The Busy Beehive Blog

Book Review

2011-12-01T14:32:00.001-05:00

A Heart for Freedom: The Remarkable Journey of a Young Dissident, Her Daring Escape, and Her Ongoing Quest to Bring Justice to China by Chai Ling

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had the privilege of receiving this book free from the publisher in exchange for reviewing it. However, my opinion is my own.

This book is an autobiographical work, telling of the author's childhood in China and her college years when she was involved in the Tiananmen Square protests. Following that, she came to America and made a new life for herself here. It's probably a spoiler to say that she comes to know Christ, but I think you'd know that from the marketing of the book or you might guess by just spotting the publisher's name.

I identified with the author of this book because she is only a few years younger than I am and she was raised in a home where intelligence and education was valued. But her life was very different from mine: at one point both her parents were away serving in the military and she was placed in a foster home for a time. She was also raised in a society where morals were not passed on to the young. This resulted in more than one unplanned pregnancy during her college years. She relates the experiences dispassionately and it is not clear until later how much choice she was given.

If you are interested in a comprehensive history of the Tiananmen Square incident, you will be disappointed. You might need a bit of background before reading this if you want to completely understand the politics behind the historical events. But if you want a glimpse into the Chinese culture and motivations of the students involved in the protests, then this is the book for you.

This is not a book for kids or younger teens, since the author treats the subject of sexuality and abortion with frankness. It is not explicit in any way, and I did not find it offensive, but it's really written for adults. It's also one that might stir up emotions of anyone who has had experience with abortion.
View all my reviews

Tyndale Contest

2011-08-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

Tyndale is running a contest to promote Kevin Leman's new book, It's Your Kid, Not a Gerbil. Click on the link to enter and you might win a copy of the book, a package of books by Kevin Leman or even an iPod Touch.

13 Ways Dish Network is Different than Cable

2011-06-30T11:12:00.000-04:00

We just switched back to Time Warner Cable after being customers of Dish Network for two and a half years.

Why did we switch? and why did we switch back? Price.

Both times, we switched to move to a lower price. Time Warner now has a really good price that lasts for a year. But more about Time Warner's digital cable TV in another blog post. This blog post is about Dish Network.

Here are the differences between Time Warner Cable and Dish Network:

Dish Network pays sub-contractors to install their equipment. Time Warner has their own installers, at least for the inside of your house (the line from the pole to your house might be installed by subs).
With Dish Network, the picture really does sometimes break up when the weather is bad. Not as often as I thought it might, but often enough to be annoying. It can sometimes be "searching for signal" for several minutes, during which you get no picture or sound. Yeah, I know, sometimes the cable goes out, too. After having been a Time Warner customer for probably 15 years, I'd have to say that Dish went out at least twice as often, maybe even more.
The channels are mostly the same, but check the lists for your favorites. What we missed most were Time Warner's local news channel and the local digital weather channels run by our local TV networks.
The channels are in a different order. Actually, I thought the order and numbering system for Dish was better. All of the kids channels are together, and all of the news channels are together. If you like to surf the channels, you might like Dish's lineup better, but if you have a hard time remembering new phone numbers, you might feel the same when all of your channels are now found at new numbers.
They don't always give you an option for where the dish will go. I was certain it would be mounted to the roof, and was surprised to find, after they left, that it was in the back yard, about 10 feet behind my bedroom window. They put up a pole in the back yard and mounted it to that, so the dish itself was about 5 feet off the ground. To give them credit, they did this in very deep snow in the middle of January without complaint.
You have to sign a contract when you get Dish, and then you might still have to pay for repairs. We had Dish for over 2 years. We paid $5.99 a month for a service plan (except for the first 6 months, when we got the service plan for free) and what we got out of it was a new remote when one of the kids broke one. The equipment held up well otherwise and didn't need any repairs. I've never paid for repairs, service calls or new equipment from Time Warner.
Sometimes, with Dish, the system suddenly decides to update itself and you have to wait a few minutes before you get TV back. Generally, a message comes up and gives you a chance to say you don't want it to do it right now, and it generally doesn't happen during prime time, but still, I know this interrupted my TV viewing several times in the 2-1/2 years we had Dish. Time Warner has to update periodically, but it doesn't take as long and it's scheduled for the middle of the night when you should be asleep.
With Dish, If you leave the TV on without changing channels, eventually a sort of screen saver comes on instead of letting you keep watching TV in peace.
Time Warner's digital cable boxes can be programmed to turn on the TV at a certain time and to a specific channel. The Dish machines don't have this function.
Dish offered us boxes that controlled 2 TVs at once. And the DVR worked on 2 TVs, too. At the time when we stopped Time Warner, their equipment didn't do that. Now Time Warner is advertising "Whole House DVR" though there's a hefty extra charge for this. I think Dish would be a cheaper way to have DVR capability in 2 different rooms, though the farther away they are from each other, the harder it is to control the functions from the room that doesn't have the box.
You won't believe the number of cables and the intricate ways the Dish installers will have to re-wire your house in order to make two TVs work with one box. I'm no expert, but what it looked like to me was one wire from the wall to the box, then out from the box to both TVs, and back to the box? I never saw so many splitters. Our cables were already wired to run across the ceiling of the basement and back up into the rooms where the TVs are. But if your house is already wired for cable, in the wall, you might want to ask how they're going to run the wires before you let them have access, especially if you're not fond of unsightly extra wiring. On the plus side, they didn't charge extra for that, and they used quality wires, according to the Time Warner installer who came to dismantle it all when we switched back to cable.
Dish offers a Google TV box. We didn't have one so I can't say if it's any good. You had to pay extra, both up front and an extra monthly fee, so check into the cost of this before you jump. I'm pretty sure Time Warner doesn't offer this, at least not part of their plan.
Time Warner has several features that are part of their regular Digital Cable offering that make a DVR almost unnecessary: Start Over, Look Back and On Demand. This doesn't apply to all channels or all shows, but it applies to quite a bit of them. I will be writing a longer review of Time Warner's digital cable that includes more info on these wonderful features.

Two more things you might want to know about Dish:

You might not get that free gift they promised you when you signed up. When we signed up, we were told we'd get an iPod Nano after we paid for 3 months of Dish. Turns out, this promise is made by a 3rd party company that tries to get people to sign up for Dish. We lost the contact info for that company once we were Dish customers and they never sent the iPod. So if you're promised a free gift, make sure you know the number you called when you signed up for Dish, which might not be the number of Dish Network itself, since they apparently have other companies doing some of their marketing.
When you stop Dish, you have to send the equipment back. They send you a box or boxes to return them in. Yes, they want the remotes, too. Yes, they want at least part of the Dish. Even if you have to climb on the roof to get it. This is when you might be really glad they put it on a pole in your back yard.

This is really quite an interesting blog

2011-06-24T16:54:00.000-04:00

I just scrolled down and read some of the blog posts I wrote in 2008 and some of them were quite interesting and even well-written. I'd totally forgotten about the bees flying all around my computer. And though some of the bullets points are rather long, I enjoyed re-reading the one about my love-hate relationship with technology. More recently, there's my short piece on the benefits of digital scrapbooking, which is one of my most popular posts.

I wish I had more time to just write about stuff I want to write about. But today I'm off to write about how to moderate a Facebook group. ::::sigh::::

Easy Pan Pizzas

2011-03-07T13:59:00.003-05:00

I make this all the time. It's really easy and delicious!

Dough

1-1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup cornmeal (or semolina flour)
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons honey
2-1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Put all ingredients in your bread machine pan according to the manufacturer's instructions. Set it on "dough" setting. Watch to make sure dough forms correctly, and add a little flour or a little water if necessary while it's mixing.

I usually let it go through the whole mixing and rising cycle, that takes 1-1/2 hours or a bit less, but you can take it out after about 1/2 hour if you're in a hurry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (pay attention -- you're going to lower the temperature later).

Divide dough into 2 or 3 pieces with a dough cutter. The number of pieces depends on how many you need to feed and how thick you like your crust. I've also divided it into 2 large pieces and a smaller one (about half the size of the other 2) and made 2 pizzas and a calzone).

Spray two or three cake pans with non-stick spray and set aside. (I like to use an oil mister that I can add my own olive oil to, rather than the aerosol can sprays you can buy in the store.)

Roll out the dough into 3 circles. Each should be an inch or two bigger than the diameter of your cake pans. Put the dough circles into the cake pans and stretch them with your fingers so you have a bit of dough going up the edge of the pan -- how much and how far really depends on your preference.

Topping suggestions:

Crushed tomatoes (from a can) mixed with minced garlic and italian seasoning

or

Diced tomatoes (petit diced work well)

or

Regular jar of pizza sauce

Cooked bite-sized meat of your choice (sausage, bacon, mini-pepperoni)
Shredded mozzarella or your choice of cheese

Anything else your heart desires

Add tomato concoction of your choice and toppings. Place pizzas in oven, close the door and immediately lower the temperature to 400 degrees. Set a timer for 10 minutes.

