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Friday, December 25, 2009
*Sigh!*
For some ungodly reason I began re-organizing all my photos over in Photobucket and, of course, this is messing up all my blog links. Photobucket told me this would happen and of course I went on with it anyway.
Message in a Bottle (my former blog), Honey Dumpling (Honey's blog), and this one may be affected.
I have stopped the carnage until I can do this in a more organized way.
All I wanted to do is organize my photos!!! *whines*
Posted at 12/25/2009 8:36:28 pm by lifeonhold
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Wednesday, December 02, 2009
We'll start with a visual joke:
Actually, there has not been much 'track' this year. Its been a poor year for being consistent in any endeavor (so let me sign up for a new one!).
A lot of things were started and then derailed, mostly by one of the many ailments that took their turn throwing wrenches in my plans.
Two days before Christmas 2008 I took a bad fall on the ice onto my right shoulder; nothing broke, but I had several months of numbness in my fingers and back pain. Workman's Comp paid for physical therapy sessions for a few months with doctor visits and tests in between. The fall derailed my monthly volunteering at the Merton House because I couldn't stand for any time without pain.
This summer I became involved in the Tea Party movement and spent a lot of Thursday and Fridays after work at mini-Tea Party gatherings holding signs on street corners and having a good time with our little group. I also joined a related book club. The cold, dark, and scary drive into the suburbs at night in my iffy auto ended these events for the season although I hope to pick up the book club again soon.
I wanted to go to Washington DC twice but never quite made connections with transportation that fit my schedule although I did go to Hartford with book club members for the 9/12 rally despite pouring rain.
In September my church began it's bible study of the Book of Acts of the Apostles but a whole string of problems and illnesses pretty much made me a perpetual no-show.
So right now I'm looking over my shoulder at a lot of rubble. I hate letting people down, but between my Geminian tendency to be flighty, illness and physical problems, and a 58-year-old body that is insisting on it's slower pace for everything, I've been a pushover this year. Any little thing takes me out of the game for stretches of time.
Instead, like the Ditto house, I let others create the displays or write the words I'd write if I could focus. If I had the time. Why do I have to be original?
Perhaps my blog will just be a list of links. Here is what I've been concerned with this month: link, link, link, short commentary, link, link, LOLcat picture, link, YouTube video clip. Add it all together and that will be the Recent Me. It's sort of blog shorthand, not unlike texting, not preferable, but often servicable.
It's 1:30 am. See, when I feel better I stay up too late and tomorrow morning I'll be a foggy zombie again. The cycle continues!
Nite.
Posted at 12/2/2009 1:34:52 am by lifeonhold
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Friday, November 13, 2009
After hacking through the huge spiderweb covering the long-abandoned portal to my blog, I see that I've posted a sum of 8 entries here in 2009. Really? ... Wow.
Each post is like those little shacks one sees out in the desert with nothing else for miles around to stake some sort of claim on the land. Or like my random, infrequent visit to the health club to justify my company's reimbursements and keep things 'open' for when I get serious again. My posts tell Blogdrive, (and kind bloggers who might still keep my links active) that I have not really abandoned my blog.
Actually during this past month I have been thinking about a revival, but pondering how it needs to be formatted and the content. Blogging fell to the wayside when my internet friends discovered the social playground of Facebook. We have used common message threads to do most of our socializing and we have mostly avoided the hot topics of religion and politics. We still want to share this part of our lives, but not in our cozy social threads.
Therefore, we are reviving or starting blogs again where people can choose to visit or not, or to skip over entries they don't want to read. I know this can be done using Facebook's Notes application, but I think keeping this added distance might be better.
I have decided to revive Life Off Hold. It will contain the same range of topics from the very mundane daily stuff (my forte!) to political views, and some spiritual and political/spiritual musings.
One of my FB (Facebook) friends at the opposite end of the political spectrum said that what she finds most interesting when reading people's views is to be able to understand what in the writer's life shaped their viewpoints. I totally agree with this and hope to enter those waters too.
My political views have been shaped by my instilled values, life experiences, reading, political influences. Christian beliefs, spiritual experiences and overall ponderings. No one will call my synthesis 'mainstream'. On the dissection table you might find a large chunk of Conservativism, along with some Christian theology, Populism, Constitutionalism, Conspiracy suspicions, and End Times prophecy evidence.
My real interest in life is spiritual and I believe we are living in unique times, possibly even End Times. I have also had 30+ years of spiritual experiences and insight which have solidly confirmed the truth of my Christian and Catholic faith; they have also 'ordered' and integrated my political and cultural views. I believe they need to be referenced at least in some respect.
