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      Sunday, February 02, 2014


otherstuff
12:10 PM - 02/02/2014
I'm watching Law & Order

The topic: It’s been that long?
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I'm rebuilding my picture tubes in Paint Shop Pro, Law & Order on TNT in the background. I'd say it was an old one, buy they're all old ones at this point.

This one has Benjamin Bratt and Jerry Orbach in it. 

Every once in a while I look up at the screen (it's on a shelf in the corner where we both can see the television from our chairs). Lenny is on a pay phone! Geez...a pay phone.....I remember when a call from a pay phone was a nickel.

Then Rey puts a huge cell phone into an inside pocket on his suit jacket. 

I start laughing. Geez, I'm getting old. 

      Monday, February 03, 2014


mrs. crankypants
09:06 AM - 02/03/2014

The topic: A few years ago
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I started having problems with my toilet stopping up. I had to use the plumber's helper about once a week.

I wasn't "doing" anything different. I wasn't flushing anything down that wasn't meant to be flushed down.

I complained to Brian about it. His response? "What are you doing?" as if I was doing something differently now than I'd been doing the past fifty plus years of my life. Like all of a sudden I forgot how a toilet works. cussing

I gotta tell ya, I wanted to kick him in the shin.

Fast forward to the past six months or so. Guess who's having a problem with his toilet? The same problems I've been having. Do I ask him if he knows how to use a toilet? No. I don't.

I remind him that he asked ME if I knew how to use a toilet when I first started having problems. 

He's decided the problem is the toilets (well, duh). The finish isn't smooth anymore and he thinks that toilet paper and other solid waste is getting hung up on the way down and causing this problem.

He's decided the toilets need to be replaced.

Well, that sure takes a load off. 


otherstuff
10:41 AM - 02/03/2014

The topic: And here I sit again
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Staring at the monitor, refreshing my email (nothing new), checking Brian's email (nothing new) and heading back over to Facebook in case I missed anything important (I haven't).

While I need to clean litter boxes, put boxes together for 2012 business files and put 2012 files in those boxes, make labels for 2014 files, take a shower, make the bed (can't, don't want to disturb the kitties).

And yet, here I sit. And nothing is getting done.

cwm24


otherstuff
01:42 PM - 02/03/2014

The topic: okee dokee
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Litterboxes are done. I had lunch. I rode my exercise bike for twenty minutes, watching House of Cards on Netflix.

Then I got to thinking about something Brian had told me that his brother mentioned to him on Saturday.

That he's getting unlimited text and calls on his AT&T account for sixty bucks a month. For two phones. No way.

Way.

We're on a rollover plan now and we pay an extra five bucks for the two hundred messages I get. Sixty-four dollars and ninety-nine cents a month. Plus taxes.

I go to the AT&T website and login, start a chat with a customer service rep. 

He wasn't lying. He's getting unlimted calls and texts for sixty bucks a month. As well as 300MB of data. We don't get any data. We have dumbphones.

So, I changed our plan. 

That will save us five bucks a month and I won't have to worry about overages on my texting. Which really isn't a problem anyway, the only time I went over was in October. 

But, yay! anyway.

      Thursday, February 06, 2014


otherstuff
12:23 PM - 02/06/2014

The topic: A word of advice
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Especially if you're in an area where you can't open up the house and air it out.....

If you spray Febreeze Air Freshener on a wooden (not finished) cabinet in your office after cleaning the cat urine off of it and you realize that the cats haven't peed on it since, don't listen to your little head voice when it tells you that it would be an awesome idea to do it in the family room and dining room on the areas where the cats repeatedly spray. DON'T LISTEN! 

You'll be *hack* sorry. *koff*

(I wonder how chilly the house would get if I turned on the whole house fan to get this smell diluted enough that I can take the gas mask off...)

      Friday, February 07, 2014


mrs. crankypants
10:04 AM - 02/07/2014
I'm listening to Pancho purr

The topic: Just damn
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Okay, so the change of our phone plan goes through. Five bucks less a month and we've got 300MB of data! Yay!

