Personal

Enjoying my new size

My good friend, Philip, has prompted me, now that I am completely downsized and settled, that I should get my creative juices flowing and dust off this old bloggy.  So, while sitting on my patio and enjoying the sunshine (but not the wind), I’ve decided to do just that. 

One good aspect of my new apartment, the porch is covered.  The balcony of my previous apartment was open-air so I would certainly not have been sitting out on the patio with pieces of tree falling on my head writing in my bloggy.  Here, the wind is whipping my hair but no debris is falling and the sun is not beating down on me.  I can enjoy it’s warmth without actually getting burned by it.  Bubbles, my ever faithful pet bunny, is also enjoying some freedom on the patio, sniffing and tickling my toes occasionally when I least expect it.  Currently, he has his nose glued to the ground, sniffing away at who knows what.  Oops, he’s decided it’s time for a nap.  What a great idea!  The pool looks inviting but I think I’ll abstain for now due to the wind and the fact that I haven’t shaved my legs for a couple of days.  Don’t want to scare off my new neighbors. 

And sooooo . . . what to write about on such a beautiful day with such peaceful surroundings.  Maybe I’ll just share some photos. 

Downsizing

I’m moving!  Blech!  At best, even when a person or family is excited for the adventure of a new home maybe in a new city, the moving process is not fun.  At worst, moving is misery.  Right now, I am feeling miserable, and since misery loves company, I am sharing my feelings with the world.  Not that I’m whining or anything, but I have moved about a zillion times in my adult life, and not that I’m counting or anything but five of those times have occurred during the past 7 years.  When I relocated to my current apartment, I knew it would be temporary—moved to a larger place so my son could hang with me until he finished school or found a place or found himself or whatever—but I didn’t realize how difficult it would be for me to give up this larger apartment and how unenthusiastic I would be about packing to downsize just a year and a half later.  I have known I would be moving for 6 months now and have only managed to force myself to pack four boxes. Sigh!

Usually when I move, I am very OCD and organized.  When I relocated to Arizona from Colorado I typed labels stating the exact contents of each box and neatly taped them to each side including the top of each box.  Everyone made fun of me, but my transition, especially since it included a short stint in storage was much easier for the extra effort.  If I needed something out of storage, I knew exactly where to look—the boxes were stacked from back to front according to which I would be least likely to need before I moved into my new place.  I was excited about and prepared for that move, but look at me now.  Just seven years later, here I am throwing stuff from any room into boxes together without labeling one of them.  Ugh!  I can’t bring myself to care enough to do any better.  I’ll get there one way or another, right.  And, at the rate I move, I’ll have at least another year or two to get organized before I have to pack again.

So…I started this blog post with the intention of informing that I will be absent from blogging for most of this month and part of next due to the move, but I dunno.  It’s possible that you will see me now more than ever as I will be looking for any avenue to avoid this drudgery.  Anybody out there want to help?

In the end, your butt is still gonna be sore

Recently, I received a bonus at work, yaaaay, and having been disappointed that most of my meager income tax return had been delegated to bills, ugh, I planned to treat myself with at least part of this check.  Before that precious piece of paper was even in my hands, half was set aside for a bill and the other half was set aside for a brand new shiny bicycle.  I wasn’t yet sure if I wanted a stationery bike or one that could roam the hills and dales, but I knew I needed exercise in a bad way and since cycling is something I enjoy, I decided it would be the most painless way to tend to a painful task, weight loss.  You see, my doctor has decided that I’m among the gazillions of Americans who are stuffing too many carbs in their mouths while getting too little exercise.  What?  Does chocolate have carbs?

For days prior to the big event, I scoured the Internet for information on various types of bikes.  Being a bicycle shop snob with a Wal-Mart budget, I checked out the discount stores but hoped to find an affordable option at a bicycle shop or an affordable stationery bike from the website of my employer.  I wanted to be prepared to spend my check immediately.  No dillydallying around for me.  I anticipated having my fanny on the seat of a bicycle (or at least having an order placed) within a few hours of that check hitting my bank account.  Not that I’m impatient or anything . 

