Luckily, she likes the back yard

After I started a load of laundry, I started vacuuming. It's a good thing the washing machine have uneven load, and that Ziggy likes the back yard and didn't stray far.

Yes, Wing, you once again didn't close the screen door, and Ziggy yanked open the sliding glass door and headed out to parts unknown.. well, into the back yard. 

Yowza is she loud when she meows. 

Well that made my day

I get an email notice when AusPost has a parcel/deliveries headed my way. So, I waited.

I heard a knock on the front door. I went out the side, as usual and looked over the gate. I spotted a new delivery person. He saw me, came over, and I introduced myself, and told him that if there's ever delivery, come to the side entrance, not the front, as the side is where I'm editing photos, reading, or doing whatever.

He told me that at the Bibra Lake mail depot, that I'm known as "Oh, that nice lady at * ***** ******." The new delivery person agreed. :D

Kind of made my day.

I've upset Ziggy... again.

I cleared off the playground, aka cleaned off my desks.  She seems a bit riled, as she keeps jumping onto the windowsill, leaping to the sofa, down to the floor, repeat.  Now she's deliberately knocking things off the TV stand.

Wench.

Short list of three

I've had this photoshoot concept, and have been hammering away at how to do it (solved) and who will be my female model (solved).  My problem was finding the right male model for it.

I had a list of about 6. I culled it back to 4.  Removed one more to make it a short list of 3.  Either of them would be great for what I want (want youthful, but not young, appearance, kind of not quite worldly, innocent).

Once the selection is down to one, it will be a matter of scheduling (her schedule, his schedule). Studio time is negotiable, as much of this could be done outdoors, with flash stands for extra or directed lighting.

Corel PSPX6 Update

Just for giggles, I opened up the 32bit version of PSPX6. Selected Preferences, File Locations, Plugins. I clicked on add and pointed the program to the Paintshop Pro X5 plugin directory and to my delight, all the plugins I had been used to using with X5 work in X6 32bit.

True, the 64bit allows to use full system resources when it comes to memory usage, but counter that with being able to use all the tools/plugins.

Plugins Compatible with Corel Paintshop Pro X6 Ultimate 32bit:

Alien Skin (all of them )
Athentech Imaging - Portrait Professional
ePaperPress PTLens Correction
Flaming Pear Plugins
Focus Magic
Nik Software; Color Efex Pro 2 and 3, Viveza 1, Define 2, Silver Efex 1, Sharpener Pro 2.0, Sharpener Pro 3.0 (RAW), Sharpener Pro 3.0 (Output Sharpener.) Hoping that Nik/Google and Corel get together to make the more recent plugins compatible with Corel.
Redfield Plugins
Richard Rosenman: DOF Pro and LensPro
Picture Code Noise Ninja
Virtual Painter

Corel Paintshop Pro X6

Corel has new version of PaintShop Pro Ultimate out soon. I had the good fortune of being able to get my hot little hands on it before the mass release.. LEGALLY

First up: it loads a helluva lot faster than any incarnation of Photoshop, and it's browse/collection feature kicks Bridge into the dust.

The built in tools are great, no doubt, and the camera RAW support is fantastic.

Supposedly, there is 3rd Party plugin support ala Photoshop Plugins working in it, but I regret to say.. not so good.

What does work so far is this:

Focus Magic
Alienskin Plugins
Redfield Plugins
Nik Software - Sharpener Pro 3 only
ePaperPress -PTLens Correction
Anthropics - Portrait Professional



This might change in the future, but this is what I have that works so far. None of the onOne plugins are recognized, but that's the same as Paintshop Pro X5. And with onONe Suite, it can be used as a standalone. With regards to Nik/Google plugins: in PSPX5, you could use Nik/Google Define 2.0, Silver Efex 1 and Viveza 1. Even those no longer work in PSPX6. Here's hoping that my emailing Corel and Nik/Google about this will bring results we want.

That being said, Corel PaintshopPro X6 by itself is one helluva good program. Adjustment tools are very good. The selection tools, especially the Smart Selection, surpasses Adobe Photoshops yet again. It's also more stable then it's predecessor.

So, if you don't want Subscription Photoshop, go for Corel Paintshop Pro X6. You will NOT be disappointed.