Of course, I get to thinking. We've got a data plan now, right? Right. I should be able to get a smart phone, right? I spend hours looking at phones, comparing phones, even drew out the size of the ones I was leaning towards to see which would fit in my pocket. I picked one out, checked cases at Amazon, found nothing that I wanted, then headed over to eBay. Great, they've got lots to choose from that will do what I want (I wanted one that would slide onto my belt, not just hook onto it).

All set. I tried to order on AT&T. Kept getting the message that I need to call them, I can't place the order. Fine.

I head over to Amazon and try to place the order. It works, except I see an additional charge of $20 as a line fee. WTF? I do some research. For the basic phone, we pay $20 a month. For a smart phone, we'd pay $40 a month.

If you've got a data plan for 10GB  (which is $100 a month for the data, then add in the phone charges) or more, you don't get hit with that extra $20 per line for a smart phone

Well, damn. Just damn. The whole purpose of changing the plan was to save money. So....

I looked at basic phones! One of the reasons I want a new phone is I want something that takes better photos that I can send to Facebook. My current phone takes pictures that are 1.3 megapixels. The phone I'm getting takes 3 megapixels. Yeah, big whoop (the one I originally wanted took 16 megapixels, but Brian talked me out of that one, so I was gonna get one that had 5 megapixels). But it's better than the one I've got. And the screen is bigger, it's three inches. It was a penny plus sales tax over on Amazon, no shipping. For a brand new phone, not a reconditioned one.

One of the reviewers said it was a great phone for your parents or grandparents. Aw, crap, being old is a selling point? yippee

It should be here today.

And it will fit in my pocket. Which is great because I don't carry a purse. At all. Ever. 

      Monday, February 10, 2014


craftstuff
12:19 PM - 02/10/2014

The topic: My most recent project
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My mother-in-law's birthday was Saturday. I made her a card. I used one of the cards from the Happy Birthday to You kit at SVGCuts.com. One of the things I love about SVG Cuts cards, is they usually come with an envelope. My first couple of cards I made using Silhouette designs didn't have envelopes with them and I had to scramble on how to make my own. 

Mary (SVG Cuts) usually has perforations for the scoring so the folds are straight and easier, but I've found that I prefer actual scoring. I've got a Martha Stewart scoring board, but have a hard time getting the paper situated just right.  Back in the grasshopper days, I bought a Fiskars paper cutter (similar to this one, but no LEDs) with changeable blades (which I felt was a waste of time at that point). Well, doing research, I came across a scoring blade for it. I bought it and used it for the first time with this card and the envelope. Way nicer than the perforations.

Since there are a few different colors that are used (the flowers use three different colors), I just combined all of the different small files onto one sheet, then cut one of each. I had a lot of extra stuff when I was done, but I'm sure I'll be able to find something to do with them in the future.

After cutting out the files, I glittered the letters with Ranger Stickles and on the edges of the flower petals, I used Zig Two Way Glue (big tip) and American Crafts WOW glitter. (Clicking on the images will bring you to a page with a larger image.)

I had already glittered the letters. I used Pop Dots for the letters, to give them a raised look. Somewhat of a packrat, I had some allen wrenches in my tool drawer, those little hexagonal wrenches that come in the boxes of furniture that you put together. One of them fit the foam dots perfectly. Peeling the back of the sheet of dots, I pushed a dot forward then pulled back. For the most part the dots came right back through the sheet and while the dot was still on the wrench, I peeled the round paper off of the "front" of the dot, then placed the dot on the letter. Made placement a lot easier than just using my fingers. 

More gluing and pop dotting....

 

I assembled the flower and put it on using a brad. I tried using my McGill Paper Shaping tool for the petals, but didn't work with it long enough. 

 

The finished card:

I got the sentiment off of a website for crafters. Lots of sentiments. I spent Friday night tossing and turning trying to come up with something. I wish I'd Googled it first. *lol*

Here is the second card I made. Just to have an extra.

I worked on the flower petals longer with the tool and you can see how much more curved they are.

My mother-in-law loved the card, she said "you make all of your cards by hand now?" and I said "I'm trying to". And there won't be any two alike. 

      Thursday, February 13, 2014


entertainmentstuff
10:05 AM - 02/13/2014

The topic: Review: The Fifth Estate
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I didn't follow WikiLeaks when it was happening. I'm one of those people who doesn't watch the news (much). I don't watch it because I'll get pissed off about something that I have absolutely no control over. You see a lot of that nowadays. On the internet anybody can say anything about anybody. And the whackadoodles (Teapublicans, Evangelical Christians) band together and fuel the hate. I don't have room in my life for that.

