Mother’s Day Weekend–Feeling The LOVE

Here I am at the computer once again—it seems I only write, when I find a new gadget,  when I am totally sated or in a state of bliss.  It has been a wonderful couple of days and I am both sated and in bliss.

Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the JCC’s Senior Event “Magical Moments in May.” It warmed my heart, stimulated my pallet and my mind–”what was not to love”. I saw all my old friends, ate a good piece of salmon and was entertained by a speaker, who laminated on the resurrection of the Hebrew language and the national songs of Israel. I spent the afternoon with a close friend and finished the day with my two youngest feasting on an awesome pizza from Costco while watching videos, and then CBS’s Friday night line up– Ghost Whisperer, Moonlight and Numb3rs.

Yesterday, I was up and off to my oldest daughter’s house for a Mother’s Day celebration. We started the morning with croissants and orange juice, to eat on the way, as all of us mothers drove to a salon for mani’s and pedi’s. After being pampered we headed back to her house for a delicious lunch of salad, pasta, garlic bread, sweet tea, and for dessert chocolate cake, thanks to pizzahut, her husband and the kids. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in front of the TV and then headed home. My two teenagers had me drive them to our neighborhood Walgreens so they could get me something for Mother’s Day.

They surprised me this morning with breakfast in bed. My two had bought me a Dove’s Chocolate Rose, a real rose and the fix’n for an awesome breakfast. I was served a tray of hot cinnamon coffee with cream, eggs over-easy, sausage, hot chocolate chip muffins, sliced watermelon and sourdough toast with butter. Now, do you understand why I say I am sated!

It has been a weekend of food and festivities. I have gained at least four pounds from all of the treats, but it was well worth it. I truly feel loved and valued. I am so blessed to have my children. I feel very proud of them and love them very much. I am thankful for all that they do for me, they give me joy and loving them puts me in BLISS.

Linux at Walmart and Other Techie Delights

I have mentioned in my previous blog that Walmart had been my saving grace when I was looking for a WiFi routers on a budget; But now I find that they also sell a Linux operating machines too–Amazing!

I stumble across this knowledge in the standard web 2.0 way. I was reading a post on StraightUp Social which mentioned Walmart has its own blog “Check Out“. Two clicks later and I am reading the “gadget” guys blog on Linux, laptops and Apple TV. Like any true blog there is a place to comment on his post or the products. If gadgets aren’t your thing, then there are other blogs on gaming, gardening or general topics by other Walmart employees.

All in all, I found the blog informative. I was intrigued by the Linux machine as an offering and even read the comment on that post. And the blog on AppleTV offered a movie solution for people living “in the sticks”. So if you are a linux chix or geeky in anyway, but financially strapped there maybe a machine for your at your local Walmart.

Disclaimer: I still disagree with Walmart labor policies, but the frugality of my life leaves me few options when it comes to buying technology.

Techno–Withdrawals

I am jonesing for my Motorola Q–It died this weekend and I have been given a loaner phone until Sprint can repair it or replace it.  I am the kind of woman who wears her Bluetooth like jewelry.  I only take it off to shower or sleep.  It is a part of me.  Or I should say “it was” a part of me because this loaner phone doesn’t support bluetooth, or really much of anything. 

I spent the day in a tailspin—no bluetooth, no web and most importantly because my contacts weren’t captured on the replacement phone– I couldn’t call anyone.  (I know it is crazy, but I really only dial people by name–not number and without my contacts–I don’t even know my daughter’s home phone number—awww I am such a good mom…lol)

Anyway, after a third trip to the Sprint Store, this afternoon. they were able to give me “another” replacement phone and it at least could hold my contacts in it. 

So I am trying to hold on—Waiting until tomorrow to see if they can repair my phone—if not, it will be the weekend before I get a replacement. 

I’ll tell you, I don’t know how I got so hooked on my phone, and I know many people who can’t relate to what I am going through.  It is like a piece of me is missing. I am experiencing serious withdrawals and missing my Q.  

Mental Feng Shui

My daughter just sent me a chain letter and because it was from her, I read it.

Being a techno-diva I don’t like to pass along the chain-emails that I receive, in case they might be harboring a virus or worm, so I usually peruse them and then delete the message. That being said– this email had some good advice that I feel is worth sharing.

Here are the “Lotus Touts”:

ONE… Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO… Marry a person you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE… Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR… When you say, ‘I love you,’ mean it.

FIVE… When you say, ‘I’m sorry,’ look the person in the eye.

SIX… Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN… Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT… Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.

NINE… Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.

TEN… In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling..

ELEVEN… Don’t judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE… Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN… When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, ‘Why do you want to know?’

FOURTEEN… Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN… Say ‘bless you’ when you hear someone sneeze

SIXTEEN…When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN… Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN… Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN… When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY… Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY- ONE… Spend some time alone.

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.
.

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A moment of Bliss

Flashing back to the 80’s —This is the life. Listening to “She Blinded Me With Science,” on my Yahoo LaunchPlus web radio, while I am surfing the net. I am in my element and this is a moment of bliss! I closed my eyes and let “I wear my sunglasses at night” transport me back to the good life. Back to the old Debbie. Back when life was full of music and dancing.

My life is still full of music–Hip Hop, Dance, Pop, New Age, and “vintage” (yes now –80’s music is considered old.) While I still have music in my life I don’t “crave” it like I once did.

