I was up around 7:00-ish this morning. Marilyn woke me as she was leaving the house for her 7:30 a.m. meeting! She had meetings all morning long, actually -- one ran FOUR HOURS straight!!! I honestly don't know how she does it.

My niece Candy had a long day today, too -- ten hours long. She didn't quite understand my impatience about that. Look, ten hours is a NORMAL DAY for us, not a long one. And we do 12 to 14 hours frequently, plus we work without a single break and we work six days out of the week. So...

Today it was about contacting Dr. Markin, sister Sue's pulmonary doctor. Because Sue's weight has been up all week long and it was more than 10 pounds up as of today in a week period. I found the number (which is now on my iPhone and iPad -- including a photo of Dr. Markin), then phoned and left a message for her assistant. It was one of many, many calls for me today.

I called Byram Healthcare to discuss the situation with my order of supplies. Now that Leslie gave me a second insulin (short/fast acting -- my other one goes all day long), I asked the pharmacist yesterday how to take it. I'm supposed to TEST my blood before every meal, than use this new insulin on a sliding scale. How high determines how many units. BUT HERE'S THE ISSUE: I can't test more than twice a day currently, because I only get test strips for twice a day.

Plus right now I can't use the new insulin AT ALL. I don't have syringes to inject it. I only get 30 syringes a month and use that for my once-a-day insulin. In order to inject three more times a day, I'd need more test strips and more syringes. (You guys can do the math, I'm sure. I explained it OVER AND OVER many times today to many people.) Byram needs a new prescription, so I called my clinic and explained it there to the front desk. That call was cute, because Henry started to howl and she and I discussed our cats... (grin)

Later Latoya (Leslie's assistant) phoned back and we went over and over my new needs. She doesn't just get a form that reads 'number of syringes' -- because that would make too much sense. Hahaha. She has to base the number of syringes on HOW OFTEN I TEST. I was also supposed to get some 'spare' syringes each month, because I've been getting duds that I can't use! Anyway, we did the numbers. Now Latoya has to see if my insurance will actually COVER the supplies or not.

For sure you can bet on one thing: I can't afford the supplies on my own! One box of test strips is $70 and a box of syringes is $50+ -- and you can't get blood from a turnip. Hahaha.

Speaking of getting blood, I inject this morning as usual and it hurt (as it often does). I figure that's because the syringes are cheaply made, long and not that thin. I'm comparing them to when I had the pen with small, very thin needles. You should see the HUGE BRUISE on my stomach tonight! I showed it to Marilyn and I thought she'd die.

Other phone calls? Hearing back about Sue over and over again. She's getting another med (a second one) for water. Plus I got a bunch of instructions. She did, too, but they want to be sure Marilyn and I know exactly what's going on.

My goal is to speak to Sue several times (at least three) every day. I lost track today of frequently we spoke...

I also talked to the office several times. And Marilyn, of course (once her morning ended and she was back in the office, that is!). And I chatted with my friend June several times, too.

I called June about her dental work from yesterday. It only took minutes. She's still terribly infected (!!!) and has had bone loss!!! She's on two new meds for her COPD that make her very sick with side effects. One I think she needs to try, but the other she might need to avoid. Marilyn suggested she stop the one, as well. June had already stopped both, but went back to the one I suggested she try. We'll see what happens. Marilyn feels strongly we all have to watch our own health, do our own research and decide for ourselves. I checked on those meds carefully for June and discussed reasons why to take or not take them...

June has been feeling so poorly she's been sleeping the clock around again recently. As Marilyn says, if the meds make you feel so lousy you can't get up and function -- and can't get any exercise -- how will you ever actually improve???

I also talked to our friend Mark who is paying his own way to the Auction and sitting right beside me.

And I texted with our friend Adeena -- Marilyn is paying for her to go and she'll be with us, too.

Marilyn is also paying for sister Sue's ticket. Sue really, really wants to go again this year. That's a total of four tickets (me, Sue, Adeena and her own), for a total of $500.

I needed to get dinner orders for everybody. I don't remember confirming Sue's!!! Yikes! The choices are pork, chicken and veggie (sweet potato).

I chatted with BOTH Kate and Carol about Auction. Carol seemed in a very good mood. That's hard, because she's working even longer hours than Marilyn and under a lot of stress (just like Marilyn). She started reading off all the people who want to be at 'our' table (with Marilyn and me) -- and it's WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE! You can only get 10 at a table. So we'll have to have two tables side-by-side. (There are actually people who only come with the understanding that they will sit with us, if you can believe that.) I figure it's mostly about Marilyn. But last year she was at another table (with Adeena), and Sue and I were holding down the fort with our normal table. Plus I got complaints after the fact from some people who were upset they weren't near us... (sigh)

I guess it's GOOD to be that popular. Hahaha. But it does have some inherent issues. The physical laws are what they are.