In order to have a goal to get this thing started, I plan to do at least one 'serious' post and one on some everyday topic a week. It is time to get started.
Posted at 11/13/2009 7:58:06 pm by lifeonhold
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Friday, August 07, 2009
I did something this afternoon that I've never done before in my life.
I stood at a corner during rush hour traffic holding a home-made sign
as part of a mini-Tea Party gathering.
It was a new rally and I expected only 4-6 people to be there. The
count was more like 25 and the response by the people in traffic was
quite rousing, with waves of horn honks and thumbs up. Some people took
pictures including one guy who risked being rear-ended when he stopped
in moving traffic to get photos. My favorite response was from a few
people who yelled out, "Thank you!" Of course there were some negative
responses too, a few thumbs down or shouts at the group.
I'm a wallflower and since most of my friends and co-workers are
liberal, I tend to keep my political opinions mostly to myself. I've
written letters to my political representatives, but this is the first
foray into being part of any demonstration. It's about time! It won't
be the last.
There are many issues that have caused me to turn off the TV and get
out of the armchair and onto the street. The issue for me today is
government health care. I believe that government health care must be
stopped; the result of this program will be a total disaster to our
country. One elderly lady's sign at the roadside rally today said it
best: Govt Health Care, Shovel-Ready for Seniors.
The government program is designed, over time, put all Americans onto a
one-payer government program. This is exactly what Obama stated he
wanted to his special interest groups but which he denies now. It will
destroy the best health care system in the world and overwelm the
system. Once that happens there will be drastic health care rationing,
all decided by radical czars subscribing to eugenics philosophy and
methods. Three of these people are heath care advisors and regulators
already in the Obama White House.
None of this is being shown in the media or allowed to be part of the
health care discussion. I urge people to view this video in it's
entirety and to consider that there might just be more going on that
should be brought to light before we allow programs to be signed into
law that will affect all of our lives.
Posted at 8/7/2009 10:35:06 pm by lifeonhold
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Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Adopt a Big Brother Hammie
THIS BLOG ENTRY IS FOR BIG BROTHER FANS ONLY A few of us that watched The Bachelorette together in chatHT played a 'game' where we randomly assigned bachelors to each of us; we are going to do the same with the Big Brother 11 houseguests. We are inviting all to participate in this 'game' which I'll describe below:Two hammies will be assigned at random using a computer randomizer program for each participant. I will do the randomizing and posting. Requests for your hammies can be made by contacting me via this blog, email, Hamstertime.net via PM, or in chatHT. Put Adopt a Hammie in the Subject line.These are your "adopted" hammies for the duration of the season. There is no other element of the game other than your ongoing shame or ability to champion your hammie. Like family, you don't get to pick. This adds a small amount of personalization and interest to the behavior of your hammies in the Big Brother house. Self-mockery for your loser hammie is always a good thing. There is no tracking, winning, or anything else. Just your own balls and chains. Ignore them, tout them, dress them up, they're yours to play with.Obviously, since we're one big cross-bred family, other participants will also have links to your losers. Think of it as a clique ...Anyway, if you want to adopt two hammies, contact me in one of these ways:This blog entry - email me using the Contact Me link above my avatar
Facebook - send me a message - Mary L Nelson
Hamstertime - PM me - lifeonhold
ChatHT - ask when I'm in chat
Again, I'll need an email address or other way to respond.I will open up a message thread on Facebook for some summaries and for us to message about our adopted hammies once we are underway.
Posted at 7/7/2009 6:55:09 pm by lifeonhold
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Wednesday, July 01, 2009
A few days ago I was happily contacted by the fellow who rescued my cat, Honey, from life on the streets. He volunteered at the shelter where I got her back in December 2003 and followed up on her early months with me via my blog entries. It's been a long time since she's had an entry so here goes ...Honey is doing very well. Honey has dropped so many of her fears. Of course she began fearful of me, and everything, but those days are long past. Her only remaining ongoing fear is of thunderstorms, but she no longer salivates and cries continually or runs under the bed. Instead she comes to where I am and huddles near my feet and I pet her.In this past year she has learned to come onto my lap for brushing. She has several cat beds including her "condo" - bed on top of a table and a secure area below it hidden by a quilt "curtain". Recently I added another bed at the elbow of my easy chair where I sit with my laptop in the evening.She cuddles next to me on my bed at the beginning of every evening and then in the morning. If I stay up too late for her she acts like a mommy cat to try to get me to bed. After the cuddle time she goes to her condo for the rest of the night.She loves to watch the birdies at the bird feeder and to play with toy balls across the floor. She is very loving, grateful, and happy. She has also been in good health, although she is the same plump cat she was in the shelter.I can pick her up now which she tolerates for a little bit of time.I received her in December 2003 and at that time the estimate was that she was about 5 years old, so that will make her about 11 years old now. She is always a joy and often restores my humanity after the daily 'wars'.