Uhh, more TeaBorg mental re-writing of Constitutional Law.. regardless of facts

Senator Ted Cruz has made the most outlandish statement. He's saying he's renouncing his Canadian citizenship, and that although he was born in Calgary, he's a natural born (ie by birth) US citizen, because his mother is American.

That's not how it works.

He can renounce his Canadian citizenship all he wants, but unless he was born on US territory in Canada (ie Embassy, military base etc) which he wasn't, he's not a US citizen by birth, but naturalized, as he was born in Calgary and MOVED to the US.


I know all the Teaborgs will deny this, but Ted Cruz is a Canadian by birth, and a Naturalized US citizen. Sad thing, is that this lie will be repeated over and over and over, just like when Cheney did it, that stupid people will start to believe that lie, and defend it unto death.

On an aside, he's one of the TeaBorg birthers that insists that President Barack Obama, born in Hawaii of an American Mother is somehow a Kenyan.

Mom-in-Law (and Yin) update

The doctor said there's a slight yet noticeable improvement in An's mental state. Small increases in her medications are showing signs of working. Yes, she still insists the medication is making her 'dopey', but she is told immediately that the meds she's being given aren't sedatives, and can't cause drowsiness. Also, now when she makes up or lies about something, she is brought up short on it, told flat out that that's not true, and to stop it. Her 'playacting' can be unintentionally funny. She was insisting her hands were too unsteady to sign her name. She had been holding them rock steady in front of her, and when Wing pointed that out, she darted a look around, unfolded her hands, put one slightly in front of the other and deliberately started shaking it up and down. Wing looked at it, laughed and called her out on it. Told to quit it, as she was doing it herself. She got a bit..huffy and told him it was time for him to leave.

She is still being 'not treated nice' by the hospital staff (translation, they make sure she eats her meals, takes the supplements and medications) and that won't be stopped any time soon.

Wing was advised to not come every day, to break up that routine, to make An go out and do something rather than hiding in her room.

Yin is her cat. Between 16 and 17 yrs old by my calculation. That poor moggie was in deplorable shape. Matted fur, underfed, in very poor condition. Much of it was because with An being ill and not eating properly, she was doing the same thing to the cat. She was give just extra lean hamburger, and canned tuna in water. No fats, no taurines, nothing.

After 3 weeks of proper care and feeding, the matted fur has been all but totally brushed off, she's put on some weight so isn't so bony, walking stronger and less wobbly. I also saw her jogging from one room to another. She does have obvious arthritis in the 'wrist' of her left leg, but seeing how senior of a cat she is, it's not surprising. But now, with the proper fats in her diet, she is moving much better, quicker and steadier on her feet. Her coat is getting softer and fuller, not so brittle feeling.

When An is out of the hospital, she will be given strict feeding instructions for Yin. She might be a 17 yr old cat, but she is active, alert, all bodily functions working, and toileting properly. There's not reason that she can't have another 4 good years with the proper care.

Change of dinner plans

I had taken the hamburger/beef mince out of the freezer early this morning. I wanted to start making my 3 burner Chili for dinner. I went out at 1pm, thinking the hamburger would be defrosted. *sigh* Nope, you can hammer nails into a wall with it. So, I guess it's not just me being cold, and that it's actually cold in the house.

So, have to decide what will be on the dinner menu tonight, as I don't like using microwave to defrost hamburger.

Long day today

But a very good one. Got up early, as Wing said we were expected in Leederville by 10am. I was up and ready on time, but Wing was running late like usual. So, arrived a bit late, and we all had a goodly breakfast, did a bit of street photography, then headed to Lake Monger.


What surprised me was how far around the lake I managed to walk without having to sit down, or starting to limp. Definite improvement from the last time. Doc did say it would take years for me to completely recover, but I would. And I am! :D

After a few hours there, Wing and headed into Fremantle to attend a Venture Photography gathering. Hung out there for a few hours. While I was taking photos, I felt someone tap me on my shoulder. I turned to look, and a very nice young man handed me a rose, and said "Thank you for supporting the "Sea Shepherds" I was wearing the 'official' Sea Shepherds hooded sweatshirt (keep Zimmerman away from me!). Then I got a hug from him. Kinda made my day.

Came home, and surprisingly my back is not too sore. Here's hoping that there's no being lame tomorrow.

