I see choices I made that I wish I had done differently, like dropping out of school, or letting negative comments about how hard it is to get published discourage me from my writing. I can’t get to much of my writing any more because it’s on a laptop with a dead battery. I guess that needs to be a priority at some point. Or it might be on a desktop that isn’t functioning right now. At least with that one I can just take out the hard drive and hook it to another computer.

Although I’m regretting some of my choices, I’m not letting the negatives sit rent-free in my head. I just wish I had worked at my writing more instead of letting that part of me sit idle.

On another note, I heard from my oldest yesterday, my Marine (though I’m sure he’d be embarrassed to hear me call him that LOL – yes, he reads my blog), the son who was around when I first started MUDding. He’s going to be deployed in March. I’m scared for him, and I’ll worry the whole time he’s gone. But I’m proud of him too. He saw what he wanted to be, and went after it. Now if only he’d call so I know what I’ll need to keep track of while he’s gone. LOL

Anyway, after the stresses of the last few days, I think I’m headed to bed early tonight. Laterness & g’night.

For more information, check out http://blog.archive.org/2011/12/07/please-donate-to-the-internet-archive/ (Opens in a new window).

That’s all I have to say about that.

On the other hand, Regretsy.com’s donations have been freed by PayPal, and going to the people that were supposed to get it.  If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, check out this article at TechCrunch. (Another new window/tab).  Now if only a real alternative to PayPal would come along.

I know there are some, and a dear friend of mine would simply say don’t buy anything online.  BUT, I do write for a company online, and they pay through PayPal.  So… I guess I should simply transfer my money ASAP so I don’t have a lot to lose, huh?

I assumed that the software publishers were the ones adding the bundles.  That is, I assumed so until last night when I was looking at headlines on PopURLs (http://popurls.com/ Opens in a new window).  According to one of the headlines in Hacker News, at least one software company didn’t want this bundling to happen.  CNET assumes that the users want this bundling to make their experience go more smoothly.

Here’s the link to the article on Hacker News. (Opens in  new window.)

Here’s the link to the article on Extreme Tech talking about CNet’s motivations. (Also opens in a new window.)

‘People who are truly thankful don’t complain.  They find a reason to be truly thankful.’

I don’t say much about going to church.  The pastor at my parents church said the above this last Sunday.  He also said:

‘Thankful people don’t hoard.’

We all have reasons to not be thankful.  We all have things that happen to us.  We all feel like we need to hoard things against a future need.  Yet we may or may not actually really need what it is we’re saving.  Instead, when we hoard things they start taking the place of things that should mean more to us.  Hoarding is the art of collecting without any interest in sharing.  If you’ve ever watched the TV show Hoarders, many times the things the person is hoarding start mattering more than their families.  So many of these people have made their kids feel unwanted because things were more important.

Around this time of Thanksgiving, we need to count our blessings for this last year.  Bad things will happen.  If we focus on the good, we’ll be happier overall.  We won’t forget the good in our lives and the things that truly matter.

One more quote:

‘Thankful people realize that today’s troubles will be tomorrow’s miracles.’

If you’re going through troubles, remember it won’t stay that way forever.  There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.  We’re always going to go through a hard time.  That’s how we grow and find ourselves.

I may be a bitch. I am just not YOUR bitch.

It gave me the giggles.

They’ve worked with companies like Spotify, Netflix and Foodily, as well as a Nike app, to integrate with the timeline.  You’ll be able to link your Netflix account to your Facebook account and let your Facebook friends know what you’re watching.  You can choose once to share the information, and after that it’ll just automatically post without you having to do a thing.

Listening to music on Spotify? it’ll post that to your timeline and your friends’ tickers as well.  You grant it permission once and you’re done.  Just hope that you don’t listen to music that your family doesn’t like (I know my husband does lol), or music that others might find easy to make fun of – I wonder if Weird Al qualifies?

But wait, there’s more.  If you run (or even walk or any other exercise outside), you can use a Nike GPS app to map your route and post that to your Facebook timeline.  Because letting your friends see where you run isn’t stalkerish at all.

Foodily lets your friends see what recipes you’re cooking for dinner.  Every time you log into Foodily, it can post to your friends’ tickers so they know what recipe you’re cooking.  The presentation made it out to be like having a number of friends making the same thing, but to me it just seems like a bit too much TMI.

If there’s a trend in what people are doing or watching, it will go from your friends’ timeline to their news feed.  Like if a bunch of friends are listening to Manic Monday (go Bangles) or a number of people are all watching movies with Jim Carey in them.  Or even a number of people all making the same recipe.

Speaking of TMI, your timeline will now go back to before you were on Facebook, you can post pictures and add information for everything that happened to you from the day you were born.  The demo for that showed Mark Zuckerberg’s date and place of birth, because obviously no one thought about the possibility of identity theft.  People can get close to your social security number just from knowing those 2 pieces of information.  Doh.

It’s going to be interesting to see if they change their privacy policy as well.  I know right now, several Zynga games are having issues if you use a secure login – so of course the suggested fix is to stop using secure login.  Maybe it should be stop playing the game instead.

I see them focusing more on people and less on the small businesses that are trying to use Facebook to grow.  The question remains whether these companies will adapt or if they’re going to stop using Facebook for their advertising.

