Blogger Down.

Not Blogger the site, me, the, uh, blogger of this blog. Thanks to a nasty cold that i suspect may in fact be the flu, I've been down for the count since Saturday. I managed to make it into work on Monday, but by Tuesday I was feeling a lot worse. I called out sick from work the entire rest of this week and spent it hopping between my armchair in front of the TV to my bed. my schedule is basically the same every day: get up at 1:00 PM, eat some toast. Go back to bed at 4:30. Get up at 7:00 or maybe 8:00, eat some soup, go back to bed. Needless to say, homework, housework and the major apartment tidying I need to do before Thanksgiving guests arrive did not get done. This really annoyed me because I have so many things I need to get done that I could almost cry. Rather than improve from one day to the next, I'm actually getting sicker. I have a new computer and some new gadgets i need to learn how to use, and all I did this week was sleep. Last night I had what I'm convinced was a Nyquil-inspired nightmare. In this dream I received an invitation to a former co-worker's Christmas party. I hadn't worked with him for a couple of years so I thought it was weird, but in a rare moment of "gee, I'll go out and have some fun," I went to the party, (Note: co-worker in the dream is in fact someone that didn't exist in real life.) When i got to the party he looked at me in surprise and asked me what I was doing there.
Me: You sent me an invitation.
Host: *awkward pause*I did? Oh. I must not have updated my email address list for a couple of years.
Me: . . .
Host: Well, since you're here, its' good to see you. You can stay if you want.

Why am I bothering you with this when I should be ruminating on Instant Messaging and its role in either the enhancement or destruction of society as we know it? This story brings me to one of the great mysteries of our time: the flu shot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't take. Sometimes the doctors prepare the wrong flu shot and everyone that got that shot is at risk anyway. And how come people who get the flu shot are protected from the flu, but they can still get a seriously nasty cold? I got my flu shot three weeks ago, and by Sunday I had to make an emergency trip for cold supplies and ended up at Walmart, where you can buy Dayquil and Nyquil without having to sign a form promising that you won't use the medication as part of a home meth lab. If I'm not actually suffering from the flu, then this is one seriously grotesque cold. If it is the flu, I'm majorly annoyed. It wouldn't be the first time I got the flu after receiving the flu shot. A manager in my office got her flu shot last week at work. I and some other co-workers were surprised because we didn't see another email about it. "The executives get the real flu shot," I quipped. Maybe I was closer to the truth than I could have guessed? ;-)

Grrr...Ahhhh...Grrr...Ahhh...

Technology hates me. So does freakin' Apple! is it too much to ask to have a working computer and reliable internet access? You know the new laptop I wrote about earlier this week? I tried to go online on Friday and I kept getting a message telling me that Safari could not find any servers or websites. I was connected to the internet but Safari couldn't find anything. So I had to call in a state of panic last night. I had to lug my new laptop back to the Apple store. I explained that the internet worked for one day and now it didn't. And you know what? The guy was truly stumped. He tried a lot of different things I confess I don't understand. Using Airport, Safari worked fine. But I've heard a lot of things about its susceptibility to hacking so I wasn't eager to switch. It took him an hour to fix it. he finally reconfigured the network access information, or whatever, and got it working on dial up. He told me that Airport isn't as vulnerable as I'd heard, so I asked him what I would do if I wanted to use it. He showed me the "taco" icon at the top of my screen and gave me a quick lesson.

When i got home I was anxious to make sure the computer worked. I found that the technician had not only left the computer on, thus draining the battery, he left the setting on Airport. I switched it back to the modem, logged on...and got nowhere. Safari was once again not working. After a few choice curse words I noticed there was a choice for configuring the network. I had nothing to lose, so for the name I just typed in Earthlink, typed in the access phone number and my account information and hit apply. Thank God, it worked! Was this all I had to do in the first place, or did the technician fix something that would have prevented me from doing this? And why did the Earthlink helpdesk guy in India not tell me to do this? I am SO over Earthlink at this point. I'll save the outsourcing lecture for another time...

