This afternoon I:

1. Corresponded with the company over the computer I sent back.
2. Signed an author agreement for a book review.
3. Applied for a job as an electronic resources coordinator in the county my dad grew up in (and I spent a good bit of my early life).
4. Got my job applications binder ready for tomorrow's review.
5. Ordered four macramé plant holders to suspend from the ceiling, three for the living room and one for the bedroom, to be sent to YKWIA's in the hopes that it will work better than sending things here.
6. Took A home so he could wash up and get ready for a meeting that I will also take him to and from tonight.
7. Picked up some medicine for a friend.

So not quite as productive this afternoon, but hey, it was important stuff, at least. I found today that I (almost) had no anxiety driving in rush-hour traffic, as my general stress level is down, despite the need to find a job soon. I think that's a good thing. I did manage to break a tumbler that was in the drainer when I went to get a saucer out, which amazes me, as the tumblers are thick and sturdy, but I managed not to hurt myself on it, either. A is going to call me about 6:40, and I pretty much just got home, so there's no point starting laundry quite yet. I think I'll have dinner and maybe do something fun for about an hour, rather than work on the apartment, then go get him, drop off that medicine, take him to his meeting, and come back and work on everything. If I have to wait on the laundry, I can--I plan on wearing a nice skirt and top tomorrow, and I have underwear and such to wear, at least in the morning, and I can probably change into my jeans, which aren't too bad, and a shirt for pulmonary rehab, so I'm fine at least until Wednesday. I might even wind up actually doing the laundry at YKWIA's, depending. I knew today wasn't good. But on the other hand, his washer has a hand-wash setting that is superior to the delicate we have on our washers in the laundry room. So we'll see. Tonight I'll focus on getting the rest of the bedroom in shape, straightening up just a bit, etc. I don't want to stay up too late, though, as I need to get up early for that review tomorrow. But that'll give me about four hours to work on things till bedtime. I'll also wash the few dishes that are in the sink (I've kept up with them, the trash, and recyclables really well the last couple of weeks).

Hello

So I'm at a friend's appointment, which usually lasts a couple of hours, and I brought my laptop with me to work on the game notes, because apparently at some point when we took a break and I was out of the room, the recorder stopped, and I wanted to make sure I got everything down before I forgot what happened. I also went online to change some settings on A's mail account, so that he can send/receive e-mails from the phone. All the settings on the actual phone look correct, so hopefully I've fixed it. He's at a meeting right now, so I can't test it.

It's cooler than last week, but still in the 50s today and it will be in the 60s tomorrow. The sun is beautiful, and it seems like spring even though last week we were in the high 70s and it was almost summery. Rain is in the forecast later in the week, but I don't think it'll last particularly long, so that's good.

I'm hungry. Lunch was not satisfying this afternoon at the cafeteria (I had a tuna sandwich), and I forgot to bring anything with me to eat over a YKWIA's when we're finished here, and we have a project to go through, so I may have to stop and get something on the way back. I did get word that my small refund is coming from the IRS soon, but it looks like I may be paying for a car starter with that, as the car is intermittently not starting. It is possible it's a key transponder gone bad, or even something else. I have a mechanic that I trust, but they're not open on weekends, and I don't know if I can really afford to take off more time at work. But I don't want to get stranded or spend too much money, either.

Okay, I should start on the notes, at least getting the audio transferred over, etc. Hope you've had a good day.

This is an older one that I hadn't seen before

but I would love to have this as an e-mail auto-reply in some cases. And Facebook can be like this a lot, too. :) And I agree, I wish more people visited Snopes. Of course, I tend to post stuff like this here, but at least you all have the option of reading or not. :) Right???

:)

It took about 20 minutes for me to do the same setup I did for my friend in the migration from Insight to Time Warner Cable tonight--and that was only because I didn't receive an e-mail with the starting link and had to look it up on the website. Granted, I learned most of what I needed the other night through the techs and trial and error (a lot of trial and error), but it was ever so much easier. I hope my post from the other day that lists my discoveries of some of the pitfalls and solutions helps some of those who experience difficulty.