So, I don't watch the news and I avoid whackadoodles like the plague.

When I had the opportunity to watch this movie and review it, I had a vague idea what it was about. I kind of figured maybe it was one of those films where I'd be shouting at the screen (government and big business put me in that frame of mind). And shout, I did. But not just because of the gummint (stupid asses - when will they learn to keep their opinions to themselves and never, ever put something in any kind of writing - they deserve what they get) and greedy corporations (I love a good take down of huge financial institutions that rob the little guy while lining the old white men suits' pockets), but because of a great idea going too far and innocents may end up getting hurt. Because someone loves the power he has with this information. The "need to know". Like that person we all know who can't keep a secret to save his or her life, because it makes them feel better about themselves. That makes me shout, too.

When the movie was over, my first inclination was to run back to the office, boot up the old computer and do some research. This film intrigued me that much. I wanted to know more.

I laid down until the feeling passed.

Anyway, I found this movie very entertaining. 

Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays BBC's Sherlock Holmes, a series I recently started watching on Netflix) plays Julian Assange. A very gifted actor, his face says more than words alone. Julian is a hard man to read, having quite a history, from childhood on. The paranoia that was so contagious...

And watching Daniel Brühl, Julian's partner/employee Daniel Domcheit-Berg, is completely believable as he watches the real Julian unfold and we watch his unease turn to fear of what Julian can do.

 

 

It's a very good movie.

The special effects and music are amazing and on the Blu Ray bonus features, the director and the artists explain how and why they did what they did. I know Brian was confused about the office when Daniel sat at his computer across from Julian for the first time upon "meeting" his co-workers. Watching the bonus feature, I was happy to find out my take on the symbolism was right on. Well, I kind of missed the beach thing....

I recommend this movie.


But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!

      Sunday, February 16, 2014


entertainmentstuff
11:02 AM - 02/16/2014
I'm watching Star Trek marathon on Epix HD

The topic: “Saving Mr. Banks” will be out on March 18th!
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I can hardly wait to see it. We didn't make it when it was out in the theaters, too much going on and just not enough spare time. So, I'm really looking forward to watching it. 

Last week I downloaded the album from Amazon and the music is excellent.  But then we all know how much of a Disney fan I am. My Disney music collection is quite extensive at this point.

From the announcement email:


Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson bring to life the untold true story about the origins of one of the most treasured Disney classics of all time.  John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) directs this acclaimed film, which reveals the surprising backstory behind the making of Mary Poppins.  Determined to fulfill a promise to his daughters, Walt Disney (Hanks) tries for twenty years to obtain the rights to author P.L. Travers’ (Thompson) beloved book.  Armed with his iconic creative vision, Walt pulls out all the stops, but the uncompromising Travers won’t budge.  Only when he reaches into his own complicated childhood does Walt discover the truth about the ghosts that haunt Travers, and together, the set Mary Poppins free.

 

Featuring a stellar supporting cast that includes Colin Farrell (Total Recall), Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Bradley Whitford (TV’s The West Wing), Annie Rose Buckley (TV’s Home and Away), Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger), B.J. Novak (TV’s The Office), Rachel Griffiths (TV’s Brothers & Sisters) and Kathy Baker (Edward Scissorhands), Saving Mr. Banks was directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Rookie), produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer, and written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Executive producers are Paul Trijbits, Andrew Mason, Troy Lum and Christine Langan. 

 

When I was eleven years old, my dad was transferred to the Air Force base in Athens, Greece. On our way over, we stopped in Ireland and stayed with my grandmother for a couple of weeks. One of the things we did was go to the Theater (capital T for sure) and we saw Mary Poppins. I loved that movie, it was so magical.

I think one of the things I'm interested in seeing in the movie is the park. We've been annual passholders for over twenty years and Disneyland will always be our favorite. So, "Saving Mr Banks" is a movie I'm really interested in.

Here are a couple of previews for your enjoyment. First up, King Arthur's Carrousel (that's how it's spelled, really, it is):

 

 

"Never ever just Mary"....kind of reminds me of "CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow"....

