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| "When the Children have Gone to Bed." From A Home (26 watercolours) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
My vacation is over. That fun is done, but now it's time for a new round of fun stuff. Mail is piled up--both from the post office and my email box. There's so much to do that I guess I'll keep my vacation posting schedule on my blogs for a while. Gotta catch up.
Catching up is nothing new for me. It seems like I've been trying to catch up for years--maybe decades. When one thing seems to be about wrapped up, ten new things seem to take its place. I guess that's life. Don't want to grow stagnant do we?
For now stagnancy doesn't seem to be an option for me. My plates are full and there's plenty left on the buffet. I'm home--home sweet home--with my own bed, my pillows, my bathroom, and my internet service. Maybe that last one isn't so hot.
One of the first things on my agenda is to get my computer situation in more optimal shape. While in Tennessee my mother gave me the computer that belonged to my late step-father. It's a newer machine than what I've got and since she doesn't use a computer it was just sitting there so she let me trade one of my older machines for that one. Haven't hooked it up here yet, but when I do I think I'll have a much better system.
Also I was talking to the husband of one of my nieces and discovered he's an IT guy who works in computer security. I'll be sending him info about my system for him to analyze and he said I could contact him with any problems I ever ran into so he could help me resolve them. We'll see how all this goes. Maybe I'll be operating at 2014 standards soon instead of being still stuck in the 90's.
My vacation journey may be over for now, but my life journey is far from over I hope. I'll be posting more about my summer travels later. And if you're really interested you can always visit my memoir blog Wrote By Rote where I've been reflecting on my travels and how they related to my past.
And now....drum roll...it's time for:
Battle of the Bands results!
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First of all if you missed the two song versions I pitted in my recent Battle you can find them here. Voting is over but you might be curious to know what we're talking about and you can still voice your opinion about it.
To recap, I offered up versions of a beautiful jazz tune called "Cristo Redentor". I was almost swayed to change my vote--the more I listened to the Donald Byrd version, the more I liked it. Still my original pick by Harvey Mandel remains my favorite.
My vote didn't change the winner voters picked. It was a close contest, but there is a clear winner.
Donald Byrd 9 votes
Harvey Mandel 13 votes
I hope you'll join me again on Friday August 15th for the next Battle. I'm going with a theme for the next few Battles: Boys versus Girls. It's a Battle of the Sexes done with songs. First up a classic tune with a jazzy flair. Be here to see what the song is.
Do vacations wear you out? Who do you turn to for computer help? How often do you upgrade your computer? Are you operating on a stone age system?
Welcome back! And glad you have a newer machine. You definitely needed it.
ReplyDeleteI've often said, 'I need a vacation from my vacation.' I tend to be a go-go-go, must maximize the time, we're burnin' daylight kind of vacationer. My ex husband just wanted to read in the hotel room or cottage but I had to do stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy laptop computer is a 2008 and the desktop dates from at least 2002. It has no modem or place for a flash drive. We have a really good friend who is a computer guy so that's who we call!
Welcome back and hope your vacation was fun. Yes vacations can be tiring and whenever I went on one and then returned to work the day after I always got sick. Now I take at least 3 days more to rest. Even when one rests on a vacation, it is still different from what one is used to. We have a laptop that we use and it works well. I have no idea how to do upgrades or anything like that so I call on my ex-husband who comes over and helps out. My current husband and I make sure to have a nice dinner for him to. We are all good friends
ReplyDeleteI had to buy a new laptop earlier this year as our desktop and old laptop died a quiet death. I did the setup on my laptop except for a couple of things which my supplier did for me. I don't know any IT person except my sister, who works in Atlanta. Too far to bother.
ReplyDeleteVacations with driving and family wear me out, as you try to see everyone. Vacations to anticipated destinations with air travel do not.
Congrats on your new machine. Hope the setup goes well. I love my computer though its well over a year old. That's middle-aged I think in computer years.
ReplyDeleteI love vacations, especially hectic frantic stuff where it goes wrong.The opportunity to think on my feet and make decisions on the fly is a welcomed change from the slow paced patience of day-to-day work. People come to me for computer stuff. I used to have a guy to fix stuff when I did something really wrong, like break a screen or breaking a wire when I opened the computer up. I've moved since then, and haven't replaced him.