Speaking of influence, Marilyn was at that meeting with a bunch of VERY INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE in this area. As I feel it's proper for her to be. Tomorrow she meeting with Wanda's mother (Molly) for an informational interview (and advice) about her job. I guess Jeff was very surprised when he realized Marilyn was doing that. Hasn't he ever done one??? Marilyn has done them FOR YEARS. And even I have done them. Jeff told her it was 'nice of her' -- and Marilyn said it wasn't nice, it was just something she believed in and did. And that, my friends, is part of the reason why she won an award about mentoring other women and helping to break the glass ceiling.

Of course, it's not always just about women! Some of my own situations were with young men in the IT field...

I cleaned out a couple more drawers at home and got rid of a bunch of 'old' flatware. It's actually perfectly good flatware that I'm going to take in to use in the office! Wow, is that drawer NICE now!!! I rearranged further in the fridge, too. Also nice.

I'm keeping up my goal of working in house cleaning and organizing between work-related projects. Not easy, but what the hell!

Say! It was COLD in the house again today! I had to turn up the furnace, but also put on my tights that I wear in chilly weather. I need to keep my joints (especially my hips and knees) warm, to avoid flareups. I was wrapped in blankets until past 11:00 when it FINALLY warmed up, thank God.

I did some tutorials on the Apps I'm learning to work with today. I'm still trying to wrap my head around those...

Marilyn is gathering photos for us to use. Then I've offered to help her resize all of them (which takes ages).

I had been chatting with June about Jeopardy which I didn't have time to watch today. I was going to phone Sue to call June and talk about it, as she, too, has been watching the show all week. There's an amazing guy on right now. I ended up getting Candy who went off. She's very unhappy with Sue. I guess Sue's eating (and drinking) way too much. The amount of food may be part of her weight gain. And by drinking, I mean taking in too many liquids of and/all kinds. When her weight is this high it means water weight gain, which she must avoid. Even water can be bad then...

And there was some stuff about who is doing what with Sue. Marilyn and I have been taking her constantly to get labs. They want MORE next week (!!!). As I don't drive (and wouldn't have a car if I did), there's no way I could go today to get her new prescription. With Marilyn not getting off until 9:00 or later, she's always too late. (The pharmacy closes at 9:00. Plus it's no easy thing getting to Hayden Island for the traffic each night!) Candy had to go and was unhappy about it.

June asked why her granddaughter can't go -- and I happen to think that's a reasonable question! All during grade school and high school Sue took Nicole back and forth to class. And to the mall. And to her friends' houses. I don't think it would hurt her to do this once a month, at least... (sigh)

I fried green and red tomatoes for dinner -- very yummy.

Well, I'm dead beat and tomorrow is another busy day. So off I go. I did get the recycling outside (it's garbage night -- not the real deal). And composting out, too.

We have Rose Plantings on Saturday and it's supposed to RAIN. These are outdoor events and we have to wear our uniforms (no coats) in the damn rain. It runs from early in the day until afternoon...

Then I figure we'll go to the office to work on the Auction (which is where others will already be, of course). So much to do all the time.

I'm forgetting things. Busy days are like that -- I can't even keep track of all I do. Oh well.

Sweet dreams!

I can't believe I'm days behind again on my blog. The days just get so very busy -- and I'm so tired by the end of each day...

Thursday, March 23
Marilyn wasn't feeling at all well when she headed off to work. She ended up coming home sick in the middle of the day -- feverish, flushed and sick to her stomach. She took an anti-nausea pill. Then I wrapped her up in blankets and she slept for quite a while.

When she woke up she insisted she was going to her meeting in Oregon City, Oregon! And I insisted she was not going alone after being sick. So I dashed to get ready and off we went.

It turned out she needed me at the meeting, as there was talk about setting up the webpage for the upcoming Oregon City heritage days event in June. It was a good meeting -- bad traffic going there AND coming back. Marilyn is such a trooper...

Friday, March 24
Marilyn was off around 7:00 a.m. -- and I actually was up by 7:30, believe it or not!

I spent AGES on some complicated issues. One included the idea of creating Profiles with names and attaching them to the generic Profiles used to set up on machines. That seems to be working out quite well, actually!

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but we made MAJOR HEADWAY this past week with our greylisting issue! I was pretty pleased, considering all the time I'd put into it personally (to say nothing of Kris' help).