It's been at least 50 restarts

I'm beginning to think that even though the laptop came with Windows 7 64 installed, I kept having intermittent BSODs on start up. and other odd errors. It was sold with a $15 upgrade to Windows 8. I have a funny feeling the laptop was made for Windows 8, but the OS wasn't available for installation.

The first attempt to upgrade to Windows 8 had problem after problem. The 'straw' was after setting up a custom theme, had to reboot, and got a solid black screen, and there was no way for me to boot in via safe mode, because some bright spark decided to set Windows 8 up that you had to start up in Safe Mode by choosing it while IN Windows 8 desktop. *boggle*

Restored the original Windows 7 system, as I was wise enough to make a full system image back up before the upgrade. After running the system for several more months, putting up with the intermittent BSODs at start up (all troubleshooting procedures were done, drivers updated, rolled back, etc etc) I decided to try to upgrade to Windows 8 again. But this time, I had all the drivers needed for W8, uninstalled utilities I knew would cause problems, but could be reinstalled.

Well, it's been at least a month, have had at least 50 reboots and not one BSOD at start up or at any other time. So, again, I'm betting that even though windows 7 was installed on this computer, it was really built for Windows 8.

Two steps forward, one step back

Wing 's mom has had a relapse. She's refusing to eat all of her meals, now, and lost the weight she put on the first 7 days she was there.

Trudi says it's not unusual and to be expected.

We think t's because she's resorting to emotional blackmail, as a way to be allowed/let out, as her ruse of sending us shopping for suitable clothing' , and nothing being 'suitable', so she needed to be there, aka out of the hospital. She was told that this wasn't going to happen, and the depression troll kicked in. She's been doing the moaning, rocking, whining, cajoling, woe is me, I'm doomed, we don't know anything, the doctors don't know anything, etc etc.

Well, her reward for refusing to eat is she has to now take a dietary supplement 4 times a day. It's about an inch worth, in a water cooler cup. She carried on and on for 15 minutes, about how terrible this was, moaning, moaning, saying no, I don't need this, I don't want this. Cue one of the NOT NICE NURSES. Told her yes she does and she was carefully watched to make sure she took it, and didn't just pour it down the drain, or spit it out. 15 minutes of fighting about it, less than 5 seconds to take it. sigh

She was told by me, and Wing (and the hospital staff) that if she doesn't eat her meals, she has to take the dietary supplements. Thing is, if she keeps this up for too much longer, the semi-hunger strike, they will force feed her, and we don't want it coming to that.

Also, she prefers to have only Wing visiting her. Not going to gloss over the reasons why, but the short version is I'm not a 'suitable' wife for Wing, in her eyes. Of course, the other reason she doesn't want me there is I'm more like Trudi. I will contradict her, and I will tell her to calm down that she's winding herself up, the same way Trudi does.

More improvements.. baby steps, but visible

An is showing definite signs of improvement. She wasn't obsessively clutching her hands tight, tsking and moaning over everything. Now, however, she has gone to the next, expected, stage: emotional blackmail. She tries to convince Wing that she is doomed, that we have sealed her fate, that she will die in there, how can he be so wrong, so optimistic, so naive. I told him to wait, he will be hit with even more.

Also told him to be prepared because even though I've been all for getting her well, and back home asap, she will probably start saying the stay in the hospital is some dastardly plan of mine.

She has also tried to bamboozle the hospital staff into letting her out to go shopping for clothing, as everything she has is suddenly 'unsuitable'. She told them it would only take 4 days. Doctor nixed it, as expected.

So then she tried it on Wing.
He said "How about if I get you some clothes."

An: "No no. Maybe not 4 days, but 3?"

Wing: If you need something we can get it for you.

Wing: How about I bring them from home?

An: No! They're filthy! (no, but hey, it's part of the depression). Just let me out and I can get something suitable

Wing: Sandra can wash them.

An: *sighs and gives up for now* Ok.

Clothing laundered, dried, brought to her, but one of them isn't 'right' for the hospital.

Wing did say she's having moments of total lucidity, then flips to scared depressed/anxiety ridden at the blink of an eye. But the lucid moments are getting longer.

Oh! Almost forgot: she might not be taking part in the gatherings in the TV room, or in Occupational Therapy, but she has poked her nose in for a look/see. Better than just sitting in her room adjusting the blanket over and over. :)