technology threat or menace – Page 3

Tali’s natal day, clockwork edition

What went before: Well. My watch is updating. I am not accustomed to the watch being my main point of information, so that will be a change. Also, some things that are I guess supposed to be intuitive — aren’t. Like, yanno, putting on the band. I did finally figure it out, but Jeez Louise as somebody once said.

I did get my reading of the WIP done, despite It All. It’s not Terrible, there are some things that are in the wrong place, but since I’m trying to match at least three separate timelines so that everybody can arrive at their meeting at the right times, that’s probably, oh, normal instead of evidence of a Descent into Dementia.

Yanno? When I was twenty, I never worried about a Descent into Dementia. Just sayin’.

I should probably go find some cheese to put on a piece of bread, brew a cup of chamomile tea, and take it and my book with me to bed, hoping for a better day tomorrow, which is!

Tali’s third birthday.

Sunday. Cloudy. Well. I suppose I can concede to the Weatherbeans in this. Foggy. I am led to believe that it will be foggy all day, which I suppose is possible, at the rate that the snow is sublimating. The Long Back Yard is more grass than snow. I was just watching a crow sorting through dead leaves and old grass and fly off with a beakful into the Really Tall Pine Tree, so I’ll guess I’ll have new neighbors.

Breakfast was biscuit with sausage and a slice of cheddar with black grapes. Second cup of tea to hand. Lunch will be — yeah, whatever. Maybe a scone.

As planned, I just put myself and my book into bed at 9, and read while I drank my tea. Firefly and Rook joined me in the bed. Tali took the overlook position at the top of the bookcase. The new watch says I had a “highly restorative” sleep of 7 hours and 40 minutes, with lots of Deep and REM, which have been in short supply lately, and probably why I’ve been feeling so tired.

I must say that I’m enjoying Mr. Harney’s Egyptian Chamomile tea. I’m alternating with the Republic of Tea Chamomile Lemon that a friend sent me, which I’m also enjoying. I’m trying to simplify my life, but I really do think that I’ll order in replacements of both.

I am not dizzy this morning, and I’m counting that a win. I am feeling rather meh (Note to Weatherbeans: Some sunshine would help over here), so, as advised by my new notepad, I made a list, and I do feel (a little) better. On the list is a blankie run, changing out the cat fountains, buying cpap supplies, homework, and writing.

Writing may only be working with the correx/additions I identified yesterday, but that still counts. And! one of the benefits of reading your WIP over (and over and over and…) is that engaging with the story produces more story (i.e. You know what’s missing here? Or, happier: You know what comes next?) I don’t know how writers who just start and flame through to the end of the first draft without ever stopping to read what they’ve already written do it, honestly.

As mentioned previously, today is Tali’s third birthday. She has been celebrating energetically, chasing spring, ball and her kid brother all over the house, so much in motion that I am not at this time able to offer a picture of the Birthday Cat. She did come by and check in with Trooper. He muttered at her, she cleaned his ears, then bolted off to discipline Rook.

The new watch is … interesting. It has a lot more functionality than the FitBit, and is much bigger — despite which, it’s lighter and more comfortable on my wrist. The FitBit and I had never had a warm relationship, even before Google decided to try to force me to buy a Google watch by driving the FitBit insane. By comparison, the Garmin (bear with me, people; we all have to work with the brain we have) is calm and friendly. I’m not used to having so much information on the watch but even so it’s easy to navigate, and I can of course add and subtract the information I want to see. I think I did the right thing.

I’m about halfway through Tomb of the Dragons, and having a good time with it. I had to stop and explain to Firefly that these were not Liaden dragons, because they lived in another book. It’s a hard concept, but I think she got it. At least, she blinked her eyes and went back to sleep.

And that’s it from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

So! Who has sunshine where they are?

There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole

What went before: 1,266 new words — not too bad for a woman who thought she was going to sit down in the comfy office chair, open the laptop and — fall asleep.

I b’lieve I will be ordering in a Garmin tracker. The insurance may pay for it, and even if not, the stress of the sporadically working FitBit is — stressful. And it’s something I can do something about.

The insurance bill for the car and the house has landed, so I’ll be writing that check before I use the money for something foolish, like buying a dozen eggs. Couple other pieces of snail that I need to deal with came in, too, though nothing particularly urgent.

Tomorrow, I need to go visit the cardiologist so they can glue one of those heart monitors to my chest for 30 day. Yes, yes; I did do this before. The doctors are bored. Or fishing. It would be nice if they got bored of fishing.

I note that I am Out of Cookies. That was careless of me. OTOH, maybe I’ll make scones tomorrow morning, so I’ll have something nice to eat with my tea when I come home from the cardiologist.