When the timer goes off, rotate the pans. If you cooked 3 pizzas and they have to be on separate racks in your oven to fit, you may want to swap them to the other rack at this time also. Set the timer for 10 more minutes.

Take the pizzas out of the oven and let them cool a couple of minutes before cutting them. I remove them from the pan right away. For crispier crust, you can leave them in the pan till it's time to cut them.

(Hint about timing for pizzas: if you're not sure, set the timer for less time and check them. Ovens vary, and cooking will also vary depending on the quality of your cake pans. As my mother used to say, you can always cook it longer, but if it's burned, there's no way to go back and un-burn it).

If you use this recipe, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Why Cell Phones are a Waste of Money -- Anecdotal Evidence

2011-02-01T23:36:00.001-05:00

I discovered that, despite having mammoth tires, it's not all that hard to get a Jeep Wrangler stuck in a snowy driveway. Apparently, the 4-Wheel-Drive has to be turned on, and if you don't, it's off.

I looked down and scrutinized this thing that looks like a short gear-shift with a diagram that doesn't really help me know how to get the vehicle into 4WD.

Enter the cell phone. I call my husband. It's his Jeep, after all.

He answers. While I'm explaining my predicament, I jump out of the Jeep and walk behind it to see which tires seem to be stuck. We live in the sticks, and cell service is variable. Apparently the driver's seat of the Jeep has a cell signal, but behind the Jeep does not. The call is dropped.

I go back and stand beside the driver's door, and call him back. But he's calling me back, so I get his voicemail.

I hang up and wonder -- should I call again or wait for him to call? We both wait, and then I call again and this time it just rings and rings and rings. I hang up and get back in the Jeep, handing my phone to my son who is in the passenger seat.

The phone rings, and my son manages to push the wrong button and hang up on his Dad.

Finally, my husband calls back and explains how to put the Jeep in 4WD. If you're counting, this is the 5th call, not counting however many times my husband tried to call me.

This is why I hate paying for a cell phone.

Fortunately, I have a Tracfone so it doesn't cost me too much. Because most of the time I want to throw it out the window, or flush it down the toilet. One day I may do just that, but it cost me $9.95, so it wouldn't be a great loss.

Proof There's Something Wrong with our Healthcare System

2011-01-23T17:29:00.000-05:00

We go to an independent local pharmacy for our prescriptions. It's been in business about 20 years. The owner was a pharmacist at a couple of local pharmacies before starting his own store.

It's in a really busy location, and this location is going to grow even busier due to some new businesses that are coming in the next year or two.

This pharmacy is really busy all the time. I've never been there when it wasn't busy.

But they can't stay in business. They're not making enough money. The owner sold out to a local grocery store that has pharmacies in the store.

There's something wrong with a system when a provider who is busy and has plenty of customers still can't make ends meet. Somehow, I don't think Obamacare will fix it.

9 Reasons to Try Digital Scrapbooking

2010-11-06T14:44:00.003-04:00

Digital scrapbooking is the art of making scrapbook pages and books from digital photos and digital "paper" and elements. It works very similarly to paper scrapping, except you do it on the computer. There are many reasons I prefer this method to paper scrapbooking:

All the "mess" is contained inside the computer. Nothing to get out or clean up or buy storage items for.
Nothing is permanent. I can make a page using a photo, and then make a different page with the same photo.
I can re-do pages for different sizes if I want. Like if I made a bunch of square pages and then I found a coupon for a book with rectangular pages, I can tweak the square pages to make them rectangular.
You get your money's worth when you buy kits because you can re-use them endlessly and never use them up.
It's easy to find free supplies, and even free software, so it doesn't have to cost a lot of money.
You can do neat effects with digital photos that you could never do on paper.
You can still get them printed and made into beautiful books.
If you really like a book you made, you can make a copy to send to a friend or relative, with hardly any extra work.

If you want to know more about digital scrapbooking, post a comment, send me an email, contact me on Facebook, or actually find me in person and ask me. I'd be glad to show you how to do it.

Today's Trending Topics on Twitter

2010-09-11T17:55:00.002-04:00

September 11, 2001

2010-09-10T20:15:00.002-04:00

Do you remember where you were that day?

I was in a Bible study. The first meeting of a Bible study at a church where I only knew one person, and not very well.

But it started before I left home. I remember the Today Show. Matt Lauer had a funny look on his face. "We have breaking news . . . no, we're going to commercial first." I was in a hurry getting ready to leave for the Bible study but I made a point to see what would happen after the commercial break.

They came back with a live shot of the twin towers with smoke pouring out of one of them. They still thought it was a small airplane and didn't have much info.

I remember going into the bathroom. We had a small black and white TV in there, on the shelf above the washer/dryer. My husband was in the shower. I turned on the little TV and pulled it off the shelf so I could turn it and show him.

But, I had planned to leave for this Bible study so a couple minutes later I got in the car. The second plane hit while I was driving down the driveway. I remember the local talk show personality talking about it, he'd seen it on TV. "I'm watching a second plane hit the other tower!"

I didn't believe it. I was convinced that the TV people had found someone who had footage of the first plane, and they were showing it. It wasn't a live shot. It couldn't possibly happen that 2 planes would hit the two towers so close together.

It took 20 minutes or so to get to the Bible study. By the time I got there, I was realizing that it was true, both towers had been hit. But I'm still thinking, small plane, burning building, tragedy . . . but not realizing the magnitude of the situation. Maybe because I couldn't see it with my eyes.

I told the Bible study leader about what I'd heard. Most of those attending had apparently not been listening to a news channel on their car radios. We prayed for the people in the towers and started the study.

About an hour later someone's cell phone rang. She went out and answered it, then came back and told us, "That was my husband on the phone. He said that both towers have collapsed and 100,000 people are dead."

I think I felt like you feel when someone suddenly dies. You don't believe it. Denial. This couldn't have happened.

So then the pastor of the church came in. He gave us more details. More planes. The pentagon. There were at least 6 planes, he said. There was a truck bomb at the Capitol Building.

Bible study was dismissed. I went outside and looked up at the sky. Was a plane going to crash into one of the buildings in the small town of Ballston Spa? What should I do? Where should I go?

I didn't have a cell phone then. But I was within 5 minutes from the school my son attended, so I went there. "Take him home," the Principal said when I entered the school office. "All the parents are taking the kids home."

I went into the church office (the school is a private school on the grounds of a church). They had a TV on, and I was able to see a bit of footage, my first visual confirmation of what had happened.

I went downstairs to the 4th grade class. One of the other students came up to me and asked, "What's going on?" They only knew vague details. I was able to answer that I didn't really know much.

The teacher was in a panic. Her daughter lived in Pennsylvania and she was worried the plane crash there could have killed her. I didn't know enough details to be able to reassure her.

I took my son home. The kids turned on some cable children's channel in the living room and I was very glad for cable channels that just kept broadcasting their regular programming, and also for the fact that we had another TV in the house.

My husband had stayed home, once he saw the second plane hit. No one was going to buy anything from him that day, anyway. We sat in the bedroom and watched the coverage. All the hospitals waiting for lots and lots of wounded people, and only a few actually showing up. People holding up pictures of people who were missing.

And the towers falling . . . they replayed that over and over and over. My little guy said, "There it goes again, the tower falling down." I had to explain that it happened once, but they were repeating it again and again. He seemed to understand -- after all, the channels he watched repeated shows again and agian, so he was familiar with the concept.

I remember for the following month, being still in denial. "I can't believe the towers actually collapsed."

I looked up World Trade Center in my encyclopedia. We have the 1972 World Book, which my parents bought when I was a child. The article about the World Trade Center shows a photo of a mostly-completed building. They were built *after* I was born, they were younger than me and they were gone.

Remember all the flags? Everyone flew a flag. We were all united. We didn't have Democrats bad-mouthing Republicans. But now, looking back, that didn't last that long, did it?

I can remember every detail of that morning. But it feels like we've already forgotten.

Photo credit: Library of Congress

Cash Registers of the Future

2010-09-01T21:30:00.002-04:00

As I went through the self-checkout lane at my local grocery store, I realized something.

When I was a kid, most gas stations were full service. Remember those? If you're under 40, you might not. Here's how they worked: you pulled in, and a person came to your car. You rolled down the window and told them what kind of gas and how much you wanted. They pumped it and then you paid them. If you wanted to pay by credit card, they had a little plastic tray that hooked onto the partially-open window of your car. The tray contained a multi-part sales receipt and had a slot for your card and a pen. Once you signed the receipt, they took their copy and the tray and left you with your copy and your card. If you wanted to, you could ask them to check your oil and water levels, among other things.

Then came the Energy Crisis and gas prices doubled. To reduce costs, many stations started letting you pump your own gas and save some money by doing it. Within a relatively short time, most gas stations went to most or all self-serve pumps. Now, I can't tell you where there is a station that has anyone who will pump your gas for you.

