Keep Apple Music Curated Playlists Playing and Updated

So. I have been enduring this Apple Music problem. 

I most frequently listen to Apple Music's curated playlist 'A-List Pop.' Their playlists are updated weekly, so I'm always listening what's new in pop music. I went to the playlist on Apple Music and hit Play. I assumed that it would just play on (unless I listened to something else, of course), automatically updating every Friday when the list was updated. If the list had been updated since the last time I listened, I figured it would finish out the current song, then just play the first song of the updated playlist. 

But no.

If a curated list has been updated since the last time you listened, your device finishes the current song from the old version of the playlist, then ditches the playlist and starts playing random music from your Library. 

I have finally found and configured a valid fix, and it is workinggggg! Here it is:

If you mostly listen to one Apple Music curated playlist, don't play the playlist IN Apple Music. Download their playlist to your Library (just press the download button at the top of the list, or the "..." then "Download"). Then play the playlist from within your Library. It will auto-update every Friday from Apple Music to your Library, and work flawlessly, finishing the current song and moving on to the first song of the updated playlist if it has been updated since the last time you listened.

Ta. Da!

Read more...

Despacito Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da Despacito

So smileys in work emails make you look incompetent and female? What?! I only use smileys in work emails with my true work friends, with whom I socialize, not for most people. I do tend to use a lot of exclamation points and very positive language to make sure people know I'm using a pleasant tone in work emails. Sometimes, I go through and remove some of the exclamation points, because it reads like I'm hopped up on caffeine.

Luis Fonsi was on GMA this morning performing "Despacito." LOVE that song. It's the song of the summer. During the interview afterwards, he said that writing it just came to him like, "Des-pa-cito, da-da-da-da-da-da, despacito, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, Puerto Rico..."

...which is the way most Americans sing it! Ahahaa. Right?!


The Grown Up Survey

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
Cable/satellite TV. It's too expensive for what it is.

2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
Trulucks. We had swordfish, which was pretty good. Still no match for the old City Grill on 4th St. :(

3. What do you really want to be?
A songwriter.

4. How many colleges did you attend?
Two- Texas A&M College Station (undergrad and graduate school) and San Jacinto College (summer classes) in Houston.

5. Why did you choose the shirt you have on?
It's pretty and comfortable and it goes with the capris I'm wearing.

6. Thoughts on gas prices?
They are what they are. I rarely know how much gas currently costs. I have to buy it when I need it, so it doesn't really matter.

7. First thought when the alarm goes off in the morning?
I don't use an alarm. My first thought when I wake up is, Has the sun risen yet? If yes, YAY! If no, I have to try and go back to sleep, which I usually can't.

8. Last thought you have before you go to bed?
I'm usually incredibly tired at bedtime, so I'm just thankful it's time to sleep!

9. Do you miss being a kid?
Not really. I would love to have limited responsibilities, but being an adult gives you the freedom to decide what you want to do.

10. What errand/chore do you despise the most?
ironing

11. Up early or sleep in?
Up early.

12. Found love?
Yes. I've been married 27 years to my college sweetheart.

13. Favorite lunch meat?
Smoked ham.

14. What do you get at Walmart every time?
Bandaids. They have great prices on them.

15. Beach or lake?
Definitely beach.

16. Is marriage outdated? 

No. It's great to have a life partner!

17. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?
Alton Brown. He could give me cooking tips!

18. Ever crashed your vehicle?
No. A deer crashed into me when I was in college, but that's it.

20. Strangest place you’ve brushed your teeth?
Hmm. I don't think I've brushed my teeth anywhere but a bathroom.

21. Somewhere you’ve never been but want to go?

Italy

22. At this point in your life would you want to start a new career or relationship?
I might be convinced to start a new career at some point, but no thanks to the new relationship.

23. How old are you?
50

24. Do you have a go to person?
Other than Jeff, it depends on the situation. I am lucky to have a few.

25. Are you where you want to be in life?
Thankfully, I love my work situation, and that I am able to be at home, and that we have the means to do most of the things we want to do.

26. Growing up what were your favorite cartoons?
Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner

27. What about you do you think has changed since you were a young kid? 

Not a lot!

 
28. Looking back at high school were they the best years of your life?
They were not "the" best, but definitely some of the best!

29. Are there times you still feel like a kid?
When I am with my childhood friends, and we're laughing together.

30. Did you have a pager?

Nope.

31. Was there a hangout spot when you were a teenager?
Baybrook Mall in Houston, particularly the record store or the food court. Fast Times teen dance club in Pasadena.

32. Were you the type of kid you’d want your children to hang out with?
Yep. I was a good kid, a rules follower. I got into a little trouble here and there, but nothing life-altering.