And that? Is all I’ve got.

Until. . .

Tuesday. Glowering and cold at the moment. Beans are calling for a high of 51F/11C. We’ll see.

In the meanwhile, breakfast was homemade wheat bread toast, cream cheese, grapes. As I remarked to Rook, who was sitting on my lap at the time, “These grapes ain’t nothin to write home about, so it’s a good thing we’re already here.’

I’ll take the trash and recycling to the curb as soon as I finish my first cup of tea and find my shoes.

Oven heating for scones.

My arm that received the booster shot hurts. I realize belatedly that it is my left arm. I’m usually more careful than that, but — can’t really get a re-do. And thinking about it — I kind of ache all over, which I ascribe in equal portion to the COVID shot and fifteen trips up and down the cellar stairs in service of getting things to where they needed to be.

After I put the trash out, get the scones in the oven, and do my duty to the cats, I’ll look over what I wrote yesterday, and add in all the names that I had forgotten since the last time I used them.

The cats felt that 5 hours and 10 minutes of not-particularly-restful sleep was enough for me. On the one hand, I would have liked more sleep. On the other, I was having some very anxious dreams, which makes me feel like that guy who complained the food wasn’t very good and the servings were too small.

All that said, I’m angling to go to bed early tonight, given that the Things I have to accomplish are inconveniently timed for fitting in a nap.

It’s good to have A Plan.

How much sleep did you get last night?

____________
Right before he started chewing on my head — that’s head, not hair — Trooper gave me to understand that There Was No Food In the Bowls. As we see here, Trooper was exaggerating slightly:

Oh, today’s blog post title brought to you by Odetta and Harry Belafonte, “There’s a Hole in the Bucket.”

The sun’s coming up like a big bald head

What went before:

Yesterday, I went first to the Verizon store on behalf of my phone. Having called Murphy’s attention down upon me by packing for a Day at the Verizon Store, I was — the first one there, and had three reps at my beck.

The first was newish, but told me that my screen protector was cracked. I said I thought it was the screen and would be grateful if she could prove to me that it was only the protector.

This was a little too assertive (sigh), and the second rep came over to explain that I could request a protector from Corporate, or buy one at the store I was standing in and they would install it for me.

I thanked her for the information and once! again! asked if it could be demonstrated that it was the protector and not the screen that was damaged.

She looked at the phone, with the cracks radiating out from the chip, and said, “Oh, yeah; that’s the screen protector.”

I invited her to remove it and assure us all that it was not the screen that was damaged.

…what I tell you three times…

She shrugged and peeled the protector (which itself is some kind of glass, who knew?) off. Indeed, the phone itself was intact.

The second rep installed the new protector, I paid the first, and exchanged farewells and keep-warms with the third rep, who had wisely kept herself aloof in case somebody else came in the door, and went home, richer by an uncracked screen protector and poorer by 50 small.

My trip to the dentist was more expensive and more nerve-wracking, but all’s well there, and I don’t have to do it again until November.

Moving on. . .

Tuesday. Cold enough for me. Sun’s an orange ball behind the trees. I’ll get the trash out when it’s warmer than -1F/-18C.

Waked before my time for a Cat Clean Up Emergency. First cup of tea is here at the desk with me. Breakfast will shortly be sausage and cheese on an English muffin and the rest of the pineapple, assuming it’s still edible. Lunch will chicken breast and — A Vegetable to be Named Later.

Worked past coon cat happy hour, getting my credit reports frozen, and Steve’s (because I never got ’round to doing that other thing. Honest, the few things that are turning up to be dealt with now drag at me like the stuff I had to do Just After Steve left didn’t. ‘course then, I was laboring under the delusion that I was finishing up a few chores before I got on the road to join him at the new place. Brains, man; what will they think of next.)

Anyhow, the credit freeze is nailed down. I should probably lock down the cards I don’t use often (or at all. BOA, I’m looking at you.), but that has to wait until I get the cats’ chips refiled.

I ought to go to sewing today; it’s been basically forever. Also I need to pick up the papers from my lawyer, and make? A phone call!

Last night, after my labors with the credit agencies, I made a cup of tea, and betook myself to my bed to read. Tali understands reading in bed, the rest of the guys, not so much, though Rook gave it a try. It worked out pretty well for me, until I had to actually, yanno, go to sleep and had to be shifting pillows out of the way so I could lay down, and by that time, I was awake again.

I think that’s all I’ve got, and I really ought to get with breakfast.

What’ve you got going today?

Today’s blog title brought to you by Laurie Anderson, “Sharkey’s Day.”

