Ript!

Now this thing is just cool!! You gotta go try it.

 

This is just stuff from my blog that I did in a couple of minutes…but I can really see how this could come in handy…hmmm.

 

http://www.ript.com/

 

 

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/s4MCd5n0Aoj6UmXd

The Annual Christmas Cards! Yay!

Yep, it's past time for me to work on my Christmas cards! Every year since 1986, I've sent out Christmas letters and cards to a growing list of people. The list has around 150 people now (my culled list, actually), and printing them and mailing them out every year runs me around $200+. But it's my favorite thing!!! I've done them on solid cardstock, professionally-designed papers, Kodakgallery.com, snapfish.com, Wal-Mart, did a postcard one year...you name it. I like to try new stuff, but always I include photos and a summary of all the things I (and later "we") have done during the past year.

 

The collection of these has come in handy multiple times when I have to go back and remember what happened when--kind of like my own short autobiography complete with photos.

 

Some people *love* getting these kinds of holiday greetings--I get at least one note every year telling me how much they always look forward to reading it. Well, I'm one of those people, too. In the days before Facebook and Twitter, it was one of the few ways I could keep up with what the people I know are up to (and for them to keep up with me). Now, I've got this blog, too, to help me keep up with things, but I use it mostly for my writing stuff. Very seldom do I talk about my personal life here--okay, yeah, sometimes I do. But that's generally only the really embarassing stuff for pure humor value. LOL

 

The hardest part is picking something new and different. This year, I'm thinking I'd like to do a "pop-up" kind of card, but I haven't come across any yet. Might have to make them from scratch myself. We'll see.

 

Meanwhile, Snapfish hasn't sent my password to me yet. (I've forgotten it, sadly, and can't find it anywhere.) So, until they do, I'm still shopping around...

Onward and Upward!

It's the 18th of November, which makes me a little sad. Half of the nano is over! When I look forward to something all year, it's so hard to watch it going by!! Kind of like that trip to Fort Myers, Florida this summer. Waited and waited, then the time was finally here. For the first half of the trip, I was just having FUN! The second half, in the back of my mind the whole time was the fact that it was going to end soon. (Thinking that this is why I look fondly back on my 20's and 30's--they were the first half.)

Then I remind myself that living in THIS moment is the important part. Today is really all I have anymore. Today and memories and hopes for tomorrows. Memories and hopes are kinda not here, though, so today is what I've got.

When a new day starts (and mine generally start very early), I have high hopes. Never fails, every new day looks full of possibility. I imagine that day will be the one I don't screw anything up, my hair will behave itself, my skirt won't rip up the back seam (see previous post for that fun day), and I'll be yes, PRODUCTIVE! The clouds will part and everything I've been confused about will become clear. Yes, this is the day I will be kind to everyone I meet, won't say anything hurtful or stupid, and will actually make a difference for a change.

By the end of them, I'm generally about to fall over from exhaustion having lived through various stages of success on each of these items.

Today is no different...it's still early enough that I can get some writing done before I go to my day job. At work, I'll be massively productive, everything will add right up for me--debits and credits all netting to zero (accountant by day), and this evening I'll cook something fabulous for dinner. (Yeah, hardly ever get that item accomplished.) I'll get my bills paid, get the dishes in the sink washed and maybe even do some laundry. I'll read something really good with the kid tonight. Or maybe we'll get our Christmas decorations up early. (Yeah, that was Sunday's plan...what's today? Wednesday? Hmm.)

Onward and upward everyone!

Oh favorite book...you are soooooo fab

Reading (actually listening to on CD) one of my favorite books again. I've read so many books lately that I didn't like, I was starting to stress on nano. This is not good. Time for a book that inspires me! I had to go to the library and find my favorite again.

Can you guess what it is?? Excerpts:

Todd knew it wasn't true. Roark always wrote--drunk or sober, tired or wired, sick or well. He wrote when he was happy and when he was sad. He wrote just as much when he was in a good mood as he did when he was pissed over something. He wrote when it was flowing easily and when the phrases simply would not come. He wrote no matter what.

And my other favorite:

I can teach students the basics of writing, acquaint them with the rules of fiction, familiarize them with the writers who have mastered these techniques, but only God dispenses talent. That indefinable and elusive quality cannot be taught or otherwise acquired no matter how earnestly one desires and seeks it. I learned this sad truth from my own experience. Were talent attainable, I would be writing my own novels. Thank the God to whom you pray, Mr. Slade, for you were blessed with that magic.

Oh yes, Envy by Sandra Brown. How that book has not been sucked up by some studio and made into a movie, I'll never know. Pat Conroy's Prince of Tides made a fantastic film--this could do the same.

Don't bother with the paperback (although I own that, too). Buy the book on CD...read by the amazingly fabulous Victor Slezak. His voice is chocolate and wine and my favorite songs.

I've borrowed this set of CDs from the library so many times now, they are starting to give me weird looks. I wish I was joking.

Computer Woes & Geeks

Took my miserably slow laptop to the geeks at the Geek Squad today (at Best Buy). They ran a test on it for viruses, which I was pretty sure it didn't have. It didn't.