33. Was there a teacher or authority figure that stood out to you?
Mrs. Lofland, my high school Biology teacher. I was one of her aides my senior year. She was awesome!

34. Do you tell stories that start with when I was your age?
Not often. You're welcome, Lauren.

35. Are you religious?
I'm a Christian, but not church-going or heavily into practicing religion. I was raised Catholic and confirmed in the Church. We went to church every Sunday while I was growing up, but we stopped going when we moved when I was in 8th grade. I went to a protestant church in college for a hot minute, but haven't ever been regularly as an adult. I find most churches to be laden with politics and drama and a few too many bad examples of supposedly "religious" folks. 

Read more...

Organizing Photos

I spent a few hours today organizing photos and videos on the Mac. I was going to use an app of some sort to manage them, but I think for now I'll stick with organizing them in folders. If anyone has a photo managing app or other method for Mac that they like, please let me know!

It's fun to look at everything, since I haven't in such a long time. My favorite video so far is one of Gavin DeGraw at Parish. We were really close to the stage (well, everyone is pretty close there), and it felt like a casual night out, just having a Shiner at a local place with a local band, only it was Gavin DeFreakinGraw. (New album Sep. 9. Yay!!!)

Friday 5

1. How long would it take you, via the quickest means available, to get to the place of your birth from where you are right now?

about 13 hours, Austin to Heidelberg, including airport, flight and driving time, using Condor Airlines brand new nonstop flight

2. If a traveling food show were to visit your neighborhood, what are some unique, regional foods it would spotlight, and where would it go to get them?

They would go to Salt Lick for barbecue, Torchy's for unique tacos and the best queso on earth, Baby Acapulco for the best tortilla soup and Amy's for amazing ice cream.

3. When were you last in ocean waters?

Jeff and I were in Galveston sometime in the last year or so. I'm pretty sure I got my feet wet on that trip.

4. What disposable item do you almost never use because you greatly prefer the non-disposable version?

I wouldn't say I "almost never use them," but I try to use dish towels/cloths rather than paper towels in the kitchen.

5. What’s the schwag* that’s physically closest to you right now?

a Home Depot pencil

* From Wikipedia: Promotional merchandise, promotional items, promotional products, promotional gifts, or advertising gifts, sometimes nicknamed swag or schwag, are articles of merchandise (often branded with a logo) used in marketing and communication programs. They are given away to promote a company, corporate image, brand, or event. These items are usually imprinted with a company’s name, logo or slogan, and given away at trade shows, conferences, and as part of guerrilla marketing campaigns.

Read more...

RIP PC

I mentioned that I would be using our last surviving desktop PC for work and my website until it died, hopefully in about a year. Well, when Jeff moved it to make room for the iMac, the PC CROAKED, right there on the spot.

So we have a Windows emulator dealie on the iMac now. It seems to be working for logging into work and also for Dreamweaver. I can't seem to register my Dreamweaver software, which has me concerned that I may have to reinstall it once a month, but I'm hoping the problem was just an Adobe connection issue instead.

Next I'll be installing iTunes and authorizing/deauthorizing computers, which is one of the most nonintuitive and scary Apple processes, especially if you weren't able to deauthorize your old device before it went belly up. I always feel like I'm about to lose all access to my music or permanently lock myself out of my phone or something.


Sunday Stealing: The Controversial Meme

1. Would you try a recreational drug if all were legalized?

I think marijuana is safe as long as you don't smoke it, and you don't use it all the time. I don't think I would partake in any others.

2. Are you happy that the U.S. Supreme Court once again upheld a woman’s right to abortion?

Yes

3. Would our country cope any differently with a woman president?

It would be no different.

4. Do you believe in the death penalty?

Yes

5. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?

Yes

6. Do you believe in God?

Yes

7. How do you feel now that same-sex marriage is legalized?

It should have been legal a long time ago.

8. Do you think it’s wrong that so many Hispanics are moving to the USA?

It is wrong for anyone, regardless of ethnicity, to illegally live in the USA or any other country. All immigrants must follow the legal process to live in another country, including Americans moving elsewhere. I don't have a problem with anyone who lives here legally and follows our laws.

9. A 12-year-old girl has a baby… should she keep it?

If she has family support, she may be able to keep it and provide a good life for the child. If not, I would hope she would make the decision to give the baby up for adoption.

10. Should the alcohol age be lowered to 18?

Yes, but raise the driving age to 21. I can say that, now that I'm no longer a band mom who did a happy dance when Lauren got her driver's license. :)

11. Should the wars in the Middle East be called off?

It would be great if all wars everywhere were called off. 