But the grocery store clerks still man the cash registers. Stores have a few self-serve lanes, but most are manned by a real person.

I'm wondering when someone will realize they can promote lower prices if you scan your own groceries. It might put the cashiers out of a job, but I'm thinking that by the time my children are my age, they'll say, "I remember when grocery stores actually had a person who scanned your groceries and took your money. Now all of the stores have only machines and I don't know a single store that has cashiers."

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Pet Peeves About Other Drivers

2010-07-03T13:46:00.003-04:00

Here's the way it works, people: If you're driving down the road, and something is blocking your lane, you have to check to see if there is any oncoming traffic before you just veer into the other lane to go around. You see, the driver who is driving toward you is in her own lane. She has the right to drive in that lane. And yes, you can go around the obstacle, but you have to wait until the other lane is clear. You can't just veer into the path of an oncoming car because there's something in your lane.

I'm sure all of my readers understand this principle, but there seem to be a large number of people driving around out there who don't. That's all I'm saying.

Another thing: if you're pulling a trailer, there are some places you just can't try to park. A small convenience store parking lot is one of them, especially if it's a busy holiday weekend and most of the parking spots in the lot are already full. And if you make a mistake and pull into a small parking lot with your trailer, don't sit there wondering what to do next and block traffic while you decide.

I live in a small, relatively rural town that is on the way to a lake that is popular in the summer. Several organizations take advantage of the extra summer traffic and use it as a way to raise funds for their activities.

Now when I say small town, I mean small. Village, actually. One traffic light. Speed limit 35 mph. One of those blink-or-you'll-miss-it towns. During the fund raisers, they have between 1 and 3 people standing in the middle of the road, on all 4 side of the intersection. Today, one of these was a pregnant lady. Often they have teens doing this, too. Apparently they trust that no one will hit them. It makes me crazy, and I never give to them because I don't want to encourage this behavior. They should send a letter around in May, saying "How much will you give it we promise not to stand in the road and block traffic?" I bet they'd make more money that way.

Things I've Learned by Cleaning a Building that's Open to the Public

2010-06-12T10:50:00.003-04:00

You can learn a lot about human nature by cleaning up a location where humans have been. For instance:

Lots of people don't use the door handles, but push the door open by pushing on the glass.
People don't think about what happens to things after they put them in the trash can.
A surprising number of men and boys believe that urinals are self-flushing.
Women use paper towels and toilet paper at a faster rate than men.
The cleanest bathroom is the one used by the littlest kids.
Just like at home, some people clean up after themselves, and others leave a mess behind.
An amazing number of people leave items of value behind and never come back looking for them.
If you even breathe near a stainless steel surface, it will leave a mark. So imagine what it looks like when you actually touch it.
The state of a classroom after the class has left is a reflection of the teachers who use that classroom.

Photo by Zsuzsanna Kilian

Would you like an image with your search?

2010-06-10T13:42:00.002-04:00

The answer, apparently, is no. We users don't seem to want a background image on their Google search page. The web is a-buzz today with people wanting to know how to turn off this new feature.

Google took a leaf out of Facebook's page, opting users into something they did not want. Google must feel that Bing is a threat, despite the fact that Google is still well ahead in market share. Bing shows users a different image each day, complete with easter eggs.

I have long thought that

People would love the image part of Bing without the search.
Bing has gained market share due to being the default search engine in Internet Explorer.

I'm considering making a blog that is sort of "Bing without the search." You'd see an image, and get some interesting information and links associated with that image (similar to the mouseover links on Bing, like where it is found, the history behind the location, etc.). Each day, I would post a different image. The images I'd choose would not be as PC as those displayed on Bing. If you would visit such a blog on a regular basis, post a comment telling me so.

Did you hear who died today?

2010-05-30T13:31:00.002-04:00

I don't watch the news anymore.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't care about what's going on in the world. But since the most recent presidential election, I just can't stand to hear about it.

It's not like I don't have a clue what's going on in the world. I live with a news junkie. So, the news is on a lot and I generally know about whatever big events are going on.

But the fact that I don't stay right on top of the news has alerted me to a flaw in the way the news media covers the deaths of those they deem famous enough to mention. Somehow, it's easy to miss the death of a famous person if you don't watch the news every day.

I heard Art Linkletter died. But I didn't know Gary Coleman died. They must not have thought it was important enough to mention it beyond one news cycle.

Unless a person is a legend, like Michael Jackson, they don't rate being discussed for more than a few hours on a single day. If you miss it, tough luck.

I just think someone's life deserves just a bit more recognition than that.

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-01T21:20:00.004-05:00

I'm going to make a blogging New Year's resolution. When I add a post to one of my blogs, I'm going to post a link on Facebook and Twitter.

I've been too shy to do it before, but if I ever want to get anyone to visit my blogs, I have to let them know about them, right?

I have 109 friends on Facebook and 41 followers on Twitter. Most of the Twitter followers are random people I don't know, people who have followed me, I think, in an attempt to get more followers of their own. I don't automatically follow those who follow me, and I hardly ever tweet, so these people may get a big surprise when they start getting regular links to posts about the Bible and Creation Science and stuff like that. :-)

I've got a sort of secondary resolution. Maybe not a resolution, exactly, but a goal. My goal is to start several more blogs this year. I have this blog and my creation science blog, Dinosaurs on Noah's Ark, and a blog where I very occasionally tell stories about ancestors I've "met" along the way on my genealogy research, called I Love to Tell the Story, and a couple of other blogs that are now abandoned. I want to start other blogs about some of my interests and hobbies:

Digital scrapbooking
Knitting
Bread baking
Genealogy
Writing
Graphic arts

Which one would you like to read?

Happy New Year!

Firefox: "The Most Disruptive Technology of the Decade"

2009-12-31T10:28:00.002-05:00

Sitepoint has listed the Top 5 Web Technologies of the Decade, and Number One is Mozilla Firefox.

Their reasoning is that all of the Web 2.0 innovations were enabled by the tools Firefox provided.

"Without Firefox, Web2.0 may never have occurred. It changed the industry’s perception of what a browser was and what it could achieve. It deserves it’s place at number 1!"

Wow, I'm impressed. I've been using Firefox for years, but I never realized how important it was. Still more amazing that it can be the technology of the decade and be celebrating it's 5th birthday. So it's been around for only half of the decade.

I wonder if Chrome will have the number 1 spot for the next decade?

My Pet Peeve about Gas Pumps

2009-12-30T20:17:00.002-05:00

I have a pet peeve about the kind of gas pumps where you pay by swiping your credit card.

Actually, I have several pet peeves about these devices, but I'll concentrate on the main one.

Why does it have to display the previous transaction amount until after you've swiped your own card. Every time I use one of these things, I feel sure they're going to charge me for the gas the person before me put in their car.

It seems to me that it would not be a difficult thing to have these machines programmed to zero out the amount once the previous person's card has been successfully charged.

As it stands, I'm always afraid that maybe the person before me drove off without paying and I'm going to get stuck with their gas being charged onto my card. Now, I know that most of these machines make you put in the card before you can pump gas, so I guess it would not be possible for the person to drive off and leave a balance that would be charged to the next person's card. But it also just seems possible that they could zero the amount out and not leave it up there till the next person starts to pump their gas.

This problem happens with several different gas companies, so it's not limited to just one brand. And it doesn't seem to matter if you press "pay outside" before you put in your card, the amount of the previous transaction is still displayed and you can't make it go away.

Am I the only person bothered by this?

I got my wish -- Chrome history

2009-12-12T09:39:00.002-05:00

I just blogged about wanting a drop-down mini-history attached to the back button on Chrome, such as Firefox has. I like being able to see the recent pages and go back several in one jump, rather than hitting back-back-back-back all the time.

So, today, I clicked on the Chrome back button in a leisurely way and held it there a bit longer than normal and there it was -- a list of my recent pages! I don't know if this is another new feature of the beta of version 4, or if I just didn't ever happen upon this before, but I'm really excited about this feature!

Chrome Wish List

2009-12-09T16:49:00.002-05:00

I love Chrome.

It's fast. It works much better than Firefox did when Firefox was new. Though I know Firefox paved the way for alternate browsers, so that's nothing to hold against Firefox.

But Firefox is still my default browser. Most often, I have my laptop on the desktop, plugged into the VGA flatscreen monitor and USB mouse and keyboard. That way, I can use both the laptop's built-in monitor and the flatscreen. So I have Firefox open on the flatscreen and Chrome open on the laptop. The laptop has a wider screen, and I usually have more tabs open in Chrome.

But if I click on a link in an email, it still opens in Firefox, because that's my default browser. I generally right-click, open in new tab for links in a browser, so they open in whatever browser the page with the link is open in.