Okay, time for that nap!

Up late working on a computer, this time for someone else

Note to any of you making the switch from Insight to Time Warner Cable e-mail:

1. Do not choose a password over 12 characters even though it gives you that option, because it won't let you change it later and you'll wind up on the phone with tech support for a long while.
2. The POP and SMTP server names are both mail.twc.com--the techs don't know this, because the twc.com thing is so new.
3. If using Outlook, you have to put your entire e-mail address in as a username in order to receive incoming mail.

It took me five hours and three techs from phone support (including one very helpful one who was a level 3, whatever that means) to figure all this out. Let me save you time. My brain has turned to mush, I've had to have two backrubs, and I am now treating myself to Taco Bell and will soon curl up in a ball and shut out the world.

I was a little wired on caffeine last night, and didn't really get much sleep

and so far I've gotten a lot accomplished this morning. I've e-mailed, phoned, fed fish, washed hair, baby wiped, changed clothes, gathered up laundry, gathered up trash, mailed some things from the box in the hall, and taken some of my medicine. That's not a bad two hours' work. A wants to come over tomorrow and visit and maybe watch some of the election stuff with me, although tomorrow's my appointment, so we'll see about the timing. I must admit, I'm feeling a little sleepy now, so I may lie down for a bit. I'll have a visitor or two this afternoon, and I want to be rested. I probably got all of three hours' sleep last night. So maybe a bit of Jell-O or such and then back to bed. At least it's a sunny, happy looking day. Oh, that reminds me, I have two more phone calls before heading to the bedroom. Hope you have a wonderful day.

I never actually fell asleep

but I almost dozed a moment or two. It wasn't the pain. I think it was just being a little revved up from going out. Plus every now and then I got an e-mail and the sound it makes on my phone is the same as for a text message. If I'd turned the phone down, I might have missed a call. So, I kept waking up with each e-mail, mostly political, 'vote for us' stuff. Since I've already voted, it's doing no good for them, and I'm not sending in money that I don't have within 10 days of an election. I'm irritated with all the e-mails I've received from the party and the campaigns--and yes, I'm talking about the Democrats, but I'm sure the Republicans are just as bad. They were averaging about five-seven a day for awhile, and I was also receiving some from some Florida Congressman whom I've never heard of and can't vote for because I live in an entirely different state. Also, 'come knock on doors' in Ohio seems kind of pushy since I'm not in Ohio. Well, you get the idea.

Regardless of all that, I did actually get some rest, and feel somewhat rejuvenated. I surfaced for food (another half portion of tortilla chips with black bean dip, as well as some sugar-free shortbread cookies). It looks positively dark and icky outside. My computer says it's 38 degrees. Winter really is just around the corner. We've been spoiled by relatively fine weather, I suppose. But I won't complain, because this is what we're getting of Hurricane Sandy, and millions of others are affected horribly. I am so glad that I do not live on the coast. With my mobility down, I would be at a higher risk for problems in the centre of a major disaster like that. I only today got some keys made for Brandon and YKWIA so if I fall or otherwise need help, I can call and they can get into my apartment.

I also talked with A earlier on the phone. He thanked me for his gift (a CD of the Zombies from the 1960s) and he's off for a few days' vacation so he may come visit me soon. When I was over earlier, he asked me when a good day would be and it amused Brandon terribly that I had to think because of course, with the exception of an appointment coming up, I'm home. I don't really have a full calendar these days. :)

Okay, I think I'll check on the news and then head to the bedroom for some reading. I had to charge up the Kindle. I hadn't been able to read in the dim light very well, so I had let its battery run down. I also have some books out from the library I'd like to go through.

I have been de-hoarding

No, not my house. But my Gmail account is pared down to about two dozen rather important e-mails. My work account is down to eight. Google Reader has nothing on it, although I starred a few things to possibly link to here. Another e-mail account is cleaned out. So the last couple of days have been streamlining computer-wise. Now if I can just do that to my house.

