So I bought a netbook last night in order to be able to do word processing and light web surfing. I’m absolutely loving it so far, but just discovered a flaw that is *really* irritating:

Windows 7 Starter edition does not let you set your own picture as a desktop background. You are stuck with a boring blue screen and no other options.

Unbelievable. I can understand a Starter edition not having the more advanced features you’d find on the Premium and Ultimate editions. But desktop wallpaper? Really? Miscrosoft seriously thinks I’m going to go out and spend more than $100 on an OS upgrade just to get the ability to change the background picture?

I just posted to their blog that I’d pay $5 to change my wallpaper. It’s not worth that much to me in terms of money. But it sure is worth a heck of a lot to me in terms of goodwill, and they just irritated me in a big way. How cheap are they? I never imagined I wouldn’t be able to choose the picture that displays on my netbook.

Other than that, I’m enjoying this little computer, but every time I boot up, I’ll be very irritated with Microsoft, because I’ll be looking at a stupid, boring blue screen instead of one of my own pictures. And that just doesn’t seem to be a good thing to put into your customer’s minds every time they start their computers.

Heh. Remember the blue screen of death and how unstable some of Miscrosoft’s earlier OSs have been? I think that’s what will come to mind whenI look at this stupid blue screen every day. The Micosoft blue screen of death.

This is just beyond stupid.

I’ve been helping a neighbor deal with a slimy roofing company that took his money without doing any work. In order to get them to do his roof, I’ve had to write about a zillion letters. I’ve written letters to the state’s enforcement office, to his insurance company, and to the city. All of these entities have needed complaints and requests in writing. Not only does my neighbor not speak English, I’m pretty sure he has only minimal ability to read or write, even in Spanish.

So what do people do when they don’t know how to read and write and they have to put things in writing? I guess they must have friends or family to turn to, but I’m seeing with my neighbor just how vulnerable you are when you cannot comprehend and communicate in writing as well as verbally. If he had been able to read, he might have realized how scummy this company is. Their marketing brochure contains a letter supposedly written by one of our congressional representatives congratulating them on their work in the community.

Gag. Red flag right there, if you have any common sense. But my neighbor had no idea that was part of the packet he was handed, since he couldn’t read it.

Spend time with your kids and read to them from the time they are born, and you are setting them up for a lifetime of possibilities. Anyone remember RIF–Reading is Fundamental? I wonder whatever happened to that program. Probably got axed somewhere along the way.

Well, have I ever been negligent of my blog. Which is fine by me. I have an ambivalent muse, and there were too many other things going on while the weather was nice to want to spend much time online.

I’ve been settling into my new job, and I took lots of walks. I’d like to say I was busy mowing the lawn, but with the drought this year, I hardly had to do that at all. Mostly, I’ve been making more effort to get together with friends in real life. Getting laid off allowed me to do more of that, and I just didn’t want to give it up. My energy levels start slowing down once it gets cold and dark, though, so I find myself drifting back online a bit more.

I did have a bit of an adventure in September. I took a glider plane ride! I loved it–it was wonderful and amazing. I’ll have to post more about that, and put up some pictures. For now, though, it’s bedtime, and I’m ready to wind down for the evening. Just thought I’d stop in and dust off the blog a little bit tonight. Shake out some cobwebs and open a window or two.

OK, has WordPress gone insane in my relative absence? There are 5 spam sitting in my spam filter, and when I try to delete them, I am taken to a page that says “No cheating allowed here.” Doesn’t matter how I try to delete ‘em. I can’t.

Talk about annoying. And odd. Oh well. I’m too tired to care all that much.

I have absolutely nothing interesting or exciting to post. I think blogging must be wearing thin for me. Mainly, I think it’s that a. I finally have a job I like and that is reasonably secure, so I’m not trying to escape incredible stress on the internet and b. I’m working on my next novel. I’d rather spend any time writing working on that.

Hope everyone out there is doing well!

P.S. Ah ha! If I delete them one at a time using the quick links that appear when you hover over them, I can get rid of them. But what a PITA. I hope Word Press fixes this problem soon.

Today I took a hike at Snail Lake in Shoreview. I didn’t know about the park surrounding the lake until I was laid off and one of my layoff buddies took me there. Wow, I’m glad I know now and wish I had known sooner. There is an extensive system of trails going through fields and wetlands with abundant bird life.

While I was out there, I looked up and saw a large group of about 50-60 white pelicans circling overhead. If you’ve never seen white pelicans fly before, you are missing out. They are massive birds, but somehow manage to float silently like dandelion fluff on the breeze. It’s the most amazing and majestic sight to see them, especially in such a large group.

I had plenty of oppotunity to see them, too, as they seemed to be circling the area the entire time I was there. Once, they were so low and close that I could see their eyes without my binoculars, and I sorely regretted the decision to not bring my camera with me. Another time, a pair passed over my head only about 40 feet up.

