I'm installing applications on the new machine and blinking in shock. Things that used to take an hour to install and upgrade are installing in less than ten minutes. Downloading and installing Norton updates did take five reboots, but who's counting? I kept running the update applet until I got that 'your software is all up to date' message. I'm now checking for and installing Office updates. The download is the slowest part. I found a use for another of the minibooks that I made. I am using it to take notes as I configure and install things. It's quite useful to have that data in dead tree format, in case of disaster.

 I've been doing some research and have discovered two things. First, EHDs that are used frequently (as in about the rate that you ought to be using them for backups) have a significant failure rate. Often they fail in the middle of a backup, when files are neither fish nor fowl and can't be saved. I've also found that CD/DVDs have about a 5-10 year life span for safe data keeping. It isn't enough that you back it up and store it off site, you need to make regular copies of your backups, so you aren't dealing with degrading storage media. I suggest a ladder system, so you eventually get to a five year cycle on any data that's older than five years, but you are flipping slightly more than 20% of your CD/DVDs once a year. Why 5 years when it's a 5-10 year lifespan? Which CD will last for ten years? I dunno. I know they'll all make it five.

OK, I ordered stuff from Amazon that will arrive whenever, since it's free shipping. Yesterday my Gevalia coffee arrived via UPS. I've got sale stuff coming from Club Scrap that will be shipped FedEx. The Dell will arrive via DHL. I was told that the Dell would probably arrive Friday. The RAM for it arrived today. It's a bad sign when delivery drivers start to call you by name.

The subject of Macs is like the subject of religion. I'm not saved either, just Episcopalian.

If I ask a hardware question that is PC based, I do not care to hear a Mac based response. It is sufficient to say that you don't know because you use a Mac. You will not succeed at selling me a Mac. I will give up my PC when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

FWIW, yes, I've tried them. I've tried the shit-hot Power Book Pro. I was not impressed. I didn't like how things did not show up on screen where I could find them in a list, but scrolled through in an annoyingly artistic way. I don't need icons to hop up and down like children needing to pee. And if the thing is so shit-hot, why am I watching those icons hop up and down while the application loads? I could probably turn those annoyances off, but I'd have to go learn how to do it. I can turn off Clippie without looking it up.

The darned thing is running 2.5 Mhz Intel dual processors, and the Dell I've been drooling over runs 2.8. It has the same graphics card. Same RAM. And the Dell has a built in card reader and a 4 year warranty that covers theft as well as damage and dysfunction. Mac has a 3 year plan. I have software that runs on Windows. Why would I want to run the Mac OS and then a Windows conversion system on top of it? Why not just run Windows?

NO!!!! I DON"T WANT A MAC!!!!! thxbye.

There are three rulers printed on my new Tonic cutter. The one at the top of the cutter is marked in rather fat 1/16" tick marks and it requires me to track over a gap to line up my paper. With my vision, I can't do this very accurately. The ruler in the middle also has fat tick marks and is lined up where I can align my paper to the ruler and cut in 1/4" increments. The ruler at the bottom is printed on the paper holding surface and is broken down into 1/16" marks, with fine lines, for exact placement. I can see and use this ruler quite easily. However, the entire ruler wasn't printed accurately and is 1/16" off to the left, meaning when I align paper at 5 1/2", I'm cutting 5 9/16" pieces of paper.

This annoys the dickens out of me. The easy to use and more accurate ruler isn't correctly lined up. The rulers that will give sloppy measurements are correctly lined up. Behold! Murphy's Law in Action!

Sebastian is a new trainer at the gym. He refuses to change the TV for folks because he believes that they should be at the club to train, not to watch TV. He also doesn't want to train folks who need to be motivated or have injuries.

Sebastian needs to learn two things.

1.) He's working at a luxury club. Services like changing the TV channels are why these folks pay each month to belong here and not to some grungy cinderblock basement gym. Most of these folks just want to maintain. Watching TV is not going to distract them from pushing themselves to the limit because they don't want to go there. They want to be distracted from something they don't really want to be doing in the first place.