I have a couple of things I still need Firefox for. One is a neat little extension I just found that helps me save stuff I've entered into forms if something goes awry. Since I do a lot of writing in web forms, this is handy to have. But the other two things I use a lot are my Evernote and Taboo extensions. These are ways to save bookmarks and other notes in a different way than regular bookmarks. I use Taboo for links I've found for writing an article, ones I think I'll only need for maybe a couple of days and then don't want to have kicking around any longer. And Evernote -- Evernote can be used for a lot of things, but the way I use it in my browser is to save articles I don't have time to read now but may want to read later. I can't leave them all in an open tab because eventually that takes up too much memory, or one of my kids will come along and close all my tabs when I'm not looking. Accidentally, of course.

So what I've been doing is, if I have a tab open in Chrome and I want to save it to Evernote, I copy the url and open it in Firefox, so I can highlight part of the text, right-click on it and save it to Evernote. There may be a better way to do it, but that's what I came up with. Until today.

Today I downloaded the beta of Chrome 4.0 and it has extensions! At least for those of us with Windows and, I think, Linux. So now I have an Evernote extension for Chrome and I'm happy as a clam.

Except for one thing. I wish Chrome had a little drop down arrow next to the "back" button, like Firefox has. I love being able to see a list of websites I might want to go "back" to, rather than having to hit "back," "back," "back," "back" repeatedly. I wonder if there's an extension for that?

For a new browser, I guess that's a pretty short wish list. Bring on Chrome OS!

What I Write About

2009-09-07T08:48:00.003-04:00

Often, lately, people ask me what I write about.

Mostly, I write about what I can get paid for. I write articles for a website called Demand Studios who contracts with writers and editors to supply articles for several different websites. The one I tend to have the most articles published for right now is eHow. How it works: there is a list of titles to choose from. Some are things I'd never write about (Kawasaki Engine Troubleshooting, for example, or Homemade Recumbent Bicycles). Others are titles I either know about (printing brochures or writing resumes) or can do research about (sciatic nerve pain, or paper vs. plastic recycling). They pay me per article as long as the articles meet their editorial requirements.

I also write for sites that pay you by how many people read your articles. The two I'm working on right now are Associated Content and Suite 101.

And, I want to start making blogs on various topics and see if I can make money on advertising. So far, I just have one and I just started it. I don't even have a domain name yet. It's about creation science and you can see it here.

It's not really a lollipop

2009-07-20T15:29:00.002-04:00

Lollipop, lollipop, oh, lolli- lolli- lolli- lollipop
budum-bum bum
Lollipop!

I keep singing this song, because it's being played all the time on a TV commercial.

When I was a kid, Life Savers came out with a Life Saver lollipop and they used this song in the commercial. Lollipop, lollipop, Life Saver Lollipop . . . I still remember it.

But the current commercial that's using this song isn't about lollipops. Despite the fact that they show conveyor belts making bright colored -- somethings -- there is no food item being sold here. Instead, it's one of those new small, low-powered laptop computers that people call netbooks.

Dell's netbooks come in 6 bright colors. A voice-over announcer who speaks in that kind of voice you hear over a loudspeaker and ignore, tells you the features of these computers, but I didn't catch the details. I was too involved in watching the elephant feet stamp the bright colored globs flat, and then this little robot on wheels cuts off the edges so it's a rectangle. Then it get's stamped with the Dell logo and it's all set. Is that really how they make these things?

Honestly, I want one. Small portable laptops in bright colors? And at a low cost, compared to full-featured laptops? You don't have to say more, I'm there! Sign me up, these look nicer than my little pink Asus Eee PC. I bet the screen's a bit bigger, too (though the commercial didn't tell me -- at least I don't think it did).

So, I'm the audience. I'm their target market. Yet, this commercial made me think these things are made of plastic. Or gum, or high fructose corn syrup. More suited to helping me deal with that grumbly feeling in my tummy around 3 in the afternoon. Not something I'll use to check my email. I mean, in my experience, sugar and a computer keyboard don't really mix all that well. Tends to make the keyboard sticky, if it doesn't render it completely useless.

So I'll go on singing this song and wishing they still made Life Saver lollipops, but I don't think I will really buy a Dell mini.

Half a geek is better than no geek

2009-06-17T16:30:00.002-04:00

There was this strange Monty Python sketch about "Eric the half a bee." It started out (I think) with someone wanting to get a license for his pet fish, Eric. But -- I can't remember -- either Eric was dead or they didn't give out fish licenses. For some reason there was a problem, but the gent really wanted a license of some kind, so he caught a bee and wanted a license for his pet bee, but then, somebody squashed the bee, so then it was half a bee. Really, all I remember is the half a bee part.

I'm half a geek. Here's how I know. I used to be a geek. I love technology. I've been using the internet since 1992, before Al Gore even invented it. I've owned 10 computers, and that doesn't count those that were or are only used by my children or my husband, nor does it count the 2 netbooks I own. See, I'm a geek, I have a netbook. I also have 3 working mp3 players (no, none of them is an iPod). I'm typing this on a laptop that's hooked up to a 2nd monitor on my desktop. Beneath the desk is a desktop computer -- if I were to take the laptop on the road, someone could attach the monitor back to the desktop computer, plug the USB keyboard into the USB hub and grab the mouse that's stuck at the back of my keyboard drawer and the desktop computer would be right there, ready to use. Do all of these things prove I'm a geek?

But I have to admit something. I'm totally confused when it comes to Twitter. Well, not totally. I signed up. I followed a bunch of people. Actually, a bunch of people followed me, too. People I don't even know -- the most recent one was Jim the Realtor (not his real name). But, except for once when I entered a contest, I have not ever "Tweeted." Not only that, I'm not sure what all of these things are: @ message, RT, these strange # codes. I don't know what they mean and I don't know how to do them. All I do is follow people and see what they're up to. If I want to say something, I go to Facebook. Or if it's something longer, I can come here and blog.

I knew the first time I had to ask one of my kids how to do something complicated with the DVD player or the computer that this day would come. I'm losing my geek cred. I'm over the hill and fast approaching the state that I used to laugh at my mother for. The state of being technologically clueless. My son left the browser in full screen mode, and I had to ask him how to get it back to normal. I brought up the program guide on our TV and it only listed certain favorite channels -- not only did I not know how to get the rest of the channels but I didn't know we even had that function nor how to set it up. Now that we have several hundred TV channels, I have to ask my family the numbers of my favorite channels because I keep forgetting. I spent 15 minutes the other day looking for a way to share a link to a website on Facebook. My kids can figure this stuff out without even looking it up, and yet I remain unable to do or remember more and more things that have to do with my beloved technology.

I'm getting old, and technology is leaving me behind. I'm not going to give up. I'm only going kicking and screaming, but believe me, my mother is laughing at me from heaven because I used to make fun of her when she couldn't figure out how to run the VCR.

Bing! Pros and Cons

2009-06-17T16:12:00.002-04:00

Bing is a new search engine, made by Microsoft. I guess Bill wants to compete with Google and he picked Google's strongest product to go up against.

Bing is pretty. Each day, there's a new picture. A really cool picture. You'll immediately want to know more about it -- where is it? what is it? why is it like that? Hover your mouse over the photo and you'll see hotspots where you can get more info. Click and you'll get an answer to one of the questions the creators think you might want to know. Therefore,

Bing is informative. You learn stuff by going there. It's like closing your eyes and pointing your pencil at a map of the world -- only better, because you instantly get to see what it looks like. And they pick someplace that looks cool and interesting, not dull and boring. Therefore,

Bing can be an inspiration for writers suffering writer's block. Or a diversion for those who just don't want to write about what they're supposed to be writing about (like me, I'm supposed to be writing about the Pantone Color Matching System. Boring!).

But is Bing a good search engine? The ads say it's a "decision engine" but they don't define that term. If "decision engine" means it decides what you want to know about, then, yes, Bing is definitely that. And it does that very well. Will that compete against Google? No way!

Does Bing bring up better search results than Google? Well, mostly, when I go there, I get distracted and forget what I was going to search for. I've learned about beautiful cliffside villages on the Meditteranean, and I've learned that in Iceland they have cute little houses half-buried under the ground that remind me of Hobbit holes and look like they should belong in New Zealand. I saw neat pictures of the Great Barrier Reef from space. The one time I did search using Bing, I ended up with results that looked almost exactly like those I got from Google for the same search.

But I try to go to Bing every day, just to see the new photo for the day. I even made it the home page in Chrome, which is, well, not my default browser. But I thought the irony of making Bing my default browser in Chrome was too funny to pass up. However, it doesn't work right in Chrome; when you want to go back and see yesterday's photo, you get an error message.

Bing and it's owners sure are helping the economy by buying lots of ads. Will that help Bing topple Google from top of the search engine market?

Only time will tell, but I don't think so.

Blogging again

2009-06-14T17:03:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted here in a really long time. Why? Because I've been busy writing other stuff. I've written over 250 Guides at work.com.

I'm starting to write for another company and I'm hoping to start some blogs and also set up a website for my husband's window blind business. So I'm still busy, and I'm still not sure about what to do with this blog.

