When I created this blog, I had visions of faithfully blogging every day or, at the very least, fill it with pages and pages of witty writing, pithy poetry and any other such mindful musings to captivate readers around the world.
But as you can see from the last entry dated 15 months ago--that is 1 year & 3 months ago--that vision plummeted with my energy level. Mind you, I did not abandon this brilliant blog as some blog enthusiasts end up doing. They go nuts getting it all setup and start out with a some engaging entries, only let it fall by the wayside along with other unfinished hobbies/projects. Or even worse, they just out right heartlessly abandon it without so much as a good-bye or at least, "so long and thanks for all the fish", leaving us to wonder: is that it?! aren't they ever coming back??
No I had and still have every intention of getting back to this baby and have lists and lists of the aforementioned witty writing, etc., and do dream about it whilst I'm napping (again) or going to bed early (again) or sitting here in front of my good old still-running-on-XP SP3-without-any-problems-whatsoever computer staring at the screensaver with mush-mind (aka "brain fog" as some CFSers refer to it) wondering why I'm not taking a nap.
Unfortunately, I can only stop by a short while to say hello, I'm still here, still want to write, I maybe down, but not defeated and really, really praying I'll be back soon...
(No buckets, captivated readers or my good old XP PC were not harmed during the production of this post.)
Friday, September 12, 2014
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Power of Prayer & My PC
My PC is my life—it represents all my writing and my being able to get out in the world electronically when I can’t physically (because I’m too fatigued or whatever). You could say it’s as critical as paints and brushes are to painter or a favorite reel is to a fisherman. And when it goes down...
Okay, it’s not the end of the world and life goes on and I would cope, but it wouldn’t be pretty. It would be just a minor little heart wrenching, gut clenching, headache exploding, nooooooooo-not-now-not-today-I-need-to-write-please-please-please-start mini melt down kind of thing.
And what would cause such a disaster? How about repeatedly flipping the power on and off because a good friend was replacing all the smoke detectors and we wouldn’t want him to get electrocuted? And did it even occur to me that the same circuit that controls the lights and the detector in my creative cave also powers my Precious Baby? And that it would be a good idea to power off and just leave it off said Precious Baby while all of this electrical work was being done? Heck no! I totally, completely spaced it out and forgot.
So when I sat down at my desk this morning and saw that Precious was stone cold and quiet with none of the comforting, all-is-right-with-the-world, whirring of fans and hard drive and that the little beacon of hope, aka the power indicator, was not on, it was like, oh yeah, we were turning the power off yesterday. No problemo, we’ll just hit the power button and... Ummm, okay, we’ll just make sure the heavy duty surge protector is on and reseat all the cables (just to make sure), hit the power button and... nothing.
I opened the damn thing up, vacuumed it out (even though it really wasn’t that dusty), made sure the stupid lithium battery was okay, put the side back on, hit the ol’ power button and... well, it wasn’t pretty (see second paragraph). After Precious’s life flashed before my eyes and I saw the long trail of tears to my having to go out and buy a new PC, get use to the new operating system and load in all my gazillion backups of all my writing, which would take all day, I did what any God-fearing Christian would do. I fell to my knees and cried out to God.
All right, I’ve made light of all this with all my (hopefully) pithy prose about Precious, but the truth of the matter is, I did pray. I said: Lord I am not worthy, but you know my heart, you know how important my PC is and how I’m too tired and too broke to have to go out and buy a new one. What else am I going to do? Only You can give me a miracle and thank You very much if You do.
As soon as finished with “amen”, my PC came on. I am not kidding, I am serious.
I don’t know why some prayers are answered the way we ask and some are not. But I do know that regardless of the outcome, prayer is never a waste of the heart and are always heard. If I’ve done all I can—which turned out to be not much—isn’t it better to take it to the Top any way?
So here I am with my precious PC, writing and on the net. All is right with the world for now—at least my world, that is. The only thing left to do is thank the Lord and tell somebody because miracles are always better when they are shared.
*originally posted 12/20/11 & was recently accidentlly deleted, so I'm reposting it. And one of these days, I'll finally get to write something new...
(No comforting whirring fans, surge protectors or favorite fishing reels were harmed during the production of this post.)
Okay, it’s not the end of the world and life goes on and I would cope, but it wouldn’t be pretty. It would be just a minor little heart wrenching, gut clenching, headache exploding, nooooooooo-not-now-not-today-I-need-to-write-please-please-please-start mini melt down kind of thing.
And what would cause such a disaster? How about repeatedly flipping the power on and off because a good friend was replacing all the smoke detectors and we wouldn’t want him to get electrocuted? And did it even occur to me that the same circuit that controls the lights and the detector in my creative cave also powers my Precious Baby? And that it would be a good idea to power off and just leave it off said Precious Baby while all of this electrical work was being done? Heck no! I totally, completely spaced it out and forgot.