Buying a new computer was supposed to end my problems and, to be honest, it's fun being able to buy a new toy. But I'm annoyed and tired, and behind on work for this class because i couldn't do everything I needed to on the library and computer lab machines.

I brought my 2nd generation iPod to the store because I had stored all my fonts on it so I could just copy the fancy ones I'd installed over the years over to my new machine. Easy, right? Apple had other ideas. The Macbook just can't recognize the older iPod. My sister has an iBook and an older iPod that my new computer does recognize (she transferred some music videos onto it so I know it works). maybe i can plug the older iPod into her iBook, copy the fonts onto her slightly-less-older iPod, then plug it into my computer. I could install all my fonts, disk-by-disk if I have to but honestly, this process should not be this difficult. It's been a hassle. And I'm not a technological idiot! I know my way fairly well around a computer.

I've cleared off my computer desk, rearranged it with my new stuff, and added some decor to the wall in that area. I'm going to relax, turn this computer off now, and starting tomorrow, with a new week, I'm going to enjoy my new stuff, get caught up, and go forward. Sorry to rant on and on about all my techno-problems! Thanks for reading. :-)

FINALLY.

I'm technologically viable again.  I detailed my iMac woes at the start of this semester, ad nauseam.  After eight years my beloved Strawberry iMac was out-of-date and barely functional.  This week, I took the plunge, gritted my teeth, went to the Apple store and bought a new laptop.  It's faster and holds twice as much memory out of the box than the iMac did after I bought and installed extra RAM over the years in order to max it out.  Thanks to a rebate I got a combination color photo printer/scanner for free!  On the down side I'll have to buy upgrades for Photoshop and Illustrator, but it will be worth it in the end. Oh yeah--and I had to buy an external USB modem because the computer doesn't have an internal modem.  I had to drive back to the Apple store because I didn't for one minute think that a new computer wouldn't have an internal modem in it.  Yes, I still use dial-up.  I don't want to hear it.  Someday I'll be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, but for now I don't want to be bothered with having to switch ISPs, etc.  Sucks to be me, I know.  But at least I got a free printer.

Having a working computer means I can now resume blogging, a task made increasingly difficult on my old Mac.  I like blogging.  It's a conceit, I know, and I know that no one reads them, but there's something satisfying about publishing my own online journal.  I actually have three blogs.  My knitting blog gets the most hits thanks to the many knitting and craft forums I belong to.  This blog is my "smart blog." I started it when I became serious about writing again. I mostly review books and zines and other literary topics, though recaps of the latest Doctor Who episode crop up quite often.  I have a sewing and stitching blog as well, but it only has a couple of posts on it over the past two years, mainly because I'm still just learning how to sew (no time!) and I don't do other needlework as often as I knit.  I won't bother to post a link.

Most people may find this funny, but knitting blogs are hot right now. No, really! Google "knitting blog" and it returns 531,000 results.  Everyone and their Goth kid sister has a knitting blog  these days. I confess that, as soon as I became aware of the phenomenon three years ago, I had to have one, too.  I think for me the appeal is part showing-off, part bonding with like-minded people all over the world, part archive.  Knitting blogs are a wonderful medium that lets people share patterns and tips, ask for and receive help from one another, and share resources and stories of who in their family taught them to knit.  Knitting is passed on to a new generation as Internet-savvy teens and twenty-somethings flock to the craft.  In turn, these bloggers are sharing tips to older knitters on how to set up their own blogs, how to upload pictures, and how to have more fun using the internet as a tool for exploring an ancient craft.  Sharing--and blogging--is a wonderful thing.

In case anyone's interested, here are some of the more "famous" knitting blogs out there:

The Yarn Harlot 

Queer Joe's Knitting Blog

It's A Purl, Man

"It's all about self-absorption today. The BlackBerry makes you go into yourself. The computer makes you go into yourself. E-mail makes you go into yourself," she says. "It's a huge world out there. We must just stop and get out there and be nice to somebody."


