Transporting Baked Goods

Not everything I make is cookies. Honestly, not everything I make is a sweet, either, but what follows won't really help to prove that point.

This week, when I meant to be writing a completely different blog post, I instead found myself baking for a post-memorial reception. Having no idea how many people would be bringing food - or how many people would be in attendance - I channelled a whole lot of emotions and baked a lot.

How much is a lot?

Well, I started with two Bundt cakes (though I decided I actually wanted three, so I made another the next night).

I'd swear I've blogged about these Apple Spice Bundt cakes before, right? 

From there, I moved on to about 11 dozen chocolate cookies. 

Have we talked about these before? Let me know if you want details.

And - because not everyone wants fall foods just yet, I topped it off with two pans of lemon bars.

I'm sure we've talked about these.

Of course, then I had to get them to the church. 

Luckily, I had just the way to do that, thanks to my recent savvy car buying. Let me explain (and wrap this all up): 

So, there you have it. The perfect excuse to buy a new car. (Not to mention that my last car was 18 years old, the dashboard lights only worked about 1/4 - which is better than when they were completely out, and the roof leaked when it rained.) 

I promise that next week there will be food - and it's not even a baked good!

-----

We're getting into the fall baking/cooking season. What says fall to you in the kitchen? Is it apples and spice? Is it chili? Is it some kind of football fare? Let me know!

Writing 101: Sometimes Technology Is Not Your Friend

I've been working with authors for a long time - probably close to a decade on at least a semi-professional basis, but really all the way back to college - in creative writing courses as well as just helping out friends as they wrote papers.

Not me.

I'm part of the generation that started working with keyboards on typewriters (mostly electric, at least), and experienced things like "daisy wheel" typewriters (which kept typing even when you had stopped because they had to catch up with you - which completely threw me off in the same way that an out-of-sync movie does).

I also had a dictionary. And - in my parents' house - a full set of World Book Encyclopedias. And - at school - a full school library.

Also not me.

We went through word processors that would show you one line of text at a time, and then print it out when you moved on. There was a computer lab in the basement of my dorm when I was in college - it had no Internet access of any kind, but it would allow you to type up your papers, and then print them out on a dot-matrix printer. In grad school, the computers in the lab got an upgrade - and so did the printers.

I still had a dictionary, but the school libraries were much bigger with stacks upon stacks of card catalogs and references for books and topics I'd never heard of. But this idea called "spellcheck" was beginning to take hold. 

And then, suddenly, I had my own computer in my apartment. And my own printer. And a dial-up connection to the World Wide Web, which I could even use when I brought home a laptop from the consulting job I had.

Yep. Both mine.

I was still mainly relying on my dictionary and my reference books, but suddenly I could also rely on my computer to tell me if words were spelled wrong, or if my sentences were oddly constructed. (Okay - the grammar checking function mostly just annoys me, if I'm being honest, but it does help to point out some of the cases where words might be spelled right, but are simply the wrong word in the situation.)

Then - in 2007 - the iPhone came on the scene, and everyone suddenly had access to all sorts of technology right in one handheld device. Spellcheck and web searching became the norm, and - in many cases - it was for the better.

Which of these tools are you more likely to use for making a note?

But then we got into the age of autocorrect and speech-to-text writing. And writing in shortened "text speak," which sometimes seems to want to send us all into a course on ciphers and hieroglyphs. This is the world where a voice message asking about "Going to South Dakota for the weekend" becomes - in text: "Going to sort the code for the weakened." (True story.)

Granted, in some situations (I'm thinking enabling people who could not otherwise communicate) this is amazing. But, from an editorial and proofreading standpoint... wow... there are times when I miss the days of dictionaries and encyclopedias. Or at least the days when people would read what their computers were writing before sending it out for the world to see.

Of course, the more people ignore their dictionaries and rely on their autocorrected emojis, the longer I'll have a solid job. So maybe I shouldn't disparage all that tech quite so quickly.