 

 
Walt meets Mrs. Travers for the first time:
 
And a chuckle about made up words...
 

craftstuff
11:43 AM - 02/16/2014

The topic: I made some super cute paper
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with hearts on it and was going to make something fun with it. Of course, you don't use just one kind of paper, you need more. So, I looked through my collection and found a perfect plaid. It looked similar to something I made myself, so I spent hours yesterday looking for it. Did a myriad of searches of my computer, even checked my Etsy downloads and my Lettering Delight downloads. It was nowhere to be found.

Then I checked my store bought paper pads. It was in one of those, from Die Cuts With a View. Boo! (See it here. Third row over, fourth image down.)

Now I'm trying to design a paper of my own that looks close to that paper.

It's a tough go because cats who rarely visit with me are laying across my desk everytime I start to work on it. How do you move an old cat or work around that cat, a cat who's just laying there purring?

You don't.

*sigh*

      Monday, February 17, 2014


craftstuff
09:50 AM - 02/17/2014

The topic: I made my paper
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And I think it's pretty close. One of the things I can do (and I did) was to change the depth of the color and saved that. When I printed out the paper, one side is bright, the other is light. 

Brian thinks my paper is better than the bought paper. Maybe. Mine isn't exactly like the DCWV paper, but it will work.

Took forever to get the stripe sizes down and I wasn't exactly right with the DCWV paper and the colors aren't exact. 

Plaids are hard. *lol*


entertainmentstuff
09:55 AM - 02/17/2014

The topic: We’re going to an advanced screening
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Of the new movie Pompeii this week. I think we get to see it in some sort of 3D. I love advanced screenings, they're free. Free is good. We got to go to a bunch through the beginning of January, then the station changed it's entry form. One of the new fill ins is "Age". Well, funny thing, when I put in my real age (60), we didn't get chosen. Then I lied. Guess what?

We're going to a movie! 

Seriously, what does it matter? It seems like discrimination if an old fart isn't chosen. Yeah, maybe I don't have a lot of party friends, but I have a weblog with about five faithful readers (thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all! ), how many of those kids can say that? 

Anyway.....we're going to a movie! 

 

 
Hey, look it's Jon Snow! When does Game of Thrones start?  April? So far away!

otherstuff
10:06 AM - 02/17/2014

The topic: I had some days to myself last week
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Because Brian went to the Ag Show in Tulare. He's gone there the past five or so years. He goes to take pictures of tractors and take measurements so he knows what size of his hydraulic links the tractors will accommodate. He left on Tuesday, coming home Friday. 

I kind of like it because I rarely have any "me" time since he wisely got out of the place he'd been renting and moved his shop home. (That saved us over $1300 a month and business had gotten so slow the building was pretty much just used for storage.) But he's home all the time. 24/7. He doesn't ever go up to the property. He stopped doing that so much shortly after I got that bad cat bite a few years ago (thanks, Charlie).

Well, last year he came home early because he was sick. This year he came home early because a lot of the tractor companies didn't have any tractors on display. He had all the information he could get by Wednesday afternoon. Too late in the day to check out and save some money, so he went visiting, then he came home Thursday. He was home a little after noon.

He asked if I'd done some stuff to his computer I'd planned on doing. 

Nope. You came home too early.

Ah, well.....

He probably won't go at all next year. Waste of time and money.


otherstuff
10:17 AM - 02/17/2014

The topic: “Dear Abby”
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Since I no longer receive the local newspaper (over a hundred dollars for a daily subscription and the paper just keeps getting thinner and thinner) I read the columnists online. At ArcaMax.com.

Well, this morning's Dear Abby had a letter in it that made me laugh. The last one, the one from the man who'd been married thirty-three years and found a pair of panties of his wife's that had "Booty Call" written on the butt. He's concerned. 

Now, if I had a pair of undies like that (and we've been married twenty-eight years), you can bet one of my female friends gave it to me as a joke gift. And the reason it was still in my drawer was because, even though I'd never, ever wear something like that, I'd feel guilty throwing it away.

Then I got to thinking about the whole booty call thing.

And I came to the conclusion that my booty has its own area code.

      Friday, February 21, 2014


geekstuff
11:58 AM - 02/21/2014

The topic: I’m having some issues with my computer
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And they just seem to be getting worse.