I don't really want to write about writing. And there are zillions of websites that can tell you how to be a freelance writer better than I can.

So I might start some blogs about subjects I do want to write about, and leave this one as an archive where anyone who wants to know about my writing can go to find samples.

The rest of June looks like it will be really busy and I'm hoping to do some new blogs in July. So stay tuned.

Writer Mentoring Program

2008-09-24T20:59:00.002-04:00

I recently had an excellent opportunity. Sharon Hurley Hall, an experienced freelance writer, asked me to be a test subject in a new program she is starting.

I had already learned a lot from reading her blog, so I immediately replied with a "Yes, please," knowing I was sure to learn something good.

The format was easy and flexible. We "met" online, using Google Talk, for 3 sessions, each about 1 to 1-1/2 hours, over the course of a couple of weeks. Before the first session, I sent her an email with a list of specific topics within the broader "freelance writing" theme.

Sharon made good use of the time, having a well-organized list of important points ready to share with me. She was able to go on for some time, filling me with useful tips and suggestions, but was also willing to be interrupted by my many questions.

I got many tips I could have obtained by reading articles, but I also got personalized advice specific to my situation. I showed her links to my writing and she helped me see strong points I hadn't thought to promote, and also suggested ways I could broaden my topic list. She pointed out that I could recoup losses I'd had when I'd written articles that were never published for one reason or another.

When I agreed to test her mentoring program, I thought it would be a chat with several new freelance writers or writer-wannabes, which I thought would be a good opportunity. I was amazed to learn it was just me, and as a result of this one-on-one attention I learned so many things that can help me with my writing career that I can't even count them. Lucky for me, Google Talk keeps a chat log of chats, if you have that option selected, so I can refer back to these sessions anytime.

I would recommend this service to anyone who wants to learn anything that has to do with writing online. Even someone who only wants to blog can learn a lot from her. She knows a lot about many different aspects of making money by writing online. I was especially impressed at how well she organized her thoughts, even when I asked questions that took us down rabbit trails different from the topics I'd originally told her I was interested in. This service will help aspiring writers keep from making costly mistakes, so it's well worth the money you will invest in it.

Anything Worth Saying

2008-08-27T17:31:00.002-04:00

I was listening to music on Pandora and a song came on that got me thinking about how I have trouble posting on this blog because I often can't think of anything worth saying.

The following song came on:

You can't link to songs on Pandora, but I found the same song on YouTube so you can hear it sung live if you want. The whole point of the song is that he is asking God to give him words to speak, because he can't think of anything worth saying. Anything Worth Saying is, actually, the title of another album by Aaron Shust.

I guess I should start praying about what to post on this blog.

2008-08-19T14:35:00.003-04:00

Maybe I should have given the matter more thought before I named this blog.

There is, apparently, a yellow jacket nest somewhere near my computer workstation. Every day, there are yellow jackets flying around. Last week, one landed on my foot. It climbed down, crawled across 4 of my toes, and kept crawling onto the bottom of my foot, where it went back up the length of my arch and came out again onto my ankle. Giving up hope that it would ever fly off, I grabbed the stack of 6 or so pages that were in the printer, and used the edge to knock him off. He landed on the floor and sat their contemplating life long enough for me to drop the stack of papers onto him and stomp on it.

I have lost track of how many of these guys I've killed in the last week. They're starting to take revenge. I was bit by one on Saturday and it's still bothering me.

A couple of weeks ago, I accidentally severely cut my thumb with a really sharp kitchen knife. I'm still wearing a band-aid. so when I go swimming, I hold my hand out of the water. The easiest way to do this is to keep my hand on the edge of the pool, and somehow, a bee saw it there and decided to attack.

I didn't even see it. It happened so fast, I wasn't sure what had happened. There's still a mark, and it hurt for several hours and then started itching. It's still itching, this is now 3 full days later.

My son was attacked by a swarm of ground bees a couple of weeks ago, too.

I've always been called Beelissa. I mean, it's just a nickname that's used occasionally, but it's stuck with me since I was a child. I thought it was good for an internet username because it's often not already taken (compared to several other choices I've tried that usually already belong to someone else). But if it's going to attract real bees, I might be re-thinking this.

Bee-ware!

A $10 word, even if it isn't the longest English word

2008-07-22T17:58:00.002-04:00

Sesquipedalian.

I very clearly remember this from the Word-a-day calendar my boyfriend in college had. This calendar taught us two very interesting words, the meanings of which I still remember.

The words were sesquipedalian and defenestration.

Sesquipedalian means "of or pertaining to a foot and a half," and defenestration means "throwing something out a window."

Of course, words can have more than one meaning. Sesquipedalian has come to mean "given to using long words" or even referring to long words themselves. If you look at the Latin parts you can see where my first definition above came from. Despite opinions to the contrary, sesquipedalian is not the longest word in the English language, though I did find a blog post describing it as a $10 word. Does that mean I can earn $10 by writing about it? This post should be worth $20.

Sesquipedalian came up in a little vocabulary game called Match Up that I have as a widget on my iGoogle page. They give you 2 groups of 5 words and you have to match the synonyms. Each day, a new set of 5 pairs. A computer obviously picks them, because it's pretty obvious, even if you don't know what it means, that sesquipedalian and sesquipedalia have to be synonyms.

Why Grannies Like Linux

2008-07-19T06:35:00.003-04:00

New little mini-notebook PCs like the Asus Eee PC are popping up all over. And other budget-priced computers are being sold that cost less because they run some version of Linux, not Windows. And it's not just young people or geeks who are buying them. Grandmothers, apparently, are finding out that they love Linux.

So, I was thinking. My grandmothers are both in heaven now. I remember I was at my grandmother's house the day Windows 95 came out. I had been on vacation and hadn't realized what day it was, but the little podunk newspaper that they publish in this out-of-the-way corner of Indiana had a big ad for Windows 95. My grandmother asked what it was. I wasn't able to explain it to her -- but this was back when home computers weren't as common as they are now.

My children's grandfather has email, and his wife has a separate email address. They know how to use the computer, as do most grandparents nowadays. I'm pretty sure they know what Windows is. Whether they know what Linux is, that's another question.

Some people just want a computer to work. They want it to be able to run programs they can use to do email, surf the web, look at photos, watch videos, play music, write a simple document. They don't care what program it is, as long as it works and they can figure out how to use it easily.

So grandmothers like Linux if it's configured so it's easy to use, as it is on these computers. And the lower cost, saving the licensing fees that are associated with Windows machines, is a big plus to anyone who watches their pennies or just doesn't want to pay a high price for a computer.

Redecorating

2008-07-11T15:54:00.003-04:00

I got tired of the way this blog looked, so I redecorated. This is one of the basic themes that comes with Blogger, except I made my own header. I like this much better than the old one, which didn't quite turn out the way I'd envisioned it.

I love creating visual stuff. It's nice to take a break from writing all day and do some visual art instead.

This picture (in the header) reminds me a bit of my Mom. She worked as a secretary to a bank president before she had kids, and I'm sure she typed on a typewriter like this one and I know she had hair like that, only more of a reddish shade (she always called it "strawberry blonde").

This is one of the first things I've made using The Gimp. It wasn't hard at all, mostly. Now if I can just learn how to do vector drawing in it, I'll be all set. In my spare time.

Artwork

2008-07-08T19:59:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd create some artwork to decorate my blog.

Enjoy!

Book Review -- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

2008-07-07T12:35:00.004-04:00

I enjoyed this book very much, so I wanted to recommend it to anyone who might happen along and read my blog.

I found this book hard to get into, knowing nothing about it beforehand, and it's a rather long book, so I'll give you a bit of a clue about how it starts. We meet several characters in a tavern. They are locals, and though the book has a nice map of the story's imaginary world in the front, we don't see the name of this little community on the map anywhere. Several chapters pass and some mysterious stuff happens and it's clear that one of our characters has a mysterious past.

I was getting ready to give up on it when the point of all of this beginning stuff became clear: a new character (the Chronicler) enters who is sort of a journalist, if they have journalists in this made-up land. He's been searching for a famous person who apparently did a bunch of heroic deeds and then vanished from the known world, and no one knows whether he's dead or alive. Turns out, he's our mysterious character and he agrees to tell his story to this Chronicler. Most of the rest of the book is the first part of his story, told in first person, and we'll have to wait for the other books for the rest. There are hints that the future tales will, at some point, have some bearing on "present" time events, because every so often they take a break from the telling and recording of the tale, and we see what's happening in present time in the immediate vicinity of the tavern whose location we are still in the dark about (the map does show locations mentioned in the hero's narrative, however). It's obvious the hero will be needed to save the world again, or at least part of the world, in the near future. In addition, even more mysteries present themselves and we find we have more than one mysterious character on our hands.

By page 100 I was hooked. It's the kind of book where you think about the characters when you're not reading it, and after you finish you want to know what happens next. The author does a great job creating an imaginary world and an even better job creating characters. I truly can't wait till the next book comes out (April 7, 2009).