Tales of a Kitchen Luddite

Alright, so I'm not really a Luddite, obviously, and you've seen a lot of photos of my kitchen, so you know that I'm not trying to cook or bake over a hearth.

But there are some recipes that just work better when you get your hands dirty, and so I do a lot of mixing with my hands or with wooden spoons and leave the KitchenAid mixer (which I love - we actually have two in the house because Christopher and I each had one before we got together) for bigger projects. This usually works out fine, because most recipes say things like "beat until smooth" or "mix until well combined." And you can do that by hand just as well as (or sometimes better than) you can with a mixer.

This explains why, less than two weeks after getting married, my ring was already covered with flour as I baked scones:

Cake mix boxes even have a number of strokes listed, for when you're mixing by hand instead of using a mixer for a set amount of time.

Or at least they used to. Then they shifted to descriptions like "Mix on high for 30 seconds (by hand for 30 seconds)" - which, really makes no sense, since there is no way that those two things would give equivalent mixing to whatever you were supposed to be combining.

One of the last cake mixes I used (the streusel Bundt), didn't offer any hand mixing directions. Only electric mixer ones.

Not a huge deal, since I've made cakes and know - in general - what I'm looking for.


But then I came across an Internet recipe that I wanted to use, which gave specific instructions on how to melt/combine sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter in the microwave ("for 2-3 minutes, removing it to stir every 30 seconds"). Easy enough, right?

Unless you don't have a microwave.

Honestly, we're not living in the Stone Age, I promise. But we are living in a 1950s house with a 1950s kitchen. It's long and narrow with very little counter and cabinet space. We've opted to use some of that space for a toaster oven (which, really, we probably use five or more times each week), and the microwave lives a very peaceful life on a bottom shelf in our secondary pantry (in the basement - you need a secondary pantry when you both love to cook and one of you has worked in multiple kitchen stores). It's on the same shelf as our bread machine, right below the warming tray and the plastic bin of supplies we break out every time we have a big brunch.

See? I know where it is - and I'm not afraid to use it, but I just can't really get to it easily, so I don't.

Unfortunately, that meant that I had to figure out what a basic equivalence would be for the microwave portion of the recipe. Fortunately, I have non-Luddite Internet and social media, and so I asked a group that I belong to and was advised that the equivalent would be "bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently." And, to make sure the consensus had some backing (not that I doubted anyone), I grabbed a favorite recipe that turns out about how I suspected the new recipe should be, and verified that that is what it said, as well.

And, yes, it turned out about how I thought it would (even though the sugar mixture came to a boil while my back was turned, so it probably boiled longer than I would have planned to do).

Someday - in a different house - I'm sure I'll have a microwave back at hand. Until then, I'll be hand-mixing and stovetop-heating - and you'll hear about it whenever it goes wrong (and even sometimes when it goes right).

Oh - if you're wondering what it was that I was making with the boiling sugar and corn syrup, it was these decadent little peanut butter rice treats.*

*Did you know there's a difference between a standard Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and a "Snack Size" one? I thought it was just that the snack size ones were wrapped individually, but I was wrong. They actually are smaller than standard ones. The things you learn without meaning to...


REMINDER: I'm still hoping for recipes to try out that you'd like to see posted about. Let me know if you've got one for me!

Autocorrect and Spellcheck are Your Frenemies! (Don't Let the Robots Win!)

In this world of voice-to-text and email disclaimers that say “I typed this with my thumbs, please ignore any errors,” it’s easy to let typos slide in our quick communications.

When your partner texts to say that he’s already fed the hogs, but you don’t live on a farm, you can assume he probably meant the dogs.

When your boss sends you an email saying that she wants you to beet her in the conference room, you probably aren’t going to run out for a quick shopping trip thinking that she’s expecting you to bring borscht.



And, yes, we have all learned to live with those weird phrasings in our “we’ll assume we know that was just a speed-related typo” world.