When the big day finally arrived, not only did I receive a check but I was also given a new middle name (a story for another time) and who could ask for more, right?  I held my envelope and savored it for several minutes before I excitedly tore into it and quickly became sick to my stomach.  Aghast, I realized that I had grossly underestimated the handfuls of dough that the IRS and the Arizona Department of Revenue would grub from my bonus.  A gift, a well-intentioned and well-deserved gift, yet the IRS believes that it has the right to 25 percent of it, not to forget the nearly broke state of Arizona that hungrily ate up about 12 percent.

Alas, disheartened but not broken (and still grateful for what I had been given), I visited the first bike shop.  Upon learning that the least expensive bicycle in the store was a hundred dollars more than my new budget allowed, I wandered on over to my local Wal-Mart and settled on a reasonably priced Comfort Bike, the kind with the oversized fluffy seat, big tires and lots of shock absorbers to cushion my aching, aging joints from the inevitable blows of the trail.  Part of me is still a bike shop snob and is certain that all of the other bike shop snobs out there will be quietly making fun of me and my shiny new cruiser, but most of me is just grateful to have a bike to ride and plans to enjoy every minute of it.  Not only that, but, after my first two times out, I am “comforted” to learn that no matter what type of bicycle or stationery bike you get, how much you spend, or where you purchase it, in the end, your butt is still gonna be sore when you ride it for the first time.

Verizon Wireless vs. DiGi

Who woulda thunk it.  Verizon Wireless, “The” Verizon Wireless, and a wireless provider in Malaysia called DiGi are having a quiet, polite, second-hand blame war over which carrier is responsible for approximately half of the text messages I send from the United States via Verizon not reaching the mobile device of my beloved friend in Malaysia, a Digi customer.  I personally do not care which company is responsible, but I’m tired of throwing to the wind 25 cents each for messages that do not reach their destination.

Rather than being dazed and amazed that any text messages arrive to someone halfway across the world, in this technological age, we just expect that all communication should not only go through, but go through quickly, clearly and accurately.  And, I must add, for the most part or the 3/4 part, it does.  All of his texts reach me but only about half of mine reach him. 

Both my friend and I have contacted DiGi and Verizon, respectively, and spelled out our concerns.  Both companies claim to have researched the problem with their tech departments and found no difficulties on their ends.  One Verizon rep told me that if the screen says “sent” without an error message, Verizon has done its part and the rest is up to the forces of nature and the technology of the other wireless company.  Okay, yeah, I embellished a little on that statement, but I did sense a bit of arrogance on the part of the first (not the second, who was very helpful and pleasant) Verizon rep I spoke to who finally said to me, “I mean, come on, it’s Verizon!” as if Verizon’s pooh is incapable of stinking.

DiGi, the ball is in your court.  Verizon—2, Digi—1.  It’s your turn to make that phone call, Philip.

Dreaming a Big Dream!

It’s been many years since I have been anything but cynical about Valentine’s Day.  I have to admit that I have been one of those that has, even though I work in retail, criticized it as a holiday created by and for retailers to soak us with guilt if we don’t line their pockets by purchasing diamonds and chocolates and roses for our loved ones on Valentine’s Day.  This year, however, I am of a different mindset–feeling all gushy and sappy and romantic—and I have received a priceless gift that came straight from the heart.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I am.  The tune, Dream a Little Dream of Me! (for the lyrics visit Philip’s blog)  Notice that my loved one even dressed in Valentine colors for the occasion.  Awww! Thanks, Philip! xoxo

How to make a Windows 7 Theme Pack

Many will call me trivial, but my initial disappointment with Windows 7 occurred when I discovered that it uses Themes rather than a single desktop wallpaper.  I had just discovered lots of fab new wallpaper via Vladstudio and InterfaceLIFT and was excited to give my favorites each a turn at presenting themselves on my desktop but could not do so because I didn’t understand the Theme Pack workings.  I allowed this annoyance to slip past me for approximately a month until a friend introduced me to The Windows Club, a site loaded with insider info on Windows 7, a site that I will now visit frequently to keep myself in the know.  I don’t like being clueless, and I still have much to learn about Windows 7.  In fact, I can’t even answer the Poll Daddy Poll on The Windows Club site because it does not give the option, “Yes, I have upgraded to Windows 7, but I am still kinda clueless.”

