Art Attack Central
Fixing stuff, myself included…
Elliott’s Revenge
If I’d had my wits about me I would have taken a picture of the laptop, before I started trying to putting it back together.
Back together?
Elliott was left unsupervised in the computer room, while I was out for a half an hour. Upon my return I found 10 of the key tabs and several plastic spring type things scattered on the desk, and a shivering half naked keyboard, crying beneath a screen I’d never seen before, and hope never to see again. My first thought was that someone had broken in and vandalized it, but in this neighborhood they would have just run off with it.
Why did he do it?
Never before had he expressed such a keen interest in computer programing. Mad at me for leaving, jealous? Trying to open a blogger account of his own? Looking for kitty cat porn? Who knows? In most criminal cases it’s not important why they did what they did. It’s just wrong.
Did you punish the poor kitty?
Only in the sense that he’s no longer allowed computer access, unless he’s supervised. Once, before the chilling incident, I left the room to get coffee; I found him sitting on the keyboard grooming himself when I returned. If only I’d known where he was going with this, I might have prevented the disaster.
Did you fix it?
I learned more about keyboard hardware than I really wanted to. I got it all back together and functioning properly, except for the x key, and the alt key on the left side which were missing spring parts.
Well how did you type except?
I’m on another laptop now, which doesn’t seem to have the quirks and kinks that the previous one did. I spent several geek days with my friend su the computer guru, and we successfully transferred all my data and programs again. THANK YOU SU! I’m such a geek wannabe, but I do love it.
“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.”
–Rene Descartes
Tuesday Too # 33
It will be up soon. I just spent an hour and a half trying to get connected! My move two weeks ago to a new computer has been a constant uphill battle to get things going right. It’s now 7:40; I need more coffee, so expect some questions around 9.
1.) I know we’ve been here before, but perhaps you got a different one now. What’s your “must see” movie, and why should I see it?
2.) What have you been procrastinating on, that you’ve just got to do, or finish up?
3.) Are you wondering, what in the world is happening? Are you afraid to pump gas? Do you think the US media has focused too much on the Maryland sniper? Why, or why not?
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“Don’t take life seriously, because you can’t come out of it alive.”
–Warren Miller
Bobbing About on Boats
With the usual fanfare and near running aground at the dock, we shoved off from Dreams Landing on Saturday at 12:30 PM. The 15 knot wind pushed us down the Chesapeake Bay, under the Bay bridge and past Sandy Point. We turned (helms a lee) to the right and motored up the Magothy River to meet with 20 other sail boats. The winds of fortune smiled on us, because we only had to cross one other boat, to reach the dock of the rendezvous party host.
What’s so fortunate about that?
My mother has two knee replacements, and my dad is walking with a cane, because he needs one as well. The boats all raft up against one another, lashed together bow and stern, separated by bumpers, and spring lines to keep the mast spreaders from tangling. You make your way to the either the dock, or the boat hosting happy hour by crossing from boat to boat. Each boat deck is surrounded by a life line, which is usually about 2 feet high and strung through stanchions. Many an unsteady sailor has fallen, tripped and sometimes tasted sea water, especially while trying to maneuver his/her way back to their boat.
Do sailors drink too much?
Much like any other group some do and some don’t. Even those who don’t, find it hard to make the reverse trip in the dark guided only by flashlight. My experience on these cruises has been that happy hour lasts about an hour and a half, and then everyone “usually” returns to their own boat. Dinner is light, because happy hour snacking is heavy. Sailors who’ve been south to key West or the islands of the Bahamas blow the conch shell horn at sundown, sending boat pets scurrying down below.
Was the whole voyage lucky?
Of course not. However we had a magnificent sail on Monday. Sunday we motored/cruised across the bay with just the jenny up, and rafted up with 7 boats on Swan Creek not far from Rockhall. Monday came with 20 knot winds, and for once in the direction we were going. One of my dad’s rules of cruising is: “if you have a predetermined destination, the wind will be against you.” With the mainsail and the jenny raised we made an average speed of 7.5 nautical miles an hour for several hours. We sailed up the Chester River and rafted with 5 boats beyond Davis Creek. The raft was small with two anchors out, as the night was expected to bring stronger winds. The wind was not a problem, and the anchors held. Sleep was only occasionlly interruped by an annoying squeak from one of the rubber bumpers pressing against the hull.
What’s the unlucky part?
An injury occurred on Monday morning. During a minor crisis aboard the boat rafted next to us the palm of my right hand lost a smallish (lima bean size) piece of flesh. I was below deck, when I heard the woman on the next boat shouting at her husband, “get back here and hold us off.” I rushed up on deck, and fended their boat off from ours by pushing on the life line. A bit of my palm was pinched between the line and the stanchion ring, and as she went full speed ahead it went with her. All sailors are not created equal.
“If you don’t learn to laugh at troubles, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you grow old.”
–Edward W. Howe
Boat Trip
Leaving today, going sailing on the Chesapeake bay through Tuesday. There will be NO Tuesday Too next week! I’m taking the camera, which also makes tiny movies, and my sketch pad.
Is that storm headed your way?
I don’t know; I’d better go look up the weather on google. Nope it looks good. The only thing is a 30% chance of showers on Monday. Temperatures are predicted to be in the low 70s except for today which will be a muggy 83. There will at least a dozen boats on this cruise, rafting up each evening for happy hour. Ah sailors, a happy lot they are. The entire cruise actually lasts for seven days, but I’ve got to get back for my painting class.
How’s that going?
Good and bad. One painting I finished yesterday, I’m very pleased with. Another one is the painting from hell. It’s supposed “represent” the Maryland Inn, in Annapolis, but it looks like the Bates Motel. I wouldn’t stay there if you paid me. I’ll post the “good one” when I get back. Maybe I’ll post the “bad one” as well.
“Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.”
–Ludwig Wittgenstein
Tuesday Too # 32
1.) What would make you just give it all up, or if there isn’t anything that bad, how come?
I can’t think of anything that would do that for me. When I say I’m depressed, I have to explain that I don’t mean clinically depressed. Although sometimes I would like to pull the covers over my head and not face the day, I never do. I think it’s because my family is what you would call, “buckup” stock. In some cases this is a good thing, but not always. Now you might say, why isn’t it always good? Because, if you must keep going at all costs, you might need to not pay much attention to how you feel. So? That’s a bad habit; it can lead to, “I don’t know how I feel.”
2.) What in your life gives you the most satisfaction, or a sense of purpose? Can you explain why?
Being an artist. You know the funny thing is, that what I most enjoy about it is deciding what it is I’m going to do. Setting it up if it’s a still life, or going to where I’m going to paint and selecting what I will paint from that landscape. What angle will I view it, paint it from? Zoom in or zoom out? Why does this give me satisfaction, or purpose? Because when I’m doing this, I’m totally myself, and I’m totally involved at the same time.
3.) What is it you don’t have, that you’ve absolutely got to have?
Not a thing, since the digital camera did arrive in the mail. But then there’s always the optional AV adapter.
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“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
–Walt Disney