"Brick" is a verb

2008-07-04T16:40:00.002-04:00

Really. Check it out.

I first heard this term in reference to the iPhone. It can be a noun ("My iPhone is a brick.") or a verb ("That software bricked my phone.")

It means to make it unusable, not on purpose. So, it might as well be a brick. At least, I guess that's the idea.

Come back again in 20 years, you won't understand half of what people are saying, our language is changing so fast lately.

Links to Writing Samples

2008-07-04T16:21:00.003-04:00

Here are links to some of my writing that's on the web:

Work.com

Associated Content

Notefish

2008-07-04T14:27:00.002-04:00

I have to recommend this wonderful Firefox add-on: Notefish.

It is great for research. Say you are researching a topic, and you come across a paragraph that has a definition or other information you want to save. But it's buried in a whole long page of material. How will you find it again?

Notefish lets you set up separate, private pages (though you can share them -- but they're not just open to the public) where you can save snippets of web pages.

You have to do 2 things:

Register for Notefish
Download and install the Firefox add-on. Actually, once you've downloaded it, it will prompt you to register, I think.

Then, if you highlight something on a web page, you can right-click on it and copy the snippet to the Notefish page you choose. You can have as many Notefish pages as you want, there doesn't seem to be a limit.

Product Review -- Table Mate II

2008-06-27T09:39:00.005-04:00

I bought the Table Mate II recently after wanting one for a long time. I have a mixed review to report, for those of you who may be curious about this product.

The problems:

It's wobbly. If you have a traditional tray-table with the legs that make an X-shape, the Table Mate II is at least as wobbly as that, maybe more so. It could use a metal bar or rod across between the legs about 3/4 of the way down.
It's tippy. Not the same thing as wobbly: I'm afraid the whole thing will tip over, falling forward away from me following the curve of the legs. I'm afraid to leave my laptop on it unattended, because falling off of a table is not covered in my Best Buy service plan.
It has 3 angles: (1) Flat horizontal. (2) Slanting down toward you. (3) Slanting away from you. I can't see a reason for that last one. Especially since it amounts to being the same angle as the other slant, just in the other direction. I'd rather have 2 slants in the same direction, of different angles. I just use my Table Mate II in the horizontal position.

The advantages, and why I'm not asking for a refund:

It's adjustable in height. I can set it at 6 different heights.
It's small and convenient. It fits almost anywhere. I was using the kitchen table as the resting place for my laptop. But the table is too high for comfortable typing. The Table Mate II can be adjusted to a height that is better suited to typing.
It's just wide enough for my wide laptop and a mouse next to it. I was afraid the mouse wouldn't fit, but it does.

So here's what I do: I brace the back end of the table, the side with the curvy legs, up against the kitchen table or the back of the couch. Unless it's braced or if you're actively using the computer, you can't leave the laptop on there. That's the rule. So I shouldn't find it sitting in the middle of the living room, unattended, with the laptop on it.

I've only had my Table Mate II less than a week. I'm happy with it, but I'm also glad I didn't pay full price for it. Somewhere I found one that you can make short enough to use in bed. That wouldn't work with this one, it doesn't adjust that short. The shorter one would probably be sturdier.

Short, short story

2008-06-26T13:28:00.005-04:00

I found this photo on stock.xchng. I thought I'd write something to go with it, just for fun.

Francine sat at her kitchen table, absent-mindedly stirring a cup of tea. A half-eaten slice of toast lay on a plate next to her newspaper.

It was 10:30 in the morning. Still in her nightgown, Francine had finally dragged herself out of bed and made the toast and tea. Even that seemed an enormous effort. When she brought in the newspaper from the porch, she found yesterday's newspaper out there as well. Yesterday she'd only ventured as far as the master bathroom. She'd eaten the rest of a box of crackers that had been left in the bedroom.

She sighed. Since Ray had died, it seemed like such an effort to get dressed and do the normal housework she'd done all her life. Why bother? Most days no one noticed if she made an appearance outside the house.

Glancing at the date on the front of the paper, she was surprised to find it had been 4 months since Ray . . . it still hurt to think of him gone. It was hard to decide. She was surprised it had already been 4 months, but also . . . time had dragged. It seemed like each day lasted forever with no one to fill her days.

Sighing again, Francine forced herself to go back to the bedroom and get dressed. She'd eaten the last slice of bread, and had to drink tea instead of milk when she determined the milk in the fridge has gone sour. It was hard to adjust to buying for one -- almost a whole quart of milk went wasted down the drain of the kitchen sink.

Getting out, even to the grocery store, would be good for her, she knew.

In her bedroom, she opened the window to let in some fresh air. It was a nice day outside, she noticed. Not too hot, but sunny and warm enough that she wouldn't need a jacket. She could hear the little boy next door talking to himself as he played in his back yard.

A few minutes later, as she backed the car down the driveway, she noticed the same little boy watching her through the fence that divided their properties. She smiled and waved at him, and he waved back, and then took a few steps along the fence toward the road as her car kept moving. She could see the wild daisies and black-eyed-susans bend out of his way as he forced himself through the blossoms that came above his knees. The neighbor's yard had several weedy patches now where grass used to grow, and this was one of them. Both of the little boy's parents worked long hours; the father had 2 jobs, trying to make ends meet to provide for their 5 children. The boy was the youngest, several years younger than his next sibling, an unexpected surprise for his parents.

Francine quickly finished her shopping. She noticed several young moms shopping with their children. One of the kids had a small red box of animal crackers dangling from one of his hands, and cookie crumbs smeared across his face. On impulse, she picked up one of the boxes and added it to the other items in her cart.

The little neighbor boy was peering through the fence again when Francine pulled into her driveway. She stopped the car in the driveway and got out, holding the box of animal crackers. The boy's face lit up when she held it out to him.

"What's your name?" she asked him.

"Tom," he said. "Are the cookies for me?"

"Yes, if you would like them," Francine replied.

"Wow, thanks!" said Tom, jumping up and down amidst the wildflowers on his side of the fence.

After pulling her car into the garage, putting her groceries away and making herself a sandwich for lunch, Francine took the magazine she'd purchased at the store out onto the front porch. After reading for a few minutes, she heard a noise at the corner of the house. Looking around, she saw little Tom standing beside the porch, holding his hands behind his back. He had a smile on his face. Then he held out the hand that had been behind his back. He held out a small bouquet of the wildflowers from the other side of the fence.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Mrs. Ryan," she said. "Are the flowers for me?"

"Yes, if you would like them," he replied.

"Wow, thanks!" said Francine, smiling.

What the Bees have been up to lately

2008-06-24T18:01:00.002-04:00

I realize I haven't been posting nearly as often as I promised when I started this blog. I've been too busy writing, though I haven't made a huge amount of money doing it. But I have made some, and I have a long list of articles now online. I've been thinking what I want this blog to be about.

There are a lot of how-to-be-a-freelance-writer blogs out there.
There are a lot of how-to-make-money online blogs.
I want to do something visually creative as well as writing.
I want to showcase other wonderfully creative websites that I find.

So, as I think I said before, this blog will be a sort of amalgamation, a mixture of a bunch of things. I'll talk about how I'm doing with the professional writing (the writing I'm getting paid for). I'll link to other websites. I'll post some creative stuff, including images, maybe even stuff I've created myself.

And I'll try to post more often. :-)

7 Things I Wouldn't Want to be Remembered For

2008-06-23T12:36:00.003-04:00

A famous man dies after living for 70 years. He was a frequent guest and one of the most common guest hosts of the Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson years. His long list of artistic creations includes: 23 record albums, 16 movies, over a dozen HBO specials, 5 books, and several TV shows, including an 8-year stint on a popular kids television program.

The news media choose the following accomplishment to sum up his long career in the entertainment industry: "He is best known for a comedy routine involving 7 dirty words that are so bad you can't say them on TV."

If we would have known, last week, that he was going to pass away soon, and if we would have asked him what he wanted to be remembered for, would 7 swear words have been his answer?

I never found the 7 words funny. I don't see the point in using swear words in comedy. Funny situations are funny. Swear words are not. George Carlin was a very funny man, but somehow those 7 words defined his life.

I Love Technology, I Hate Technology.

2008-05-09T14:02:00.004-04:00

It's really true. Here are some examples:

I spent all morning on Tuesday trying to get the Internet to work again. We have this periodic problem that I have not been able to solve -- all of a sudden, the Internet will be gone. Sometimes the VoIP goes out, other times it's just the web -- I've even had it be that I can download email but not browse the web. The solution seems to be either to reboot the VoIP device or the cable modem, or shut down the desktop computer they're plugged into and then unplug everything -- the desktop computer, the wireless router, the cable modem and the VoIP device, they're all plugged into one big plugging strip. I unplug them, count to 30, plug them back in and wait for them to reboot, and voila, the Internet is back. But with no explanation as to why this happens.
Except, that trick didn't work on Tuesday. I tried restarting the various devices in sequence, and finally concluded that the white cable connecting the cable modem to the cable line was the culprit, and I rewired all of our cables to get it set up so we could use internet. For several hours, one TV was cable-less until we could run to the store for more coax cables. And, you had to step over a strange configuration of cables emanating from a splitter just inside the door of the house if you wanted to come in from outside. Now it's all fixed, but it took the whole morning. Ugh. This is why I hate technology.

