But I digress....

Short note about my Mom

shelaghc — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:25:53 GMT

I haven't posted in a long while. But for those who know me here but not on Facebook, I thought I'd drop a quick note.

My Mom passed away sometime after midnight today. Her health has been failing for some time and deteriorated dramatically a few weeks ago.

She didn't linger very long, but there was time for me to say the most important things to her.

Not much more I feel up to adding right now.

A little warning about something underhanded LJ is doing

shelaghc — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:41:54 GMT

Obviously I don't post often, but this is pretty disgusting.

Please read this post in full for the whole story.

This is the very very short version here:

Basically, if you post a link (like for Amazon or Ebay) from your own personal LJ account, TPTB at LiveJournal have created a script that will automatically alter your link so their affiliation number will be added to it. So they're making money from a link you've put in your own LJ without your permission.

If you want to set up your account so that affiliation number can't be added, do this:

go to the LJ admin console (bet you didn't even know that existed!) and copy/paste this line into the box:

set opt_exclude_stats 1

Then hit 'execute'.

It rankles when I pay a fee so I don't have to see ads and LJ decides that's not enough for them.

Just a post to keep the spam at a minimum

shelaghc — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:41:42 GMT

Mostly posting over at facebook lately.

Computer completely down

shelaghc — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:34:48 GMT

Yesterday I couldn't do a thing other than transfer some important files from the hard drive to a flash drive.

Since then it's been nearly impossible to just get the thing booted up - and generally it freezes right away or I get the blue screen of death.

Tomorrow I take it to the PC doctor where I'm temping (I'm in hell, btw. No internet connection - I'm borrowing someone's right now, but my supervisor isn't happy at all even though I'm on lunch). He's going to be straight with me on whether I should just replace the whole thing or not.

::::sigh::::

Good thoughts for me please? I *really* can't afford to replace this thing right now, but I can't afford *not* to have a full computer when I'm trying to find a job.

Virus protection software suggestions?

shelaghc — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:11:38 GMT

I've been having mucho problems all day long with my computer. Freezes, constant shutdowns with no warning. At one point during a reboot, there was a huge red square on the screen - no, I'm not kidding.

The last couple of times it shutdown, I'm pretty sure it coincided with being on the net. And I pretty sure the most recent software installed was the updated AVG free program IIRC.

I've uninstalled it but I'm now without a virus program.

OTOH, even after uninstalling, I had another shutdown - I was just about to close a window from a vodka website that had been running on Firefox, so it's also possible something screwy was happening with that.

No way to know for sure, of course.

In any case, does anyone have any opinions on McAfee? I used to know geeks who thought it was the most insidious program on the face of the planet. In fact, one guy out and out ordered me to get it off my computer.

If not McAfee, any other suggestions?

Also, does anyone have any opinions good or bad on the Geek Squad? If this problem persists, I'm going to have to get this thing serviced ASAP.

Many thanks for any input.

Hey hanncoll

shelaghc — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:45:09 GMT

I watched your candidate of choice today when she gave her concession speech.

She was classy with a real capital "C" - a pivotal moment in the history of the country.

Brava to her for doing what my original candidate of choice didn't do - she kept her word and stuck with it through the entire primary process.

While a lot of people felt she should have dropped it much sooner (along with me), she stuck to her guns and, as a result, I think she really empowered the process. What she did made every single state, commonwealth and other voting area excited about the election. For the first time in a *long* time, all those who voted felt like they had truly a voice in this primary.

Good on the Honorable Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton!

Back to life, back to reality....

shelaghc — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:24:40 GMT

And Monday I start a two-week temp job in an office building.

Ho hum......

Today was a very good day

shelaghc — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:18:23 GMT

And don't they look like they'd make a good pair of running mates?

Blender pets on Cute with Chris

shelaghc — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:07:12 GMT

Blender Pets

Not a vid, just a bunch of clever critter photos.

I loves me some Jon Stewart!

shelaghc — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:48:35 GMT

Watch Douglas Feith squirm as Jon Stewart doesn't let him off the hook for *anything* about the run up to the Iraq occupation! Part 1

Part 2

If I had working ovaries and he weren't married, Mr. Stewart would have a sincere offer to bear more children.

Flist question

shelaghc — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:23:28 GMT

How might one go about ripping the audio track only from a DVD?

And another one bites the dust

shelaghc — Sat, 10 May 2008 06:20:11 GMT

At least for me.

I used to be a TV addict devotedly watching waaaay more TV than any single person should have watched weekly. Once I got a VCR, I habitually taped show after show and added regularly to my massive collection. (Hey artemis2050, did you know Voyagers! came out on DVD last year?)

Now I'm mostly a political junkie but there are still a few TV shows I do watch regularly. This week I officially dropped one.

Sorry, Ugly Betty. I still think it's a good show, but completely serialized shows are hard for me to keep up with.