Human Brains Trump Computers with Their Language Capabilities

The problem, however, comes in when authors decide to rely on these same pieces of technology for their manuscripts. Once you abdicate power from your own mental abilities and hand it over to the robo-language-cops, you’d better hope you have very forgiving readers (or a very patient editor).

Supposedly, autocorrect and spellcheck have your best interests at heart (or at the warm, squishy cores of their processor doohickeys, at least). They truly think (or algorithm-ize) that they’re giving you the best possible words for your situations. But consider the following real-life examples and then consider whether or not some computer got really bored and decided to mess with you.

From Microsoft Word, we were recently offered:

“As she tucked in her dead husband at night . . .” as a frightening alternative to the much cozier “dear” husband. (“A Rose for Emily,” anyone?) 

Word also politely suggested to me this week that the French folie à deux (a term meaning two people sharing the same delusion) would be better presented as “folio dues” (a term I can only assume means “payment for membership in a folded sheet of paper”).

Where Spellcheck and Autocorrect Fail Miserably

And heaven forbid that you actually try to use a person’s name in your manuscript. Want to refer to the actor Benedict Cumberbatch? Be prepared for autocorrect to offer you “Benefactor Cummerbund,” among other things. Is there a Benefit Cumbersome in the house? Benedictus Cantus, anyone? (Note to prospective parents in the audience: Consider that we live in a world of autocorrect when naming your kid.)

Somewhere along the way, computers seem to have decided that “Shall we play a game?” was simply a way of life for them—and they’ve been working up to Global Thermonuclear War ever since.

How Do We Fight Back?

We stop allowing autocorrect to automatically correct us. We turn off the autofill function. We re-read what we’ve written to make sure that what the computer suggested is actually what we wanted. We make our own decisions on the proper usages of “hire,” “higher,” and “hi ya.”

Sure, it’s great to have Word looking out for you and marking words it thinks might be misspelled or misused. But remember that Word is geared for something like an eighth-grade audience. When you go over its head, it starts to freak out—just like any other impetuous teenager.

So treat your computers as you would your teenagers: Give them some latitude, but also keep a tight rein on them. Make sure they learn all of the lessons you have to teach them—and continue to check up on them, just to confirm that you didn’t miss anything.

After all, if we’ve learned anything from The Terminator or 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s that we can’t blindly trust the machines. Sure, a word processor or voice-to-text bot tweaking your messages might seem innocent, now, but in the same way that you don’t want your thirteen-year-old neighbor to drive your car, you also don’t want to find out what happens when your self-driving car decides that you really meant to say “Ram that truck” when all you said was “Open the trunk.”



I don’t know about you, but with that in mind, I’m thinking that some editorial decisions are definitely better kept in your own hands.

-
Originally posted on Published.com - 6/20/2016

Bad Quote Quotient - Punctuation Pointers

I highly recommend learning some of the basics of punctuation to pretty much every author. After all, spellcheck doesn't often point out those errors.

Today's error is all about the apostrophe. It's a little tiny mark on the screen, but oh, so important.

Here's what I found:

"Branding began as a simple solution for a person to differentiate his cattle from his neighbors."

It does make me wonder what the neighbors looked like, if they couldn't be recognized as non-bovine... And whether they were branding the neighbors or the cows.

Punctuation. It's important to your neighborliness.

A Bulb Went Off...

No, really.

Not like an imaginary light going off over your head like they have in the cartoons. An actual bulb. A little, teeny-tiny light bulb with two little prongs that stick out of the bottom and into the flashlight.

It happened a few weeks ago.

I turned on the mini-Maglite flashlight that we keep in the kitchen so that we can use it when we take the pup out for walks in the dark (not only is she black, but... well... it's hard to clean up after a dog if you can't see the ground) and after more flash than light it was dark.

I looked at the bulb and the lower half of it had turned a kind of milky white. (I do not mean it became the cow from Into the Woods. I mean that the clear bulb turned kind of translucent white.) (Feel free to google it - the cow, not the bulb.)