Snow Date

What went before: Yesterday was not a good day. Nuff said.

Monday, grey and cold. Snow showers in the forecast.

Went to bed early; got up to the 6:45 alarm. Breakfast was a blueberry muffin and some English Cheddar. First cup of tea is to hand.

Today’s Plan insomuch as it can be said to be a plan is to finish my cup of tea, do my duty to the cats, fill a Yeti with yet more hot tea and go camp out at the Verizon store until it’s time to go to the dentist. I do have to let an InfoDump out into the cyberlanes today, but that will be AD — After Dentist.

So, do I understand this correctly — there’s another John Carter movie (cleverly titled JOHN CARTER 2)? Thirteen years after the original “mega-flop”? The ways of The Mouse are mysterious, indeed.

What’s your Plan for Monday?

In which pets keep us healthy

What went before: I backed up my phone, in anticipation of getting its screen replaced, one way or another.

The WIP broke 2,000 words, which was good, but they were not the words, or perhaps the feel, that I wanted, which is why word count is such a flawed indicator of progress.

Firefly and Tali sniffed noses! And Firefly initiated the contact! Big step in the right direction. Later on, of course, she raised Holy Heck when Tali tried to join us on the blanket to read. One step forward…

Fast forward to!

Sunday. It was snowing when the cats woke me with a BANG! at 5:30, after I had grumped at Trooper for yelling at me to get up at 4:45. Anyhow.

The snow’s stopped and the sun is doing a country dance with the clouds.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast with jelly, because I was Just. That. Cranky. Lunch — who needs lunch? Honestly, this constant having to eat a meal is really annoying. I sympathize with the Haosa.

After breakfast, I sat in the office comfy chair under the nice heated throw, and alternated glaring out the window, researching details in Salvage Right, and handwriting letters, to see if that produced more of the Feel I was going for, and — yeah, it did. No surprises, there, really, except for the perennial one — You knew handwriting those letters would improve the flow, so why did you type them? The ways writers find to impede their own process is just mind boggling.

My lap has been host to several cats. Rookie is having a tough morning — he got himself so underfoot that I stepped on his tail, and we had to have a love-fest to Make It Better. Ten minutes later, he tried to jump from my desk to the chair, only it spun just as he took off, and he crash-landed on the floor. Firefly smacked him in the head, since he’d just missed landing on her.

First load of towels is in the dryer; second load in the washer. Cat bowls have been refilled. The oven is heating for sugar cookies. Maybe I’ll have sugar cookies for lunch.

Today’s to-do includes more research, writing, and probably glaring. Laundry, obviously, and one’s duty to the cats. Drafting an InfoDump so it can be ready to go when I get the word that the Liaden Universe News list is up and delivering. Oh, and sweeping the front steps.

So! What time did your family pet(s) wake you up this morning?

Alarums and Excursions

What went before: The WIP has broken its first milestone of 1,000 words, and in fact weighed in at 1,300 words at close of bidness.

Also, I solicited information on how to get a cracked phone screen repaired. (I dropped my phone on Sunday, and broke the screen — a personal first, though I’d hate to tell you how many times I’ve dropped my phone over the years.)

Onward.

Saturday. Chilly and bright. Were here in Central Maine are rejoicing in a Severe Weather Alert. The ‘beans apparently found an unopened bag of Winter in the back studio that nobody uses and slipped the knot.

We are therefore expecting, between 7pm this evening and 1pm tomorrow, 4-6 inches of snow. Note to self, turn the car around in the garage so it’s facing out. I was lazy yesterday and pulled straight in.

So! We here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory have already experienced alarums and excursions, and that’s before we view the result of Shan’s first bout of letter-writing.

Alarum the First: Walked into the living room to find that the front door was not only unlocked, but ajar. It is of course entirely possible, not to say likely, that what happened is that I failed to lock the door last night and either air pressure or Midnight Cat Wrasslin popped it. This is also, of course, not the first thing one thinks when they find the front door open upon waking in the morning, and knowing oneself alone in the house.

So, a walk-around, heart in mouth, accompanied by cats who wished to inform me that their bowls! were! empty! They weren’t wrong (this error has since been amended), but it seemed unlikely that the Theoretical Intruder had been a Giant Polydactyl Cat, who had jimmied the door in order to steal a snack.

We appear to be secure, and yes, I should get a deadbolt, but then someone would have to install it, and, given that Someone is Not Me, the point is moot.