This quote appeared in today's USAToday in an article on Emily Post and the deplorable decline of manners in today's society. Who's being quoted? It's none other than Sarah Ferguson, Dutchess of York. I especially like the first sentence. It sums up my general feelings on why there is a distinct lack of manners today, especially in the younger (teens and twenties) generation. The first assignment for this class was to speculate on the role email plays in society. Is email dead? Is it being replaced by other, faster forms of electronic communication? My posts to the online class forum were very similar to the thoughts expressed by Sarah Ferguson. the self-absorption part hits home for me, since I deal with the self-absorbed on a daily basis, and have long attributed it to the instant gratification obtained by modern forms of communication people have at their fingertips. That's really all I have to say for the moment. No big, meaningful sociological exploration of the topic for now, I just wanted to indulge in a small sense of validation. I guess we redheads think alike.

Thanks, Fergie.

Sleep Deprivation...Must...Type...Paper...

I detest weird, obnoxious dreams. Over the years I've had what I call recurrent "school anxiety" dreams. They first started in the 90s when I was trying to get through art school. I enjoyed my classes, but a combination of illness, lack of funds, and scheduling problems plagued my experience. I began to dream that I was back in college, where I finished my undergrad, but I was my current age. In my dreams I had a car (I didn't when I was an undergrad), I was an adult (I use the term loosely) and I was living on campus on some sort of sabbatical from work. In these dreams I endlessly searched for either my dorm room or my mailbox. I rarely found my dorm room, and when I did, there was something not-quite-right about it. Either the door wouldn't lock, or it only had 3 walls instead of four, opening up into someome else's room, that sort of thing. As for the mailbox, I never found that at all. I'm not a psychiatrist but there's some sort of message here. Either A.) I'm trying to find my room, which I believe represents a sense of belonging, or my "center" if you will. Or B) I'm trying to find my mailbox, and I never do. Clearly, I'm "not getting the message," right?! The most astounding part of this recurrent dream is the scenery: it has been exactly the same every time I have this type of dream over the past 10 years or so. The campus doesn't look quite like it did in real life, but it looks exactly the same in every dream. It's always night. Sometimes I'm driving around campus or through town on my way back to campus. I marvel at how things have changed, or how things have stayed the same in this very vivid nocturnal landscape. I also marvel that I'm driving at all since I didn't have a car or a license when I was in school. In all these dreams, no one likes me. I attribute it to the fact that I'm 10 (and now 20) years older than everyone else.

These dreams stopped once I finished art school, but they returned with a vengeance last fall when I entered graduate school. The scenery and premise of the dream remain the same ten years later. This time I attribute them to a general academic anxiety. I had design projects at art school but no research papers. When I started graduate school it was easily nineteen years since I'd written a paper or engaged in heavy research. I was nervous about the coursework, and the very words Graduate School struck a bit of fear into my heart. This time around I tend to find my dorm room more often than not, but it's still a little off. Sometimes the walls are slanted. Often I get to the back of the room to find that it adjoins another room with no dividing wall. I have dreams where I'm in a new apartment that does the same thing--opens into another apartment--and it really ticks me off. I'm sure there' s something subconcious about that but I can't figure out what it could be. Feel free to email me with your suggestions.

Last night I had a very different but equally puzzling school-related dream. I was sitting on the concrete area near an outside swimming pool. My sister was with me. A lot of other students were sitting there also. It was supposed to be my current school but didn't resemble it at all. Right behind the pool was a football field. A game was just about to get underway, there were swimmers waiting to use the pool. Then a man came along and stood in front of all of us seated on the concrete. He started to give a lecture. "If America is an unaltruistic wheel that has run out of grease," he began, "then what does that mean for the rest of the world?" Brilliant! I thought. Then someone whispered in my ear and I woke up. So what does this latest dream mean? Apart from the odd but promising sound bite I have no clue. I'm sure the professor's words are inspired by the current economic crisis; they certainly reflect my opinion that perhaps America should look toward solving its own problems before spending money to help other countries. (God that makes me sound so conservative. Or does it?) At least this time I was part of a classroom discussion. Maybe it signifies that I no longer feel like an outsider who doesn't belong, or deserve to be in, school.

