Well, that didn't go totally bad

Didn't go totally good, either. Wing and I did a mad dash to get all our errands and shopping done, because he was going to take his mom out shopping again.

From what he told me, she started in with her routine about how horrible things are for her. And when the subject of her depression and anxiety that was clear as the high noon sun to the highly trained assessor. She, of course, dismissed the findings. "She was ONLY an assessor, what would she know." Gee, maybe because she trained for this job, studied for years, and knows when a stubborn, depressed senior citizen who refuses to see the forest for the trees.

The corker was she bald faced lied to him, and he has proof of it. She claimed she wasn't offered the "Meals on Wheels" service. We have the email from the assessor were it clearly states An declined, claiming it was too expensive.

Oh, and she isn't too happy with me, but here's the damn I frankly don't give a fuck about.

Not going to allow her to say no no no all the time

Wing 's mom is truly suffering from depression. And couple that with anxiety it means she isn't sleeping, or eating, losing weight, having memory lapses.

She had an assessment from an "Active Care Giver" service, and pretty much said all the same things we have been saying for months and months. Severe depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, borderline malnutrition. She was offered "Meals On Wheels" but she said no. Fine. We are getting a vacuum food sealer that can seal wet and dry, and we will prepare food here, keeping in mind her dietary restrictions (no red meat or pork). And if needs be, I will hop on my trusty bike, and deliver them on a daily basis. Then I will sit there and wait until she has eaten whats been brought, and will only leave until I get the dishes cleaned. She can put them away.

I will keep doing thing until her signs of malnutrition start abating. I don't care if she whines, complains etc etc. Do not mess with the American Daughter In law. Her days of guilting Wing into doing things her way all the time are over. Enough. I don't do guilt, and if someone tries to guilt trip me, I don't cave in, I get pissed off and fight back.

If she tries to make it a game of choosing between giving in to her, or keeping Wing sane and healthy, it's Wing.

Ok, now those are working

Got the updates for my Alien Skin plugins. They work in CC now. HOWEVER, with only CC 32bit 'seeing' PhotoTools Pro, and PhotoTune (especially PhotoTools Pro), and not working in CC64bit (I've contacted the makers of and they will not be making them compatible with CC64 and really didn't plan on them working with CC32 bit, and said I should just count myself lucky about that.

So, Photoshop CC has the same inherent problems that CS6 has, AND I can't use specific tools/plugins for it... Again, I will say if you have CS6 and it works for you (or can afford to get CS6 before they stop selling at June 30th), give CC a miss. It's not worth them soaking $240 a year out of you.

Goodish News, badish news concerning Creative Cloud

Going through the laborious process of running the installation files for my OnOne photo Suite, from v5x to 7.5 to make sure that at least tools will install in the 32bit Photoshop CC. I'm not even given an option to install them (with the exception of 7.5) in CC 64 bit, so I can't even using the little trick I discovered of copying one DLL from the 32 bit directory to make the tools functional in the 64 bit version.

Also, still no joy on using any of my Alien Skin plugins with CC. *sigh*

So far, though, it seems my options are stay with CS6E 64 bit with all tools and plugins functional, or use CC, with it hobble, or using it 32bit only, thereby not using full system resources and to be continuously billed for the luxury of not being able to use all the plugins and tool. OR bounce from the 64bit to the 32bit versions of CC and then off to CS6? My brain hurts.

What a frigging choice, yes?

A pillaging we did go.. and it was good!

First stop was Camera Electronic. I brought the 'what? you want ME to focus?" lens in to have it checked out, and to show that the dust in the viewfinder, that I paid to have cleaned, was still there. Good news; seems to be the not focusing was probably caused by the finest of cat or human hair. All is well now. Will drop off camera for proper cleaning after Photo Expose W.A. is over. Also got a different head for my monopod for macro shots. Swivel the camera rather than the monopod.

Next stop: breakfast. Nom nom nom. Off to pillage. We hunted, we gathered, we paid, and then we headed to our next stop.

City Farmers to pick up a back of Senior cat food, and two collars. One for Keito, and one for Ziggy. Of course Wing stopped into Seafood store to get Ziggy some tuna steaks. Darned moggie eats better than we mere humans.

Next port of call, Bunnings Garden Center. My lime tree, no matter how well fed, has yellow leaves. It's pot bound and needs a bigger home. So, asked at Bunnings and it can be moved now, but I have to do a few things first. Remove all the limes (at least a dozen, if not two dozen) wait a few days, then shift it. I have a much larger pot to put it in, and lots of potting soil.

Home sweet home, coffee for me, ibuprofen for Wing.

Might have lucked out

Every year, twice a year, when the rainy seasons hit, the wattle trees start blooming/blossoming. I found out that I was allergic to wattle trees the hard way. By breaking out in a very red, very itchy rash. From hanging clothes on the line, I was unknowingly bringing in and then subsequently wearing pollen from the trees on my clothes.

This year, I spotted the onset of itchy rash, and immediately started hanging clothes on indoor dryer rack, and using the clothes dryer. It seems that with proper use of Telfast, hydrocortizone ointment, and no more clothes out on the line, I might have dodged the first round of twice a year scratching myself until I bleed.

Smash forehead into keyboard to continue

Round 2 with Adobe (non)support. The first round.. I would be charitable to say the guy was a moron. This isn't harsh, but the truth. After telling me there was nothing he could, that I should contact them in 2 or 3 hours (I waited 3 just to be sure) for their tech to be there, as he could not answer my question: Can I reinstall over the corrupted version, or just to a plain uninstall, as the failed update yesterday did something and the deactivate option was greyed out."

Nope, he hadn't a clue, I had to talk to tech support, as this wasn't an 'installation issue'. Really?

So, after three hours, I login to Customer Care. Go through the same song and dance, only to get transferred to their tech (hey, wait a minute! You were supposed to be the tech support!). I get into support chat with Kal. Again, song and dance, failed update, nothing working, can't deactivate, can I just overwrite... etc etc etc.

I will give Kal good marks, as he told me to uninstall, use the Adobe Clean Up tool, and just reinstall. I asked him about deactivation/reactivation. He told me I didn't need to because it's the Creative Suite Master Collection.

*insert the sound of my teeth grinding right about here*

Sandra: I don't need to reactivate it after installation? Just reinstall from the DVDs?

Kal : Correct. If you face any activation issue, feel free to contact us back. We will be glad to assist you with.

Sandra: Why didn't the guy from "Installations and activations" tell me that 3 hours ago??

Kal : I am sorry for that.

Glad I didn't take his word on it

I use an Intuos 5 graphics tablet. I sold my Intuos 3 and all its styluses because the tablet was just too big for my desk.

I visited a store that supplied bits and pieces for the Intuos 5, and asked if I could use the nibs from the I3. I was told no, that I would have to buy new nibs for the stylus, as the nibs for I3 weren't compatible with the I5.

I'd been noticing my I5 stylus had a burr on it, so I got box that had the spare I5 replacement nibs, and some of the old I3 nibs. Just for giggles I took one of the I3 nibs, inserted it, and tried it out on my tablet. Imagine my surprise when it worked just fine.

I don't mind stores, or anyone making a profit, but I do mind them making a profit by lying to me.