Yesterday I deleted 18,000 e-mails from my Gmail account

Yeah, really. 18,000. I've been hoarding e-mails to read someday. I finally let them go. There's still more to go, but I went from using 32% of my allotted space (which Gmail gives you a lot) to 5%. I have also pared down e-mails at work, at another web address, etc.

Tonight there's game notes. I also would like to go through my Google Reader feeds, as I am woefully behind. That's why I haven't been posting cool stuff about libraries or just weird news in general.

But first I'm going to have a bite to eat and relax for a bit, take my contacts out and get into my jammies.

Reason #562 for not forwarding chain letters at work for any reason

NAACP: SunTrust Mortgage worker fired over e-mail

The NAACP says a 14-year employee was fired from SunTrust Mortgage Inc. in Richmond after she was accused of sending a chain e-mail she received at work that ultimately was forwarded to the NAACP.

The fired African-American employee said she found the e-mail offensive.

The e-mail contains pictures of 40 bumper stickers such as, "Clinton ruined a dress, Obama ruined a nation," "So I guess we're even on that slavery thing eh?" and, "Diversity -- It killed 13 at Fort Hood."

SunTrust issued a statement yesterday saying: "We do not endorse or condone the views expressed in the e-mail cited by the NAACP, and had already taken appropriate action to respond to the circulation of the e-mail."

A spokesman would not comment on whether others were reprimanded, citing personnel issues.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released a copy of what it said was the e-mail sent by a SunTrust official to 13 office employees and one outside recipient under the subject line "FW: Bumper Stickers that Make Sense."

The woman who was fired says she'd always gotten good performance reviews but was fired over a chain-letter she forwarded outside of the workplace because she was offended by the content and wanted another opinion. She had originally been sent it, along with other recipients, by someone within the company. Several recipients, including her, were black, and also found it offensive. She was brought in and told her boss did not trust her anymore and because she e-mailed the letter, was terminated.

Regardless of the other question here (who sent the original? Were they fired? Is SunTrust racist? etc.), this is a perfect reason why you shouldn't forward chain letters at work. Now, if I received a racist one, I would show our IT people, and they could go from there. I have received religious ones and requested the sender delete me from her uplifting little religious pep talks. We're not supposed to use our e-mail sending around stuff we find amusing or uplifting anyway. Work e-mail is, well, for work. But even so, as one commenter, going by the handle someone_else put it, succinctly:

The larger lesson here is that you all should think carefully about what you are sending before using work emails for personal use.

Some of us don’t care about the content, we just don’t want to receive your unfunny jokes, your insipid inspirational prayers, your idiotic political chain emails or anything else. This is work, not a social gathering.

But when you use a work email for your own personal amusement, you need to take responsibility for it if someone gets offended. If you have a problem with that, don’t send the email in the first place.

Hope Ms Russ gets a fair trip through the appeal process, because something does seem wrong about the whole thing, but of course we only got bits of the story. Otherwise, enough said.

So I went onto Gmail to check for a message from someone

and wound up spending 1 1/2 hours going through the whole thing, about 2000 e-mails in my inbox, a bunch of spam, a lot of unread mail that needed to be categorised, etc.

But I now have a total of 3 e-mails in my inbox, and everything has been either deleted or marked read (even if I didn't actually read it, I can search for things to read later).

Whew!

Let's not forget

Email Blows Away All Other Social Networks

My eyes are blurry

after going through 1000 inbox messages (okay, so I've been busy and haven't been checking my e-mail). Now I've got it down to two screens' worth, or about 100. Whew!

So since I'm up, let's finish with quizzes!

You Are Sunshine

Soothing and calm You are often held up by others as the ideal But too much of you, and they'll get burned You are best known for: your warmth Your dominant state: connecting

What Type of Weather Are You?

You Are 60% Non Conformist

You definitely have your freak flag out, and from time to time, you wave it. You have some pretty strong opinions, and you're not afraid to express them.

Are You a Nonconformist?

You Are the Thumb

You're unique and flexible. And you defy any category. Mentally strong and agile, you do things your own way. And you do them well. You are a natural leader... but also truly a loner. You inspire many but connect with few. You get along well with: The Middle Finger Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?