2.) Most folks who can afford personal training are older and have had at least one significant injury. They want a trainer who can take them past what their Physical Therapist gave them, provide them a reason to keep showing up, and keep them from screwing up that body part again.

Sebastian wants to train the Beautiful People that you see in the ads. The ones that never seem to sweat unless it's artful, always are wearing the latest fashion in gym clothing and always show up on time, warmed up and ready to work. They are coordinated, flexible and strong and will try any exercise you tell them to do and get it right with no correcting or demonstration. They have been working out for years and have no imbalances to be corrected or weight to lose.  Those people exist, but they don't need or want Sebastian.

I used to hear about people who made decisions on using some specific brand or type based on what I thought was arcane information. I am becoming one of those people. I don't learn by doing projects following directions. I learn by having a result that I want to achieve and then figuring out how to get that result. The information sticks with me. Most recently, I've been learning by trying new things to get the same old result and sometimes not succeeding. Or failing in ways that I didn't expect. I've been finding what is the best way to get a result. I think that's pretty nifty, too.

I was talking to a lady about how I learned which type/brand of adhesive and ink I need to use for specific results. There are many different types of glues and inks- especially inks. Some have soft spongy pads, some have hard felt pads, some dry slowly, some fast, some won't stick to certain surfaces, others take solvents to clean up or stain my stamps.

I learned by starting with two brands of ink and one brand of glue. Using only one glue at a time allowed me to get used to the characteristics of that glue. When I tried a different glue, I could tell if I liked it better or not very much. I'd only get a new type of ink when what I had wouldn't give the result that I wanted. I now use PVA glue, ATG adhesive and solvent, alcohol, hybrid, pigment and dye inks. I'm not a real fan of the hybrid inks, but I use them for specific reasons.

 

Why am I happy with the Cricut? Disney dimensional stickers aren't cheap. The average embellishment package is between 3 and 6 dollars. Using the Cricut, I can cut dimensional stickers in sizes from 1" to 5.5" in colored and patterned paper that matches my layouts. If I have a large space, I can cut a large Minnie. If I have only a little space, I can cut a smaller Minnie, or use a different pose than full body. To get that level of flexibility using store bought stickers would be frighteningly expensive.

I have been working to find the right paper and finished size combination that will allow me to cut using the cartridges and get something that I can use. If the paper is too thick, there is a size limit due to the amount of detail. I'm happily surprised by what was included in the cartridges. You look at the teeny pictures on the back of the box and see the major characters. Once you open the box, you find other things included in the manual. Remember the spinning napkins in 'Be Our Guest' in Beauty and the Beast? I do. I thought they were a nice touch and they are included as one of the things I can cut.

Last, but not least, I went to one of the Disney message boards and found a few Disney fonts. Very handy for journaling and titles!

 

Every so often I go through my F list and check that nobody has added me that I haven't added back. My list is relatively short, and my journal is (mostly) locked to friends only, so I think it's kind of rude for me not to add folks back. I've added folks over time who have done the same thing to me. I find them, I add them, they eventually check their list and we are off and reading. I looked through my list this morning and realized that a few folks I'd added had not done me the honor of adding me back. I deleted a few names from my list. Odds are that they will never notice. They haven't added me back- that's not an insult, that's life. But I'd been reading about them, and tracking the bits and pieces of their life and at times, becoming overwhelmed keeping everyone straight. A shorter list means I can remember who is doing what.

LJ is either an ego thing or a nosy thing. The idea that massive numbers of people want to know about the details of my life. Or, I get to peek inside other people's life. Either way, it's just life.

Just in case one person is checking now and then, it's still locked and likely to stay that way. Deal.