In honor of her memory, I want to share a quote:

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” ~Mary Anne Radmacher

This was one of Judy’s favorite quotes/sayings, though I never learned who said it until tonight when I went looking for it.

Take care of your health while you’re young.  We don’t have to be perfectly on plan all the time, but we should do what we can to get healthy and enjoy life.  Life’s too short as it is.

But what about the ones I’ve lost track of; the ones that I went to college with before I dropped out to get married?  I might be able to contact Kiff’s father who used to work at UVM (no, that’s not his real name, that’s his nickname), but what about some of the others whose names I barely remember?  What about the ones I worked with at Ames and Wendy’s and TJ Maxx that I don’t remember more than a first name if I remember any name at all?  There were also several MUDders who were from NH and VT, including the one who went by Erin (among other names, I seem to remember the name Caliban associated with that person as well), and ones from MA/RI/CT (Uhh Strider? and one other that was a fireman in RI), and ones from Canada who may or may not have been affected, though I’ve seen Humpty/Dumpty since then

I wonder in passing how they came through the storm, but I have no way of finding out about any other than possibly Kiff.  I do know that the area I grew up in has power, I see posts from friends and family that still live there.  I think everyone has power now, even if they’re working on cleanup.

My thoughts are with all of those who were affected by this storm.

Instead, I moved closer to family.  I’ve been missing them anyway.  I just never realized how political they are.  It seems like they’re always talking politics.  I’m so far from that it’s not funny.  Not to mention, if I disagree with my stepdad about some of his opinions, I start hearing that I’m for big government, etc etc.  Uhh no, I just don’t happen to like listening to Rush Limbaugh.  He’s a blowhard, IMO, and just tries to be controversial to get ratings.  Not to mention, he’s not fully correct on some of his facts.  Like when he went off on someone this last Friday saying the rich are paying all of the taxes, that the low and middle class don’t pay any taxes.  Uhh no, it’s the upper middle class that pays all the taxes.  Anyone making under ~$40k gets back earned income credit (which can mean they get back more than they take in), but from what I can tell, those who earn more than ~$500k or so don’t pay as high a percentage as those making between $45k and $250k, there are too many tax loopholes.

So I put on my MP3 player and ignore a lot of the conversations.  It’s not that I’m trying to be rude, it’s that I prefer not to argue.  I’m horrible at arguments, I can’t think of a response fast enough.  That doesn’t mean I’m not intelligent, or that I’m bad with words.  It just means that I can’t come up with a good retort until several minutes later.  I can think quickly when it’s a simple question like Jeopardy or a knowledge bowl, but otherwise… I take after my mother.

I’m learning a few things as I look for a job.  I’m learning that there are ways for me to earn a living that aren’t a 9-5 job, and that I enjoy.  Like writing.  Store resets (which is just a generic term for going into a store and rearranging a department/section).  Warehouse work for my brother (he does vending machines, so there’s lots of ‘fast’ food available).  I’m learning that I have a lot of talents that I had forgotten when I was stuck with that job for so long.

My goal for the next 3 weeks – (other than the store reset on Wed and working for my brother on Thur and Fri):

Make at least $15 a day writing.  It honestly needs to be more, I should be making enough to cover my kids’ daycare costs.  Then all of my income from my brother would go toward getting us a place.  Living with my parents is difficult at times. (My brother reads my blog occasionally, and I know he’d try to argue with me, but that’s because he’s contrary… hmm sometimes I’m just like him lol I can argue on things that aren’t important to me, but then I’m just saying the first thing that comes to mind).

My other goal is much more with regards to my health.  I need to take better care of myself and stop letting the little things get to me.  Focusing on the important things is the best way to get through life.

My hubby decided that we needed to sign our daughter up for t-ball this year.  She didn’t seem to care either way, but I figured team sports would be good for her.  Since the practices started, she’s loved it.  She loves the games just as much.

The main problem I see is that there are only about 3 girls on the team that have played t-ball before.  The rest of them are just learning, with various degrees of knowledge.  They haven’t won a game, but they have fun so it’s all good in my opinion.  At 4 to 6 years old, they really don’t need to be under pressure to win.

I think it’s probably good that I have this attitude.  My daughter is easily distracted.  It’s rather entertaining actually.  I have had to tell her that we don’t put the dirt from the field in our pockets, and insisting she had to empty the dirt chunks out of the pockets of her shorts.  I’ve had to remind her that when she plays catcher, she has to watch the game and not keep waving to me, blowing me kisses and telling me she loves me.  I’ve had to tell her to stop drawing in the dirt, stand up and pay attention to the game when she’s been in what would normally be a shortstop position.

I’ve watched her throw a fit because they stood her near the outfield and she decided she was afraid of the grass in the outfield.  Of course, I was the only one who realized she was throwing a fit.  I asked the coaches if she had gotten yelled at for doing something she wasn’t supposed to and they said no.  So I had to ask her what she was upset about when she came in from that ‘inning.’

Honestly, it’s been highly entertaining, and I wish I had been able to play t-ball when I was younger.  My sister plays softball in FL, and I can barely catch a ball in a mitt.  If we keep up with the t-ball, my sister is going to have to teach my daughter about the game.  In the meantime, maybe I can get her interested in Tae Kwon Do in the ‘off season.’