Anyway, I’m thinking they must be nesting out in that area, so I’ll have to take my camera and go back again soon. Perhaps I’ll get a good shot, although the shot I missed would have been especially lovely because of the way the clouds were today. Oh well. I went out there to spend some time being instead of doing, and part of that meant not hauling a camera and simply enjoying life. Which I did. Especially because of the gift of white pelicans.

A friend sent this to me and I found it amusing, so I thought I’d post it:

Someone just posted a fun flash game to a group I read, so I thought I’d pass it along. The object of the game is to click in the circles to turn them black, forming a barrier to trap the cat. As you might expect, herding cats is not easy! But it’s a mindless and amusing game, perfect for a little diversion after work.

So I just got an email from my brother. Apparently, I’ve been neglecting my blog for too long and he wants me to have at it. I offered to let him guest blog. We’ll see if he takes me up on it!

Anyway, work is going well, although totally exhausting. It’s hard being completely new after you spent nine years with your former employer. I’ve decided that being laid off completely sucks, and if I ever feel I’m at risk for losing my job again, I just might do what a lot of people around me did and bail before they can nail me.

Fortunately, I think my new job is secure, so no bailing required. Plus, I love what I’m doing and the people there are fantastic. I’m incredibly fortunate, even if exhausted.

I did think about blogging this weekend when I renewed my Norton subscription online. I read the fine print on my receipt, and it said they had signed me up to autorenew on my credit card every year. What the hell? I never authorized that. It also said I could log in to my account online and opt out. Well, I went to my account online and no such opt out link existed. Then it took half an hour of digging to figure out how to contact them to tell them they may NOT help themselves to my credit card next year, and if they do, I’m going to promptly call VISA to complain about an unauthorized charge.

In my note to them, I told them that I’d be switching to McAfee next year. Then I did some Googling and discovered that the State of New York recently won a lawsuit against both Symantec (Norton) and McAfee for signing customers up for autorenew without telling them, then refusing to refund the charges (or charging fees to reverse the charges).

What the heck? You’re telling me that the two major companies that you pay every year to protect your computer so nobody steals anything from you have been stealing money from their paying customers? Because that’s what it is in my mind, plain and simple. Unless I specificially authorize a charge, if you charge my card, you’re a thief.

So I’m not doing business with either of them when my current Norton subscription is up in a year. I did a search and found that PC Magazine highly rated a product called BitDefender. I’ll Google closer to the time to make sure that’s who I want to go with, but I guarantee I will not go with Symantec or McAfee. Symantic support did get back to me right away to say that they had set my account to not autorenew, but they have now permanently damaged my trust with their slimy business practices.

I imagine they’re hoping I’ll forget that they did this and next year I’ll renew when the software prompts me to. Nope, ain’t gonna happen. I set a calendar reminder to myself to look into new antivirus software next May. Plenty of time to buy a different product before my current subscription expires. And Symantec had better not autorenew me, because that complaint is going straight to VISA, and I will not be paying the charges. I saved the email from the support person saying they had removed me from autorenew.

Anyway, that’s my big rant for the weekend. I hope my brother is satisfied now. If anyone is still stopping by to read, I’d love it if you left a comment to encourage him to guest blog here. I think if he’s going to harass his older and wiser sister about her blog, he should write a post for my trouble, don’t you think?

that when a recipe calls for 3/4 c of (dairy free) margarine, 3/4 of a stick is only half of what you need?

Fortunately, I figured this out before it went in the oven, so all is well. But I do think I’ll turn in early tonight. This working for a living thing gets exhausting!

Well, it’s been a whirlwind of a week, and one of extremes.

The good news is that I love the people at my new job. They’ve made me feel very welcomed, which helps greatly with the feeling of being utterly overwhelmed by all there is to learn. I’m sure I’ll catch on, though, and I hope I am there for many years to come.

The other good news is that my chimney swifts are back. I can hear little twitterings coming from the chimney sometimes when I’m back in the family room. Not sure how successful they’ll be this year, though, since we are so dry that I’m not sure they’ll have enough insects to raise their young. I’ll have to spend some time out back today and keep half an eye on the sky in hopes of seeing them flying around the neighborhood.

The sad news is that my stepsister died last night. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year–very aggressive breast cancer that couldn’t be detected until it was widespread. First we thought she’d have years, even though we knew she couldn’t be cured. Then we thought in April that she might have months. Friday night, we learned that she only had days. So it’s been a rough weekend.

I didn’t get to see her before she died, but I did make a card for her, which I sent last weekend. It would have arrived in time for her to see it, so for that I’m thankful. Anyway, this has been a rollercoaster week, going from one extreme to the other.

Other than that, life plods on. I did go see the Star Trek movie on Saturday and loved it. And the birds are doing well and singing up a storm, thrilled with the return of the sun and the beginning of mating sesaon. Of course, they are singing their little hearts out to attract females they will never find. Poor birds! At least they have each other for company.