So my current non-political TV lineup is as follows:

Supernatural (yeah, it's somewhat serialized, but Kripke has the good sense to break it up with one shot episodes.)
Numbers
Boston Legal (occasionally there will be "previously on Boston Legal" to deal with, but that's no biggie)

Time will tell if Heroes stays in the running once it starts again this fall.

Otherwise, I'll stick with The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Countdown with Keith Olbermann - and any of the other MSNBC shows that bring in Rachel Maddow.

I'm sure all of my flist is thrilled to be made aware of this important development in my life.

Good night and good luck.

So what the heck is it?

shelaghc — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:29:18 GMT

A couple of months ago (geez, have I been here that long already?) I bought a beautiful serving bar. But there were, and still are, a couple of mysteries attached to it.

I invite my flist to to go look at these pictures and see if they can come up with an idea or two about what a couple of things that are a part of this bar might be.

There are bottles sitting on top of one of the things to give some perspective of the size.

Speculation is welcome. Flights of fancy will be appreciated just for laughs.

Danke!

Be afraid

shelaghc — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:26:29 GMT

Be very afraid.

The Gong Show Returns

Missing SPN

shelaghc — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:25:52 GMT

I haven't seen *any* of the new eps - things keep coming up in my day to day life to side-track me.

On top of that, "Ghostfacers" absolutely *cannot* be watched at night. It's a ghost episode and, for me, those must be viewed in complete daylight. Can't even watch in the evening - too close to sunset you see.

:::sigh:::

Someone hand me a banky and a nightlight please?

One sign you have a crappy insurance company

shelaghc — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:21:59 GMT

You get a form to fill out asking about whether you were insured for sixty days prior to being covered by your current insurance.

And the only claim you have with them is an emergency room visit for food poisoning.

How the *hell* can they claim pre-existing condition for food poisoning?.....

Someone explain this "shoot yourself in the foot" logic to me

shelaghc — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:23:55 GMT

Hillary supporters vow to get McCain elected if she's not the nominee in a Hillary forum.

Are they freakin' nuts?

How on earth does getting McCain elected help anyone? Do they really want four more years of Bush via McCain?

Do they really want 100 years of Iraq occupation and more of our men and women in the military killed?

Are they so stubborn and self-serving that they'd rather subject the world, not just our country, to another monster with a slap-happy grin on his face as the presumed "leader" of the United States rather if their candidate doesn't win the nomination?

Is this the kind of "base" Hillary Clinton has cultivated for the last year and a half during this whole bloody nomination process?

A friend of mine is a Hillary supporter and I continually have to bite my tongue to ask her "why?" I truly hope she's not the sort who'll resort to this ridiculous "it's my ball and I'm taking it home with me" response to what's going on.

While I am an Obama supporter, I absolutely would vote for Hillary if she's the nominee. It's not even a grey area for me. Democrats have to win this November if there is any chance for saving this country from the corporatists. And I believe that ultimately Hillary would do better for the people of this country than John McCain. I'm not about to cut off my proverbial nose to spite my face if "my candidate" isn't on the ballot.

Hillary's take on the issues is so far removed from McCain's that the idea of someone throwing away their vote out of spitefulness shows not just a lack of respect for the voting process but a lack of understanding of their own candidate.

It's almost frightening to know there are those out there who would hand over this country to someone who is so polar opposite from the views of their candidate of choice out of meanness and anger.

Hillary Clinton has vowed to support Barack Obama if he is the nominee. Why can't these people?

I truly hope Senator Clinton can reign in her supporters and stop this process. Otherwise, what have they really been supporting?

Olbermann on Daily Kos?

shelaghc — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:39:00 GMT

I can see when he started posting just based on his blog entries but how the hell did I miss this?!!!!

The saga of the couch

shelaghc — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:11:49 GMT

Early in March, on the List of Craig I found the Couch of My Dreams and rejoiced! Sadly, it was not to be.

Thereupon began the Quest for The Couch.

Soon after I thought I'd once again found the Couch of My Dreams (tm) and again rejoiced! There was much happiness and debauchery as I awaited my windfall (aka tax refund) so the CoMD would finally be mine.

But as time went by, the bloom faded from the rose and I truly wondered if the CoMD was indeed The One Couch.

Sadly, once the CoMD and I had finally been united, I understood it was not The One Couch and I sought out the couch that I felt truly would be The One Couch, not merely The Couch of My Dreams.

May 12th, I was informed by the Internets, would be the arrival date and I set out to prepare my abode for The Day (c). I was also assured that, apart from the legs of The One Couch, no assembly would be required.

Alackaday, several days later the Holder of The One Couch informed me that May 12th was *not* the arrival date, but the sending date. Further the arrival date could be as late as May 22nd.

And I was morose.