Today I finally had a chance to stop at the hardware store for a replacement. Just in time, really, because starting tomorrow - thanks to the end of Daylight Saving Time - our evening walks will be in the dark.

So I stopped in and said "I need a new bulb" and the guy behind the counter - who has obviously dealt with this way too many times responded with "Are you sure it's not the batteries?"

I showed him the milky white bulb (again - not the cow), and he said "Oh. Yeah..." and we headed off to find a new little, teeny-tiny light bulb with two little prongs. I stuck it into my flashlight and proceeded to try to blind myself.

Sadly, sometimes that other, imaginary light bulb is just a tad slower in going off.

When Did We Become THAT Demographic?

Do you ever watch TV shows and pay attention to the commercials that are being shown? You can - typically - find out what demographic the show is aimed at by doing this. 

Based on the shows we watch - and the times of day - we see a lot of fast food ads. We also see a lot of ads aimed at "Gen-X" watchers, whenever we watch pretty much any show on BBC America or SyFy. 

Lately, though, while watching "The Mysteries of Laura," we've found that we've apparently become... well... an older demographic. 

The ads are for things like insurance and "assisted technology" companies. I have to admit that this has me a little confused. After all, "Mysteries" is pretty young when you look at the characters and the language. 

I've tried to make myself feel better by telling myself that we're not getting older, it's just that people of an older demographic are now watching "younger" shows. 

But after just so many sit-down shower ads and ads for pretty much anything that can happen in a man's private areas as he gets older... well... I guess I should just be glad that the Early Bird Specials get me home before my shows are on. 

Entering a Brave New World . . . Timidly

I don't have a smartphone. 

I didn't even have a cellphone until after Christopher and I started dating. Part of why I got it was because it would be easier for us to get in touch with one another (it had been a really long time since I had anyone I wanted so much to be in touch with). But I also wanted more security when I was doing the long drive back and forth to my parents' in South Dakota. Yes - I could make the drive without a phone. But when you've got the ability to make the drive safer, why not do it? So I bought my first cellphone. 

Since then, I've had two more phones. Flip phones, to be exact. I haven't moved to a smartphone in large part because I don't really feel like I need one - and I don't want to become someone who does need one all the time. But I also really like that my flip phone touches my ear when I use it and the mouthpiece is near my mouth. You know - like a phone. I feel like, because of that, I don't yell when I'm on the phone like so many smartphone users do. 

Lately, though, I'm finding there are things that a smartphone would really help with. Like pulling up a scheduling email while driving somewhere and suddenly fearing we're an hour late. Or checking out a map when turning off the Interstate in Idaho. Things a flip phone just won't do. 

I'd love to say that it's not a big deal, because at least my laptop is doing great. But since every time I want to type a d I never know if it's going to take one or two tries, I guess I'd be lying. 

You see, I bought my current laptop about eight years ago (I think) - and it was a refurbished model at that time. But it was good enough to allow me to do what I needed to do. And it has a 15" screen, which makes it great for having two active windows at the same time when I'm editing. 

Of course - as things do in the tech world - after I bought my laptop updates started to happen all around me. So I updated my laptop. Then I updated it again. Until... well... even the guys at the store told me that I had pretty much maxed out what I could do. At the moment, I'm down to only one browser that is compatible with my computer, and about every third website I open gives me a banner notice that I need to upgrade my system to get the best user experience. 

So tomorrow I am planning to go to two stores I have always dreaded: a cellular store, and an Apple store. I am, gradually, going to put my toes into the electronics pool of the 2nd decade of the 21st century. I'm making the first foray without Christopher at my side, because I know that I'll get frustrated, and if he's there I'll take my fear (of getting it wrong) and loathing (of having to be dependent upon condescending salespeople) out on him - which would be very bad. 

I've decided that, to get myself through it, I'm going to sing this song from Phineas and Ferb over and over in my head while I'm there: 

At least that way, if/when I do go mad, it'll be in a sort of steampunk-y way, and with a good beat.

