Bluesky Migration

As I pondered what I was going to rant about today, something weird happened on Bluesky. Suddenly it got a huge influx of new users. Not only that, a couple people I know online joined. And that got me thinking.

I don't know exactly when I joined Bluesky. My first skeet* is dated October 16, 2023. So, it was likely a day or two before that. When I first joined, I did not know what to do with the platform. It was new. A wide open space.

I am not an expert. I dabble. A little. I scroll. But, I have picked up a few things that new users might want to know, and so I'm including those here in the hopes that you'll join me. My user name is @zizirho.bsky.social if you do happen to find your way over there.

First, there's an unofficial ID check. It's #ProofOfCat. Post a picture of your cat with the hashtag (as well as the name of the cat and/or something interesting about said cat). Sadly, I have no cat, so I have not done this. Some users have posted pics of their dogs in lieu of #ProofOfCat. 

Next, make sure to set your feed to "Following". One of the problems in the other places is the algorithm will feed you posts that you might not want to interact with. If you keep it on "Following", you'll only see skeets* from those you are following. 

Until you have a robust list of people you are following, you can use the "Discover" feed. With the influx of people, several users have created "Starter Packs" to help newbies find good feeds to follow. They've also created a few starter packs of feeds not to follow, but they are labeled as such.

Not to follow? That brings me to one of the lovely things on Bluesky--the nuclear block.

If you block someone on Bluesky, you never have to think of them again. It blocks them so you never have to see them again. It also makes you disappear from their feeds, so they can't see you. One big issue on other sites is how those who want to harass you can find ways around a block to get back to you. Here, they can't. 

(If you hit "subscribe" on a starter pack, you are given the option of blocking that entire list. Useful tool.)

And finally, if you find a skeet* or a thread you want to "pin", you can "quote post" and put an emoji pin in it. That collects your pinned posts in a handy spot to find them again. (I haven't quite gotten the hang of this, but I'm assured it works.)

Oh, it turns out there are some other ways you can scroll. I found this while finding skeets* to add to this post: 

I'm rather surprised I had as much to write about as all of this. I'm hardly an expert. But I find that Bluesky is where I spend most of my time scrolling nowadays. I hope you'll join me. 

And another helpful graphic:

(If you're looking for a "what if?" post, I have suspended them. Temporarily? I'm not sure right now.)

*Skeet is not the official name. There's a debate as to what to call posts. Someone on the anti side advocated against in the perfect way to make everyone else adopt the term, so it's probably going to stay.

Meh

Right now, I wish I had some project on the needles or hook. A long project that I've been plugging away on for ages. Then I'd have something to work on.

And something to write about. 

But no. I have the pillow thing that I haven't touched since my last blog post about it. I've got the scarf I take with me to school (and don't touch). And... that's it. I've got nothing else. 

It's time to start things. I could start a bunch of projects. When I have several things going, I can switch off to something else when the thing I'm working on gets boring or is too much/too little for the energy I have at the moment. 

But what should I start? I'm low on ideas. I have yarn. I have the whole of the internet to find various patterns to try. I could even try my hand and designing something new. 

I just have no idea what. That's why I'm stuck.

The above pic? I went into my picture archives on the blog just to have something to post. I still have this vest thingy. I don't think I've ever actually worn it, though. It was fun to make. But it's too warm for the warm days, and it's sleeveless, so it doesn't really work for the cool days. 

What should I make next? Anyone have any ideas? I truly have got nothing.

Downtime

Thursday. Fourth period. 

As is usual, I was asked to cover another teacher on the conference period. It was an easy enough assignment, as I was covering the special ed co-teacher for a class I had covered before. With the general ed teacher there, all I had to do was sit at the teacher's desk. 

(Well, my job technically is to assist the students. But, the general ed teacher was giving direct instruction. As the class was well-behaved, meaning I didn't need to jump in to help with classroom control, I could just chill and watch the lesson.) 

And then the special ed teacher returned. 

