Pinnacles, Stage 1

We left a bit later than we had planned, but taking mom out to lunch had priority. Still amazing the difference in her.

Arrived at the Cervantes Pinnacles Motel. Receptionist remembered us from the last time we were here. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Sometimes, old methods work best

Wing brought a Neti pot home tonight, for me to use. Heated up some filtered water, added it and the ph balanced salt mixture and flushed my sinuses out. It took a while for the solution to exit because of how swollen my sinuses must have been. But when it started flowing out, the painful pressure started easing. Tipped head and flushed out the other direction. Blessed relief about about 2 hrs. Repeated treatment.

I might still have a runny/stuffy nose but at least it doesn't feel as if my face is a pressure cooker. Here's hoping it means I can get a good nights sleep tonight.

Feeling a bit 'lazy'

Well, not lazy, but enervated. I've had the worst allergy attack in about 5 years. Not just a case of the sniffles, but painfully blocked sinuses along, itchy eyes, and ringing in the ears.

I don't truly have a fever, but I feel cold, and the only way I feel comfortable is when I'm buried in blankets. I know it's allergies rather than a cold because if I stay in the shower, allergic symptoms abate. Unfortunately, I can't stay in the shower all day, and right now, my face feels as if it's filled with quick-set concrete. :p

Allergies - 1, Me - 0

But I am putting up the good fight. Between Telfast, Azep and ibuprofen, I'm at least semi functional. At least my face doesn't feel as if the front of my face or eyes want to explode or separate from my skull.

Still feel so very tired. Ribs sore from the sneezing, too. :p 

It's called Hay Fever for a reason

Achy, sneezing, itching eyes, and fever.  Pressure and pain behind the eyes. I get some relief when I was in the shower, but can't stay in there all day. 

Also, sleepy. And that's without taking anything for it.  Bad timing, because I want to get some things cooked up for Mom in Law. She's back home, and we would like to make things easy on her. If she doesn't have to worry about cooking (something that Wing  will attest to that other than rice, she can't do very well) it will keep her relaxed and stress free.  Don't want to do everything for her, but the occasional roasted chicken, or grilled fish would be most welcome.

To say Ziggy is 'high strung'

Is an understatement.  Ziggy isn't allowed to roam free, but I do let her accompany me when I'm futzing around with my potted plants in the back yard.

She typically shadows me, meowing all the time as if announcing her presence to the world, and explores the back yard as I go along pruning, watering and feeding the plants.

When we came around to the gate area, Ziggy flopped down on a patch of sun-warmed bricks and started rolling around on them.  She was a little too close to the gate, and she ever so gently nudged it with her head. Of course, the metal gate rattled, startling her. She sprang to her feet, proceeded to inflate and dashed into the house.

I, of course, held off laughter until she was out of sight.

Amazing what three months of care and treatment will do

Today, we visited An at the hospital, to take her out on a lunch date.  An is like a completely different person than the wounded soul that was admitted to the hospital 3 months ago. She smiled, laughed, greeted everyone with a pleasant demeanor, hugged, kissed. Although still woefully thin, she's no longer 'starvation gaunt' anymore. And it shows in her face.

Then we took her to lunch. Let's just say she is absolved from having to eat afternoon sandwich today. We even told her nurses this. Still amazed at what such a tiny woman can pack away. Also, she wasn't obsessing over oil in the food. We didn't see her squishing squid between to napkins to the point her nail beds were white, trying to squeeze oil out of it. She just ate... and ate, and ate, and ate .

She isn't fully recovered yet, but she is on the road to recovery. And in two sleeps (three if she drifts into a food coma this afternoon) she comes home!

That was fun

Someone just got a new computer, and it has Win8 on it. Well, that horrid Metro Screen and other issue with Win8 were really annoying her but she didn't know how to fix it.

I popped her off a message, and then spent about 2hrs (I offered, not complaining, just showing how thorough I was) getting her up and going, annoyances abated, start button and menu back, unnecessary apps shut down.

Time to take my tech support hat off, take my contacts out, grab a good book, and get ready for some me time. After "Galaxy Quest" is over. :D

No wonder I was squinting

And taking my glasses off to read.  Eye exam showed that my myopia has gotten better, making my 'script  too strong.  No wonder my eyes got tired when wearing them. I would just squint when wearing the contacts.

Will be re-using my current titanium frames. Also, getting a trial 'script for different strength of contacts. They suit, will order 90 days worth.

Of course, this means I will have to reset all diopters on all the cameras. :)  Small price to pay to not have to squint, or have achey eyes.

I think OnOne needs to know this

I downloaded and installed beta version of  PhotoSuite 8. It worked great, but it caused some problems.

1: Disabled certain other OnOne plugins.  PhotoTools 2.6 Pro would open to solid black previews, and PhotoTune 3x kicked back an error and wouldn't launch.  PhotoTune not too much of an issue with me, but PhotoTools have custom presets that weren't transferrable to PhotoSuite 7x, so pretty sure I will have the same problem with v8x.