I tried to wrap my head around the difference between SEND AS and SEND ON BEHALF OF in Outlook, but I just don't get it! There's no difference I can see in the setup of both -- and there's no simple way I can see to select between them. Christine and I tried messing with it and finally gave up. We figured this is something to do when we're NOT in season and so damn busy... More on that later, I guess!

But I did solve an issue I've had for YEARS. Since I took over IT for the festival back in 2007, actually! In other words, I've been trying to reason this one out now and then for ten years. Hard to believe! I did put in some serious research at various times, but nothing recently. But I had decided I was ABSOLUTELY going to finally resolve this.

It's about setting up Distribution Groups and/or Security Groups in Outlook. Here's the thing: Apparently ANYBODY can set up a Distribution Group! And ONLY THE OWNER of any group controls it. So even the main Administrator -- and all other Administrators (such as me) -- have NO CONTROL AT ALL over such groups. I'm sure you follow me so far. Anyway, when the group owner goes away, there's no one who can change and/or delete a group! And even if someone stays, you can't tell WHO is the group owner! Crazy, huh?

I found this is a common problem and tons of people are searching all the time for a resolution. Most of these are VERY COMPLICATED. Many require more technical knowledge than I have. But in spite of that, I finally discovered the answer! I found where someone had described how it was done. The instructions were BAD, though -- steps were missing or incomplete. I've been through that many times over the years.

Total aside: I've been writing tutorials or instructions of one kind or another for many, many years. Here's the thing! You need to use the correct terms for things -- and not your own words for what you're explaining. (Yes, it can be difficult to know the terms sometimes, but you need to find out what those are.) Others won't know what you're talking about if you use different words, or abbreviate terms in some way. Then you need to be sure NOT TO SKIP STEPS. Don't make the assumption people will know to click on OK or something else like that, because they won't know for sure! My tutorials/instructions are always lengthy, because I never skip anything...

Anyway, I reasoned out the MISSING PARTS of the instructions I'd discovered. And wrote the whole thing out over again (very carefully). Then I applied it, and it took less than FIVE MINUTES per each group! I'm able now to actually CHANGE the ownership of any given group, no matter who originally created it.

I need to MAKE SURE those instructions are online somewhere for others to use! I'm not kidding. Others want to know and need to know. I've no CLUE why you can't come close to an answer at the official Microsoft site. But, for the record, I almost NEVER get instructions there that are helpful to me. It's other sites that have the really useful instructions. (Why the hell is that??? Is it just bad writing, or is it deliberate???)

I felt pretty damn accomplished by the time I'd finished up that task, anyway. Wow. And it only took me ten years to do it. Hahaha. In other words, I'm basically an idiot, but I was lucky this time around. (grin)

Marilyn had a good and successful day on Friday, too. So Friday was a positive day for us.

Saturday, March 25
Today was all about Hillman (we all called him Lueddie) Lueddemann's memorial service. It was a uniform event, so we were anxious to get out the 'blue jackets' so people would see that we'd turned out from the festival to honor him, Janet (his wife) and his family. (Both Lueddie and Janet were former directors of the festival -- and continued to be supporters even after leaving the board.)

Clayton and Dick were both there (they held Jeff's job prior to him). And we got a photo of Marilyn with all three guys! Clayton was the CEO (not called that back then, but same difference) when Marilyn and I first started with the festival decades ago. His wife Jackie was also there (but certainly not Dick's or Jeff's wives). Jackie was always very involved with the festival.

We had a good turn out. From the staff we had Marilyn, Jeff, Carol, Rich, Jessica and me. And many directors (current and past) were in attendance. Plus lots of other people we know. And I got to meet Janet's daughter and daughter-in-law. Plus the daughter of Gwen, another amazing director.

Afterwards Jeff, Mark (past president and current director), Marilyn and I went out for a drink in Lueddie's honor (as we often do after funerals and memorials). Then we came home...

That's actually the short version of the past few days -- but good enough! Hahaha.

Off to bed. Sleep well, friends.

I was inspired by St. Patrick's Day to create a NEW icon -- something I don't do very often anymore... So first off, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody! I hope you all had a good day! My icon shows a pot of gold -- and I wish you all much 'gold' in your lives. (smile) Gold comes in many forms, after all...

Some of you may recall when I had quite a bit more 'spare' time -- and I used to make icons constantly! I was involved with an icon community and it was great fun! I miss it. Too bad I never seem to have the time to do that these days.

