Mother's Day

Moms are amazing people. We all have 'em....whether we live with them throughout our lives or not. They influence us deeply, often in ways of which we are unaware. My own mother is no longer here. She left us on New Year's Day after a very short illness. Many would say that she lived a long life. Perhaps, but it wasn't long enough. But her influence lives on. I reflect on what she gave me. The short answer is.... me. What I am, what I pass on to my own descendants, what I give to those around me, is because of who she was and what she gave to me. No card, no gift, no bouquet can begin to thank her for that. I hope that I was able in some small way to show her how much I loved her by caring for her in her declining years as she cared for me in my formative ones.

The emptiness in my heart that she left when she passed away still aches for her presence. I miss her deeply. Even though I wouldn't have her back as she was, in frail health and failing body, I miss her spirit, humor and unique point of view.

Take a moment today or tomorrow and give Mom a call....let her know that you're thinking about her......

The Nuclear Option

Well....I finally did it. I nuked my HD and started over again. 500 GB of starting over again. I have been using Carbonite as an offsite backup system, and I have discovered some....interesting...glitches, shall we call them? It seems to have a mind of its own when reinstalling on a clean machine. After two or three exchange with tech support, I now have Carbonite reinstalled on my pristine drive. But now I am having issues with the restore. I have approximately 89 GB of data backed up in Carbonite's secure facility. How nice. It's safe from fire, flood, hackers and war. Great. Now, how the deuce do I get it back where it belongs....on MY HD?? We're still working on that. What I think I know is that my data is safe out there....somewhere. What I DO know is that it is also safe here....on piles and piles of DVD's. Organized? Surely you jest. But at least I know where it is....generally. But another fairy tale may join Santa and the Easter Bunny if I can't get my back ups to load.....how about it, Carbonite? Ya gonna pay off on that $1M guarantee against data loss? Is it lost if I know where it is but can't get to it?

Fred Langa: What comes next?: "It's a piece of crap"

Man, am I ever happy to see that Fred Langa hasn't completely hung up his computer hat! He published this in his blog this morning...and it's worth the read, especially if, like I am, you are concerned about computer security.

Fred Langa: What comes next?: "It's a piece of crap"

Back to the drawing board...

Well, all the activities are over for National Scrapbook Day....for this year, that is. My brain is broke, my butt is tired, my fingers are fatigued. I think I set a new personal record for consistent online activity.....17+ hours. Doesn't seem like such a big deal unless you realize that I'm not a 20-something (or a teen-something) messaging/gaming/myspacer. I'm just a run-of-the-mill grandma. No I'm not! I'm a busy, photoshop-teaching using fanatic.

But now I have time to go back to writing tutorials, playing in Photoshop and doing local tech calls for PC's. I think I need the breather...as do all of us on the team. When you work together to make a world-wide event happen in real time, things get crazy. It was worth it, though. We've had great feedback from all over...all over the US, as well as the UK and Australia. In Disney's words....it's a small world after all.....

The computing world's loss

There are few names in the computing world that matter to me...but one is Fred Langa. Fred's been around for 30 years and writing the Langalist, Information Week, Windows Secrets, WinMag, and others. He has tackled all subjects - soup to nuts...everything computers. I, along with others, probably learned more from Fred than from any other single source out there. Well, Fred announced the other day that he has come to the end of this phase of his career. He's pulling the plug and moving on to a different enterprise, though what that may be at this point is not clear. After 30 years of being on top of a rapidly changing chimera-like industry, Fred is about to move from being the expert, go-to guy to being one of us....a consumer, a reader, albeit a far better-informed one than the run of the mill user-on-the-street.

Fred, my friend, you will be sorely missed. Though you are and have been one of the "Names" in the industry, you were never so big that you couldn't personally reply to what must have been hundreds of emails a day. You answered questions that were probably elementary to the point of being ridiculous and repetitive with humor and grace; the really meaty stuff was dealt with succinctly and in a manner that was easily understood by everyone in your readership....not just the geeks. I respect your opinion on matters of security, software, and general computing. Your final thoughts about 30 years in the industry are gems that should be posted in every IT office. Heck....they oughta be posted. Period. Good life rules. Thanks for a great run, Fred... and if you decide to go back to technical writing, let me know....I'm here waiting.

Things are really getting crazy....

I have been slaving over a hot computer keyboard for what seems like days. (Come to think of it....it HAS been days!) What with National Scrapbook Day only days away (May 3) things have gone into high gear behind the scenes at the Cottage. We have more stuff planned than you can shake a stick at. At last count, there were two challenges running, two all-day prize give aways on Saturday, and a Power Scrap to be held at 8pm EDT on Saturday evening. There will also be three Fast and Fun chats through the day on Saturday....at 9am, 3pm, and 6pm EDT. They will be held in the chat room, of course....prizes given away during all the chats and a major prize giveaway during the Power Scrap. Come to the Power Scrap ready to make a layout. Bring your photos....you can get the rest at the Cottage....either bought kits or freebies. Boy, are we gonna have fun!