2: Prevented Browse In Bridge from functioning in ALL versions of Photoshop. CS5E, CS6E and CC, both 32 and 64bit.

I uninstalled it, and all is working as it should again.

Now, this could be because it's beta, but going to tell them about it, because if this happens in the full release, I'll be very pissed off.

I spotted something odd

I was reading postings by Tea Party/GOP supporters, and whenever they posted something snide, or blatantly wrong (ie President is Kenyan, or Rafael Cruz is some sort of genius) I noticed they tend to put capslocked "LOLs" in their postings. Sometimes several in one posting.

I thought that maybe I was seeing things, so I scrolled through several different forums and sites, and checked out postings by what I call TeaBorgs (anyone familiar with Star Trek TNG gets the Borg, but for those who don't, they are part of a collective, incapable of individual thinking for themselves). I noted this "LOL" phenomenon over and over. Postings made by people who weren't TeaBorgs typed concise verifiable data, had TeaBorg rebuttals typically snide comments, links to usually debunked, debated, or flat out made up sites, mixed with many LOLs.

Are they laughing at themselves? I think so, and because of this, I read their venom, and shake my head with pity.

Now I can put "Puppy Wrangler" on my resume

A friend knocked on my window shortly before 9am asking for help with a neighbor.  Turns out their breeding bitch managed to slip her lead, escaped from the back yard, and her puppies were squirming through the fence/gate to get  to her. 

CODE RED!  Went to the neighbors yard, gathered up and held puppies (so CUTE Awww PUPPIES!!!), while dog sitter chased down momma dog, and put her back on her lead.

Then, scooped up the wriggly Houdini  puppies, put them in a container and pinned up heavy mats over the gate, and placed other things to prevent them from escaping again.

Give them another week, and they won't be able to squeeze out, but for now, it will keep them in their yard and safe.

PUPPIES!! Soooo CUTE!!!

DIY Project

The rope on the cats' claw posts/towers were pretty much shredded, and falling off.

Went to Bunnings, got a Heavy Duty Staple Guns, some heavy duty staples, and some of that scritchy rope.  Came home. Went back to Bunnings as the staple gun didn't work (my purchase curse is still in full effect.) Exchanged it for a different one.

Came back home, and stripped the old worn/shredded rope from one of the cat tower posts, and re-wrapped it. Looks brand new.

Before




After



One down, two to go!  Took all of 10 minutes to do it.

Well, this sucks

For the last 4 years, I've been entering the CanonEOS Photo5. You get this small box with everyday, or odd items, and you create something wonderful with them. A few years, I wasn't able to get all entries in (one year an eye infection sidelined me, two years later, one of the most vicious cases of the flu I'd had in years).

Last year I was able to. Last year, the individual entries were judged by professional photographers. Out of that, the judges would pick 5 of who they judged were the best in each category, and it came down to popular voite. That kind of didn't sit right, because if you don't have a few hundred relatives or internet friends, you have no chance of winning.

But this year... Not only did the boxes not arrive in time for many, they didn't extend the deadlines due to mishandling the on mailing out the boxes. I had to do a few of the briefs on my own before my box showed up (funnily enough, two showed up on one day, and then 4 days later a 3rd one showed up.)

After I entered, I found out that it's down to 'votes', not being judged by pro photographers. Photography skills, imagination and creativity right out the window, it's down to who can get the most people to vote for their images. Again, if you don't have a huge coterie of family and friends, you're shit out of luck. Not only is it voting, but the voting system is horrid! You get five random images, and you have to cycle through them, with constant repeated images, until you find the one you want to vote for. It took me 26 minutes to find one of mine.

I don't know who thought this new method was a good idea. I want to know who was handling the mailing of the Photo5 boxes? And who thought the constantly shifting images when you try to even view them was a good thing? So much fail.

Anyhooo, here are my CanonEOS Photo5 2013 Entries

Open Brief  - Reflections - Matter/Anti Matter



Brief #2 Flour - Evolution to Bread



Brief #3 - Jelly (Jello) - Bugles, Bangles and Beads



Brief #4 Cartoon Eyes - Mr Coffee and Family




Brief #5 - Stencil - "The Confessional"

Sorry, 16c isn't warm enough

When I'm wearing a sweater over a long sleeved knit shirt, and my feet are cold even when wearing shoes, I put the heat on.

I've been on a nostalgia kick again. This time, items from my childhood, that were taken away, or lost. And not just items I had. One of items, my sister had. Brings back memories of a happier time.

I also managed to get video of Ziggy pulling the peg/lock out of the door frame, and then opening the door. Someone suggested a lock higher up on the door. Already have one, and I've caught her testing that one out! No, they don't need thumb to take over the world. :D