We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Finally!

Remember this, my resolutions?

1. Lose 5 pounds.  See, I figure, geez, 5 pounds in a year?  I should be able to do that. 

2. Write my blog once a week.  I reserve the right to write much more, should I want.  I also reserve the right not to do the A to Z challenge, or do, depending on how chaotic life is at that time.  I have quit some groups and things that distracted me from writing, (No Nanowrimo, that I had planned on doing...), so we shall see what a revised activity level will do.

3. Lose more papers and junk in my craft room.  If I can remember how to up load the pictures from the phone, I will show you the before and after photos of what I’ve accomplished so far, with help from Husband and Family. (Trust me, envision an overflowing dump, and then lower it to a slightly stuffed living room, and you have the general idea.)

Okay, so 1 is actually doing fine.  I am down 13 pounds, a slight hiccup right now, had a massive salt craving... Which means I am holding water like a camel made of sponge.  But anywho, I am doing not bad on that.

Number 3.  Yes, I am getting a slight bit of return creep, but I have removed oodles and bunches and lots o' crap, and it looks like someplace you could do crafting, not somewhere to hide a dead body...  

In fact, the desk in my craft room is completely clean, except for a bit of jewelry I am working on.  Which annoys Ding no end, it is a glass top, and she's slid off, twice.  So now she jumps in my lap to get on the desk...

Did I hear you mention part the second?  

Er.  

Yeah.  I...  

Part was just my not getting to the computer, (which is also the reason everyone hasn't had responses from me on their respective blogs.  I need to talk to the absolutely wonderful gal {NOT kidding, she's great} at Verizon, maybe she can walk me through why the phone won't talk to blogs. sigh...), but then the computer decided to show me this big sign when I opened up for doings... 

YOUR COMPUTER PROTECTION IS ENDED, YOU ARE NO LONGER SAFE, YOUR COMPUTER COULD BE INFECTED WITH G*D KNOWS WHAT AND EXPLODE INTO FLINDERS AT THE SLIGHTEST TOUCH...

Well, ok, that second part might have been my interpretation, but you get the idea.  And since I search random websites for knitting patterns and photos, I was more than a tad leery of getting online.  And who knows what some of those Facebooky things might do.  So I asked Husband to help me get the thing updated, as he has the relationship with the I.T. guy.  He did, and handed me a bit of paper.

???

This is your code for the new protection.

??!?  A code?   What do I do with it?  But, dutifully, last week, I sat down at the computer, and tried to put said code in.  Well, after wiping out our data limit with the download, I got down to business.

Two boxes come up.  I fill out one, then go to the next, which has different info, like what my account with the company is.

Huh?

I realize this one is for NEW folks, after I filled it halfway out...  But it doesn't go away when I delete it.  Now I have dueling comment boxes, and not a clue how to clear it.

I text Husband.

You know more than I do...

Oh, boy... I do?

Um.  Ok, don't panic, call I.T. guy.  Yeah, that'll work!

After working a while to figure out his phone, I call...
"We will be on vacation for a week, if you need help, please leave a message, and I will respond when I return."

Uh. I think that was when I decided panic was actually becoming an option.  I snarled, swore a bit, glared at the computer, then went to get a drink of water, with the small nasty thought of pouring the same on the computer, if it didn't cooperate.

I then tried again, carefully deleting anything unrelated to the code part.  Slowly, ploddingly, maddeningly (more so) slowly, it worked itself out.

Then I let the thing alone for a day or so.  Checked it, it needed an update, but worked ok.  Checked today, and it seemed fine.

So, before it changed its mind, or drove me out of mine, I wrote this blog...

Shudder. I am going to do this, soon... Update.

I have decided to change the system thing on my computer.

I am going to Windows 10.  The little reminder thing has popped up several times, and after establishing it wasn't some sort of virus on my computer, but something from Uncle Billy, I think I'd better change it.

Mostly, I know it will go away eventually.  I also know, that if my parents get new computers, I will need to find out how the new system works, so I am not looking blankly at them when they ask about something.  (Dad's system is about a generation behind mine now, and I have to stop and think, ok, what did I do when that happened?)

I asked one of the IT guys if it was okay to do, and there was a grunted "yeah".  Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it sounded like it wouldn't cause me to kill off the computer, or send a rampant virus to everyone online.

So.  I will see if I can do this thing, and then maybe update this blog entry.  Then again, my computer might go up in flames, and I won't be able to do a darn thing...

Do I sound apprehensive?  I am.  I know that this is a change that has been there for a while, but having heard very little positive, I am not eager.

So.  We shall see what commences.  Wish me luck.

*****************

So.  I tried, and nothing has happened, as of yet.  I am now informed that my Kindle for my PC has expired, (why that has anything to do with downloading Windows 10, I am not sure), but I will download the 'upgraded' Kindle app, then try again.

I guess I will have more later.  Nothing's blown up, fallen apart, or stopped dead, so that's good, right?

J is for junk.

This will probably raise ire.

I think that a lot of things today are wasteful.  When I was small, I recall Dad saying, take care of your (tools), and they'll take care of you.  Mom said that if you took care of something, you would have it later...

So, when I was... first or second grade?  Somewhere around there, my parents bought me a record player.  They showed me how to use it.  And I took care of it... Ok, once I put a kitten on it, to see what it would do, but other than a really dizzy kitten, no harm done. (Note: it doesn't really take that many spins to dizzy up a kitten.) But, I made an effort to not mess up my 'player.  And I still have it.  It might need some lube and care, having been stored in the attic, but when it was retired, it still worked.

In high school, they surprised me with a stereo system.  Played records, cassettes, 8 tracks, and had AM/FM.  I still have it, and it still works, and this one has remained kitten free...  But how many cassettes and 8 tracks are coming out now?

I picked up a CD player with my computer, I don't recall having that as a separate unit, and later an MP3 player.  I have gone through about 3 or 4 computers, and I didn't rough house them.  I didn't abuse them.  They just ran out of memory, or, in one case, a part burnt out, that after about 4 years of owning the computer, would have cost more than the computer to replace!  And now, with tablets, and 'stuff' online, CD's seem to be going out of fashion, too.

Now, the MP3 player.  I had one for about 6 years? Maybe a little more.  Um, well, it was not treated as well as I could have, played the heck out of it, while I was gardening, or exercising, so it was bounced and bopped a bit.  So I suppose that I can say I didn't care for it as well as I could have.

Still, it seems odd that something like that is built to last about 2 years.  At least that was the shocked statement from the clerk where I bought it.  I had thought about replacing parts.  She had to go into records to find what it was, they'd stopped selling it about 4 years ago, and the parts, again, were more than the player was worth.  So, I sighed, and now have a new one.

I guess I am sort of confused.  If we were so wasteful, and didn't save the resources, etc., that we needed to improve and make things work better on less...

Why do we have to throw things away after such a short time?