Sometimes I Amuse Myself

There are times when I think of things that I'm sure will be really funny when I tell them to people. There are also times when I - luckily - realize that the really funny thing I've decided to tell someone will only be funny to myself.

This is one of those things that I was pretty sure would only be funny to me, but I decided to share it in my "Top 20 Worst Mistakes in Writing" list.

The reason I'm mentioning it tonight is that I've begun working on the second round of an edit at work. Typically, even if the first round is riddled with misspelled words, by the time you spend a couple of weeks correcting them even if the author mucks about with the manuscript before round two there aren't too many incorrect words left.

This time, though, I started working on the manuscript and as it loaded in on my screen eventually I got a pop-up saying that there are too many misspellings for Spellcheck to display them all.

Which brings me to the quote from my list:

"Spellcheck is not your friend. Spellcheck is a passive-aggressive co-worker who likes to point out when you do things wrong, and just when you really need help goes to take a coffee break and ignores you."

I have no idea whether that's funny to people who don't work with Spellcheck every day. But it truly does amuse me.

A Retro Weekend

I've been spending a certain amount of time streaming Netflix, lately. But I'm not watching anything recent. Everything I'm watching is actually from a while ago.

Having just wrapped up season 3 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," today I watched the first two episodes of "The Gilmore Girls" as well as the first ten minutes of the pilot episode of "Ally McBeal."

I'm not sure why I've been doing this, but I am enjoying it. There's an aspect of it that is kind of like meeting up with old friends and telling old stories as a group. You all know the stories, but you all tell them slightly differently, so it's good to hear someone else's version.

Except, with these, you can turn them off after 10 minutes and no one gets mad.

Ironic Holiday Ads

I was listening to the radio a couple of days ago, and an ad came on talking about Labor Day.

Some kid said, "Mom, what is Labor Day about?"

And as the mom launched into the story behind the holiday, another voice (we assume it was Dad) interrupted with "Picnics! Grilling! No one has to work!"

Then the announcer started in on all of things that were going to be on sale... in the store... on Labor Day.

So... Let's look at this: The ad is all about how "no one has to work on Labor Day," but it's an ad for a store that will be open - with hundreds of people having to work.

I only heard the ad once. Makes me wonder if someone at the company actually heard it and realized that the irony cut a little close to the bone...

Branding - Not the Cow Kind

I used to have a website. It wasn't a great website. It was a build-it-yourself website that kind of came along with having my email address at the time.

I was able to put up a sort of basic portfolio of things I'd worked on in the past and add in my resume. It wasn't exciting, but it was workable, and it gave me somewhere to refer people who asked about my background.

Then that went away, and aside from this blog (which, honestly, I'm not planning to refer people to if I'm looking for a job) and a couple of social-media-type sites, my web presence disappeared.

But I'm going to be speaking at a conference in a few weeks, and I really want to be able to point people to somewhere if they want to find me. So I'm trying to find a website building/hosting company that is quick and easy (and cheap) so I can put something together.

There are apparently a bunch of places that do this - at various rates of cheapness - so I've spent a few nights scrolling through lots of template designs searching for just the right look. But this is the kind of stuff that people pay companies thousands of dollars to develop and design. The all-important "brand identity" can make or break an online business.

Do I want to be slick and modern? Do I want to be cozy? Do I want to be artsy and laid back? Or do I just want to be Times New Roman on a white background?

How do I know? I mean... I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up - and I've had a LOT more time to consider that.

(Mis-)Targeted Advertising

If you've been on pretty much any website that has advertising in the margins, you've probably noticed that the ads start to "follow" you.

On the one hand, it's a little like having an overly helpful shop assistant who won't let you simply look around in the store on your own and wants to help you shop.

On the other hand, it's like getting home from that store to find a stalker sitting on your doorstep saying "You looked at this half an hour ago. Are you sure you don't want to buy it?"