Maybe this is really asking about US involvement. One one hand, we aren't the world police. On the other, as citizens of the world, we can't ignore genocide or any activities that directly threaten US security. It's a hard question and has to be evaluated case-by-case and re-evaluated over time.

12. Do you believe in spanking your children?

No. There are far more effective ways to parent.

13. A mother is declared innocent after murdering her 5 children in a temporary insanity case… what do you think?

She's obviously insane, but there has to be a punishment. Mandatory time in a psychiatric facility. Required medications/therapy and frequent assessments by a mental health professional for the rest of her life.

14. Would you want to prosecute someone for burning their country’s flag as a method of protest?

No jail time. You should simply lose your citizenship if you burn your own country's flag. If you feel the need to burn something to protest an issue, the smart choice would be to burn something specific to your issue. If you hate your country, go somewhere else, follow their immigration laws and live there.

15. It’s between you and a person who is being kept alive (with NO hope) by life support machines… one has to die? Who?

Between me, conscious and living, and a person unconscious on life support, with no chance of recovery? The person on life support has to die. That's an obvious choice, no?

16. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

Nah

Read more...

Random Wednesday

It's incredibly strange to see a friend become Facebook friends with the ADULT CHILD of one of your high school pals. I just can't believe my high school buddies have adult children. The whole thing is just superweird.

Speaking of adult children, my baby turns twenty this weekend, so, there's that.

And speaking of disturbing things (segueing--- it's an art)... Is anyone else completely creeped out that there is a student/school-nurse relationship happening on Glee? That's how you know you've run out of plot lines. You pitch the idea that a student gets it on with the nurse. During school. And your colleagues go, "YES! Let's run with that." Set it to happy, cheesy music and no one will notice the inappropriateness. Ack.

Speaking of boyfriends... Cathy has a new boyfriend. Billy! (♪ Weeee waaaant Biiiilly. Wheeeere iiiiiiis Biiiiilly? B-I-double L-Y, we're aaaaaall hiiiiiiis...) Billy lives here in Austin, so she'll be here more often. How awesome is that? We're going to do the double date thing next time she's up. She was here last weekend and he had to work on Saturday, so she ended up going to the game with me. It worked out perfectly! Maybe she'll finally move here. We'll see if Billy makes it past Cathy's three-week relationship limit. (Ahahaa. J/K, CJ!)

Speaking of... um... quantum leaps... Most of the girls from work feel guilty about things like getting manicures on their WFH days. I go grocery shopping on my WFH days and I don't feel guilty one bit. I do feel guilty writing in my blog at the moment. But I can't access the work computer right now, so what am I supposed to do? :)

During my teleconference this morning with Matthew at our England vendor, he told me that they are in the middle of their company's annual "American Thanksgiving Bake-Off." He has entered a Coca-Cola Pecan Pie. If he wins the department, he advances to the company-wide competition. Winners from the company-wide contest are able to enter the Christmas Bake-Off in December. Superfun!!

Meanwhile, back at my company, a data management girls' trip is in discussion. I was thinking Vegas. Crystal was thinking New Zealand. Seriously. (I guess if I were 29 and single, I'd say New Zealand, too. But mama needs a new kitchen, so not this year.)

Alright... going to try my work connection again...

Read more...

Blogging to You Live from MacBook

Howdy!

This is my first blog post from my MacBook Air. Does it seem COOLER??!

At the moment, to me, it actually feels sort of backwards and confusing, but I'll get used to it.

Well, the magic has faded already for Stephanie and her old beau. Sad day! My hopeless romantic heart can barely stand it! He's too "clingy." She doesn't like that he's talking about moving to Texas.  They're still going to meet, but she's trying to get him to meet her somewhere in between them, rather than him coming to Austin. Meh.

(...America's Got Talent is on TV in the background right now. I don't ever watch this show.
Me: I don't know that lady.
Jeff: That's Heidi Klum...
Me: I know Heidi Klum. The other one.
Jeff: She's a Spice Girl. What are the Spice Girls' names?
Me: Paprika...
Jeff: Geri Halliwell. But not her. Another one.
Jeff totally knows the Spice Girls more than I ever did. Good on ya', J!)

Anyhoo... OH! Laura and Rich are moving! They're moving to the country, although she calls it sub suburbia. It's very cool and I couldn't be happier for them. It's probably the same distance from me as now, which is the most important factor. HEE! Congrats y'all!

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

Read more...

Annoying Software Updates

I feel like I'm constantly badgered into updating software lately. I get it from my PC, my netbook and my iPhone. Between this and having items plugged in all over the house recharging all the time, technology is beginning to give me a tic.

Every day it's something. On my phone, it's usually apps I don't even use that are pushing notifications they need to be updated. If it's Facebook or WWF, great! If it's Flixter, eh. I've started deleting apps I rarely use, even though it would be nice to have them, because they are too frequently buzzing me to update.