Anyways. . . . A quick search of The Windows Club yielded, voilá, a tutorial for creating one’s own Theme Pack.  Excited as I was with this information, I decided it was only fair to share my success here for the benefit of any out there who may be searching for a solution to the Theme Pack mystery.  Because I found the tutorial slightly confusing (duh, maybe it was just me) I’m going to provide the link to the tutorial here as well as my own interpretation of the instructions.  Using one or the other or a combination of the two, I am confident that you also will be able to create your own .themepack files to use and share.  For those of you out there who are scratching your head and wondering what a Theme Pack is I provide the following definition gleaned from The Windows Club.  A Theme Pack consists of four items: 1) Wallpaper with or without slideshows; 2) Window color; 3) Sounds; and 4) A screensaver (or not).  Don’t ask me how it works, ‘cause I’ve no clue!

How to create a Windows 7 Theme Pack: (my overly simplified version for those who need it)

1. Create a folder in the Pictures Library.  Give it the name that you would like to call your Theme Pack.
2. Add the wallpaper(s) that you would like to be a part of your Theme Pack to the new folder.
3. Right click on the Desktop and choose Personalize:  Desktop > Personalize
4. First, apply the default Windows 7 Theme.  Then select (click on) Desktop Background (located bottom left).
5. At top right of new screen, choose Browse to select the folder which includes your desired wallpapers (make sure all are selected or checked).
6. In the same screen choose from bottom the Picture Position, Timing to Change the pictures, and whether or not you want them to shuffle.  Now choose Save Changes.
7. Next select and edit one at a time the other choices at the bottom of the screen:  Window Color, Sounds, and Screen Saver. (If so desired.)
8. When you are done, click on Save Theme, give the theme a name (easiest if you name it the same as the folder), and voilá, you have your own Theme Pack.
9. If you want to share your Theme Pack with a friend, highlight the theme (left click on it) and then right click on it and choose Save Theme for Sharing. Your friend can easily install this Theme Pack by just double clicking on it.

And that’s it folks.  Pretty easy, huh!  If you wish to follow the directions from The Windows Club, click here.

Free Desktop and Mobile Phone Wallpaper

And so, as my Blog Catalog rating sinks lower and lower, I have to examine myself and my bloggy and ask what I ever did to Blog Catalog.  I’m not a creative genius and my writing style certainly does not rival Stephen King or C. S. Lewis, but for crying out loud, I try to present fun, witty, informative posts in a relatively intelligent manner.  My posts are not advertisements, but rather collections of information about free stuff that I believe my readers might find interesting or reviews of products that have either impressed or depressed me so that others might make more informed choices.  Maybe Blog Catalog thinks my bloggy is too commercial, assumes I am receiving payment for my mixture of encouraging and disparaging commentary.  Let me assure B.C. that if I were receiving payment for any of my ranting and rambling, I would not give a crapola about Blog Catalog’s opinion but would be rolling around in my windfall. 

