Travelled a bit, done a few things….pt 1.

Right, here we are again, after another long absence! Thank God I signed up with “Blogging Without Obligation” or I`d have been fired by now for sure!! Lol! Most of the time I believe quite strongly that I am a pretty stupid kind of geezer, I don`t seem to pick things up quickly or get the hang of things quite fast enough, especially digital stuff. I was trying the other day to get a blog post up and running with loads of little pics in and could`nt do it so as usual, gave up … simple. I`ve had quite a bit to write about but after the problem of getting the pics into the post where I wanted them, lost the train of thought completely of what I wanted to say!! So I went off in search of answers and found them in the very helpful WordPress faqs/forums. So can anyone see what I did wrong in one of the above sentences? I was tryng to put the pics in the post without having written anything yet! Duh!! As I was trying to put the pics in with text wrapped around them it would be a little bit hard if the text was`nt there in the first place!! The thing is, I could`nt figure that out at the time so just walked away from it and I am puzzled as to where my little bit of “brain-power” is seemingly fast disappearing to!

So this is for my daughter, a brief introduction to more posting! She had been haranguing me to get some more writing done and as I`ve just found out, after about 18 months that is(!!) how to to wrap pics around text properly, will try to oblige! Duh!! Bless her! I will try to describe in the next post whereabouts I`ve been in this little country of ours and what else I`ve been up to … stay with it, next instalment coming soon!!

computer woes … again.

So it all started off very innocently, I got a new camera, one that I “aspired” to, a real world Dslr, something I could be proud of and a whole new learning experience to boot! So, we all know the idea by now with digital cameras, take yer piccies, load em into your computer and hey presto, images to hand? Not with this one, the computer simply would`nt recognise the camera as any form of device. Started looking for answers on the cameras website and then expanded it to usb problems, no real luck. Then as fate would have it I stumbled across an “MVP” (a very microsoftie term which stands for something like”most valued professional” or something like that..). So I very unfortunately took this persons advice on ensuring your usb ports work and sure enough, lost the lot of `em! Duh! Thinking this is an easy enough fix, went off in search of answers….it is`nt easy, not a bit of it, in fact this problem has brought my whole computer to a grinding halt with frankly, little hope of recovery in its present form.Microsoft advised a service pack install to rectify the usb problem, so I tried service pack 3 for xp,… big mistake. I have this theory that installing service pack 3 for xp will simply “timebomb” your operating system as Microsoft seem desperate to be rid of it anyway. Sure enough, it did`nt just “timebomb” it, it totally destroyed it!! Machine now will not boot as the ubiquitous “files missing” bsod starts even before windows starts to load, the Microsoft cure for this? Oh, simply get rid of service pack 2! This in an environment when you can`t boot up anyway does not bode well as my command line skills are not the best in the world!!
See! So there you go, from getting a new camera to not having a computer in one easy lesson!! Damn glad I`ve got a coupla standbys!! Lol!!! It is`nt over yet, I will save it somehow, am mad obsessed about not letting go of my machinery …. especially with all the stuff thats collected on it! Still, in the meantime, I can simply shove the hard drive in with another and have it as a slave in a different body!!
So there you have it, from the sublime to the ridiculous …. and how easily it happens!!
Hate these flippin` things … but only when they go wrong!

for Michael

Sorry have not been around too much over the last couple of months, a lot has happened though and some of it affecting me in a bad way. I gave a lot of thought about writing this little posting and thought, what the hell, its my blog, I`ll do it anyway….. I just did`nt want to hurt those people that I hold close so they`ll have to forgive me for writing this…..