ReplyDeleteHey Lee, I have a laptop that I've only had for a year and a half, and I've had nothing but problems with it. One reason I can't voice an opinion about your BOtB songs is that there is no sound on this damn thing now! I've tried everything I can think to try, and no luck. Fortunatley my nieces husband is a computer wiz, so I'm going to get him to take a look at it.
ReplyDeleteAs for vacations, I'm more of a day trip person. Actual vacations are way too tiring!
This post made me realize I have not had a vacation in a VERY long time. I take my laptop with me everywhere, and there's always INternet and so that means no vacation from my work as managing editor at WiDo. And I rarely take a vacation from writing because I started it so late in life I can't afford to. My solution to this problem is to try and include down time in each week. To get the balance I need and avoid non stop work.
ReplyDeleteLee-
ReplyDeleteWhile many of the "self-help" type books I have read were not worth the paper they were printed on, back in the 90's "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" was popular, and I found quite a few gems in there.
One of which went something like "when you die, your inbox will not be empty" or something to that effect.
Very liberating once you let it sink in.
Don't stress over catching up!
But since you probably will, here's a head start-no need to respond to this comment!
Larry
Alex -- I need something to make my computer activity more efficient. Hope this is the answer.
ReplyDeleteJoJo-- I used to like to "do stuff" more than I do now. These days it's more of a spend time with family sort of thing.
Birgit-- I don't live close to any of my exes and it's probably just as well.
DG-- Some computer help can come from afar via email. That will be my situation for now. We'll see how this works.
Susan GK -- Computers age so quickly these days.
Samuel-- I'd prefer not to have the hectic sort of vacation as you describe. I'm too tired for that these days.
Eva -- I need the long vacations to visit family I don't see often. At least I can have some inundation time just hanging out with loved ones.
Karen JG-- Gotta have some down time sometimes. Life is too short not to enjoy it.
Larry -- I don't really sweat catching up so much, but I just keep steadily chipping away at what's there and hope I keep my head above the water.
Lee
Vacations are exhausting. The last 4-5 days of our 20 day visit to far-away daughter was grueling. And the plane flight home was one big mess-up by British Air.
ReplyDeleteWe were so glad to be home.
I don't know what this "catching up" is, unless it's a condiment.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane-- I guess you're talking an overseas vacation? 20 days is a long time for that, but at least you were with family.
ReplyDeleteAndrew-- I need to catch up but I'm finding it hard to mustard the strength and energy to persist very long.
Lee
Welcome back! We've missed you. How exciting to be rockin' a new computer! Looking forward to hearing about your summer adventures. Love the watercolor you posted!
ReplyDeleteWelcome home Lee, great to have you back.
ReplyDeleteI am only on line now and then at present as last Wednesday my other eye suddenly got floaters in like the one that happened 2 years ago,
Went to the eye hospital and there is also wear and tear in the retina...comes with age.
I will be back on line when the effects of the treatment wears off.
Yvonne.
Our computer runs on Windows 7 and is approximately three years old. We don't put upgrades in our computers (tried to put in a new graphics card once... yikes).
ReplyDeleteHusband and I (outside of visiting family a couple miles away) don't have vacations. Money doesn't permit such a thing but we're homebodies, anyway.
We also just got back from vacation, and now have the job of getting two kids off to college and the last one into high school. Glad you are updated. We have finally gotten everyone at home into Windows 7 and my two boys got new laptops with Windows 8 and Office 365 for college. We update probably about every 5 years? It has changed since college and laptops entered the household.
ReplyDeleteTake your catch up slow and easy and welcome back!
Michelle-- Not totally new, but a newer--and hopefully faster--computer than I have now.
ReplyDeleteYvonne-- I've had those floaters for a while and the eye doctor also told me it was an age thing. Get better soon!
Jennifer -- A vacation can be done at home and sometimes they're better than going away. I'd probably just stay home except I have to travel to see my family.
Sheila-- I take most things slow these days.
Lee