But it's got to be the correct manual. I got a book on Photoshop7 way back when I got the software. Unfortunately, it was a 'classroom in a book' and I don't learn software like that. The chapter as class lecture style only frustrates me when later, I want to look up how to do something. The lesson on cropping covered free form cropping, making you practice by trimming a flamingo out of a pond and then place it on a beach. Great. I trim flamingos once in my lifetime and that was for that lesson. I trim photos, oh, once or twice a day. I kept trying to crop my photos to exactly 4 x 6 and couldn't do it when I drew a bounding box using the rectangle tool. The lesson taught me how to tapdance and I just wanted walking, which was not covered, as it was so easy. Ahem. It takes humans months to learn to walk, ya know.

I got a couple of reference books on Photoshop Elements, because that's the easy version of Photoshop and anything that Elements can do, my version 7 should be able to do. I finally learned how to set the aspect ratio on the bounding boxes so I don't have to guesstimate and crop and re-crop to get exactly the dimensions that I want. No flamingos harmed, no frustration for me.

What have I learned? Avoid the classroom in a book style references. They aren't all that useful.

In the same shopping trip, I finally found the digital photography reference that I could not find before. It was misfiled. It's just as good a reference as I thought it would be. The premise is that you ask a pro a question and he answers it, without feeding you the lecture on the ratio between aperture and shutter speed divided by ISO. He just says, "Use f11 and a four second exposure." Poof! fireworks shot. And then, to fill up the page a little more, he tells you how to adjust for things like buildings or no buildings and if you want long trails or not and how to look at the sky to time when things are going to pop just right. For those that are interested, it's "The Digital Photography Book" by Scott Kelby. He's got a lame sense of humor, but his information is incredibly useful and not overwhelming in technical detail. If you have a point and shoot, I recommend it. If you have a prosumer model, like I do, I still recommend it.I

The scrapping competition continues to irk me. I'm going to continue with my level of participation, just so I can say that I earned as many points in the competition as my entire team earned in an average week. But I did change my signature comment to the classic -

If it doesn't matter if you win or lose, then how come they keep score?

In order to do this, I had to adjust the location of the graphics files in my signature. That quote, plus lengthy links, put me over the 255 character limit. Shorter links on Lazywench did the trick. I did that much work, just to bitch in a sig file? Yeah. First off, it's not that much work and second, I really  want to bitch. I'm doing the work of at least four people and our team is in 6th place? I feel like Michael Jordan being required to play in a Special Olympics team that's going up against the current Celtics. Yah, sure, you smile and put on a good face, but losing still sucks.

We got sixth place. I scored 20% of the points for the team this week. Our total was 362. There are 37 members on a team, fercryinoutloud!

Here is the count of the pages I have posted for this competition so far.

For the Season Opener/Warm-up, I posted 6 layouts for 12 points.
Week one, 20 layouts for 40 points.
Week two, 4 layouts for 8 points.
Week three  11 layouts for 22 points.
Week four, nil.
Bye week, nil.
Week six, 27 layouts for 54 points.
Week seven, 4 layouts for 8 points.
Week eight, 40 layouts for 80 points.

Current total, 112 layouts for 224 points.

If I keep this up, by the end of the scrap bowl, my individual total will be close to the team weekly average, which is currently 359 points. And falling.

Today, I started the day by downloading a whole lot of digital scrapbooking files. Then I toddled off to work. Came home, downloaded even more files and opened the monthly shipment of scrapping stuff from Club Scrap that arrived on the doorstep while I was at work. In addition to my regular monthly shipment, I received a packet of paper for participating in the Scrap Bowl and I'd ordered an address book and some unmounted stamps. To go with the monthly kit were more downloads of plans and ideas. I have been using up my consumables at a very good clip, easily more than two month's worth of stuff in a single month. Finishing off stuff in the stash has been going well.