A very very close friend passed away last month, someone that I held dearly close. I won`t talk of the why`s and wherefores and what happened but I will share one thing about this man, who I regarded as family. His name is Michael and he was Uncle to my daughter and my ex wife`s younger brother and he was a lovely man. He had become, by unfortunate chance I suppose, our family “mover”!! He always seemed to get lumbered with the job of moving people to and fro from property to property!! He had helped my daughter move about 3 times and we used to joke a lot that Michael could get more stuff into a car than we ever thought humanly possible!! A definete Guinness Book of Records contender! So about 2 or 3 months ago we were helping my daughter move to a new apartment and Michael and I were alone in his car, full of stuff of course, and he told me basically his philosophy on life and its troubles. Listening to him was an experience I won`t forget and don`t want to. His view was utterly simple, if you could do someone a favour you just did it, simple. It almost did`nt matter what the personal cost, if it was possible for you to do it, you did it, and thats it. Simple stuff? Sounds like it, sounds like something we should all be doing anyway does`nt it? Michael took this very simple belief and made it something special, he did extraordinary things for people for little or no reward or thanks and he did`nt mind one bit. I told him, in the car that day, that what he was doing was very Spiritual to which he basically replied,”….well I don`t know about that but it  is`nt  that  *&^*ing hard is it! To which we both had a good laugh!

So God Bless you Mike and hold you close and God Bless his Mum and Dad and older sister, who is going thru` much of her own troubles still. God Bless his children too and give them all strength to carry on………….. Cya on the other side Mike, you and my son better be ready to throw a good party!!

My Thanks to Deb who left me a comment and reminded me of the pic I inserted above of the Candle for Michael. I should have credited the source of this pic and I do so gladly now!  This has come from a lovely site which I will add to my “blogroll” for future reference…..

Light a Candle for someone special

Gratefulness.org

Angel of the North

Angels Angels Angels … I love that word, it has such a soft and gentle feel about it does`nt it? Most folk I reckon like this word because of everything it evokes in us. Hope.Help.Happiness.Safety.Comfort. I sometimes get the feeling that if you asked 100 people whether they believed in God and whether they believed in Angels, I reckon Angels might just win out? I reckon even the movies like Angels a lot, try to think of all the films with Angels(of all sorts of course!!) in them, I bet you can come up with a few, eh? Angels are everywhere in our various cultures/religions and they appear to give those who believe in them strength … What is your view on Angels? How do they appear to you to do their job? (assuming they are gainfully employed that is!!)

This is a small pic I took early mon. morning this week of a statue overlooking a motorway in the north east of England, at Gateshead. It is called the “Angel of the North” and was designed by sculptor Antony Gormley. It is a massive feat of building and is the most viewed piece of art in the country considering the amount of traffic going by! Take a look at the link to it above to gain a true appreciation of its size, my poor shot does it no justice, I was just pleased to be able to “grab” it thru` a car windscreen in atrocious weather! Clicking on it may take you to the large version at Flickr … hopefully…

March marching on……

Just thought I`d get this off my chest cos its been on it all day long, just to remember my son, James, aka Dredwerk, who passed over 6 years ago today…. Still seems like yesterday to me even though more and more water keeps passing under that bridge, time seems to hold little meaning at these junctures of causality. Strange thing March, hard to think sometimes of the family that passed over this month in the past…. strange coincidences abound here.. My dad passed on the 11th March, my son passed on the 21st and my dads sister, the bestist Auntie in the whole world passed on the 31st. All in March..10 days..10 days..10 days.. Am I the only one to think this strange?

God Bless them all, I know they are there, I know they are ok and in a whole other place of  consciousness … I will wait for my turn, “……. its just a little time”

What are YOU reading?

A good blogging buddy, Ruby, has “tagged” me to do a “meme” type thing … and its a good `un too. I say a good `un because the subject matter involves books and the reading thereof and I have to admit, I would much prefer to read someone else`s “meme” on books than mine cos my reading seems to have moved away from books and into/onto the web more and more these days…. Still, I will answer this lovely question because it involves a coincidence the like of which is, yet again, most unusual… Anyway, I`ll digress for a mo to set up the “meme”. So, we have to state the rules of the game …

“1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.”