Ah, but I digress.  My purpose here today is to lead my readers to a couple of really cool sites for the procurement of FREE Wallpaper and Backgrounds, not of the paper kind of course, but the kind we use to dress up our computer desktops, our mobile phones, our blogs and our web pages.  Check ‘em out:

1. Vladstudio – One of my favorite sites to visit and spend time, Vladstudio

   features the artistic creations of graphic artist, Vlad Gerasimov, and offers a wide selection of FREE wallpaper designs in a variety of specialized sizes, including for mobile phones and multiple monitors.  Currently (February 2010) Vlad is featuring his Valentine creations, awww, and being of a romantic mood lately, I have added several of them to my collection.  As if the free wallpapers aren’t enough, Vladstudio also offers Wallpaper Clocks (which work with Chameleon Clock from Softshape, a nifty but pricey little clock program that replaces the Windows tray clock), Online Jigsaw Puzzles as well as Puzzles for the iPhone (you can get 12 for free), adorable free E-Cards (any wallpaper can be sent as an e-card and some even have animation), Free Adobe Photoshop Tutorials, Themes for Blogs (for registered users), and much more.  If you’ve got a minute or an hour or two, visit Vladstudio.  It will be time well spent. 

2. InterfaceLIFT – InterfaceLIFT boasts 2,060 FREE high-resolution widescreen wallpapers by multiple artists–beautiful photographs and artistic interpretations—in a variety of resolutions, including ones for mobile phones, dual monitors, HDTV and for the iPad.  InterfaceLIFT also offers a collection, 1,445 to be exact, of cute FREE desktop icons for your downloading pleasure.  The ads can get a bit overwhelming on this site, but if you are willing to dodge them, it’s worth the effort.

From Vladstudio

Today I was un-friended

Call me ignorant, but I don’t even know how to un-friend somebody in Facebook.  I have never searched for this option because I have never felt the need.  I’m not sure what would cause me to feel the need, but so far nothing has.  Nonetheless, a more Facebook savvy relative of mine knows how to un-friend and she un-friended me today. (Yes, I know that “friended” isn’t a word.)  Apparently and probably (even likely), I got a little steamed up and overstepped my welcome on her page with a full paragraph retort on a political issue she posted and she felt that I was disrespectful to her personally.  Guess what?  I’ve decided she was right.  I meant what I said, no qualms there, but I certainly could have stated my opinion in a softer fashion without attacking her personally on her own page.  I hope you will forgive me, C.  On the other hand, I hope you will respect and understand that I love my country and that I take America bashing very seriously. 

Waving the white flag over here.  Any takers?

The Samsung Smooth; Not lovin’ it, I’m leavin’ it!

Bravo to Verizon Wireless representative, Ms. N., who recognized an opportunity to provide above and beyond customer service to ensure the loyalty and happiness of a long-term customer, me.  For the first time in all my years with Verizon Wireless, this time when I signed a new contract and upgraded our phones we received two complete duds, one which was replaced by another of the same that worked just fine, the Samsung Intensity, and the Samsung Smooth, which two replacements later we have yet to get a “good” one.  At this point, I’m not certain if a “good” Samsung Smooth even exists.  Last night, Ms. N., a very competent and thoughtful customer service rep, solved this problem (even though the solution was outside of Verizon’s normal policy) and made me a happy camper.  For history on this saga read here.

The Samsung Smooth is the phone I chose for my mother when we upgraded.  Before cementing my decision, I read the mixed reviews (ignoring those that seemed overly picky and petty), looked at the technical specs, and compared the phone to other similar phones.  I agonized over the choice more than I did for my own because it was important to me that my mother had a compact, reliable device with good sound and reception.  Unfortunately, I was doomed from the moment I clicked the button to select the Smooth.  Yesterday, after going through two substandard Smooths, I received a third device that had equally crappy sound–blocked out entire words and made people sound like they were stuttering. Ugh, ugh, and triple ugh!

All afternoon, I agonized over the phone call that I would inevitably have to make to Verizon.  My mother, determined with feet planted in cement, insisted that Verizon owed us a working phone.  Her advice:  We should keep returning phones until we finally got one that worked or until Verizon allowed us to select another model.  I agreed, but being the one who, as the owner of the plan, has to make these phone calls, I knotted my gut a little.  I’m not good at being stern and forcing an issue. I usually back down easily and retreat with my tail between my legs.  I don’t enjoy having to raise my voice or make “trouble” and we were just outside of Verizon’s 30-Day Worry-Free Guarantee period so some convincing would be necessary.