I spent some time sorting out my embellishments into three ring binders designed to hold embellies. It's working. I can find things and what I can find, I use. I have also realized that because I have places for everything, I know quickly when something is missing. All my effort at keeping things sorted out is paying off. I've got space to work, I've got stuff to work on. If only I could get my photos sorted out as well as my embellishments. I still want to get a negative and slide scanner, but I've got Disney to deal with first.


If you demand that employees show up to meetings on time, to the point of locking the door so latecomers cannot join, then you also need to end your meetings on time and not run 20 minutes over.

Today, I was working out and ran into Ken, who had a few questions about how to use the machines, because the gym he used at home was not nearly as well equipped. Ken is one of the guys who's bouncing back and forth to and from the Middle East, and works hard to stay fit so he won't be grounded. With a four hour layover, he came to the gym.

He said he kept hurting his back. I showed him different form for back extensions and he realized he'd been doing them in a way that wasn't building the muscles he wanted to hit. We ended up almost revamping his entire workout. His shoulder injury meant that he was compensating for his "light" bench press (225 for sets of ten, close grip) and he needed to work in isolation. The bar shouldn't be tilted at all at 225. He was also using funky rounded form for his SLDLs and I got him to flatten more, stretch more and hit the muscles that he needed to target.

This is the weird part. This huge, fit guy didn't know enough about the exercises he was doing to get the most benefit from them. He wasn't cheating, but he didn't know what the correct form was, so he couldn't use it. He will now be more effective. His core was solid for abs, but not for back. That's why he's injuring his back. It just isn't strong enough to keep him balanced. I was amazed at how little low back muscle he had. I have about the same as he does. Lats, traps, serratus and delts (and NO back acne) he's got. Low back is MIA.

His team also isn't big on stretching. I taught him a couple of stretches and fussed at him. He was complaining of limited flexibility and Duh! he needs to stretch more to get more flexible.

In a fantasy world, he'll go home, work out with his buddies and realize that they need better information and better routines, not just dedication, effort and time in the gym. Then, they'll all show up for training with me, since I'm the one who showed him this great stuff. Hah! He is from the Mississippi valley and nowhere near here.

I post that I'm going to get a haircut, with fanfare and folderol. I post no photos of the new haircut and nobody asks? 

I'm happily re-reading "Komarr" and realizing why my stepson doesn't care for Lois. He hasn't lived. At 19, his life experiences are just beginning. She doesn't hit home, because he hasn't built his home yet. I'd say she's an acquired taste, like good Scotch, but not everyone acquires a taste for Scotch. Especially not single malts. There's too much burn for them. But the burn lets you know you are alive. Life isn't always ice cream and cake. It's the flaming candles on the cake, and the mess in the kitchen from baking that cake. And knowing that you are going to have to go to the gym and work out to not see the effects of eating that cake on your waistline. The adult sees it all, not just the cake and ice cream.

Goodness, I've drifted off topic. I'm just kind of feeling like a cake provider at the moment.

OGC- I chatted with the lady I observed in the gym and she is competing in a fitness event in Las Vegas in July. She'll have to do a lot of different things, mostly against a clock. She'll have to do a shuttle run, climb a rope, go over a wall, do a low crawl and a varying height monkey bar thing. I'm thinking horizontal ladder, not monkey bars, but she speaks several languages and I think her word finding wasn't in high gear. She will also have to do 50 box jumps for time, do 10 reps bench pressing a weight determined by her competition weight and a few other things that she couldn't remember off the top of her head. She gets to use her legs when climbing the rope. There is some posing in a posing suit, she'll also have to do some time in an evening gown.

There's a little voice in my head saying, "Tut, tut." because of her chemical assistance. Part of it is her body type, but very very few women put on the mass like she has without steroids. There's also a little voice saying that she's doing a good job managing them. Her face is still shaped OK, her voice hasn't dropped and so on. But the evening gown portion is going to be difficult to carry off. What looks great in a posing suit flexed, doesn't look good in an evening gown. 

It's not about what you want to give. It's about what they want to get. If you get it wrong, it's not a gift, it's a burden.