On my PC, it's iTunes, Windows, Java and Adobe Reader, followed by other individually less frequent, but collectively annoying software. Holy bajeebus, can't these programs go even a month without popping up on my taskbar to be updated?

I want to tell these programs to auto-update in the middle of the night or something, but my only option is whether or not to check for updates automatically. Turn that off, and you're having to remember to manually check every program website for updates.

I'd also like to tell them no, when they ask to update, to leave the updates for the next time. Windows lets you do that, although it lays on a huge guilt trip about being irresponsible by not keeping your computer safe from viruses and other malicious attacks, and insinuates you probably weren't held enough as a baby.

iTunes for PC likes to give you an option to not update, but then nag you every 24 hours until you do. Actually iTunes itself has a "don't ask me again" button, but the dang iCloud and QuickTime updates are relentless! And sans said button.

I never did figure out how to get my phone to stop bugging me about updating to iOS 6, so I finally just updated it. I'm convinced that was the point all along. While we're talking about iPhone, I also don't like to have to log in every single time I download an update. Let me turn that off and just download when I say so.

In the end, the real problem is the frequency of software updates. Do Microsoft engineers need to sit around all day, every day, fixing tiny Windows bugs and shooting out the fixes, which always require a reboot (gah), every 2-14 days? Really? Whatever happened to patches and updates that came out every six months to two years? If you were having problems or heard about some improvement, you hunted that patch down and downloaded it and installed it. And you were happy about it.

Shout out to Firefox on getting it right. Firefox allows you to choose to update automatically, as all things should. Thank you Firefox, for working as software should work. You are setting an example for the world.

If programs won't let us give them permission to just update at will, then I wish to be able to set a time, like every 6 months, where the computer checks all my programs for necessary updates. Maybe I'm missing some functionality for several weeks, but that is alright with me. If there is some serious security fix- and I mean SERIOUS- I'm looking at you, Windows updater- then it can let me know immediately. Otherwise, I'll catch it all one day when I get the massive notifications for all my software at one time.

Also, stop installing shortcuts on my desktop, updaters. I will never need to be a double-click away from Quicktime every moment of my day.

And that final message you get from most of these installers, right after you update--

"Checking for updates..."

What the...??! Don't even think about telling me there are updates to the updates.

Read more...

USA USA USA

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!! Way to play, USA!!!!!! What a great women's soccer match against Japan. The respect between the players of both teams was very obvious. Japan played so well. It was really fun to watch.

I took a break from Olympics viewing last night, as I'm not a huge fan of the track and field events. It was funny to see Chef Symon's FB status: "is without a trace good?...need a olympics break." Glad to know I wasn't the only one.

Lauren bought a few photo collage frames for her room at school. She and I spent a few hours scanning and printing photos, old ones from albums and newer ones from digital copies. So fun!

I haven't printed many photos from my Canon iP4700 printer in the past, but I am now aware that it doesn't print accurate colors. Grr! Many people report a magenta cast. These have an orange cast. And nothing I do in Paint Shop Pro or in my printer settings helps. The contrast is way off as well.

It reminded me of the time I spent hours blindly correcting colors for a magazine ad I did for the Foundation. That was a whole lesson in color science I wish I never needed. The ad was perfect in the end, at a cost of tons of time and frustration for me. We started hiring out our print items after that. Our new graphics designer told me I need a Mac to do that stuff. Via certain publishing programs, the Mac can display CMYK colors on the screen, which is RGB... Oy, now I'm going all "Bill Nye," and dragging you all along with me. Let's Friday Five instead!


Friday Five: Movie Questions

This week, please answer these questions that are also titles of films I’ve seen. Some of them may not make any sense, but do the best you can!

1. Shall We Dance?
Yes, please! Anytime.

2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
My brother lives in Gummersbach, Germany, near Cologne. And now I've got Clooney on the brain. Thanksalot.

3. What’s Up, Doc?
Not much. I can't work on the website today because the CMS is being updated. Lauren and I have about nine more photos to find and print. It's like a treasure hunt... "Remember this one where you're wearing this and so-and-so is in the background?... Yes! Which album is that in... It's around 1998..." We'll probably go out to lunch. I may get a haircut. I would love to take my hair just above my shoulders, and let it be curly, but I've done that in the past with dreadful results, so... probably not.

4. What’s Your Number?
3. There are a lot of wonderful threes in my life, so I consider it to be my favorite number, lucky number, etc.

5. Casual Sex?
No thanks. I have friends who do it, and that's totally cool for them. I just couldn't do it myself. If I didn't have an emotional connection with the person, I think I would feel very disconnected and lonely afterwards. But you do your thing, "One-Night-Stand" Lochte! ;)

Read more...