Last night, I called mom.  Mom prayed.  I prayed.  I got on the phone and dialed Verizon CS.  Ms. N. answered.  Immediately, I could tell that I was talking to someone who could solve my problem with little to no hassle, and I was right.  Thanks to Ms. N I will be purchasing another Intensity at a reasonable price (the same additional amount I would have had to pay when I originally did the upgrade) and returning the Samsung Smooth and good riddance. 

To anyone who is experiencing a problem with Verizon Wireless, my advice, (for what it’s worth and besides avoiding the Samsung Smooth at all costs), be persistent but not mean and ugly.  Try to find a solution to your dilemma without bending their rules.  Don’t accept the answer of the first rep you talk to if you believe that you have not received a fair solution.  It’s unfortunate, but as with people in every walk of life, some are genuinely interested and want to help and others are just doing their job and following “the rules”.  Sometimes the person you talk to at first may not have the authority to bend the rules.  Politely ask for someone who does.  It has been my experience that most Verizon Wireless Customer Service Reps genuinely want to satisfy the customer.  Thanks Verizon!  Thanks Ms. N!

Free Windows Live Messenger Emoticons: The French do it best

This week, I’m on vacation, spending time resting and relaxing and whiling the time away with a few silly pursuits.  One of these silly, amusing pursuits is seeking out emoticons for Windows Live Messenger (WLM), my instant messaging client of choice.  Call me childish or overly emotive, but with the exception of the great functionality and features of WLM, the wide variety of available emoticons is my favorite part.  If you are gonna communicate you might as well be creative and have fun at it right?  

Ready or not, here they come.  My choices* of best websites that offer Windows Live Messenger emoticons, display pictures, and backgrounds, from first to last in the order of my preference:

 Drum roll please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. The French do WLM emoticons best.  Visit this French MSN site http://www.ilovemessenger.fr/toppacks.aspx  to see and download my favorite of favorites.  You’ll notice a bit of a language challenge if you don’t speak French, but if you’ve downloaded much from the Internet, you’ll be able to muddle your way through the process.  I especially like the Emoticones 3D and the Emoticones Love 3D, but there are at least 16 cute packs to choose from: aliens, animals, baby animals, super heroes, etc.   No signup or sign in required.
2. Another foreign language site (Dutch?) with fun Christmas Emoticons, background and display picture:  http://www.emoticons-livemessenger.com/pages/msnnlkerst/ No signup or sign in required.
3. Kiwee – Windows Live Messenger Emoticons.  You can get to Kiwee through my link or directly from WLM by choosing “more”.  Kiwee’s emoticons, winks, display pictures, and backgrounds download directly into WLM ready to use, and they have material to celebrate just about every holiday, event and emotion you can think of.  This site does require registration and sign in for downloads but I have yet to receive any spam as a result of my registration and you can choose your preferences.
4. MSN Ifadeleri:  No signup or sign in required.  Oodles of adorable emoticons.  The only drawback to the emoticons on this site is that, since they are able to be used for multiple applications, you must save each one individually to your computer and then use WLM’s “create emoticon” feature (Tools> Emoticons> Create) rather than download directly into WLM.
5. Blog Catalog MSN Emoticons:  A wide selection of regular, 3D, and animated emoticons in all shapes and sizes.  No signup or sign in required but these also must be saved and created as emoticons individually.  Blog Catalog site provides instructions when you click on the emoticon you wish to have.
6. Windows Live Freebies:  Emoticons, winks, backgrounds and music for WLM.  Some cute, some not so cute (in my opinion). 

There are, of course, many sites on the Internet that offer emoticons.  Just make sure you have firewall and anti-virus programs installed and that you check out the websites and the download content carefully.  I tend to stay away from sites that bring up lots of popup windows and try to get you to install various toolbars and/or change your home page.  Have fun!

*with credit given to my pod mate who helped me locate these sites