Normally, this is happy news. I get to go back to an empty classroom and take a break. Alas, "my" classroom wasn't empty. 

(It's a long story as to the whys and wherefores. Suffice it to say that another teacher uses that classroom during the conference period. I didn't want to walk in to disturb them.) 

Where to go? I had a little over a half hour until the end of the period. The teacher's lounge was on the other side of campus. (Very long walk.) 

I decided that I'd sit outside. (Well, first I had to wait until the end of lunch for the half of the students who were on lunch at that time. But once they had gone into their fourth periods, then the campus was peaceful.) 

I don't know if you've heard about all the rain we've been getting. Things have been a mess. And it's been pretty cold for us. But this Thursday was actually a nice day. Dry. And fairly warm. 

Even while in class, the campus is generally busy. Security drove by in their golf carts. Students were going to and from places. But it was fairly quiet. 

But then a student stopped by the bench I had claimed. He had been in my third period. He asked if he had left something in the classroom, a small box. He had. I told him the classroom was open with a class in there, so he could go and retrieve it.

I saw him a bit later walking by with the small box. 

It was nice to get a bit of sun. We're due another storm the following weekend, and the weather app on my phone shows rain for the next week or so. (We'll see. The app always predicts more rain than materializes.) 

A Small Favor

Could you all do me a favor? If you're on Blogger, could you check to make sure my comments didn't end up in your spam folder?

Lately, I've noticed some of my comments have not been appearing on your blogs. At first, I assumed they were being deleted (as all blog owners totally can and should curate their comments), but it's happened way too frequently for that to be the issue.

And, I'm finding many regular commenters in my spam folder. 

Comment is not spam. Middle icon marks comment as spam.

Comment is marked as spam. Check mark takes it out of spam folder.

So, if you wouldn't mind, could you go and double check. Thanks.

Random 13 on a Thursday

1. I've really got nothing today. I'm on vacation, and I've spent it thus far doing as little as possible. So, today I'm doing a list of random for Thursday 13. 

2. I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas? Rain is forecast for Saturday. That can be hit or miss, though. When rain is forecast, it may happen, or it may just kind of threaten all day. 

3. I managed to get all my Christmas presents wrapped. I'm actually all done, and that's kind of amazing as many years I don't get all the gifts out until March. Of course, this year I started early. Will I repeat this next year? Not likely.

4. I did go to the yarn store on Monday, so I have yarn for my next projected project: a purse for me. I can't get my head in the game, though. I should pull out needles and figure out stitch patterns, but I just stare at the yarn and think, "I want to create a phone pocket," and "I should make an outside pocket for sunglasses". At this rate I won't start the thing for months. 

5. I also bought replacement windshield wipers for my car. For the projected rain. I should get on switching those out. Eventually.

6. I had such plans for this vacation. There are projects I want to complete. I should go through my closet and weed out the clothes I don't wear. But I can't quite get myself to care right now. Maybe next week.

7. It was in this mood of not wanting to start anything new that I went and signed up for Paramount Plus. How's that not starting anything new? They have new seasons of Evil and The Good Fight and Star Trek: Discovery. (I had it when it was CBS All Access last year.) So, I get new seasons of shows I already know. That seemed to be where I was at.

8. But this week I finally succumbed and started a couple shows that I've been collecting on my DVR. I think sitting in front of the TV and not knitting is where I'm at mentally right now.

9. Well, TV and games on my phone. I went back to playing Candy Crush again. I hadn't touched it in months. I found Words with Friends last year, and that supplanted Candy Crush. 

10. See, Candy Crush pissed me off. They started this thing where you're in "competition" with some other random people to complete a set of 15 levels first. And I don't like that sort of competition. And I can't opt out. So, I play sporadically now. Only when I have a chance of winning. Which limits the time I play to times when I'm not working.

11. The best part of Christmas for me is the giving of gifts. I rarely get anything I really want. I think I gave up enjoying what I got decades ago. So, I look forward to how those I'm gifting to react. This year is a bit weird as I went and got things that I'm not quite sure about. I'll have to see how it all goes over.

