my dead ass and then to have the remains buried in the “Dinosaur Cemetery” in Colorado. But, I don’t know if Dinosaur Colorado has a Cemetery. Or, if they have one, if it is called Dinosaur Cemetery. But, there is a Dodo Mortuary, has been for over 100 years.
Is Michael Jackson gone now?
Sarah Palin – It is rumored that she will sue anyone who – as we say in Hawaii – talk stink – about her. Or as MomIda would have said “If you can not say something nice…”. Seems to me that suing folk for talk stink would just about end your political career. Which would be a really good thing in Sarah’s case. If she promises retire to private life, I’ll promise not to mention her again.
Note to Family: Today Carlton asked me to look up Rapp Funeral Home on the internet. Someone told him it was the cheapest place in the area to get cremated. So, here it is: Rapp Funeral and Cremation Services Another sign of advancing years I am guessing. Or maybe just too much Michael Jackson.