Music was a driving force that I felt to my very core, it spoke to me, moved me and gave me extreme pleasure. Nothing was better than a great DJ, who could mix and keep me on the dance floor for hours.

I feel like an old “Jock” who still watches and enjoys the sport but is no longer “in” the game. My “Glory Days” are now just a fond memory with music bestowing on me “a moment of bliss” every once in a while.

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Goals –Friend or Foe

I am coming to grips with my situation and the tilted reality of what it means to have goals in your life. I have goals (or you could call them dreams). One goal I had was to shed unwanted “cuteness” by a certain date, which didn’t happen. I didn’t achieve perfection. However, I did loose some weight and I am still motivated to keep trying. I may have not made my short-term goal, but I have momentum and I will keep working on myself until I am successful. It is just going to take longer than I originally thought. For me –part of my goal was reached. My goals are fluid. As long as I know that I am committed to the process and will keep striving to improve, then I am okay with the results.

While this idea of goal setting and ongoing results works for me in my personal life, it doesn’t work in the corporate world. If you are given 10 goals to achieve and you only achieve eight, then you can find yourself on the unemployment line without warning.

I have always thought of goal setting as a positive tool to help an individual improve and grow. Well, I am now privy to a more negative and despicable use of goal setting– as fodder to remove a trusting employee. You give the employee goals to strive for, offer them very little assistance, ignore the eight goals that were met and focus on the two that weren’t accomplished, throw in some false expectations and then you are able to dismiss them like scrapping gum from your shoe.

The important lesson I learned is to judge yourself by your own character and not the action or character of others.

Even though, I have experienced the underhanded use of goal setting, I will hold to my belief that goals “help” me become a better person and are a positive influence in my life–like a good friend.

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Hot Spot–not Hot

I am sitting in Starbucks getting my caffeine fix which is a rare treat, since Mocha Frappicinos can turn into an expensive habit, both financially and calorie wise. Being an occasional patron of this delicious franchise I have never had the need to use their wireless connection, until today. To my surprise the connection is not FREE!

Boy, Starbucks and T-mobile get you both coming and going, with coffee and internet it runs about twelve bucks. However, I refuse to pay $7.00 to surf the internet here. Why would I, when I have wifi at home and there are other coffee houses and cafes that offer it to their customers for free. The fee for wireless has just gives me another reason not to frequent Starbucks. I am truly disappointed. I had envisioned myself as an intelligent type, sitting with my blended coffee in a crowded coffeehouse surfing and blogging my heart out. Instead, I gave the faux impression of being studious as I blogged this entry only to post later when I actually could get online. So much for Starbuck’s T-mobile Hot Spot—not Hot at all.

OpenID site — .Name –is an interesting tool for a busy woman

I love the web!  I just found another nifty site .Name, which is an openID site.  It is where you can register your name and use it as your personal email.  (i.e. Jill Smith is jill@smith.name) So I have a new email address and anything that arrive at that address will go to my yahoo account!  I just started playing with my home page at the site.  It is similar to the Google email dashboard, which you can customize with all sorts of widgets.  I now have the weather forecast for my city, my twitter and local TV listing on it.  It is great!  I can continue to customize it to have my blog, podcast, pictures and videos all in one location, that is unique to me@myname.name

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Wireless is The Only Way To Go!

It has been a month since I posted about getting a wireless router, and it has taken me almost 3 weeks to figure out why I couldn’t get my home computer online with the new router. Tech support was a bust! Entire weekend wasted. In a moment of clarity one morning, I was able to figured out it was an TCP/IP issue and now it works and the kids have a computer that they can use to get online. Who needs tech support? Not me!

This last week, I got my VPN stick and now I can access my work files making my telecommuting life a breeze. Even with my slow connection, it beat being in a cube. I get to listen to music and I can actually see outside—trees and sun, or even the fog. It is so much better than the gray cube walls and florescent lighting of work. I tell you “a laptop and wireless connection is the only way to work.”

So with my new found freedom, I can be online at all hours of the day or evening. It allows me to be with the kids in the evening, while I am online doing homework, logging in my calories or doing work. It is great! My laptop is with me where ever I go now. I carry it from room to room, we are inseparable.

As I write this, I wonder though if this is really freedom or a new form of electronic shackle? Just a thought! Either-way, I am still not willing to cast this shackles off yet. I am happy with my electronic leash, for now.

Wireless Networks at Walmart

I work at a pretty cool company and they will allow me to telecommute one or two days a week, the problem is I don’t have WiFi at home, and can’t really afford a wireless router.

“I know they are only like fifty-bucks at Fry’s Electronics, but hey, school is starting next week and the kids need supplies, so there just isn’t a dime to spare.” 

Being “fiscally-challenged,” has been the norm for so long that it has caused me to become an avid “Wal-Mart” shopper.  (I don’t agree with their practice, but I do agree with their prices.)

So I checked out walmart.com and sure enough, they have wireless-routers, and they even told me which store has them in stock.  Of course, the store closest to me, doesn’t have them, but there is one not to far away.  This evening, I am going to take my Walmart credit card and head two cities away to purchase a wireless router for the home.  I am excite, it is going to mean more time I can spend with my family and more freedom for me. 

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