12. I have such memories of December 23rd at the evil toy store (now defunct). One year, after we closed, we found a bra hanging on the electronic display case on aisle one. We just couldn't... Because the store had been packed the entire time we were there. (The place was so trashed we didn't get to go home until after 4 AM. The store closed at midnight.) How does one take off one's bra in a packed store? I mean, just... 

13. I wish blogging had been a thing when I worked at the evil toy store (now defunct). I have me some stories. Most of which I've forgotten now. Perhaps one day I'll tell the tale of Pearl. 

A Day Off?

Since getting back on the day-to-day subbing train, I've been getting my assignments a day or two in advance via email. The sub caller sends me an email asking if I'm available for such-and-such assignment, and I accept. 

Last Monday, I had not received an email by the time it was usually sent. So, I called to see if there was anything. The sub caller informed me that there was nothing as of yet, but that would change. Probably. 

I began to dream of a day off. 

I mean, I have weekends off. And there was Labor Day. But usually I don't work every school day. Even in busier years, by now I would have had at least one day (usually more) of non work on a school day. 

But this year? I've worked every school day since the week before school started. (The continuation high school starts early, and I worked that week there.) And, of course, July. 

What would I do with a day off? What would I do with an unexpected day off? I started to plan. There were things that need my attention. I could sleep in. It might just be lovely.

Tuesday morning, of course I woke a good hour before the sub caller would call. Tried to go back to sleep. Thought about what I might do with a day off. 

An hour later, the phone rang...

(Eleventh grade U.S. history class. They worked quietly all day.)

A Random 13

1. It's going to be one of those stream-of-consciousness lists today. I attempted to come up with a theme of some sort (top contender: movies I can watch over and over again), but doing that planning ended up being too much work. Perhaps I'll attempt it another week. Maybe not.

2. I've been bored. It's not like I don't have projects to work on. I pushed many of them to when I'd have time over the summer. But wide-open days make me feel anxious, so little actually gets done.

3. We've been fighting with the internet. There was an outage. But, alas, that outage knocked out our box. The guy came and replaced the box, but in the process took the company's router, which led to all sorts of issues connecting to the TV. (We had an older router too. We kept the older one.) For days it was hit or miss with the internet connecting to the TV, which sucks when you've "cut the cord" and are just streaming. It appears to be fixed now, but I'm whispering this because I don't want to have another issue.

4. I also took my car in to have some maintenance work done. It was gone for eight days. Apparently, there were issues getting parts. Well, that, and the place was super busy. And my car is rather old. 

5. It seems like I'm only watching witch shows on TV. Motherland: Fort Salem started back up as well as A Discovery of Witches. And, of course there's The Good Witch, too. I've been sort of hate-watching The Magicians on Netflix (I missed starting it when it began on SyFy.) A sense a theme.

6. Although, I am also watching Renovation Island on HGTV and Making It on NBC, so it's not all magic all the time.

7. Does anyone have a good show to recommend? It's getting to that point in the year when I'm scrambling for something to keep me entertained in the evening. 

8. I've been walking my landlady's dog, Buttercup. Buttercup does not like to take walks. Once she gets going it's okay, but getting her going... 

9. Buttercup has a nemesis. Lucky. If those two dogs get within sniffing distance, the barking starts. They want to tear each other apart. 

10. Lucky is a little white dog. Now that we (me and Lucky's owner) know the dogs hate each other, we avoid each other when we catch sight of the other while out. (The other day I got close enough to ask the dog's name. Before, I was calling him Nemesis.) 

11. Walking the dog is a bit of a challenge with Lucky, the Canadian geese (they don't like us coming anywhere near them), and the ducks. The ducks actually went after Buttercup one time. (Guarding the chicks.) Although the Canadian geese should be leaving soon, and the ducks have calmed down since the chicks are no longer chicks. 