Guess it's time to start thinking about reinstalling the system. Bleh. Got the C drive being copied to another drive right now. 

I hate this.


otherstuff
01:00 PM - 02/21/2014

The topic: Okay, I have a plan
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First, I'm going to catch up with paperwork. And while that's happening, I'll be backing up my hard drive. Which will take days, I'm sure.

Then I'll do the taxes.

Then, I'll reformat my hard drive, then re-install the operating system.

I'll see you in a couple of months. *lol*

Nah, I'll be around.

But this screwing around for four days trying to get a plug-in installed is just nuts. I've got some problems with this system, too much crap on it, I really need to do this. Sure, it will take longer to get it all fixed up, but it needs to be done.

Meh.

      Saturday, February 22, 2014


otherstuff
08:57 AM - 02/22/2014

The topic: And I’ve started
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I'm going to get this PC working right before I start the taxes. It's just too frustrating. It's becoming more and more unresponsive. If I don't fix it soon, I'll probably punch it in the face. This past week was really bad here in the office. Talk about spinning your wheels.....

So, here I am.

I've got some backup software, but it's not real friendly. Last night, I researched and the one that had great reviews was Easeus ToDo Backup. They have a free version, which I considered, but looking at the different versions and thinking back to the past week of trying to get something installed, with no luck and lots of uninstalling and reinstalling, I liked the idea of the "snapshot" option that comes in the workstation version. It sure would have come in handy this past week, that's for sure.

I got this computer back in August 2011, so it's definitely time to do some work on it.

I moved some of the bigger files to an external hard drive last night, ran CCleaner to clean out old files so they won't be saved when I run the backup (I found out last year when searching old backups from previous computers to do this....lots of files that are junk got saved, taking up much needed disk space). Then I did a defrag using Auslogics Disk Defragger. And now, I'm running the backup. It's going to take a while. 

And while it's doing it's job, I'm making sure I know where all of the licensing and serial and registration codes are for my various software. That's one of the big problems reinstalling software. The codes. Last night when I knew what I had to do, I started thinking about where was my upgrade code for Windows? The system came with home premium, but somewhere I'd upgraded to pro. How did I do it? Where was the code? After searching my system and various email addresses, I realized I'd gotten it on Amazon. And it was there in my software and games section of my Amazon account. Whew! That wouldn't have been fun.

You can legally run a licensed version of QuickBooks on two systems, but you need to back up the information to a flash drive so you can move this information on both. You could pay extra and access the information from one place, but I'm not going to pay more for something that's really not that tough to do. I'd already set up QB on my netbook last year, so all I needed to do was backup the files and that's good to go.

Going to be a slow, busy weekend. 

      Sunday, February 23, 2014


otherstuff
07:19 AM - 02/23/2014

The topic: Took all day yesterday for the backups
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I just downloaded the most recent versions of some of my software.

The occasional cam won't be on until I'm finished because there's a lot of rebooting with reinstallation of software. And this time, when I set everything back up, I'm not going to add everything just because I have it (I have a ton of graphic and video programs). Nope, I'm just going to install the stuff I actually use. 

Cross your fingers I don't have any huge issues.

I'm going to shut down and disconnect all peripherals (and there's a lot). 

Here I go.....


geekstuff
08:41 AM - 02/23/2014

The topic: I’m back!
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Now it's time for all the Windows updates, the Anytime Upgrade, the software reinstallations.

It didn't start out well, I couldn't get the computer to reboot in recovery mode. I had to do a search. 

One of the first things I did when I got back up was reinstalled Chrome and I was excited to see that all of my bookmarks were available and they got synched to the "new" install. Yay! It even still has my passwords.

Pretty cool.


otherstuff
12:11 PM - 02/23/2014

The topic: You know what would be really fun right now?
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A root canal!

      Monday, February 24, 2014


otherstuff
12:12 PM - 02/24/2014

The topic: Still working on getting everything rebuilt
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Things I don't even think about messing up my installations. Like last night I was trying to get the occasional camera up and running, it appeared to have gone smoothly, but it just wouldn't work. I set my virus software to allow the camera to run, I even disabled it with no positive outcome.