Happy Hump Day!

I've begun the major work to migrate the Foundation website to the new content management system. National wants us to upload all current assets to their servers for the upcoming training sessions. (I'm not exactly sure why we can't copy from the current site as we set up the new site, but that's what they want. I am here to please!) There's no direct file transfer possible between the current site and national. That means I have to manually copy every single bit of text (no html allowed, so I lose all formatting *sad face*), every link, every PDF, image and form in the entire site to my computer, then upload to national.  Plus I need to rename every file to a new naming convention. It's going to take several days and a ton of verification that I have everything. Whee!

It was a stifling 109 degrees in Austin yesterday. So we did what good Texans do on the first cripplingly hot day of summer- we made ice cream. Does anyone really put homemade ice cream in the freezer to harden before they eat it? The best part about it is tossing it into a bowl in its soft-serve, easily melting form and digging in. Once the leftover ice cream goes into the freezer and hardens, that stuff is like a brick. (Some people are saying, "Leftover homemade ice cream? What is that?")

I finally went to the new Whole Foods. Everyone has been raving about that place. I really enjoy going to the one downtown, mostly because of the cool factor, the wine bar and the bakery's bread section. The south location has only one good thing- excessively large parking spots. Other than that, I think it is very tiny and highly overpriced. The produce was crazy expensive. $2.99 for a cantaloupe? Holy crapcakes. Apples were in the high 2's per pound. HEB has organic produce for a lot less. The bakery (and bread selection) isn't anything to write home about in this location. Neither are the cured meats and cheese. I guess I'm just an HEB/Central Market girl.

The cafe was crowded, just like downtown. I've never eaten there, but I hear good things.

Read more...

AVS Video Editor Playback and Sound Issues

I made a video celebrating Lauren's high school graduation, from video clips of her friends, family and teachers since preschool reciting the text from Dr. Seuss's Oh the Places You'll Go! It turned out very cool, and I'm so grateful to all the people who participated in it!

My video editing software, AVS Video Editor, worked very, very well... until I got a few too many clips into the project. The finished project has approximately 60 video clips and 60 still frames and 120 transitions. I'm not sure where I was in the process when I started having issues, but it was somewhere around 3/4 of the way through- so maybe 45 clips.

First the editing playback stopped working altogether. I could sometimes exit and restart the program and get the playback functionality, but usually I had to either wait a few hours or reboot my computer. Often I would edit completely blind for a while, without playback, just using the timeline and hoping for the best. When the playback randomly returned, I would take the opportunity to tweak everything. Eventually, the video looked great.

Next was sound editing. Oy.

Still dealing with the playback issue, which AVS Support tells everyone can be fixed with a reinstall (it can't), I began adjusting sound levels on the clips that were too loud or too quiet. These clips came from all over the world, from iPhones and Blackberries (the worst) and webcams and goodness-knows-what. The sound was just very different among them.

I could never get the levels right. I thought I had them, and then the next playback they would be back to where they were when I started. In the end, all the audio levels, while appearing on the project view to be adjusted, were at their original, varying volumes and still containing whatever background noise I had removed.

Last came the music. Where I had to join clips of a song for a nine-minute video, I wanted to fade back just a tad and fade into the next clip during a noisy-ish part of the talking. Turns out AVS Video Editor also has a known issue of injecting a really loud, momentary jump in volume when fading sound. Fade, fade... LOUD... next clip. Ohmigosh. Annoying. I tried to end every sound clip at a silent spot, but that didn't work either.

So I can recommend AVS Video Editor for projects under ten minutes, involving a few clips and absolutely no fading audio overlay. Otherwise, use something else. Because after a couple of months of working on a project, you can't just switch to Movie Maker or Pinnacle (both of which have their own issues as well, in my experience, which is the reason I have AVS at all) without starting over from frame one.

I'm not a computer person, but I can report that I'm using a PC with Windows 7 and plenty of speed and memory to handle a video editing project.

The vid is SO fun!! It's totally about the people and not the couple of weird sound transitions. Although the sound thing still makes the editor cringe. :)


Sunday Stealing: The Imaginary Meme, Part Six

101. Name 4 things you always have with you.
iPhone (most of the time! don't start with me, people...), wedding ring, credit card, driver's license

102. How many SERIOUS exes do you have?
Two

103. What causes you to admire people?
I admire people who are intelligent and also those who are notably kind to others.

104. Do you like sports?
Yeah!

105. Would you have sex after marriage? Why or why not?
After? Yes. I don't think many people would sign up if there were no sex afterwards.