I've started using some of it to my advantage, though. If I'm considering buying a new pair of shoes, for instance, but am not sure which exact style to get, I'll go to Zappos and click on a few pairs of shoes that I like. Then - for the next week or two - I'll get a rotation of ads from Zappos, each showing me a different pair of shoes like the ones I've clicked on.

This also works for book suggestions, if I go to a site like BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon. I let the sites do some comparison shopping on my behalf, and then sit back and let the photos scroll.

But then there are the ads offered by the companies who don't really have all of the right information.

For instance, though I am in my late 40s, I'm not quite ready for the "Meet singles over 55 in your area" ads. (If for no other reason than... you know... I've been with Christopher for nearly 10 years.)

The dating ads also miss their marks when they all want to suggest that I need to meet women for dating. In the margins of a couple of sites, I'm frequently shown buxom young women "looking for men in my area." Somehow, I suspect their not looking for men like me. (See above comment about being with Christopher for nearly 10 years.)

On the whole, though, I don't always mind the targeted ads - when they get it right. If there is an offer at some new restaurant, or flight deals from MSP, or a discount on books I want, I'll happily take it. I'll also happily ignore the ones that are just so wrong for me that they're laughable. I just hope that the advertiser gets some money back from the site that was so far off the mark.

When Low Maintenance Isn't

I am, for the most part, really low maintenance when it comes to most of my electronics. Okay. So maybe I'm a Luddite in disguise. Either way, I'm not really up-to-date on most personal electronics.

I have a flip phone. I have a laptop which is multiple years old.

These things work fine for me, and I don't see any reason to update them, since they work.

But they don't always work.

For instance, when Christopher and I were in Paris this spring and were trying to coordinate with our friends, we had to rely on his smartphone to do all of the coordinating. It worked, but I don't think either of us was particularly thrilled by the situation.

And, today, I found that my computer has started deciding it needs to shut down from time to time for no apparent reason. It's old. It was refurbished when I bought it. But that doesn't mean I'm okay with it crapping out on me for no reason in the middle of typing.

So now I'm thinking about upgrading my electronics - but my bank account has not been upgraded to match. Suddenly my low-tech, low-maintenance life is becoming much higher-maintenance for, possibly, higher-tech.

And the worst part (for me, at least) is the fact that making the move from low-tech to high-tech is going to make my low-maintenance life really high-maintenance for a while.

Pixelation

Could someone please explain to me why digital cable pixelates all the time?

Regular TV doesn't pixelate.

Regular non-digital cable doesn't pixelate.

But the more-expensive digital cable seems to pixelate all the time.

I don't understand that. And I really don't understand how companies can tell us that things are getting better and better when simple problems like this keep getting worse and worse.

If you have any explanations, please comment. This isn't entirely rhetorical - I'd really love to know why it happens.

Travel Tuesday - Doc Check

A while back, planning for the hoped-for eventuality of more travel of the international nature, I applied for a Global Entry card. Or something like that. I have to admit that I've seen it called so many different things that I'm really not sure what it's called.

But it's this card that - along with your passport - can make it easier to get through Border Patrol on the way back into the United States.

The process isn't too bad, these days. Christopher got his a couple of years ago, and at that time there wasn't anywhere around here to go, so he had to go to Montreal for it. I, on the other hand, just had to go to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

Well, first I had to pay my money and fill out my application and get the provisional approval. Then I had to schedule the appointment and head for the airport. Where - on the day I was going - the main terminal parking was completely full. So I had to drive to the other terminal (at MSP they're maybe a mile or so apart by car, with a light rail shuttle), then run through the first terminal, hop the train, run through the second terminal, and then - although I'd arrived an hour early - show up 5 minutes late.

The interview was fine. The agent took my photo with his webcam, showed me where the number was on my form, and sent me on my way. And, about a week later, I got my card in the mail.

Of course, I looked at it right away, only to find that the photo is kind of skewed. Really. My head in the picture is a very odd shape. But it'll work. So I set it aside for the next time I travel.

This morning - for no apparent reason - I pulled it back out of the envelope and notice that the side of the letter said "Activate your card within one month or various dire circumstances could befall you" or something like that.

