Ruby Red Beauty!

Today I went and picked up my bright and shiny new red Dell Latitude laptop from DHL!  I managed to call early enough today to have them hold the package instead of attempting to redeliver!  So, after work I zipped over and picked up my new beauty!

I should have been in bed hours ago as I have to be at work early in the AM.  However, I couldn’t help myself but to start to start personalizing my laptop and making it my own!  I have successfully downloaded Feedreader (but haven’t set up any of my feeds yet), I have downloaded Skype, got Adobe Acrobat up and running, got my Google sidebar up, and started loading my favorite websites into My Favorites.  Oddly, I am unable to locate the CD with the Wizard that gets my new wireless router to work, so I am tethered to the internet and sitting on my couch instead of doing this from a reclining position on my bed!  BUT beggers can’t be choosers, can they??? 

Tomorrow is Friday.  It’s a Photo Friday, but I won’t be posting anything as I am simply not prepared to do so!  So, when I get home from work, I will begin to transfer all my files from my external hard drive onto my laptop so that I have access to all my pics ETC and can start to get back to taking care of all the things that have been piling up and need doing!

I love this computer.  The keyboard is backlit.  It’s a thing of ruby red beauty! 

Good night, and I’ll see you all again soon!  Good stuff to come, I promise!!!

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Shouldn’ta done it!

I am not, and have never really been, a worrier about money.  Throughout my life the Lord has always made sure that I had what I needed when I needed it.  I have a smallish sort of retirement account that I like to watch grow and gain.  It has been part of my daily routine for years to check on it.  When it goes up, that’s fun.  When it goes down I’m not upset or anything, but no one likes to see that happen.  The account had already once lost a significant amount of worth once the last time the market went sort of crazy a number of years ago.  My account had since recovered from that and had started to grow nicely.

But, since things had already started to become a little dicey in the stock market again, I hadn’t checked the status of my retirement account since before I left for Teen Missions (back in May).  Watching the number slowly drift downward did nothing positive for me.  So I decided not to bother checking it for awhile.  Things had not improved when I returned home in September.  I avoided checking.

After things really got crazy I decided I should no way look at it. 

However, today, my morbid curiosity got the better of me.  I figured if it was at least “such and such a number”, I wouldn’t be too sick to my stomach.  It took a long time for the page to load.  When the number came up, I sort of went slack-jawed.  It was so much worse than I imagined.

I shouldn’ta done it!  I shouldn’ta looked! 

When will I learn to listen to that really smart still small voice inside of me?

To all of you who also are experiencing financial losses and maybe are afraid of what those losses might mean to you now and in the future, hang in there.  Look to the source of all things and trust that He will take care of things.  Don’t let this financial beating we are taking rob you of the joy that is to be found in EVERY DAY.  Take extra time to give back to others with your energy, your time, your emotions, and yes, even some of the money you still have.

I, for one, feel so blessed to live in a country where most people live in excess compared to those in many countries who always live in state of having nothing more to lose.

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Blah Blah Blog vs. the Yellow Pages!

Some time ago I posted on my Dad and his quest for a straight razor shave while visiting me.  That search led us to Paul Hansen.  Since then, my Dad has gone to him whenever he is in town to get another great shave.

He’s in town again this week.  And he dropped in on Paul to get my nephew’s hair cut.  My Dad got to talking with Paul about my blog post.  (Check out the link for more info on Paul’s and for his phone number.)

Paul says that he gets a couple of new customers every week because they read about him on Blah Blah Blog.  He got zero customers from his Yellow Pages ad.  Since my blog has proved to be much more effective advertising than the YP, he dropped the ad!  He told my dad to send me to his shop because he’d like to buy me lunch!

I asked my Dad if Paul had ever seen my post.  Nope.  He doesn’t own a computer!

Getting the folks in for a great shave…just another service my blog offers! 

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Photo Friday – “Bridges, Arches”

Okay, so my dad is visiting from California and although he is currently staying at my sisters’ home for the remainder of his trip, he has kindly left his laptop at my house!  So I thought I’d take the opportunity to play Photo Friday!  Woo Hoo!  Now, if I had my druthers (love that word, druthers!) I’d put a picture up that I took about 12 years ago on a medical mission to Cuba, partly because it’s a cool bridge, but if truth be out in full, mostly because I think it’s so awesome that I got to go to Cuba in the first place to be able to take the picture!    But THAT picture is curently a 35mm print and I have no idea where it is.

But I don’t have my druthers.  Cuba pics will have to wait.

So I rifled through my online photo albums to see what I had that I could use instead.  I decided on an arch, of sorts.  This is arch is called Orecchio di Dionisio, or Ear of Dionysius.  It is in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy.  An old limestone quarry, the accoustics inside are amazing!  You can whisper at one end and your whispers can be heard throughout the cavern!  Read more about this most cool place HERE.

Players:  add your link to Mister Linky so that we can all see what fabulousness you’ve created this week!  I don’t know if I’ll have computer access to be able to visit your work…sorry…   The new computer isn’t slated for shipping until October 27th, or so.

Non-Players:  click on the Mister Linky link to access the links to the players’ blogs!  Let ‘em know what you think of their pics this week!

Coming on future Photo Fridays:

24th October: Eiain’s choice - Paws for thought

31st October: Author’s choice - Halloween!

7th November: Tina’s choice - Action Shots

14th November: Author’s choice - Windows (unusual or favourite windows, in your own home, or other homes, or churches, buildings etc – you may even include the view through a window. This can be a selection of photos or just one favourite pic)

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Trying Not To Go Crazy…

…but living without a computer pretty much stinks!  I ordered a new one from Dell a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a special order and is going to still be a few more weeks before I get it!  Do you know how hard it is to find a matte screened laptop that runs on Windows XP these days?  I’m sure you do, so I’ll tell you, you can get them from Dell.  The device is called a Latitude, and it’s a business laptop, but they’ll sell a personal user one as well.  Not only are the matte screen and the XP OS special orders, I wanted it in the brand new red color…also a special order.  (The device also comes with a licensed copy of Vista, should I ever decide I want to take that step!)

So, I occasionally can get to a computer for brief moments (like now), but until the new one arrives, I won’t be here much, AGAIN!  I am missing out on some awesome Photo Fridays, which makes me sad.  I hope to get around to the faithful and check out what they’ve done in my absence ASAP.  But I’m at the mercy of Dell and of my special orders…

On the bright side, you all don’t have to “listen” to my wonderfully crafted political rants, and to my discussions on the global economy, or to my random midnight musings!  Lucky you!!

Sigh.

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