I have finally reached the point of no return and Wednesday, I'm gonna go get....



















A haircut!

In the Scrap Bowl, our team placed 7th out of ten. We had 267 points, the winning teams had 702, 623 and 506 points. Membership on teams was assigned randomly and there are 30+ members on each team. I managed to post 54 points for our team this week.  Another lady had over 60 points. Our team captain wasn't able to get her layouts for the week posted in time, since she waited until the last minute and got screwed by a slow connection. Hmmmm... great planning there. Her layouts got deleted. She might have cost us penalty points, too. For the bye week,  I did  nothing and  I got  a 10%  discount . For posting a layout in the first half of the bowl, I got  25 sheets  of  free paper. This week, I'll have a 5% discount. Bleargh. The top three teams will have discounts higher in 5% increments and the #1 team will also get free stuff included in their next shipment.

I'm frustrated and annoyed at my team mates, the majority of whom have let the team down by failing to participate in any way. They aren't even posting to say that they are busy elsewhere, sorry about flaking on the competition. I just don't understand saying that you'll try and then completely wandering off and ignoring the responsibility that you took on. I'm going to ping the folks running the event and ask if they can figure out how to shuffle the teams around because of the non-participants. I'm working my butt off for a team with over half the members not even playing!

There's a lady that's a regular at the gym who has recently been working a lot harder than she usually does and she's been getting a bit larger. She's still carrying a lot of body fat and hitting the weights hard with limited cardio, so I assume she's not gone into her cutting phase yet. Right now, she will freely admit that she's doing some steroids. Or at least that's what I'm told. I haven't asked her. But she's got that big shouldered, thick chest look that women don't get without prescription strength drugs. 

She once mentioned to me that she is trying to get on 'American Gladiator' and while I wish her luck, I have no idea what she would be expected to do on the show. She does a workout with a lot of compound moves, which signals to me that she isn't training for show, she's training for action. Folks that train for show are usually targeting their lagging muscles and work in isolation a lot. AFAIK, she isn't training in any fighting style. Not anywhere with anyone competent, anyway. She's never bruised. And her workout outfits are the type that would show bruises. (Do I train to fight in any style? Nope. But I know enough people that do to know a lack of bruises is not a sign of training success.)

Anyway. This is just me rambling on about what an observer can surmise about what you are planning on doing based on what your workout looks like, the results you are getting from that workout and what you look like while you are doing that workout. As an aside, she has a significant lordosis. Not only does it look awful when she walks around because she looks pregnant and her butt looks bigger than it actually is, it's not good for long term health. A trainer she worked with years ago said that she does not believe her posture is problematic and though he tried to correct it, she refused to follow his guidance. Every trainer that looks at her predicts back pain or serious back injury and pain in her future. 

Ya know, I haven't been following the kerfluffle about the strike. It just does not matter to me. I have a paid account. If a bunch of folks with free accounts choose not to post, it just frees up server processor for me to have faster responses. Unless free accounts share one slow server and paid accounts are spread out across several fast servers.

Didn't those geeks read their Heinlein? "TANSTAAFL" and "Anything free is worth what you paid for it." should just about cover the issue.

I am on a team of over 30 people in a scrapbooking contest. For every layout posted that meet the weekly challenge criteria, the team gets 2 points. For layouts posted that don't meet criteria, 1 point. The challenges are to use stencils, or use paper from different sources. During the first weeks, we had over 20 people posting layouts each week. This week, there are 9 of us posting. That's it. 9 out of 30+. The other teams are seeing the same sort of responses. I had a feeling that this would happen, based on the length of the contest. The teams that are having the best response are the teams that have consistantly been winning and receiving significant discounts and free items as prizes. Teams that have been getting low discounts have no reason to struggle for another low discount. Last place gets the same as fourth and there are ten teams. The bye week discount was equal to a third place discount. Reward doesn't match effort, why compete?