As for me, my hip was better this morning, if not 100%. And this evening I'm walking without a limp, which is fabulous. I'm hopeful it will be even better by tomorrow.

In spite of the pain, I did manage to get some steps in today, thankfully. I'm pretty convinced that we need to WALK every single day of our lives, no matter how much we hurt (and even when we're sick, if at all possible). So often exercise is the only answer to staying healthy! It's often very hard, but we need to force ourselves. And it does get better if we can stick with it.

I worked with Christine on the website today. We were doing more concert pages for the RoZone. I 'took control' of Christine's computer Remotely (using TeamViewer). She gets such a kick out of that! So I do that via my computer, and then we chat on the phone about what we're doing.

We did one of the pages together, then she took over and did the second page on her own.

I love the way Christine will run with this stuff once I show her how it's done.

The next step is for me to WRITE OUT some detailed pages on HOW we do this more complicated stuff at the website. It's a daunting task some days, I have to admit. I need to have a certain mindset going to even try to tackle it. People are so used to me just grinding this stuff out. I don't think most of our staff at the festival realizes how difficult I find it. (sigh) I've been doing it for years now...

I started a lot of my 'how to' writing back when I used to do tutorials for various Paint Shop Pro communities here at LiveJournal. Well, I have things that pre-date that, but I certainly got a lot of practice with the PSP communities! I wrote up so much detailed stuff back then.

But I guess I've been doing tutorials forever. I used to write up simple versions of computer instructions. In fact, back when I did computer consulting, I'd take complicated manuals and make up a sheet or two that boiled down the important steps...

I do enjoy it, but it's probably a lot harder than it sounds. It's about making things easy to understand, and NOT leaving out any of the steps of how things are done. When a person knows HOW to do something, they'll often take certain aspects for granted -- and forget to include them. I remember when I, myself, was learning certain things how FRUSTRATING I would find it when several steps ended up left out.

And Microsoft is notorious for leaving out steps of HOW things are done using their Operating Systems and softwares! I've always said to be sure to use SOME OTHER WEBSITE when seeking HOW something is done for Microsoft stuff! Hahaha. Funny, that's for sure!

I was having a HUNGRY day, today. I just couldn't seem to get enough to eat! I ate some leftover meat and green beans early on, then also had a bowl of cereal. For lunch I had a frozen spaghetti dinner. And I snacked on some roasted peanuts. Then had cheese and crackers and dill pickles for dinner. Just so hungry. I'm not sure WHY...

I was also tired today...

I did talk to sister Sue more than once. She wants 'us' (meaning Marilyn, I suppose) to take her to more than one doctor appointment next week (she has THREE). The problem is that Marilyn's schedule is really SET far in advance. And it's one thing for Marilyn to meet her at an appointment (join her there) and take notes and so on. But another entirely for Marilyn to get away so she can go and get Sue, take her to the appointment, be there for it, then take her back again and head back to work. That's HOURS out of Marilyn's work day.

It would be helpful if one of Sue's kids could pick Sue up and take her to and from the appointment. (Neither one begins to work the hours that Marilyn works.) But I somehow doubt that's going to happen.

Sue also wants us both to take her to Patsy's 'memorial' gathering at a pub next Sunday. Mainly because Candy wants to be able to stay and drink at the event, and Sue just wants to make a brief appearance. Marilyn agreed that we'll take her -- it's at 2:00 until 6:00 (I think). We usually pretty tired by Sunday, but we want to help Sue if we can, of course.

Marilyn is already having trouble fitting her own medical and dental appointments into her schedule. And now she's talking about delaying stuff so she can help out Sue. She always puts Sue and me FIRST, and herself last. And it worries me! She needs to take care of herself, too. And there are only so many hours in a day.

I just don't know how she does it. Her schedule is so exhausting. I couldn't begin to cover all she does here in my blog...

I also talked to June today. I always enjoy our chats...

And Rose (our neighbor across the street) came by while I was on a phone call to see me. So I called her tonight and we were on the phone for around an hour. She wanted to chat about the work she's having done -- and apologize about her construction guy David blocking the driveway this morning...

I'm forgetting things, but need to go do the garbage and recycling. So that's pretty much it for today!

Fitbit update: Marilyn got 9,000 steps (she got right up on the treadmill tonight!), and I got 3,071 steps, just walking around the house today. (I only went outside long enough to MOVE the guy who was blocking the driveway when Marilyn needed to leave for work. Otherwise I was inside, in spite of the lovely, sunny weather.)

Donn is due in tomorrow and I have a busy day at the office. So hopefully I'll get to bed before long...

Sleep well, friends!