I asked if it could a memory problem. The geek said this model only has two slots, and the limit for the machine is 2 megs of memory. Both slots are already filled with 512's in each of them (apparently totaling 1 meg, although it really sounded like 1024 to me?)

Now, I'm like, "Can't I just buy two 1 megs, unplug the 512's and put the 1's in there?? (To me, the nongeek, it's like "unplug that and plug in this, right?" One plus one is still equal to two, right? Or 2048...whatever.)

He said, "Sure, but you've got to (bunch of English words that when put together sounded like a foreign language), so you'll need to spend $175." (THAT I understood perfectly.) I said, "Is that going to make it faster?" He said, "Well, a little, but you really need to invest that $175 into a new one, in my opinion." I thought but DIDN'T say, "And you need to get real. Unless you've got $500 in your pocket protector for me there, buddy, then that ain't happening."

Then they checked what was loading when it boots up (which was a ton of stuff). They told me how to get rid of all that stuff and charged me nothing. Sweet Geek. I do love geeks.

But I didn't buy the memory or another laptop...still thinking on that one. (And I didn't have $175 anyway.)

I came home, did what he said, and it's still slow, although maybe not as slow.

Now, keeping in mind that it is over 6 years old, how fast can I really type anyway? I'll worry about this thing later. As long as it doesn't crash for good, I'll be fine. I need to get the nano done before I go trying to switch over to something else. This old gal and I have become fast friends.

Well, not fast friends. Slow friends. That's what we are.

Hooked on Glee!

Anybody else hooked on Glee?

 

The pilot came out early in the year after 30-second commercials running off and on for weeks. Very good ads, too. Not many teasers convince me to give a show a look. I try to avoid television as much as possible because given my druthers, I'd pull the refrigerator into the living room, plant my butt on the sofa with blankets and a pillow and not move for days. New shows have to make it past my fight against lethargy. Glee made the cut.

 

Of course, I only watched the first episide on television. All others I've watched on hulu the day after they hit TV because I like to rewind and hear the songs a couple of times--also because the kid really can't watch it. The storylines and dialogue are a little over the top for a pre-teen. I love the singing more than anything, though, and always call her in after I discover a new musical number in an episode. I was astounded to find out after the first few episodes that those actors were really doing the singing.

 

I'm not that hooked on the content of the show...it's pretty out there in a lot of ways, but the singing is just plain fun. If you don't want to spend time watching the whole show, check out the singing on youtube. Just search for Glee. Oh, and I've even purchased a couple of the numbers for the kid's Ipod. One of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7on0Z70UP4U

 

In other news, I'm almost at the halfway point on my nano book. Getting set to write this morning with L. Shannon. She's made it up with me every morning this week at 4 a.m., and she's far from a morning person. Boo-yah!

 

Off to work some more...have a great day!

 

 

The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth with Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl came out on DVD yesterday (and pay-per-view which is where I watched it). I wanted to see it in the theater, but somehow I missed it. This way was better anyway. Fell asleep on the sofa and it ran over and over all night long. Kept waking up to the sound of Gerard's voice...hello. Good way to sleep.

The basic story: This television news show has poor ratings, so they hire Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) to give the show some spark. He has this cable television show called "The Ugly Truth" which is basically a call-in show where he talks about what men need to know about women and relationships. His insights are a little on the frightening side, but he's controversial enough to keep people tuning in. He starts on the failing news show and ratings rock. So, our heroine and the show's producer, Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl), is stuck with him. She's your typical woman searching for the perfect man and coming up way short until he convinces her to let him "teach her" how to get this guy she's interested in. (Another major cutie, Eric Winter)

That's the set up of your not-that-basic "friends to lovers" story, and I won't ruin it for you, but the training is hilarious, and the ending (while a tad on the schmaltzy side) was still gorgeous and set in a hot air balloon. (Gerard was looking great in that scene, I tell ya.)

Examples of some of Mike's training:

Mike: Rule #4: Never talk about your problems 'cause men don't really listen or care.
Abby Richter: Some men care!
Mike: No, some men pretend to care. When we ask "how you're doing" it's just guy code for "let me stick my *** in your ***".
Abby Richter: (affronted) OOH!
Mike: I know you think Colin is above it but trust me he's a guy. He's even remotely into you he's probably thought about each of your orifices at least ten times.
Abby Richter: I love how you assume all men are perverse as you are!
Mike: Oh, I don't assume. I know.

Mike: You're all about comfort and efficiency!
Abby Richter: What's wrong with comfort and efficiency?
Mike: Well nothing, except no one wants to *** it.

Yeah, this is NOT for kids. The language is waaaay out there, probably farther out there than any romantic comedy I've ever seen, so yeah. My kid didn't get to watch this one. (Although I let her watch Stand by Me which in my memory was a GREAT movie and had kids in it, but I'd forgotten the language was whoa! no!)

I wrote a "friends to lovers" story a while back called "Seduction 101" and I have to say I like the type. I might have to try my hand at another one after I finish nano. They are fun, and like this movie, always have the HEA. :-)