But I determined that I would prepare my abode even more fervently for The New Day (c) and set my internal calendar.

There were still many questions on my mind, however, and the Holder of The One Couch was not exceptionally forthcoming with answers to those queries. Three weeks went by and, after many communications, I was woefully uninformed.

Today (aka this day), I finally spoke with an agent of the Holder of the One Couch and he assured me that the Carrier of the One Couch would indeed contact me one day before the Arrival Date so I could greet The One Couch personally upon Arrival and that the Date would be indeed near to May 22nd.

I was reassured and ventured forth to tend to the day's errands.

Upon my return, I was greeted unexpectedly by two Very Large Boxes (r).

Verily, it was indeed The One Couch - in three pieces awaiting assembly.

I set to freeing The One Couch from its individual prisons of carboard. Within one of the boxes was another box. Within that box was a bag and within that bag were the Assembly Instructions. The first instruction read thusly:
"Open both boxes and remove contents. Please be careful if using a sharp object to open boxes."

With the abode not yet prepared for The One Couch, I was, to say the least, dismayed and attempted to communicate with the agent of the former Holder of the One Couch in an attempt to understand why The One Couch had arrived nearly twenty days in advance of the Arrival Date.

The message I received perplexed me further:
"We're sorry for the inconvenience, but our customer service department is closed for the day. Please call back during normal business hours. Monday through Friday, 7:00AM until 8:00PM and Weekends, 8:00AM until 6:00PM Central Standard time."
The time, I noted, was 4:30PM Eastern time. Perhaps, I mused, the agent of the former Holder of the One Couch was on a non-Standard Clock?

I gazed at the sad unassembled pieces of The One Couch and called upon help from above, Sir Joe of Agnew, to assist me in my plight.

He brought with him the Golden Wrench and in short work, despite my Abode not yet having been prepared, The One Couch had finally Arrived. The Quest was over.

The End (or To Be Continued?)

Well, at least I can look forward to the DVD....

shelaghc — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:20:34 GMT

I've screwed up for the past three weeks on Boston Legal - haven't seen a single episode since they've starting airing new ones again.

Tonight, I reminded myself at 9:30, tonight is a new ep and I *will* watch.

Somehow I lost my train of thought at 9:55 and turned on MSNBC and Keith Olbermann instead precisely at 10:00PM.

::::sigh:::::

Some pics from last weekend

shelaghc — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:06:26 GMT

I was in DC last weekend with some people I know from a political blog. I'm so used to going on trips alone, that I literally took not one single picture of a person.

Not much that was worth sharing, but a few shots I liked:

~~I think this is an Oriole.~~
zanne68 tells me this is a Red Winged Black bird Very cool!

A bird that lighted just long enough for me to catch a photo with my crappy digi. Not bad, eh?

Waterfall outside the American Indian museum

I might have a better version of this. If so, I'll replace it. I like the way the falling water came out.

Same waterfall, different angle:

See the ducky?

Scenery stop on the way home:

Potomac view #1

Potomac view #2

That's about it. I missed getting the shot of God's gas - a gas station literally built underneath a church!

Anyone want to critique my technique?

Let your kids get cancer, just make sure they don't have sex!

shelaghc — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:29:13 GMT

Study Links HPV to Lung Cancer

Despite Threat of Lung Cancer, Conservatives Still Don't Want Their Kids Vaccinated
(snip)
Recent studies have found connections between HPV and cancers of the mouth and throat, but the University of Louisville study released late last week is the first to associate the infection with lung cancer.
(snip)
Conservative parents and activists have condemned the vaccine, marketed under the name Gardasil, since it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, claiming it would -- like easily available condoms -- encourage young people to engage in promiscuous sex.
Those same parents and groups say the news showing a link between the virus and lung cancer, which means it could affect not only their daughters but also their sons, does not change their opposition to the drug.

More at the link.

Nice - let your kids die from any one of several kinds of cancer rather than immunize them because they *might* be inclined to have pre-marital sex.

I had to fill out pages of forms and go through a background check to adopt my second cat, but any set of idiots with sperm and ovaries can have a baby.

Restaurants in Orlando?

shelaghc — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:48:42 GMT

Hey all

I'm temping for a doctor who's looking for a "good" restaurant in Orlando.

Any suggestions?

If I get anything like a style of food, I'll edit this post.

Thanks

Remember Paul Potts?

shelaghc — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:56:21 GMT

The guy that wowed the world on "Britain's Got Talent" last year?

What a difference a year makes. He's even got a myspace page. *g*

He's released his first CD, followed by a special edition for Christmas with a second disk of Christmas songs and has been touring the world for the last few months.

Oh, and he's blogging.

What a difference indeed!

Can someone help Otto?

shelaghc — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:11:56 GMT

Otto's a sweet-hearted Pit who needs a home before it's too late.