12. I think it may be time to knit myself a new purse. 

13. If I'm really thinking ahead, it is definitely time to start my Christmas knitting. I think last year's give-everyone-a-book didn't go over too well. (Although, I may do the book thing again. It was way easy for me.)

Follow by Email

Image has nothing to do with today's post...

If you're on Blogger and you have enabled email subscriptions, you already saw the notice that the service is being shut down in July. The notice went out in April (or was it March?). 

At the time, I was busy with a long-term subbing gig, and I really didn't have the time (or the desire to make a priority) to take care of it. But school is out for the summer, so now I have some time. And one of the first things I wanted to do was deal with the email situation. 

Although, it's not like I really have all that many email subscribers. The last time I checked, I had two (my brother and my sister-in-law). Was it really worth it to even have the email subscription thingy enabled? 

I got an email about follow.it (and then I got two follow ups when I didn't deal with it right then--because I wasn't going to deal with it until now), and I've noticed a couple other bloggers have migrated to that. I figured I'd give it a go. 

I went to download my subscriber list so I could import it, and I was greeted with a shock. I had over 1400 email subscribers. Huh? 

Figuring out how to transition things took just about as long as I thought it would. (I gave myself an afternoon.) I bumbled about, and when it came time to import my subscriber list, I didn't notice the "Download List" button. Instead, I clicked on "Import Followers". 

This mistake is what made me look through that list of "followers". I was being "followed" by email addresses that could not possibly be people. 

They were all outlook.com addresses, and the names on them were... Well, let me give you a taste: 

rosadobqrioswwz

rosadobwantoniosg

rosadocgsjosepdu

rosadodacarolinaga

rosadofhsandratpj

rosadofwastridyuk

All up and down the alphabet these "names" went. One or two, I can see, but over 1000 of these were there. I have no idea what purpose these random email addresses have in following my blog, but importing them into the new email service seemed like a bad idea. 

When I had deleted all of them, I was left with nineteen subscribers. 

Nineteen. Yeah, that's way more reasonable. Way more than I was expecting (and I'm grateful to each and every one of you for subscribing), but that number makes sense. 

But the reason I mention this, before the Blogger email subscription goes away, is for anyone I may have accidentally deleted in the transition. By now you should be getting the emails via follow.it. If you are not, the "Follow by Email" in the sidebar has been updated with the new link. 

(This is only going to apply to anyone with an outlook.com address. Any other address made the transition.) 

The Smell

It was evening. I walked out into the garage to throw something away, and ewwww. There was this smell that was just plain awful. 

I looked about, but I couldn't see any sort of leak. Besides, it kind of smelled like sewage. How would sewage get into the garage? I didn't want to think about that. 

Landlady said she had smelled it earlier, but Luisa hadn't. And she'd been working out there... 

A couple days prior, Luisa started going through a pile of paperwork. You know the kind--the sorts of bills and mail and such that accumulate over time. She had started going through them and shredding much of it. The pile had been sitting in the garage for a while, and nowadays we have the time. 

So, it was weird that Luisa wasn't smelling anything while we were. 

On the second day of the smell, Luisa smelled it. She opened the garage door while working, which got the smell to clear out. 

On the third day, Luisa pulled out the shelving unit. She was sure she was going to find a dead rat. Nope. Nothing. 

And then, after days of not being able to figure out where the smell was coming from, Luisa discovered it. Rats had peed on her paperwork. Well, at least the paperwork was being trashed... 

She finally finished going through all of her papers. It only took four or five days. And the smell was gone. 

(I don't have an image to go with this post, so consider this a palate cleanser.)

I so need to go through all of my papers. I'm a bit reluctant to start, now.

Nowhere

On Tuesday, March 31st, I dropped off a package at the post office.

This is not a noteworthy occurrence, generally. I have an Etsy shop (Zizi Rho Designs). I make the occasional sale. I wore gloves, and I put it in the package slot, so I didn't even have to interact with anyone.