Umm... No clue whatsoever when my card came in the mail. Was it a month ago? Was it less than a month? I hopped on line - because who really wants to be at work on time, right? - and after about 18 attempts at logging into my account (because I never thought I'd need to log in, obviously), I got it activated.

Note to self: When you get any kind of travel documents, look them over. Really look them over. Then do it again.

Dis/Re-Connected

For the past couple of weeks, our router has been... well... flaky. And not the good kind of flaky, like a nice pie crust (Happy Pi Day!) or a croissant.

Not even the kind of flaky that I can be some times when I let my Gemini nature take the lead.

But the kind of flaky where you never really know what's going to be next.

I've found myself doing things like lying on the floor in the middle of the living room, because the signal had dropped where I was, and it came back about 3 feet closer to the router, and so I just stopped where I was, hoping that I wouldn't lose it again.

Yesterday, though, Christopher went out and bought a new router. And - being the computer guy in the house, as well as being a really great guy in general - he set it all up this afternoon in such a way that when I turned my computer back on, it would automatically reconnect.

So this evening I'm sitting in that "faraway" chair, with a solid wi-fi signal, and no hassle whatsoever.

Which means two things: Christopher is amazing, and life is good.

So, Does the Shoe Fit?

Honestly, I'm not sure, yet.

Yes, after I posted on Tuesday, I ordered some shoes. And they have already arrived (that's one of the rare instances where I really like technology).

But I was only home for about half an hour after work before going out to an event with a cousin of mine, so I didn't try them on.

And then I got home from that late enough that I really just wanted to get into my pj's and hang out on the couch. Which I did. And although I keep looking at the shoe boxes over by the front door, I don't want my first impression of possible new shoes to be how they look with my pajamas. Because they might be great with jeans, but who knows how they'll look with black-and-white plaid flannel?

So I'm waiting until tomorrow to see whether the shoes fit my feet - and my sense of foot style.

I'll keep you posted.

On-again, Off-again

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that technology and I are kind of... well... we work together because we have to... usually. 

Yes, there are parts of technology that I really like, like electric lights, and hot water, and even using my computer to write this blog. 

But - much the same as with my car (another piece of technology I greatly enjoy using) when something goes wrong, I'm frequently flummoxed. 

Lately, our Internet connection seems to be coming and going. We're not sure if it's actually the fault of the cable company, the fault of our router (which for many years I thought was only a piece of woodworking equipment), or some combination of things. 

What we do know is that sometimes we're connected to the Internet, and sometimes we're not. 

As you might imagine, there are times when I quite enjoy this. 

I enjoy having the "pressure" to go online taken away. After all, with no Internet, I don't have to check the social networks. I don't have to follow breaking news. I don't have to consider doing a really quick weekend check of my work queue. 

But there are also times when the world we live in kind of requires Internet access. Like yesterday, when I needed to get online to do two pieces of freelancing. Or tonight when I wanted to update our TiVo, but it's also not connected to the Internet (okay... maybe that's not really a requirement). Or... well... when I started to put up a blog post the other day but simply couldn't. 

I'm sure that we'll figure this out pretty soon, and be back to the over-connected life of the 21st century. In the meantime, though, I'll do my best to keep my senses of humor and perspective - and my sanity - as our on-again, off-again Internet relationship continues. 

Going Tubeless

I just saw an add for "tubeless" toilet paper rolls. And, yes, they are basically exactly what they sound like: rolls of toilet paper without the cardboard tube in the middle. (Because, really, what purpose do they serve?)

Ironically, earlier today, I saw something on social media that pointed out that no matter how old you get, you always want to bonk someone on the head with the inner tube from a roll of wrapping paper.

It's a strange little coincidence, in its own way, the two different cardboard tube stories both showing up in my life on the same day.

I'm not sure what it means, but it really makes me want to try to bonk someone on the head with the next toilet paper roll tube, just to see if it produces any sound.