Recently, I bought an Asus Eee PC. I can take it anywhere. It's so cute and easy to use. I get compliments on it, everyone is interested in it. This is why I love technology.

My husband just called me. He's in Wal-Mart, and he obviously has a question about something I asked him to buy. "Mfdfdfsdf." was all I could hear. "I can't hear you," I said. "mfff," was all I could hear. "Nope, still can't hear you," I said. "Click." This is why I hate technology.

Monday night we went to Best Buy. They had declared my old Gateway laptop a lemon, after having fixed the AC adapter connector 3 or 4 times (we lost track how many). So here's the scenario: Almost 4 years ago, we bought a $599 laptop (a Compaq, when Compaqs were still good computers). Actually, that was the sale price. We purchased the Best Buy service plan along with it. We had it for almost 2 years and one day the hard drive just went FFFFTT. They told us to pick out a replacement, and we settled on a Gateway. I liked it well enough, but the place where the power adapter thing connected kept breaking. So now we get to get another new laptop (are you paying attention? we've had a laptop for almost 4 years now for the price of the original plus the service plan on the Gateway). So we found an HP on sale for $799. We paid $350 to get it, that includes a new service plan. This laptop has Vista Home Premium and 3 Gb of RAM, and a 250 Gb hard drive. I've never had a computer with that much RAM before. I am in technology heaven. This is why I love technology.

I am trying to get t-shirts made for my church. I designed the images and the website said they had to be less than 3 mb, which they are. And they are the correct file type. And they won't upload. They won't upload in Firefox. They won't upload in IE. They won't upload as jpgs. They won't upload as pngs. They will not upload in a box. They will not upload with a fox. They will not upload here or there, they will not upload anywhere. This is why I hate technology.

I found a new wonderful fun toy yesterday. Aviary. It's -- well, I haven't actually used it yet, but it lets you do all sorts of really cool image editing, right online. At least, looking at the sample images, that's what it does. I spent the evening finding photos to use to edit, and got lost looking for pictures and never got back to the editing. But it's exciting to see web apps that can do cool stuff like this. I can't wait to try it. This is why I love technology.

Remember the Asus Eee PC? I've taken it to 3 places that have free WiFi, and was unable to connect at any of them. I also have found that I can see the Eee PC from the computer in my kitchen, and can open files on it and save them and print them and do whatever I want with them. But I can't access the Eee PC from the kitchen computer. And I've never been able to get my husband's Vista desktop to share anything with anyone. My son just got a Playstation 3. He can see the Vista computer from that. But he can't access it. So I have this crazy network. I made a file on my Eee PC and I wanted to use it on the new laptop (which, because it runs Vista, I have been unable to get to network with the others, either). I had to copy the file to the kitchen computer and email it to myself on the laptop. I suppose I could have emailed it from the Eee PC, but I was emailing files I'd created on the kitchen computer to the laptop so it seemed like the easiest way. Why did I have to create files on the kitchen computer when I have the brand new laptop? The Vista computer doesn't run Paint Shop Pro 8, which is still the graphics program I know best and feel most comfortable in. I'd have to upgrade to a more recent version to get it to run on Vista. This is why I hate technology.

I emailed the images to the t-shirt website. They uploaded them for me and the t-shirts have been ordered. All without leaving my house. This is why I love technology.

Free Britannica access for web writers

2008-04-28T12:42:00.004-04:00

Web publishers can now get access to the complete online content at Encyclopedia Britannica online for free. The rules state that you have to be a blogger, webmaster or writer. Hey, I guess I qualify for all three!

I'm off to sign up. You have to fill out a form and be approved. I'll report back here whether it's useful or not after I've had a chance to try it out. I tend to stay away from sites you have to pay for, so even though some of their content is free, it's been a few years since I'm visited it.

Thoughts on Cell Phone Etiquette

2008-04-23T12:40:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I was in a brand new library and as I entered, signs warned me to help keep everyone's visit to the library pleasant, and one of the ways was "no cell phones." This annoyed me because my son was home alone and I always want him to be able to reach me if he has an emergency. To him, an emergency is usually, "Can you stop and buy me some soda?" but still, that's the main reason I have a cell phone and I'm not going to turn it off just to allow library patrons to have a pleasant visit to the library.

I put my ringer on its lowest setting (I have an older pre-pay phone and it only vibrates when you set it on high volume, which kind of defeats the purpose). I also had it right on the table so I could grab it and silence it as soon as it rang. And I took care to talk quietly when it did ring, which was only my husband saying he was on his way to get me. We didn't talk long.

So I was thinking about cell phoneetiquette. What did they think would be annoying to other library patrons? Loud ringing? Loud talking? Many of the patrons seemed to be moms, I bet they would be annoyed at not being able to be reached if their children had an emergency.

I was thinking about this when I went into Panera Bread with my husband. The sign on the door offered free WiFi and said nothing about cell phone use. But we were bothered and offended and our time at Panera wasn't pleasant -- but it had nothing to do with cell phones. It was just normal conversation among those at tables near us that disturbed us.

First, a group of 3 women were exchanging news. Apparently they had a common acquaintance who was very sick an in need of an organ transplant. And, it seemed one of them knew someone whose family member had died and donated organs. So the talk turned to donating organs and leaving one's body to science and I thought my husband was going to have to throw out his lunch half-uneaten. But fortunately for us, these ladies were finished eating, and left.

Almost immediately, two men sat down at a nearby table. Their fist talk was work-related and it sounded like we were safe from more unwanted topics. (I need to make a note here -- I was no trying to evesdrop, these people were all talking loud enough for people at other tables to hear them quite clearly.) But I was wrong, one of the men asked about "Mom" and the other began to reply about the details of caring for his aged mother, details I didn't feel we needed to hear.

People make such a big deal about cell phone etiquette. They are so concerned that people not be loud an obnoxious on a cell phone. But they don't think about the fact that people can be loud an obnoxious when they aren't using a cell phone. Maybe we should have rules for how to speak in public rather than rules for where we can and can't use our cell phones.

Taking my Asus Eee PC on the road

2008-04-22T15:34:00.002-04:00

Well, not very far on the road. I am a stay at home mom. I don't go out much, at least not to places where I can bring my little computer. But today is my wedding anniversary. My husband wanted to take me out to lunch, and to save gas, I rode along with him while he visited a couple of customers (he sells window blinds). He dropped me at a brand new library in the town I grew up in, and I'm sitting here writing at a nice table with a built in lamp and a built-in electrical plug, right next to a nice window overlooking what would be a pretty outdoor waterfall if it was later in the season when there would be water in it.

I was disappointed to find there doesn't seem to be free WiFi. Our little library out in the boondocks has free WiFi (though that may be because one of the librarians' husband is a techie type, he probably set it up, I bet it's hardly ever used. Ironically, I just wrote an article about WiFi finders and I now know all of the best ways to find out whether there is free WiFi where you're going, and I recommended checking before you leave, but did I do that? No.

The Asus Eee PC -- I think I jumped too soon

2008-04-21T21:17:00.003-04:00

I wanted one of these little mini notebooks, or netbooks as I've heard some call them. I would find myself, several times a week, staring at a picture of one of these cute little laptops on some website or other. I decided I had to have one. I got it for my birthday at little over a month ago.

I had 2 reservations, 2 things that worried me about this computer I'd never seen in person till the box arrived from Amazon. The size of the screen was the biggest drawback, as far as I could see. We have a portable DVD player with a 7-inch screen. It's fine for watching DVDs on it, if you have it up close. My husband and I have used it to watch DVDs on together, snuggled up in bed close to each other. You don't want the screen to be too far away from you, even for watching a DVD. But when you have to read text on a screen that size -- well, I was worried about it.

My second reservation was the size of the keyboard. I have small hands, but would this keyboard be too small? I compared the published dimensions with my old NEC MobilPro. I find it easy to type on that, but that is fully half an inch wider. How much difference would that half an inch make?

My short answer to these drawbacks is that they are not as bad as they could be. I will elaborate more on the plusses and minuses in another post. The topic of today's post is why I think I should have waited before purchasing this little machine.

Two reasons, or maybe 11, depending on how you count.

The first is, Asus is now planning to make one with a 9 inch screen. And I hear one with a 10-inch screen isn't far behind. A 9-inch screen would eliminate my biggest criticism of this little dream computer. It wouldn't make the overall size any bigger, since the 7-inch screen is surrounded by a wide buffer that includes the unit's speakers. Though it also makes the price go up, so maybe I am happy with the one I've got.