I like to "stalk" my packages. Once a day, I check the tracking to see where it's gotten to. By the next day, it has generally left the local distribution center and it's on its way to its destination.

But not this package.

For a week, every day the package showed a "not received by us" on the website.

I wasn't too worried. This happens sometimes. Some packages are nowhere in the system until they've been delivered. So, I kept waiting for the delivery.

After a week, I contacted the buyer to see if it had arrived, just in case the system never logged it. Nope.

What to do? I wondered if perhaps the package got jammed somehow in the slot at the post office. Could I call them?

The only phone number was a 1-800 number, so I wouldn't be calling the specific location. Might as well, right?

Of course they were experiencing higher than normal volume (I wonder if those lines are ever experiencing normal volume), but they would call me back when it was my turn. So, I chose that option and went on with my day.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, I looked at my phone. There was a notification...

And that's when I remembered.

On iPhones, there's a thing called "Silence Unknown Callers". If turned on, the phone will only ring if the call is coming from a number in my contacts. Otherwise, it'll immediately go into voicemail.

When I made my call to the post office, I had completely forgotten that I had that turned on.

So, I tried to call back, but I got the usual computer menu. But it was my turn! While I was calling, I got two more calls, the second one saying that they had tried, and now they weren't going to try any more. Considering at that point they had called me four times, that was totally reasonable.

Yeah, by the time I added the phone number to my contacts list, it was too late. Deep sigh.

Did I want to wait on the phone for another hour and fifteen minutes for another try? After poking around the website, I found where I could report missing mail. So, I did that.

Likely, that's all the person on the phone would have done, anyway. It's not likely that they would have called that post office to have them look in their collection bins.

That particular post office has done this to me before, that is not scanning the package in. It still made it to its final destination in a timely manner.

But the customer informed me that she's had issues with package delivery in the past. So, this might just be a perfect storm of issues.

I hope the package turns up. I don't want to have to reknit it...

I wrote this post last week. On Saturday, the 11th, the package arrived. Whew. Turns out I'm out of the colorway of the yarn that the customer ordered, and I couldn't find it online anywhere. 

Missed It

It was one of those lovely days that I don't write about. Ceramics. The kiddos were pretty much on task, and my biggest concern was staying awake.

At the end of the period, they went to the sinks to wash the clay off their hands. I was seated next to one. I happened to look over as one boy was washing his hands...

I've been subbing a while. I knew this boy. I'd had him in class several times in the past. He's never made the blog before. He does his work, mostly. He's never been rude to me. He's like 75% of the students I encounter. (Yes, mostly the kiddos are pretty good.)

Anyway, I looked over and noticed... The boy had no thumb on one of his hands. (I think it was the right hand, but at this point I don't recall precisely.)

And all I could think was: how had I never noticed this before?

This boy's a senior. I've probably had him in classes for five years, if not six. I've passed him as I do class walk arounds. I've passed papers to him and had him pass papers back to me. I've called his name on the roll (or asked his name as I did a reverse roll call).

And I never noticed?

Wow. I really need to be paying better attention.

The New Camera

I bought a new camera a couple weeks ago. I'm still not convinced I really needed it.

My old camera was a Christmas present several years ago. I've had it for at least twelve years. Maybe fourteen. So, yeah, it can be argued that since the technology was clearly outdated, it was time to upgrade. But it did the job still.

I mean, the old camera had some issues. There was a lag between the time I'd press the shutter button and the image was captured. But I mostly take product photos now, so that wasn't a big deal.

And, the camera required AA batteries. Batteries that it went through quickly. I was lucky if a set of two batteries lasted through two photo sessions. So, I could get roughly 200 pictures out of a set (and that's a high estimate as to how many pictures I'd take in two photo sessions).

Still, these were known issues and I was dealing with them.

A couple years ago (okay, maybe five), the camera no longer held onto the date and time. So, every time I was ready to take pictures, I had to set the date and time. No biggie, really. And if I had to change the batteries mid-photo shoot (the camera ate batteries, so having to change batteries mid-shoot was common), I'd have to reset the date and time.