106. What is your favorite male name?
Ethan

107. Do animals go to Heaven?
I don't think so, but I defer to my clergy members for the definitive answer on that.

108. Last time you had a great time with your dad?
About two years ago. It was the last time we were together in person before my recent trip to New York. He stopped over during the day, while on a business trip to Fort Hood. (His company made simulators for many industries, including some for military training.) Jeff was at work and Lauren was at school. Dad and I just chatted and hung out on the back porch all afternoon. It was so nice.

109. What is your favorite hair style?
For me? Longer, with some curl to it. Everyone else seems to prefer it pretty straight, so that's how I usually wear it.

110. Do you like your name?
Yep. 

111. When was the last time that you quit your job?
November 1993. I was about to give birth to my baby girl and wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. :)

112. When you wake up, what is the first thing you think?
What time is it? I usually wake up before dawn and have to decide whether or not I'm just going to get up or try to go back to sleep.

113. Have you ever pulled an all-niter?
A few times.

114. What is the perfect day for you?
A morning hike, afternoon time at home to shower and re-energize, out to dinner and a concert with friends, drinks on the patio at someone's house.

115. Last time you cleaned the bathroom?
Wednesday

116. Have you ever failed a grade? Why?
Nope

117. Have you met anyone online?
Quite a few people.

118. Have you ever smoked?
Very few individual puffs here and there of a cigarette, clove cigarette, a cigar... but I've never been a regular smoker.

119. Do you like celebrities?
I've always been into celebrity news and stuff. I wouldn't say I like or dislike them as a group. 

120. Do you like traveling? 
Love it.

Read more...

Powered Parachute Sighting

But first... I've had it with Novastor backup software. It's been on my PC for a few years now, and it's never ever worked correctly. It always runs a backup when I reboot, despite asking me if I want to run it and my saying NO. It runs at random times not on the schedule. It doesn't reliably run backups that are scheduled. It frequently stops working altogether (for weeks in the background without a red icon status or any warning), giving the error "unable to allocate backup engine" when I try to open the administration window. There are several things you can try, listed in their knowledgebase, but when I tried the "repair" fix, the thing totally hung. I had to reinstall the whole program after the repair stalled.

Grr.

So...while Jeff and I were out walking the other night (I always have to drop him off at home halfway through my walk- be sure and give him a hard time when you see him), someone was flying a powered parachute around overhead.

I didn't have my phone or camera with me, so that's not the actual guy, but that's what a PPC looks like. All the neighbors were out, and we were just staring up at it in amazement, like it was the Wright Brothers' first flight or something. It was pretty cool! Of course, every guy on our street wants one now.

Read more...

Foundation FY2012

This week, the Foundation staff have begun submitting major annual updates for the website for the new fiscal year. Technically, the fiscal year began Sept 1, but "nonprofit time" is sometimes similar to the typically slow-as-Christmas "hospital time," so here we are.

This yearly task involves more than a wee bit of effort and patience with the Content Management System we have to use. Did I mention I loathe the limitations and inelegance of CMSs, as well as the audaciousness of the interface to so erroneously tout itself as WYSIWYG? (I may have also whined about it here and here... and here's the most positive comment I've ever made about the gosh darn thing.) I run my other two websites very smoothly, with infinite design freedom and quite impressive efficiency using Dreamweaver thankyouverymuch.

:p

Speaking of hospital time, Jeff's aunt and my dad were both released from their hospitals yesterday. My dad is recovering nicely and taking lots of Percocet, which should be entertaining for Ursula. Dad and she are heading home from Rochester today, now that the weather is less wintery. Jeff's aunt Kathryn also had cancer surgery. She will be in a rehab center in Boston for a while.

We're visiting both of them this summer, when we head to the Cape Cod area for Jeff's family reunion, with a side trip to Binghamton- maybe on a train. Train from Boston to Binghamton, that is. Not from Austin to Boston. Just... no. I took a bus from College Station to Austin once. With stops in every teensy berg along the way, the two-hour drive took about six days. Lovely trip though.

Alright, I'm off to check out what my Facebook friends and the rest of the world are posting on Pinterest. Happy Friday, y'all!

Read more...

*Insert Name Here* Has Joined the Conference

Yesterday, I was on a conference call at the office, with our marketing director and probably 100 other people around the country. The first ten minutes of the thing, the guy running the meeting was barely audible underneath constant announcements of...

"Mindy Sparkles has joined the conference."

"Steve Cummings has joined the conference."

"Britney Paris has joined the conference..."

(Not sure why I seem to be making up stripper names this morning, but you get the picture.)

Please, meeting organizers. Turn off the announcements if you're hosting a conference call for more than maybe ten people.

