Monthly Archives: November 2002

As Time Goes By

Posted on by
7

The title of this post plays on many levels for me. Certainly, the tv series with Judi Dench is a favorite of mine, mainly because it portrays a relationship between an adult woman and man with a realistic and comfortable combination of humor and respect.
Over here and here and here, there are still conversations going on about sexism, and Drucilla links from Blog Sisters to a supposed study of women abusing men. I wonder if relationships between men and women will ever find that realistic and comfortable combination of humor and respect.
Time is also going by on this blog without much going on — mostly because time seems to be going by so fast in my nonblog world. I swear, time goes by faster as you get older. I know that there’s so physical reason for this; I know that there are some psychological explanations for feeling like this. It sure feels like it’s a fact for me, though.
There’s not much going on with lots of blogs lately. Shelley’s been mentioning how so many seem to be taking a break. Maybe time is just going by for them too.
Too much of my time is spent writing, re-writing, and editing articles for the regional dance magazine. It’s too much like my old job, which I retired from and hoped to do other things. I’ve got to get out of what I got myself into.
I want to spend more of my time making stuff for my grandson. I just sent him a soft fleece hooded robe, a pair of booties that look like sneakers, and I’m almost fininshed making him a totally un-Christmasy-looking Christmas stocking.
When my kids were little, I made a pink and orange one for my daughter and a turquoise and blue one for b!X. Yes, yes, I know that those are sexist colors, but what the hell. She still has hers. I wonder if he still has his.
And I have one more craft sale to do, so I’m working on more “indestructible, adjustable, washable crusher hats.” And more of my original-design “spiral shawls.” (A woman from California stumbled on the post of a photo of one of my shawls and she’s already bought four so far.)
B!X is supposed to be working establishing a web page where I can advertise the stuff I make and some jewelry and quilted items that friends of mine create. My one-year anniversary for this weblog is on November 29.
My mother will be 87 in February.
And time keeps going by.

NOW I’M REAAALLLLY MAD AT MCAFEE!!

Posted on by
39

Earlier this month, I posted about my inability to successfully load McAfee Virus Scan onto my computer becauses of weird little McAfee files that were stuffed into unlocatable places in my PC. So, I packaged up the disk and sent it back for a refund, along with a letter that included the following:

Please credit my card with a refund for the enclosed purchase because I was not able to install the upgrade BECAUSE when I tried–
 First, it told me to uninstall current copies of McAfee Virus Scan, so I used my PC’s uninstall feature to try to do that.
 Then when I again tried to install the upgrade, it told me that there were Virus Scan files left on my computer that had to be removed/uninstalled as well before I could install the new version.
 Since I couldn

So what do we do now?

Posted on by
2

As we helplessly watch our country continue to slide on its conservative butt down into a new Dark Age abyss, what do we do now?
b!X is in the processof launching a new site as a way to stimulate interest in reinventing the Democratic Party into what it’s supposed to be so that there’s some chance of eventually reversing directions. That’s what he’s doing.
My therapist/healer friend is leading a spiritual pilgrimage to Greece, and this is what he writes in response to being asked if he’s afraid to travel:
So what am I afraid of? Terrorism and dying? Yes, but not much. That is
just a symptom of our times. I am afraid of being terrorized by anybody
taking away my freedoms. Taking away freedom is the root cause of all
terror. I am afraid of any authority draining all there is of attention,
time, energy, tax money, our children’s future, in the pursuit of
imagined gigantic horrors we now live to eradicate. I am afraid of
anyone trying to make me believe that all the world is not mine, that I
am not safe elsewhere on the planet, that I am a targeted citizen of
America. I am not. I am not even a citizen of this soul-sick America
creeping like a diseased empire around the planet. I am a free citizen
of the world. It is my planet. I just happen to live in occupied
territory right now — once free territory occupied and controlled by a
political-corporate empire. That is why it is right for me to go —
because we are free. And because it is our world, all of ours. As
Sokrates taught us, doing what is right is good for my soul.
And me? I don’t know what to do. In truth, my life isn’t going to change much; it never does in response to political ebbs and flows. Suspended in the middle of the middle class, I’m not much affected by the stock market or interest rates or even taxes. But this is still my country, my planet, my human community. I want to do what’s right. I can only try. I have to try because I am a free citizen of the world. It is my planet. I just happen to live in occupied territory right now — once free territory occupied and controlled by a political-corporate empire.
If nothing else, I can keep reminding everyone that that is indeed the case. Let’s not fool ourselves.

My Votes are Cast

Posted on by
Reply

Well, I voted for a regime change in New York State, but I have little hope of that really happening. We have a superbly qualified black man running against a totally white encumbent for Governor. Miracles do happen, I suppose.
We definitely need reforms in the electoral process, and I send you over to The One True b!X – November 05, 2002 – Olbermann’s Modest Proposals for some excellent suggestions.

Mad at McAfee

Posted on by
3

This is why lots of ordinary people get so frustrated with the stuff that techies breeze through:
I decided I’d upgrade my McAfee anti-virus program with the new 7.0, which has a firewall as well. Except I couldn’t download the new version until I uninstalled my old one. Except it wouldn’t do a quick uninstall because there were little files stuck in weird places. So I got onto the McAfee site, which was not user friendly in getting help, but I did get to their tech chat person, who finally sent me a six page set of instructions on how to get rid of each file separately (and some might be in as many as 20 times in various places).
Well, being a non-techie 62 year old who gets an Excedrin headache when I have to program a tv or vcr and still haven’t figured out all of the settings on my digital camera, I asked for a refund and went and downloaded Norton with perfect ease.
This is why ordinary people get to hate technology. If I weren’t addicted to blogging, I probably would too.