The thing is, I`ve been looking thru` a couple of my old books lately and really wanted to write about the earliest of them, “The Hidden Springs” by Renee Haynes, first published in 1961, an enquiry into extra-sensory perception. After looking at page 123 however decided against it. The reason? Well there was only 5 sentences in total on the whole damn page and I`d fill the entire blog up typing `em all out here!!!! Lots of commas and semicolons, very few full stops! Lol!!! So I turned to my mate Bill, Bill Gates that is and his 1999 book, Business @ The Speed Of Thought. Heres where the coincidence arises because unbeknown to me, I was up to page 130 at the time and quite literally had gone back to page 123 to refresh myself and had actually re-read 123 the day I read Ruby`s blog and found out I had been selected! Thats the real truth, unbelievable as it sounds…. So anyway, heres some nice short sweet sentences from Bill as he puts the worlds digital infrastructure to rights and firmly in its place!!

1. New Technology will simplify the TV interface.

2. Trying to record one or more programs at certain times and days remains frustratingly complex with analog systems.

3. Recording a show on one channel while you watch a different show on another may require you to swap the cables among your TV, video and set top box!

Hehe, I think they`re really great lines, how much trouble does this stuff cause us all, eh!? So theres my little offering on what I`ve been reading recently, so now I get to “tag” people!!! Yay!!! Like this bit, its all good, so if any of my victims have done this already or don`t wanna do it feel perfectly free to throw something at me, I just bet you won`t reach!

1. Lorri ! Voracious readerholic …

2. Bill ! C`mon, you know you want to?

3. Martha Mihaly

4. Deb Estep

5. Catherine

Thanks to Ruby once again for bringing this lovely idea to us!

The Scale of Things….

 

I was looking around our good `ol interweb most of the day, looking at my favourite places (and playing my favourite games…ssshhh!) and reading my favourite blogs, most of which are listed down there on the right. So I end up wondering about the nature of things, well, everything really, …as you do…. and thought maybe I should have a breather from the heaviness-of-the-cosmos-on-a-sunday and go surfing-in-the-sea-of-normality for a change. So I click on my one of my all time favourite web-buttons, “Stumbleupon” and get taken straight back to the heaviness-of-the-cosmos-on-a-sunday routine! But I was so glad about it because this really does put us, humanity, our world-as-we-know-it, into serious perspective and though I have seen this sort of idea a few times before, I have never seen it done quite so simply and effectively as this. Take a look at this, see what you think,  Dick Hardt-Blame Canada  Make sure you scroll down and maybe read the comments, it really kinda knocks you for six. Two of the comments stood out to me, one person saying that from the smallest of the known atoms(quark) to the largest of our known stars we figure to be around the middle and the other, more disturbing one, saying that they thought all stars were mostly the same size….. Serious food for thought here methinks….

January Blues?

Ah well, tis January again, a new year starts, lots of folk seem to shift and move their thoughts and feelings around this time, new jobs, new ideas, new resolutions, how will it all go I wonder? Lots of folk I reckon are going to change something in their lives this year to better themselves and their own, its always a challenge. I remember when working I dreaded this time for a lot of reasons, my employer always looking to reduce costs at this time, it was like clockwork, no matter how good a year we had up to that time, it was always never quite good enough and so the belt-tightening routine came into play….and this remained a constant…every year. Its quite strange how this always comes into my mind at this time of the year. A series of actions, seen as a positive but almost always ending up as negative, a serious anomaly! Strange stuff eh? So, make your actions for this coming year positive-only-please, with no downside! Does this sort of thing happen in your workplace?

You will by now ( I hope!) have noticed the graphic? Click on it to find the reasons behind it, its all good and in the spirit of the new year I believe? Should you wish to use this graphic on your own blog/place then feel free to do so? I did it like this so you could add in a face underneath or something of relevance to you… If you want to do this but can`t or don`t know how then I`ll try it for you, just let me know?

So January never feels like the greatest of months to me, especially from the weather viewpoint, cos its horrendously grey and wet here! I got a bit of bad news too re. a memorial site I did for James at Respectance.com. It seems they had a server problem sometime in Nov. which ended up in them losing all the photos I had uploaded there so finding this out did`nt enamour me to the New Year too! Feel a bit gutted about it actually, so I asked them to take the rest down as without the pics it did`nt really mean a lot. I could have re-uploaded and done it all again but for some reason just could`nt bring myself to do it…. ah well, c`est la vie eh?