Then we had to keep making sure our phone was muted because we were making nasty comments about the late people... and the announcements. Luckily only one of the tons of folks on the call accidentally left their phone unmuted. They made a couple of comments on the meeting before muting. Oops. Now THAT's entertainment!

I finally solved my printing problem from yesterday. I had to play with the printer settings (ended up using "photo" and high print quality for the best results) and also changed from matte photo paper to superdy-duperdy high quality inkjet paper (who knew?!). Just in case anyone else out there comes here searching for problems printing photos- there's some stuff to try. Incidentally, I just stuck a piece of cardstock behind the paper in the frame to give it more body. Yeah, I have every sort of paper imaginable.

I have hanging doorknob sign paper, people. It's a sickness.

Read more...

Good Morning!

I spent hours working on a hilarious Photoshop gift for someone this week. It looks good, but I can't get it to print correctly. Gaaaaaah! Someone shoot me.

You know the two Christmas commercials for Marshalls/TJ Maxx/Whatever-the-other-is, where the Glee-types sing a song all over the mall to the tune of "Up on the Housetop"? The first one... here it is:



At the end, instead of "...same great giiiiift," do you sing "...same great shiiiiit"?

We do, too!! 

Meet Me on Monday

1. Tomorrow I'm going to _________?
go to the mall for a particular present only available there, and to Pier 1 to buy an ornament for Jean's party this weekend.

2. Pudding or Jello?
usually pudding

3. What book are you currently reading?
Not reading one at the moment, but I would love to read Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews!

4. What is the first concert you went to see?
The first "real" concert at a concert venue was the Go-Go's at the Summit in Houston. My friends and I attended tons of Astroworld concerts before that. We were there literally almost every day during the summers in middle school. Not sure what our first big name concert was there.

5. What is your current weather?
68°F, light rain, winds south at 7mph, humidity 93%. It's similar to spring in Houston, only the humidity would be 110%.

Read more...

LOL Tuesday

From xkcd.com, where you can waste LOTS of time, should you be so inclined. You're welcome.

Ahahaaaaa! Story. Ofmylife.

Read more...

I Was Going to Call this Post "Lewd Photos" But I Reconsidered

When news outlets talk about the recent rash of "lewd photo scandals," they always put up the photo of Rep. Chris Lee where he's posing shirtless in the mirror.

Dude. I can see bare-chested guys from my front porch.

Lewd is when they have to blur something out, or they have to show an alternate photo of your face *coughBrettFavrecough* because they'd have to blur your lewd photo in its entirety. Don't settle for less, ladies!

And now it's time for...

Tech Talk

...where I discuss technical things of which I know just enough jargon to throw off people who know even less about it than I.

Here it is: I'm pretty sure all this proposed cloud computing is going to break the internet. 

First there were Google Docs, where everyone can view and/or edit documents from anywhere. Now Amazon gives you access to a copy of every MP3 you purchase for you to stream from wherever for forever. Soon Apple is going into the cloud thing for iTunes. (What happens to precious items I didn't purchase, like my (somewhat-)super-secret copies of master recordings of a certain singer's backup vocals for an particular song years ago? Can I store it there? Can I listen to my local copy on my i-devices? Eh- it has to be heard with awesome headphones anyway... GAH. But I digress...)

And we're all supposed to view/edit/listen to these items via the net (or 3G? really?). First off, my phone data plan won't handle that and rumors are again circulating that home internet costs will become usage-based soon, making home use a drain as well. Secondly, the combined bandwidth is going to be astronomical. Will the strain on the system slow everything to modem speed? It just sounds like a very convenient, however, nightmarish scenario. I was already twitching at the thought of all of us streaming movies from Netflix, although so far our streaming has been pretty great with the limited number of shows and films available.

Of course, for the music, if I'm still allowed to have a local copy on my PC/laptop/phone/ipod as well, all should be fine and dandy, because 99% of the time I'll just listen to my own copy without having to access the internet at all. I still can't find anything that definitively says I get my own copy.

Read more...

Monday Meme Catch-Up

Microsoft note: I spent like 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get my Windows 7 taskbar to be translucent again, after it randomly turned a hideous opaque shade of blue. The fix? Reboot.

The rocketry event was awesome!!! My whole body still hurts from all the prep and set-up, but it was well worth the effort... and even worth getting very little sleep on Friday night. The kids were SO thrilled. You can watch many videos from various vantage points on YouTube. My video from way-too-close is up on Facebook. :)


Sunday Stealing: Another 50 Questions Meme, Part One (perhaps)

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
OMG. My hair looks really cute.

2. How much cash do you have on you?
$27

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
"Whore," of course. I know this is a trick question, Frankie Freud. Analyze away.