Again, I got used to that. At least I didn't have to remember to fix the time when Daylight Saving Time started or ended.

Then, about two years ago, the LCD screen stopped showing images. That is, when I take a picture, it would flash briefly on the LCD screen so I could make sure the image captured. But no longer. When that first happened, I thought the image wasn't being stored on the SD card. But it turned out it was.

So, the camera had some issues that I had learned to deal with. I still got fairly decent images. It still worked.

The new camera has a rechargeable battery (yay!) and its SD card holds over 10,000 images (as opposed to my old camera's 515). The new SD card even fits into my laptop. (No more dragging out the cable to connect the camera to the computer.)

But I'm still not convinced that I really needed a new camera. (Especially as I struggle to learn how to operate the new camera and I fight with the focus--getting images to come out in focus isn't working as easily as I would like.) Someone, please, talk me off this ledge.

Bad Neighbors

There's this family that lives in my complex. They arrived in the spring. And they are the very worst neighbors.

They are obnoxious. They roam the sidewalks as if they own the place. They make a mess. And if I want to pass by them, they give me ugly stares and hiss at me. Yup, the father likes to hiss.

Yes, I'm shaming them on the internet. Here's what they look like:

I've never meant them any harm. But if I come close...

They gather around, ready for a fight. See the kiddo just chillin' on the sidewalk. Just sitting there. My complex houses lots of people, and they like to walk their dogs. But these neighbors object to that sort of activity.

It's so bad, if we see them in our path, we turn around and go around the long way. It's easier than a confrontation. There's no telling how violent they might get.

Yet, somehow the ducks, turtles, and lizards seem to have figured out how to live amongst them. I wonder if they give them as wide a berth as we do.

I hope they leave soon. It'd be nice to take a stroll outside without worrying about running in to them.

Odd Egg

I had just gotten back from the grocery store. I wasn't feeling great (this cold is mild, but it lingers), and working roofers snarled traffic, so parking my car became more of an issue than it usually is.

Oh well. I was home. 

As I walked into the house, I managed to just miss the door, but cushioned by the bag of groceries held in front of me. The bag of groceries that housed the dozen eggs... 

Naturally. 

Yup, I had smashed the egg carton, but luckily, I only managed to break one egg. A minor miracle. 

I managed to put the groceries away with no other incident, and I went on with my day. But one thought lingered. I now had an odd number of eggs. 

Silly, I know. But I never use just one egg. It seems like everything requires two. Which meant that unless I found some use for it, I would forever have that extra egg out there. Lingering. I'd never be able to get to even.

Ah well.

The next day at breakfast, I scrambled two eggs. After, I went to rearrange my eggs. I lost the carton they came in, so there was a bit of a juggle to house them in some way. And as I went to put that last egg somewhere... Splat.

It slipped out of my and and ended up on the floor in a big yellow mess.

This is what I get for complaining about one odd egg. Here is where I roll my eyes.

(Yes, it was a slow week. This is the sort of thing that would make an excellent stick figure comic, if I could do that sort of thing.)

10 Pieces of Wisdom

Just a little something to think about. Have a great weekend.

She Asked What?

I was perusing my "random thoughts" tag to find the link I used on Monday (the one about how I don't lose things), and I stumbled across this gem. This is the second time I've reposted it, but it's worth the repost. It originally appeared on September 7, 2008.  

Since the kitchen has been down, we've been going out to eat a lot. It's easier than trying to wash dishes in the bathroom sink. Tonight we ended up at Chili's.  

I was fighting off a headache, so I was a bit more cranky than usual. Unfortunately, we got seated right behind a group of girls who were out to have a good time. Loudly.  

Chili's is normally loud. These girls were louder. And they were cackling like they had had a bit too much to drink. When they laughed, they just had to hit the back of their seat which was right up against my seat. It was worse than the day I was at Ruby's behind the young child who would not sit still. (At least in that case I could forgive the child for not knowing any better.)  