I told Brian I'd get to bed just as soon as I got the camera up, but it wasn't working for me. I realized it wasn't sending the image over the magic of the interwebs to the website, but it didn't work.

I set up my regular ftp program and it worked after I'd found a way to reinstall all of the website connection information. Still couldn't get the camera to go.

I gave up and went to bed. 

Got up this morning, start working on it again. Went for our walk, came home, got back to it. Had breakfast, still not feeling the webcam love. Brian took a shower and left to take his mom to her chiropractor. 

Rebooted the computer, still no luck. While researching the web for any type of reason for the ftp not working, Windows firewall flashed in my head.

I got up and went into the kitchen and put a small roast in the crockpot. Figure we may as well have a decent dinner. I haven't been doing much for dinner since last week.

I checked the settings on the firewall and turned it off (my router has a firewall, I have no need for the additional Windows firewall) and it worked!  Yay!

Then I started adding in the graphics software. 

Meanwhile, Brian came home. I was in the process of defragging what I've done when he came walking into the office.

"Is there a reason the lid is off of the crockpot?"

*sigh*

Charlie.

"Did you see toothmarks in the meat?"

"No. It wouldn't matter anyway."

Yeah, he was right. It wouldn't matter anyway, we'd still be eating it.

Cats. Gotta love 'em.

Brian, bless his heart, is being extremely patient through all of this. He keeps asking me if I ever figured out what caused the meltdown. Nope. And I'll never know.


geekstuff
05:28 PM - 02/24/2014

The topic: Shortcuts backfired
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Starting over. From scratch.

See ya later. 

      Wednesday, February 26, 2014


geekstuff
08:26 AM - 02/26/2014

The topic: I’m back!
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I'm back, I'm back, I'm back!

Hours of backup, two reinstallations of the operating system, waiting for all of the Windows updates....and I finally realized what the problem was that started it all.

Duplicate files.

Let me explain. 

My video software of choice is Corel's Video Studio V6 Ultimate. You can buy "plugins" that you add to VSV6 that give you the power to do different things with your movies or slideshow.

My goto company for these effects is NewBlueFX.  There are "transitions" that do cool things when the video goes from one photo or video to the next one.  And there are "special effects" that can do some really fun things with the videos. Like picture in picture. And there are the titles (if you've watched any of my YouTube videos, I've used NewBlue title for my logo in the video). 

I've been getting the NewBlueFX plugins for years. And I've installed them all. My first one was a freebie that makes video look like it's a cartoon. I've been hooked ever since. I usually take advantage of their special discounts during the year, I won't buy unless I get a huge discount. August is the best month for their discounts, but they had a good one not that long ago, one for 40% off. They had recently added a new Essential set and I love those, I have every one. I used the discount for Essentials VII. At first, it wasn't compatible with Corel, but I knew they'd eventually change that, so I bought it anyway. 

I found this little video over on the NewBlue website, it nicely showcases some of what their plugins can do.

 

 

Earlier this month, they came out with the update. I downloaded it last week. Monday, I think. Tried installing it on Tuesday and that's when the trouble began.

So, we have two companies. Corel and NewBlue. Well, Corel has some bonus software with the edition of the software I have. A couple from a company by the name of ProDAD and more from NewBlueFX. I had installed them all. I had installed all my other plugins. I had a lot of plugins. Well, when I installed NB VE VI yesterday afternoon, my Corel crashed. Again. So, after all the work I'd done this past week, and setting restore points after every addition, VideoStudio crashed when I installed  Video Essentials VI. 

Okay. I know it worked before last Tuesday. I opened up the files for it, had the open window on my desktop. I moved all of the new files to the desktop and started to put them back in one by one. Some didn't crash the program. Others did. I'd take out the ones that crashed it and I finally looked at the "library" thumbnails once Video Studio was running. There were duplicate plugins. Same name. This wasn't right.

I went through the list in the files and started moving one of the duplicate plugins to the desktop, out of the list. 

And I was able to install everything once the duplicates were gone from the list. 

What happened is the stuff that came with the Corel software had the same plugins that I'd already had from NewBlue. And it choked the program. Once I took the "bonus" features out, everything ran as it should.

A pretty simple fix. Too bad it took me over a week to figure it out.

NewBlue support was really helpful during all of this. When they didn't hear from me, they'd send an email wanting to know the progress. I liked this.