So when I sat down at my desk this morning and saw that Precious was stone cold and quiet with none of the comforting, all-is-right-with-the-world, whirring of fans and hard drive and that the little beacon of hope, aka the power indicator, was not on, it was like, oh yeah, we were turning the power off yesterday. No problemo, we’ll just hit the power button and... Ummm, okay, we’ll just make sure the heavy duty surge protector is on and reseat all the cables (just to make sure), hit the power button and... nothing.
I opened the damn thing up, vacuumed it out (even though it really wasn’t that dusty), made sure the stupid lithium battery was okay, put the side back on, hit the ol’ power button and... well, it wasn’t pretty (see second paragraph). After Precious’s life flashed before my eyes and I saw the long trail of tears to my having to go out and buy a new PC, get use to the new operating system and load in all my gazillion backups of all my writing, which would take all day, I did what any God-fearing Christian would do. I fell to my knees and cried out to God.
All right, I’ve made light of all this with all my (hopefully) pithy prose about Precious, but the truth of the matter is, I did pray. I said: Lord I am not worthy, but you know my heart, you know how important my PC is and how I’m too tired and too broke to have to go out and buy a new one. What else am I going to do? Only You can give me a miracle and thank You very much if You do.
As soon as finished with “amen”, my PC came on. I am not kidding, I am serious.
I don’t know why some prayers are answered the way we ask and some are not. But I do know that regardless of the outcome, prayer is never a waste of the heart and are always heard. If I’ve done all I can—which turned out to be not much—isn’t it better to take it to the Top any way?
So here I am with my precious PC, writing and on the net. All is right with the world for now—at least my world, that is. The only thing left to do is thank the Lord and tell somebody because miracles are always better when they are shared.
*originally posted 12/20/11 & was recently accidentlly deleted, so I'm reposting it. And one of these days, I'll finally get to write something new...
(No comforting whirring fans, surge protectors or favorite fishing reels were harmed during the production of this post.)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Rick's annual pumpkin carving...
As you can see, we're not talking a triangle-eyed, crooked smile jackolantern. This is truly a work of art by a skilled craftsman.
Rick is a friend at work and I hope to post a picture every year.
~~~
(No carving knives, candles in the pumpkin or Rick were harmed during the production of this post.)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
How to do the Paypal User Login
Okay, so someone has got you all setup to be a user in their paypal account and gave you a user name and password. You go to the paypal login page and... uh, yeah, now what?, because it says “Account Login Email Address”. And there is no other login page whatsoever. After spending several hours trying to find the answer, I figured it out and thought I would share it here to save someone else the time and frustration (aka mini melt down) I went through.
“What about paypal’s help?”, you ask. Yeah, right. It was very helpful in telling me how to setup a user on an account, but didn’t have a thing on how the user is suppose to login in with their user name. And as I said, after several hours of googling forum’s, I found that no one else really knew as well—at least not in what I was searching.
Anyway, without further ado here’s the trick: Even though it says “Email Address” that’s where you type in your user name and ta-da! You’re in. Yes, folks, it is the same login page, but you’re not entering in an email address.
Hope this helps you as I love being able to share info that saves someone time and one less mini melt down is always a good thing.
~~~
(No user names, the Google search engine or paypal’s not-so-helpful help were harmed during the production of this blog.)
PS: I do believe I didn't mention why I was dealing with a paypal user account in the first place. It's because I've joined the fun filled world of e-commerce! I've opened up a new web store, Video Projection FX and you're under no obligation to buy if you just want to look.
“What about paypal’s help?”, you ask. Yeah, right. It was very helpful in telling me how to setup a user on an account, but didn’t have a thing on how the user is suppose to login in with their user name. And as I said, after several hours of googling forum’s, I found that no one else really knew as well—at least not in what I was searching.
Anyway, without further ado here’s the trick: Even though it says “Email Address” that’s where you type in your user name and ta-da! You’re in. Yes, folks, it is the same login page, but you’re not entering in an email address.
Hope this helps you as I love being able to share info that saves someone time and one less mini melt down is always a good thing.
~~~
(No user names, the Google search engine or paypal’s not-so-helpful help were harmed during the production of this blog.)
PS: I do believe I didn't mention why I was dealing with a paypal user account in the first place. It's because I've joined the fun filled world of e-commerce! I've opened up a new web store, Video Projection FX and you're under no obligation to buy if you just want to look.
Monday, August 15, 2011
He made it!! History was made!
Wow, it took 70 days to do the entire length of the Mississippi--on a paddle board! Of course the map is down, but the website is staying up (www.alexlinnell.com) and if you haven't already, you should go back and read some of the blogs of all the little adventures within the big adventure.
Congratulations, Alex Linnell! It is truly an amazing achievement!
~~~
(No paddle boards, Alex or the Mississippi were harmed during the production of this blog.)
Congratulations, Alex Linnell! It is truly an amazing achievement!
~~~
(No paddle boards, Alex or the Mississippi were harmed during the production of this blog.)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
History in the making!!!