4. Favorite planet?
EARTH!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!111!!1!!!!  *vuvuzela*

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
Jeff

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
"No Surprise" Chris Daughtry

7. What shirt are you wearing?
An A&M tshirt. It's "college t-shirt day" at work.

8. Do you label yourself?
Not with anything permanent.

9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing?
I don't wear shoes around the house, but I will be wearing AVIA running shoes today.

10. Bright or dark room?
Bright!

11. Did you do anything to celebrate John Lennon's 70th yesterday (Saturday)?
Nope.

12. What does your watch look like?
I haven't worn a watch in several years.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
"ok" (You guys always juuuuust miss the good ones.)

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
about 3 miles

16. What’s a word that you say a lot?
"cool"

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?
Jeffery

18. Last furry thing you touched?
Maya

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
None

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?
Is this a meme from 1972? Zero.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
26

22. Your worst enemy?
Humidity

23. What is your current desktop picture (extra points if you post it)?

o....m....g..... *stares*

*ponders what my extra points get me*

BTW, you can click it for the large version. Go ahead. You know you want to.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"Goodnight." I'm always the first one up around here.

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?
Easy. A million bucks. Then I can fly anywhere I want to, and read SkyMall a very cerebral book while I do it.

Read more...

Senior Ring Time for the Kiddo

Lo-Lo now has her senior ring on order. Am I officially old now? Good grief.

We did discuss how most people don't wear their high school rings after high school, but she really wanted one. And it's very cool, I think. She has a music design on the "2012" side, since she plays various instruments, and a color guard design on the other side, with her name. She selected a topaz stone, which is her birthstone and her favorite color- yellow. Silver ring. Neato!

Plus, I beat the school vendor's price by about $100 at Zales. BOO-YAH.

Funniest thing heard last night--

Lauren (to Jeff): YOU dated a cheerleader in high school?
Jeff: Hey, you don't have to be so surprised.

That... just earned this post a "funny" tag.

JeffC sent me this amusing/interesting map of the online social networks. He just proved my point that Facebook is the be-all-and-end-all. It's actually based on usage facts and figures, as you can read if you click on the map to enlarge to full size. See? I can gack things from people other than The Bloggess. :p

(Well she did have this one funny link: SO TRUE: The pain of watching non geeks use computers And it is indeed SO TRUE.)

I'm having a positively fabulous morning! Hope you have a fabulous Friday!! :D

Read more...

Not Suzy Sunshine Today

Sunday night, my aunt (who I used to say has always been more like a big sister to me) was three sheets to the wind when she called "to wish me a happy birthday." She ended up prodding me into an argument which I spent two hours trying to get out of. (I'm the diplomat, remember?) She said the most hurtful things anyone has ever said to me. I was very sad and upset until a few hours ago, when I reached the point where I am just ticked off. She so obviously had the sole motive of trying to hurt me, and that is not okay. Family or not. Yeesh, especially family!

On top of that, I have a bad haircut. It's a good cut, just a bad style for me. I got it last week and I've tried to get used to it but it just sucks. About four months and I should be good.

My computer running Windows Vista is crapping out more than usual, so we're going to install Windows 7. I always get a funny feeling in my stomach when we switch to the new Windows. Scary, man.

Donna just called to tell me they're streaming the first four songs from our Sunday Bon Jovi concert live on the Bon Jovi website. April 11, 7pm CST. We're in the pit that night! Fun. The promo is already up there.

Read more...

Reboot

After applying the latest Windows updates to my PC, various things went awry. My desktop toolbar wouldn't show everything I had running. My speaker volume controls stopped working. Four of my removable storage disk drives weren't recognized at all. I rebooted a few times and tried various things. Jeff told me that when hardware (like your speaker, disk drive) isn't working, you probably need to power down the computer, rather than just restarting. I tried that, and it worked. Your PC Tip o' the Day! (No, that won't be a regular feature a la Song Lyrics of the Day... I hope.)

One of the guard shows is to "Breathe Me" by Sia. Very pretty show. I can't remember the school that performs it. Oops. Anyway, I absolutely love the piano on the downbeats. It gives a lilting, floating quality to the overall sound. You can hear it in the sidebar>>>. Beautiful... sad...

I now have the most ghetto jewelry storage EVER, but it is perfect for me. Command hooks on the back of my bathroom cabinet doors for the necklaces, and a simple acrylic box for earrings in the drawer. I was having the worst time going back and forth pulling stuff out of my jewelry box in the bedroom closet, only to find the pieces weren't the right ones for the outfit. (If I had a giant closet with a dressing area, this wouldn't be a problem. *sigh* How I wish.) So I wanted everything right there where I put on my makeup. Ta-DA!

Read more...