I'm still reinstalling programs, but at this point, I'm down to graphics. That will take a little time because some of the stuff is pretty old and I have to finesse it to get it to work. 

My computer is clean, though. Real clean.


mrs. crankypants
09:23 AM - 02/26/2014

The topic: Junk phone calls
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I've got a call blocker. I like my call blocker. 

I don't like telemarketers. When the phone rings and I answer and there's no one there, I know it's a computer waiting for me to say something else before it connects me to a live person. So that live person doesn't have to waste his or her time with answering machines or unanswered lines. One of the worst companies at telemarketing here at my house, is AT&T.  I've blocked three numbers from them over the past six months. 

Even though my call blocker keeps the call from being completed, the phone still rings, at least once. 

So, last week, I called the number back. I told the guy "take this phone number off of your list; do not call here again. I do not want your DSL service, I do not want your U-verse television service, I do not want your landline phone service. I'm very happy with what we've got." So, as he makes a notation on the computer, he tries to sell me their service, comparing what they have to what we have. 

According to their website, their top download speed is 45 Mbps.

Here's what I just got doing a speed test.  We have Cox.

We pay $99 a month. We have three MagicJacks here, that's our phone service, lines provided by our internet. I don't have any complaints about our service. I don't.

So, he tells me that AT&T is fiberoptic, that the speed are ten times that of Cox. WTF? Really? Well, according to their website, they sure as hell don't have that 692.60 Mbps listed as an option. I kept telling him that I wasn't interested. I said "I'm calling you to tell you to quit calling here and you're trying to sell me on your system? It's not going to happen, so stop it", but he kept up.

Well, the phone rings last night. An 800 number. One not blocked. I answered it.

AT&T. ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

I started ranting to this guy, told him to quit calling! I was laughing when I did it, like geez, can't you guys take a hint? He was really taken aback.  "This is the first time I've called this number, ma'am!"

I hope they don't call again.

      Friday, February 28, 2014


geekstuff
01:27 PM - 02/28/2014

The topic: Spent some time on the couch
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This morning. I'm pretty close to being all done reinstalling software. There's nothing really pressing that needs to be added at this point, so I'm just relaxing. 

Yeah, there's still taxes and paperwork to be done. Remember when I'd said I'd do that first? I didn't. I had no idea it would take a week and a half to get the computer back up to speed.

Oh, well, There's always tomorrow.


catstuff
02:41 PM - 02/28/2014

The topic: Quit the office last night around 8:30
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Of course, I couldn't just shut down, stupid Windows had another bazillion downloads. So, I shut down as far as I could, covered my stuff up (it would be so wonderful to not have to do this, but the cats, you know.....)

We settled in on our respective sofas (settling means water filled, Touchpad turned on, cats moved), Miss got her fluids, Georgie and Miss then got fed in the bathroom. 

Georgie, bless his heart, doesn't poop much all at the same time. He goes small amounts throughout the day. Sometimes they're nice, some times they're a little on the mushy side. This past week has been mushy. (Owners of old kitties will know of what I speak...)  

We're watching tv, a commercial comes on for the movie Mr Peabody and Sherman. Miss starts screaming that she's done, please let me out of here. I get up. On my way to the bathroom, Brian asks if I watched Mr Peabody when I was a kid. Didn't everyone? I opened the bathroom door and when the smell hit me, I said "oh, Georgie, look at this, what a nice poop!" and Brian said "I want to see it!"

Okay. I stood there with toilet tissue in my hand. Waiting. Then he yells out "I meant the movie!"

Ah, okay.


entertainmentstuff
04:25 PM - 02/28/2014

The topic: Ah, yeah, that’s nice….
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One of the things that's back up and running on my computer is my Windows Media Player. I have over ten thousand songs on it and many, many playlists I've made over the years.  A few years back I burned some disks with some of my favorite drivetime songs on them. I made two copies, one for me and one for one of my besties, since she explained why she had a Sarah McLachlan disk in her car. Because she didn't want to look silly when she was listening to music in her car.

Really?  One of the songs on these disks is John Stewart's California Bloodlines from the live album The Phoenix Concerts. There's a part in there about how great if feels to sing. And he's right.

It does feel great to sing.....

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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