Because our tables were back to back, we had the same server. After he had brought us our drinks, he went to take their order.  

I guess the girls thought he was cute. They were very obviously flirting. They asked if the server was married.  He was. Then they asked his age and how long he'd been married. These questions were getting more and more personal. And then one of the girls came out with this impertinence:  

"Have you cheated on her yet?"  

Seriously. They asked that. My jaw just about hit the table. (I was so astonished I did not hear how he responded. I hope he gave them a very rude answer.)  

Some people. I mean, really.  

Day in the Life

It's 2nd period, and the science classroom at the continuation high school is pretty silent. Except for the two girls taking their 12th selfie. Although, that seems to have finally stopped.

Some subbing days are easier than others. And there are some battles not worth fighting. They all know what their assignment is. Many of them are even on task. Those that aren't... *shrugs* At least they're being quiet about it.

The boy just directly in front of me had his head down on the desk. The boy next to him indicated that he was crying. My take on this is if he wanted me aware of his turmoil, he would not be hiding his face. If he needs to talk to someone, he can ask to go and I'll let him. But until then, I'll let him have his privacy.

But then this boy asked to borrow his neighbor's pencil. He set it on top of his own crosswise...

"No! Absolutely not."

So, now the two are playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

Many of them are on their phones. Although, the girl who was actually making a call finally ended it. I could go the put-your-phones-away route; but then I'd spend the rest of the period policing them, confiscating phones, and just fighting them. It's not really worth it. The room is mostly silent. I'd rather maintain the calm.

Besides, I already have six finished assignments in a class of nineteen students, and everyone has a book out.

So, I keep an eye out for the crazy as I write (on paper--I'm inputting this into Blogger days later). Ten more minutes. I hope period 3 is as settled as this.

They were. It was 5th period that wasn't. 

From 5th period I learned a new little tidbit. Did you know that there are YouTube videos where girls are applying makeup? Some of these channels are popular. The things on the internet...

No July 31st?

So, I've gone and joined the #ThrowbackThursday crowd. And I figured this post from July 31, 2010 was apropos...

I don't know why these things come up, but as this was rather timely, I thought I'd share.

On Monday, I went over to help my 9-year-old niece clean out her closet. As she did the work, I blathered on about random things.

I told her about the time when I was a child that I was paranoid about July having 31 days. My child brain reasoned that since February sometimes has a 29th, then perhaps other months could lose their last day. My niece thought that this logic was crazy, and she said so.

Of course, I was assured by my parents that July would always have 31 days. And now I see the craziness of the thought. (I was a small child. I had many crazy worries.) I hadn't thought of this for years.

Nothing quite like trying to entertain a child to bring out such strange memories.

Happy Birthday to me.

Niece, whose online alias is ArcherGirl, is currently 13. She goes into the 8th grade this fall.

Busy Knitting

I've mentioned before that I write these posts ahead, haven't I? So, while you're reading this (thank you for stopping by this holiday week, by the way), I'll be busily trying to finish the last of my Christmas knitting/crocheting. Because even though I knew what I was going to be making everyone, I took a very long time getting started on it.

I may have mentioned that I contribute to Unicorn Bell from time to time. They're looking for a new moderator. If you'd be interested in joining us, Charity has explained the requirements much better than I could.

How's your Christmas shopping coming along (assuming you celebrate)?

Thumb Drive Jewelry

I just replaced my thumb drives. Flash drives. USB drives. Whatever they're called.

Since I store my stories on them (as well as everything else), I like to have backups. And they were on sale, so I figured it was time.

But they're tiny.

I got a little worried. What happens if I lose them?

Which is silly. I don't lose things. Not generally. I tend to know where I put things, and I put those things back in the place they belong when I finish with them.

But still, I thought I should have some insurance...

A little addition to make sure that these things aren't too small...

This should make them harder to lose, don't you think?