My dreams are nothing if not multimedia extravaganzas.

I don't usually wax political but...

The President is going to go on tv again today in another attempt to push his Wall Street bailout plan. Please, we already know what he wants to do. Obviously the nation has a major problem with it. Bush didn't get what he wanted, so he's going to go on tv again so he can harangue the nation into accepting what he wants, so we in turn will cajole Congress. It's so typical of the protect-the-rich attitude Bush's administration is famous for. Maybe, if the government had cracked down on the out-of-control increases to home loan interest rates before they got out of control, we wouldn't be in this mess. Perhaps if the lenders we're expected to bail out had lowered their interest rates as more and more of their customers went into bankruptcy and foreclosure, we wouldn't have this problem. These lenders are sitting back while Bush fights their battle, knowing full well they are the ones responsible.

Switching gears: I'm still trying to finish reading Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass. I keep picturing Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as I read. I have lots of assignments due by the end of this week so I won't get to it until Monday, if then. I also have 1.5 fingerless gloves knitted. I need to finish that as well.

I'm still utterly enchanted by Facebook!

It's raining cats and dogs right now.

I need some chocolate pudding.

My Life: A trail of abandonded websites.

I'll start with a quick follow-up to two issues I've been blogging about this semester: the demise of my iMac and my annoyance at the liberties retailers take with my email address. I mentioned earlier that I was so angry at Apple's refusal to service its older-model computers that I was tempted to fire off an email blasting their lack of regard for long-time customers. Apple headed me off by sending an email to inquire whether or not my visit to the Genius Bar was satisfactory. Here was my chance. I politely made my opinions known, and checked off that I did not want a follow-up phone call to discuss my experience. I generally expected a half-hearted and ultimately meaningless email to follow, something along the lines of "we're sorry you were not entirely satisfied, yada yada yada." What I received this week was an email from Apple advertising "iMac: the perfect desktop computer for your home." Right. Because a) I gave the Apple store my email address for the purpose of confirming an appointment, and b) they now know I need a new computer...With that, I'll lay this subject to rest.

This week's assignment is the World Wide Web itself! I'm currently working on my personal website--the first one I've created in years. I remember how excited I was when I first went online way back in 1993. There were thousands of websites, or, as most individuals called their personal website back then, homepages, to browse through. I was desperate to join in and build a homepage of my own. But first, I needed to decide on a subject. I needed to find my "thing." I joined Geocities early on, delighted with their little virtual "neighborhoods" that would host a user's web address. After much consideration I decided to go with a Riot Grrl theme. Thus, Grrlzine was born. Armed with an HTML guide in one hand and a web graphics book in the other, I put together what I considered to be a pretty snazzy--and snarky--website. And I broke all the rules regarding good web design in the process. Animated GIFs? Check. Busy and confusing backgrounds? Check. Haphazard image placement? Check. If that obnoxious dancing baby animation had been around in 1993 I probably would have included it. In the meantime, a tiled photograph of Diana Rigg as her Avengers character Emma Peel--rendered in hot pink and black contrast in Photoshop--would have to do. I updated Grrlzine slavishly for a few months until it was brought to my attention that another woman was publishing an actual paper zine called Grrlzine--and had been for quite some time. She got there first, and she was way cooler than me. Undaunted, I switched tactics and launched Avenue A soon afterward. My new "thing" would be a NYC-centric art and pop-culture guide. I was way out of my element. Apart from a virtual art gallery featuring my artwork and photos, and a lame list of my favorite shops and restaurants in NYC, there wasn't much content. Eventually I lost interest, and gave up on contributing to the internet. Sure, millions of other people with nothing interesting or important to contribute continued to contribute, and that's one of the pros as well as one of the cons of the internet, but for me, well, I simply gave up.

These days I prefer the quick-edit instant satisfaction of the blog's format. I'll discuss my blogging habits later on in the semester. For now, I've dragged out the HTML guide (thank you Visual Quickstart Guides!) as I immerse myself in yet another crash course in coding.