Alarum the Second: I had determined to have cottage cheese with pineapple cut into it for breakfast, with toast. When I opened the carton of cottage cheese that I had purchased yesterday, the carton was half full of — milk. This was distressing. I mean, the reason I eat cottage cheese is so I won’t have to drink milk, vile stuff that it is (unless, y’know, properly treated with chocolate, or fermented into skyr or yogurt or cheese). Investigation discovered the cheese curds beneath the milk, so I strained the carton. The actual food thus recovered was fine and the toast was excellent.

Given the above, it seems somewhat poor-spirited to note that there were Dusty Cat Prints on the stove top this morning. I appreciate that a girl has to investigate; I only hope she doesn’t lead the others into Error.

At this point, however, I’m a little leery of predicting, or indeed making, lunch. I think there might be some potato and leek soup. It might be a good day for potato and leek soup.

What else? Ah. My new Lunchtime Read is The Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee, illustrated by Gary McCluskey. It has a Goblin Emperor vibe, and I’m enjoying it, though I’m only about 25 pages in.

Today’s chores include — laundry! Also, closing down the Guest Parlor, since it seems we’re Past That now, turning the car around (yes, that needs to be on the list, or I’ll forget to do it), eating something for lunch, and recording the results of Shan’s letters the First and Second.

That should, she said hopefully, keep me busy.

I see that the Elm Plaza Verizon store opens at 9am on Monday (it’s also open today and tomorrow, but that’s not pertinent to this discussion). I have a dental appointment at 12:45 on Monday, so I could plan on hitting Verizon at the stroke of 9, making sure I have a book or six with me, and if they’re not able to deal with me before noon, go to the dentist. This is the Current Plan.

What’s your Current Plan?

Tali continues to Settle In.

Cats, Technology, Writing

What went before: I did not finish the story yesterday. There were several reasons for this.

Reason One was details necessary to The Great Cat Hunt. I went from no one answering their email to four people answering with varying degrees of “we might be able to make this work.” This required some Examination of My Wants and Preferences, because, no, I could not take them all. We’re still working out travel arrangements for the winning candidate.

Reason Two was that I had realized that I was being Too Damned Timid, and not wishing to get up close and personal with a Bad Thing that certainly had bearing on the character. Also, I needed to clarify the stakes. So, I have to rewrite a couple of scenes, and then write the last scene.

Reason Two-Point-Five is that my keyboard was — lagging. Honest, I was getting two sentences ahead of the words appearing on the screen, which — I can’t tell you how crazy that makes me.

So, I unplugged the keyboard I had been using, and tried to set up the wireless keyboard. Only bluetooth on the computer will not play nice with the wireless keyboard (Message one: Connected! Two Seconds Later, Message two: Disconnected!). I’m very disappointed in this keyboard, and I had such high hopes. For one thing, it’s supposed to light up — which it did at first, but then it stopped and the folks I bought it from want me to do things that I fail to understand in order to MAYbe? get it to work again. And now this thing which essentially means I have a wireless keyboard that has to stay plugged in.

Onward!

Friday. Sunny and already as “warm” as it got yesterday.

Breakfast was a two-parter. I grabbed a banana (I thought it was ripe; it was still — crunchy. Hate me a crunchy banana, but I was committed by that time.), answered a letter, then got dressed. Sit down breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and walnuts. Lunch will be fish.

Today, aside from emptying (and refilling — honestly, who threw a party when I wasn’t looking, and left all the dishes in the sink?) the dishwasher, one’s duty to the cats, on-demand scrubbles, and playtime, will be All About the Story.

I have been pointed to the large, sulky river, where there is an Incoherent Review of Fair Trade that also includes a large swath of a scene from the book, (which I’m willing to guess is exactly 1,000 words) but! that aside? I can’t do anything about it. Despite its delusions to the contrary, I don’t work for the waterway, and they long ago stopped allowing mere writers to ask that troll reviews be removed. Thank you for your understanding.

Pro Tip: If I’m shopping a book and come across an incoherent review, or a review that’s clearly a hatchet job? I skip along to the next review. Works a treat.

Is anybody else having Crazy Times with their FitBit? My watch was charged to 100% before I went to bed last night. This morning, I woke up to a frantic email, demanding that I charge my watch Right Now! I looked — and, yeah, it was down to 6%. When FitBit actually ran the show, the watch perked for a week, and if a power-devouring update was coming down the pipe, they sent a heads-up, so you could plug the watch in. Since Google’s been running the show, it’s like they randomly drain the battery for giggles.

In regard to The Big Cat Hunt, transportation details are under discussion. I am cleared to say that the new director is a Maine Coon.

I finished reading Ties that Bond in Gretna Green, and am still reading Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent in one-or-two chapter bites.

And that? Is all I’ve got to report.

How’s the end of the week shaping up for you?