The second reason I think I jumped too soon is that something has finally happened that I've been waiting years for: computer manufacturers are finally starting to realize there is a market for devices like this. Ever since I learned about the NEC MobilPro, I wondered why there weren't more little devices like that. The problems with the MobilPro were that it was priced too high and it needed to sync to a regular computer.

With the success of the Asus Eee PC, Intel has said that 10 different computer manufacturers are committed to design little competitors for the Asus. One is already out, or nearly so -- the HP Mini Note will be for sale in May.

This new class of mini notebooks (I reject the term "netbook") are all about portability and simplicity. They have enough computing power to run the types of applications you want to have with you on the go. They have components that are designed to use less electric power. They boot quickly (at least the Asus unit does -- that's one of it's great selling points, in my opinion). They don't do everything and are not meant to replace your other computer, but to offer another choice so you don't have to drag that heavy laptop with you everywhere you go.

I figure, if 10 different companies make computers like these, one of them is bound to make one I'll like better than my birthday present. And my only consolation will be that I've been able to use mine all of these months when I could have been waiting for its competitors to come out.

Things I've written recently

2008-04-14T00:18:00.002-04:00

Check out my recently published content on AC:

Ten Father's Day Gifts Under $50

Ten Father's Day Gifts Under $100

And here are the ones I've written for Work.com:

My Work.com guide list

The perfect loaf of home-made bread

2008-04-13T13:33:00.003-04:00

I should have taken a picture of it. It was beautiful.

I've been perfecting this recipe for a number of years now. I started out trying to make a nice crusty Italian loaf. Then I added ground flax seed. Then I added other whole grains and things. Then I experimented with some white whole wheat flour.

Here's the recipe I've come up with.

Biga
3/4 cup water
2 cups bread flour (unbleached)
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough
3/4 cup water
1-3/4 bread flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoon mixture of ground flax seed and ground sunflower seeds
1/4 oat bran
1/4 wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon malt powder
1/2 tablespoon gluten
1 teaspoon instant yeast

I start the night before. I make the biga in the bread machine and leave it there. I let it go through the dough cycle and leave the machine on all night. It will keep it slightly warmer than the rest of the kitchen, and the biga will do it's fermentation. Somewhere I read if I'm not going to make the bread the bread the next day, I need to take it out of the bread pan, put it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge, where it can stay up to 3 days. If you do this, get it out and let it come to room temperature before you use it in dough.

In the early afternoon, I make the rest of the dough. I take the biga out of the pan and put it on a sparayed cutting board (sprayed with oil. Then I use my bread cutter thing to cut it into about 10 pieces and let it sit while I make the rest of the dough.

My pan has you put stuff in the pan in the order I have listed it, water then bread then extra ingredients then yeast last. I do this but I try to have some of the flour lannd on top of the whole grains so it will mix better. I measure out the flax annd sunflower seeds together into my coffee grinder and grind them into a powder -- so the measure is really for the whole seeds than the groud mixture. Adding ground flax and sunflower seeds supposedly gives you all of the essential fats you need in one dose.

On top of the dough ingredients, I lay the pieces of the biga and put the whole bucket into the bread machine. I watch for a couple of minutes and use a spatula to scrape the top if necessary.

90 minutes later, I have a nice big mass of bread dough. I flatten it out with my hands into a vague rectangle, roll it up, pinch the seam and place it seam side down on a piece of parchment or (last time I didn't have parchment) onto a baking stone sprinkled with corn meal. Cover and let rise about 45 min.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you have parchment, leave the stone on the lower oven rack while the oven is preheating. Transfer the bread to the stone by lifting and sliding the parchment carefully. Throw 2 tablespoons of water over onto one side of the oven and quickly shut the oven door. Set a timer for 1 min. and repeat, throwing the water onto the opposite side of the oven. Close the oven door, turn the temperature down to 400 and set the timer for 30 minutes.

When it's done, resist the urge to cut it for 20 minutes or so. Enjoy!

Blogging

2008-04-13T13:24:00.002-04:00

I've decided -- that I can't decide what my niche is for this blog. I want to document my freelance writing career, and I want to include samples of my writing.

Here's what I like to write about:

technology
Bible
parenting
homeschooling
cooking
baking, esp. bread baking
graphic arts
Internet

See what I mean? How can that be a niche?

But then I looked at some other blogs, blogs of people who are somewhat famous in the internet world, and some of them just blog about what they are thinking about. So, that's what I'm going to do, regardless of the fact that I'm not even a little famous.

I'm going to really try to post every day. Some days my posts will be a bit longer than others. I would like to do a big post about my new toy, the Asus Eee PC blush pink 4 Gb mini laptop. I heard somewhere they have named a new category of laptop -- well, not named after this cute little computer, but because it's so popular and other companies are making similar ones, they made a new category name. I forget what it is, though. I think I won't have time to write a huge long review of the Asus Eee PC, however, so I think instead I will post several shorter, topical reviews, and link them together (like, things I like about it, things I don't like about it, about the operating system, comments I get from people when I'm using it). So be watching for that.

What this Blog is About

2008-03-31T19:35:00.002-04:00

I got interrupted in the middle of my last post and then got so busy I didn't get back to this blog for a week. My intention is to post every day. But I'm still learning how to do all of this.

I felt pretty good, when I wrote the last post (until the interruption, which involved some strange problem with Blogger, all of my text turned into a different font and spaced way o u t l i k e
t h i s. Very strange, the only cure was to end the post and go back later. I editted it and now it's fixed.

So, my first week was a wake-up call. I had all sorts of intentions that didn't get done (like posting on this blog every day, and cleaning out the pile of stuff that's been stashed in the messy corner of my living room). I wrote 6 articles and all of them got sent back by my editor. Well, let me amend that. I wrote 8 articles, 6 for one site and 2 for public requests at Constant Content. All of them got sent back except one of the CC articles, but that one doesn't seem to have been purchased, either.

I hadn't re-read the rules for CC and I wrote an article that was mainly a list of websites -- seems to be what the requester wanted, actually -- and that's not allowed, no links at all or website names, so I didn't even resubmit it because I don't see how it would be very helpful without the website names.

And my only actual paying job so far, I had more to learn than I thought. I think I've got it mostly figured out now, thought it's still taking me too long to write these articles for what I'll be paid. The positive is that I'm guaranteed money if I write them, unlike submitting to a request at CC when I have no idea if it will be purchased. And I'm going to be able to list this as experience, and I am learning things.

I want to learn more, so I'm considering buying an eBook. But today I found out I'm going to have an extra teenage boy living here for 13 days starting Thursday. A friend of my son's from out of town. So I have cleaning and shopping to do, as well as menu planning, not to mention writing at least some of the 5 articles I've promised for this week. So I think the ebook will have to wait.

That's what this blog is going to be about -- the story of me building some sort of online business that makes money. You see all of these great websites -- I saw one just the other day, a single mom who makes a good six-figure income by doing stuff online. Right now I'll be happy for a monthly income that has 3 digits in it (3 digits before the decimal place, I mean!). I want to share my story of how I'm trying to do that, so others can learn from what I do, both my mistakes and my successes.

And I'll probably also post articles here, samples of my writing, though I might make another blog for that and link the two together. I'm still not sure yet. You'll get to see what I decide if you keep reading.

My New Work-at-Home Business -- The First Day

2008-03-24T09:43:00.005-04:00

Well, it's really not the first day. I've been trying to figure out how to do this for years, but various things have gotten in the way. But that's another blog post.

This post is about my first day. Or maybe my first week. I have finally earned actual money doing this, so I thought it was the right time to start blogging about it. The money won't get here for 60 days, but I've done the work that earned it, so I'm on my way.

I have a loose strategy on how this is going to work. There are 3 main parts to this work-at-home strategy of mine:

Freelance writing
Blogging
Helping to build my husband's business

The money I earned was through Freelance writing. I answered an ad on Craig's list and got signed up with a company. It only pays $10 an article, but I'm required to do at least 5 a week, so that's $200 a month (though the first check doesn't come for 60 days). And I'm getting actual freelance SEO writing experience that I can put on my resume.

I'm also spending lots of time reading up on how to make money doing freelance writing.

I keep running into blogs and websites saying you can make money blogging. So I'm going to try that. This blog is now started, though I desperately need to work on the decor. And I have another website that I've been working on for several months now and I need to work on that a bit, too, and start a blog over there.

My husband's business is already making money, so I'm trying to help him market himself. He sells and installs window treatments. I've already made him a website and some brochures. I'm working on another brochure, a better website and items for a display in a local home improvement showcase that he's going to be part of.

The hardest part of all of this is figuring out how to get all of it done. I'm hoping blogging about it will help. I've made the list above, and already realized I really should have my other website as a separate item on the list. And then there's my other list, my stay-at-home Mom list. And I have a third list, my things-I-do-as-a-volunteer list. Most of that is for church, though some of it is for the school where my son attends.