Edit : Just discovered that this post was written on “Blue Monday”, evidently our most depressing day of the year! How insane is that!? I`d never heard of the term being used to describe an actual day! (great song though….!) So is this a case for celebration?? Duh!

 

Christmas Remembrance

Here comes Christmas.. I really don`t know how I feel about Christmas anymore, its very strange. It used to be just the most greatest time of year to me but it is`nt anymore and in late November I start to dread the oncoming of the festive season. Yet it comes along, all the singing and dancing, good food and good cheer leading inevitably toward the start of another year …

Its been a time of great change this latter part of the year for me.. relationships of family members at an end, though at least not the friendship which is so important, not something I wish to “iron out” in public, though it has affected me in more ways than one… and so Christmas will be unlike the festive seasons of the few past years and though this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just … different. Seems to me the older we get the more “routine” plays its part and moving out of it seems somehow … weird!

I was reading thru` my son`s last writings and came across a piece he wrote in 2001, he would have been 17 when he put this down and I thought it was a very inspiring piece of writing for his age and so I decided to publish it here, in entirety, for all to read and maybe take notice of this Christmas. I feel sure he would not mind, he has published several other pieces of writing similar to this on deviantArt so I feel very proud to be able to show this, for the first time, warts and all, on my own blog…..

” Prose No.1 version 1

comment: This is inspired by several people, writers and someone I think is a writer! Its not very good …..

“STOP, yes, STOP! I`d just like you to take a moment and reflect. Right now you`re sat somewhere reading this. Are you eating or drinking something you normally eat or drink? If so, have some slowly, feel the textures,smell the aromas, let your taste buds get a good taste. Something you don`t normally do … you eat and run. I think its about time we all sat back and realised what we have.

We`re cruising along in life not realising the potential we all have, each day. We fear whats to come tomorrow, we regret what was yesterday but we ignore today. And today you`ll go through what you felt yesterday and tomorrow.

Appreciate whats today, the potential you have. Make a change, stand up, and shout. Shout anything you like. Express yourself, tell people you love them, like friends and family. Step back from that computer, turn the tv off. Talk and appreciate people.

We take SO MUCH for granted, the air we breathe, food we eat, bus drivers, that sexy blonde at the local shop .. and family and friends. Over this Christmas spend as much time as possible with the things you love (or should love) as you just don`t know when its gonna get taken away from you….

And remember what the great John and Paul said …

“ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE”

in remembrance of George Harrison. “

So there you go, a few lovely words from my son for Christmas, we miss him terribly, especially at this time of the year, Christmas has never been the same since he left us and it just brings the pain back to the forefront every year. But we live with it now, we have to, there is`nt any choice in the matter. The pic above was sent to me soon after James passed by Jsampson and I took the liberty of adding in the pic of James and his “dred” icon, click on it to see it larger if you should wish. I am eternally grateful to jsampson for this tribute… So everyone who may be reading, have a great Christmas celebration and may this time, indeed, all times, be filled with Peace and Love!

7777!! Done it again!

   Okay, so how weird and wonderful is this then! I wrote a kind of meaningless post some time ago about how funny it was to visit your own site while being visitor no. 6666 …. and I went and done it again! I just visited my own site and theres the number 7777! I`m sorry, but is this just me being completely daft about silly small things or what? You see, last time, at 6666, I thought it was a fun thing and actually thought to myself, maybe I should run a little competition to see who can hit the 7777 mark! The thing is, it most certainly gave me the impetus to write something again … and for that I`m thankful!

I do use my own blog to visit all my other blogging friends and read their posts, so I suppose I am on my own page maybe a coupla times a day but I thought WordPress did`nt count your own visits? Or is that only when you`re logged in? I never really thought about it too much though now I want to find out . So if any of my friends know about this please let me know? So how do you visit all the other places you like to read? Do you have like a zillion bookmarks/favourites or do you simply click links in your own blog? Actually, I`d really like to know this!? Weird or what?

Anyway, 7777, I like that number, it has a better feel than 6666..apart from being bigger of course! So what do we do with 8888? If I personally hit that I`m gonna have a heart attack, I kid you not!