This is huge!!! Alex Linnell is going to be the first person to paddle board the entire Mississippi!! And how am I connected to this awesome event? His mother, Jean, is my friend at work, so I'm living it all through her. Are you kidding, it's a huge undertaking!!! The Red Cross is involved as major supporter because they are using it a fund raiser for the flood victims.
But what I think is really cajun is the GPS tracking system they're using on his website. It's from findmespot.com and he's got this little gizmo with 2 buttons. When he presses the green button, this dot appears on the map of his exact location from the satellite relay, so you can track his progress all the way down. I guess it's called a "check in". The other one is the red "panic button". Pressing that one will immediately dispatch the nearest search & rescue team to his aid--much to the relief of his family and friends.
This is the link to the map: Where is Alex now?
And this is the main website: www.alexlinnell.com
He left June 1st and they estimate it will take 2-3 months. It's huge! Ah yes, to be young and adventurous...
~~~
(No panic buttons, GPS trackers, or the Red Cross were harmed during the production of the post. Alex referenced with permission, of course.)
But what I think is really cajun is the GPS tracking system they're using on his website. It's from findmespot.com and he's got this little gizmo with 2 buttons. When he presses the green button, this dot appears on the map of his exact location from the satellite relay, so you can track his progress all the way down. I guess it's called a "check in". The other one is the red "panic button". Pressing that one will immediately dispatch the nearest search & rescue team to his aid--much to the relief of his family and friends.
This is the link to the map: Where is Alex now?
And this is the main website: www.alexlinnell.com
He left June 1st and they estimate it will take 2-3 months. It's huge! Ah yes, to be young and adventurous...
~~~
(No panic buttons, GPS trackers, or the Red Cross were harmed during the production of the post. Alex referenced with permission, of course.)
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Minnesota Health and Human Services Omnibus
I don't normally get involved in politics, but this is important enough to get some action going with awareness. Here are the proposed health care system changes and implications for psychology:
*Instead of MinnesotaCare, the working poor would be given vouchers to buy individual policies in the private market, thereby skirting parity requirements. Such plans would not need to include mental health benefits, however, mental health providers would continue to pay the provider tax to fund the vouchers.
*The individual plans available for purchase would carny high deductibles ($3000-7000) and high co-pays--putting psychotherapy out of reach for most recipients.
*For the poorest Minnesotans, single adults making less than 75% of the poverty guidelines, the MA option would be taken away along with federal support for the program. Instead, there would be a return to the CCDS programs where a certain hospital provided all the care and no outside providers would be allowed.
So what can we do about it? We can write Governor Mark Dayton, mark.dayton@state.mn.us, and DHS Commissioner Lucinda Jesson, Lucinda.Jesson@state.mn.us.
And to make it easy, I just happen to have a letter you can insert your name into and cut/paste into an email:
Greetings,
My name is _____ and I am contacting you regarding the Health and Human Services Omnibus bill. I am concerned with the impact its current form will have on access to mental health services.
The proposed changes to MA and minnesotacare would effectively keep low income Minnesotans from receiving any mental health care. Health and mental health are inextricably linked and when mental health problems are not addressed, increased costs such as emergency room visits to treat depression, are the result.
Please reconsider this bill and find other ways to reform health care that won't decimate mental health or discriminate against lower income people.
Best regards,
(name)
(email)
---
Hopefully, I will have some good news to report later regarding this stupid-who's-brilliant-idea-was-this bill (oops, did I say that out loud?)
~~~
(No politicians were harmed during the production of the post, at least not yet...)
*Instead of MinnesotaCare, the working poor would be given vouchers to buy individual policies in the private market, thereby skirting parity requirements. Such plans would not need to include mental health benefits, however, mental health providers would continue to pay the provider tax to fund the vouchers.
*The individual plans available for purchase would carny high deductibles ($3000-7000) and high co-pays--putting psychotherapy out of reach for most recipients.
*For the poorest Minnesotans, single adults making less than 75% of the poverty guidelines, the MA option would be taken away along with federal support for the program. Instead, there would be a return to the CCDS programs where a certain hospital provided all the care and no outside providers would be allowed.
So what can we do about it? We can write Governor Mark Dayton, mark.dayton@state.mn.us, and DHS Commissioner Lucinda Jesson, Lucinda.Jesson@state.mn.us.
And to make it easy, I just happen to have a letter you can insert your name into and cut/paste into an email:
Greetings,
My name is _____ and I am contacting you regarding the Health and Human Services Omnibus bill. I am concerned with the impact its current form will have on access to mental health services.
The proposed changes to MA and minnesotacare would effectively keep low income Minnesotans from receiving any mental health care. Health and mental health are inextricably linked and when mental health problems are not addressed, increased costs such as emergency room visits to treat depression, are the result.
Please reconsider this bill and find other ways to reform health care that won't decimate mental health or discriminate against lower income people.
Best regards,
(name)
(email)
---
Hopefully, I will have some good news to report later regarding this stupid-who's-brilliant-idea-was-this bill (oops, did I say that out loud?)
~~~
(No politicians were harmed during the production of the post, at least not yet...)
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