Posted at 7/1/2009 6:30:55 pm by lifeonhold
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Monday, June 08, 2009
I'm slowly de-constructing my desktop computer's set-up and finding ways to make my laptop the computing hub. The only thing my desktop has been used for is my scanning project and subsequent file storage on external hard drives and to connect to my printers.
As an aside about the HDs, one is for Photos, one for Music/Audio, and one for Household Documents/Memorabilia.
I've wanted to get the external hard drives over to my laptop, but space and methodology has been a problem, but this weekend I designed a workable solution to have everything at hand and mobile.
Introducing the External Hard Drives Cart:
The cart is from Staples with 3 drawers removed. I got a thin piece of
wood at Home Depot and had them cut it into pieces to make a shelf for
each HD. I covered the wood in contact paper [black or dark would have
been better; I can re-do that later] and taped them in place in the
front & back so the shelf won't slide off. The power converter for each of the HDs reside in the drawer below the lowest HD. All the cords are taped up onto the frame so they're not dragging all over the floor. All the elements are labeled: drive, converter, plugs, and USB ends. The top drawer contains Remotes for my BlueRay & Roku, USB sticks, digital camera, and USB cords to upload from my camera and to manage my mp3 player content. My laptop sits on a wire shelf rack and the power cord and mouse cord is attached using velcro strips. When not in use on my lap, the shelf-laptop assembly sits on top of the cart. A power cord with 3 plugs resides on the floor at the base of the cart when in use or, unplugged, draped over the leg of the laptop shelf along with the laptop power cord. If I desire the external HDs to connect back to the desktop computer I need only to roll the cart over to that workstation and make the appropriate connections for the task at hand. I get jazzed when I find a functional solution to my space and usage dilemmas so I have to show it off.
Posted at 6/8/2009 1:02:50 am by lifeonhold
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
If any of my few readers are alarmed by efforts to impose very costly increases in our energy via another government restriction that shifts our money to big government and big business, here are where you can make your voices heard.Cap and Trade creates a new 'commodity' for the government to regulate and tax. ALL costs will be passed along to the consumers and they are not small; the estimates are in the range of $1,600 - $3,000 per year, and some even go higher when you factor in the increases in cost of manufacturing goods which will be passed along to the consumers also. It will make America less competitive, cost jobs, and make the cost of living dramatically rise for everyone. It will cripple our economy.Barack Obama, during the campaign, stated that this will mean a steep rise in energy costs. Any 'offsets' that the government puts in place to 'help the poor' makes lower, and even middle class, more dependent on the government for survival. This increases the control and power of government.I'd like to remind people what just a $2 increase in the cost of gasoline did to our economy. We are still working through the impact of just that 4-month increase. The people pushing this bill have a vested interest in it's passage - government to get more money for it's programs and therefore more power; GE - the largest manufacturer of wind turbines (increased market share, influence, corporate power) and even Al Gore - HEAVILY invested in structures and programs that will benefit from this bill; he is set to become the 1st "Green Billionaire" from his strategies behind the scenes. Cap & Trade and Green Job creation has failed in places like Spain where it has cost 2 jobs for every 1 green job created and at a cost of $600,000 per job. ---- Pam Fowler of the CT Tea Party Patriots compiled this contact information below:The American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009 – Update The
Cap & Trade (ACES) Act has been referred to eight committees; these
are the targets we need to focus on right now. Our research indicates
that Waxman doesn’t have enough votes to pass HR 2454 on the floor so
it has been moved into these committees. Why is this bill being put back into committees? Sweet heart deals? The
most effective thing do is get to the Committees themselves. Tell the
committees NO MORE government limits on our rights! NO more hidden
taxes! NO to HR 2454 (ACES)! *** Be SPECIFIC. DO NOT say Cap and Trade. Say HR 2454 (ACES)Committee on Energy and Commerce, (202) 225-2927 http://energycommerce.house.gov/ Committees on Foreign Affairs, (202) 225-5021 http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/ Financial Services, (202) 225-4247 http://financialservices.house.gov/ Education and Labor, (202) 225-3725 http://edlabor.house.gov/ Science and Technology, (202) 225-6375 http://science.house.gov/ Transportation and Infrastructure, (202) 225-4472 http://transportation.house.gov/ Natural Resources, Agriculture, (202) 225-6065 http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/ Ways and Means, (202) 225-3625 http://waysandmeans.house.gov/ May 21st Mark Up on HR 2454 http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...
Posted at 5/27/2009 12:13:12 pm by lifeonhold
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
After 5 years of good performance, my Dell laptop told me she wanted to go into her retirement. I had been dealing with her aches and pains for several months and even took her to the computer doctor a while back. She would work fine for a few hours and then overheat and freeze up and her 'good hours' were getting shorter and shorter. Friday night she let me know that she just couldn't keep up with my demanding schedule anymore. With Big Brother beginning in 6 weeks, I didn't want to wait for the new hammies to stroke out the Dell.
Saturday I lucked into a sale on the HP laptop I wanted at Best Buy [see link] and purchased it for $499.99; the next day the sale was over. Luckily, I could defray about half of my overall cost of the system and software by my recent bonus. Good timing!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9167947&type=product&id=1218041998788
I loooovvvvee my new laptop! The wide screen will help with all the multitasking I do every day. Streamed video and movies from Netflix are stunning in HD. The Altec Lansing speakers are a huge quality and volume improvement over the Dell. The dual-core processor is fast. There is more HD space.
On the downside, the computer keys are stainless steel and the letter imprints are not very prominent; I wonder if I'll lose my lettering with repeated use. Also, I thought I'd like having the connections on the side of the laptop, but find they are just slightly bothersome in these positions, particularly the A/C cord. These are minor things.
Vista seems quite intuitive and I look forward to learning it's features.
I spent most of the remainder of the long weekend 'moving in the furniture':
Windows OneCare Security - needed Microsoft tech support because my disk was for XP; they added the new laptop from their end and the issue was resolved quickly.
Wireless Connectivity - I could not find my security key for my encrypted router. Needed to call the manufacturer and spend $74 for them to retrieve it for me. I'm usually extremely careful to record this type of info. I'll probably find it next week. Despite the expense, the problem was resolved quickly.
Loaded the household furniture:
Mozilla Firefox - my browser of preference. Of course I had to totally set up my bookmarks again.
AIM - Aim software for Chat & IM-ing.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 - essential for the BB photochops, banners, and other creations
Jing - free software to quickly do screen captures. www.jingproject.com. All you BB fans will love it.
Adobe Reader - to view .pdf files, free download.
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 Edition - on sale. Should be compatible with my work system which will allow me to update my files transferring back and forth using a USB stick.
iTunes - free. Need my podcasts! Set up podcast subscriptions.
RealPlayer - free (until BB). Music player of choice when I'm not using iTunes.
Sound Editor - (forgot the name); googled free sound editor, did a trial and then paid for their basic version $30; I use it to edit Glenn Beck and other podcasts to save content clips of interest.
iRiver Manager - allows me to load and manage the audio files on my mp3 player. This was a challenging set-up. I had to go to the manufacturer's site and get instructions and upgraded software, but it is now good to go.
Games - I didn't need to download any of these; my favorites were included in the package: Freecell Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, and Mah Jhonng.
Not loaded, not sure if I'll need yet:
CD and Data disk creator, such as Roxio
ScantoPDF - great utility to scan files into PDF format. Since I don't have my scanner attached to the laptop I don't need it, yet.
Snag-It - it's an excellent program for capturing web pages, content, photos, and streaming video. I've used it in the past for BB video and screen captures. However I'll probably get the BB Reloader software and with Jing I can manage for my BB needs. Therefore, it isn't essential at this time.
I did have to purchase the tech support and some of the software; due to the security alerts placed on all my credit cards due to the recent fraud, the card I was using for all the software triggered an alarm condition. Unfortunately, this came at a time Netflix was trying to bill me for the monthly fee and since my card was suspended until I verified the purchase, Netflix suspended my service. I was on the phone with them and the credit card company at 3 AM early Monday morning getting everything resolved.
So, I've taken care of the problems and equipped my new lappy. Now I'm ready to PLAY! I think it is about time to make a new blog banner ...
Posted at 5/26/2009 1:07:12 pm by lifeonhold
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I just told TIME not to renew a subscription I've maintained almost continually over 25 years.
I always used to consider it to be rather middle of the road and generally I've liked the quality and range of of its content.
In this past year, however, I just hit my overload of halo-ed Obama photos and in-the-tank stories. I no longer will support publications or 'news' shows that will not honestly express my opposition views. I repeatedly see how the nightly news and publications like TIME hollow out or disfigure my voice, my concerns, my arguments and even demonizes me.
Well guys, at least I've stopped paying for you to do it.
Posted at 4/21/2009 1:05:10 pm by lifeonhold
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