Monday With The New Computer

Hi All!

Well - it is Monday and my new computer is still doing well. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that this computer lasts a long, long, long time!

This weekend, as I said in my last blog, was pretty well taken up with going to the ASL lab and setting up the computer. I am happy to report that all of my music made the transition. I had thought that I would lose at least some of my newly added music because I hadn't backed it up but I forgot that my iPod had the new songs AND was set to act as a data disc!

That means a couple things. First, I can put data onto my iPod. I do that with some of my word documents that I want to share with my parents when I visit. Second, it means that I can actually transfer MUSIC to different itunes computers (well, not ALL itunes computers but in this case, the new computer worked well). Yeah, iPod! I was afraid for a while that I would lose my version of "The Streak!"

It DID take forever (just a slight exaggeration there) to reload all the music onto the computer. I guess that is the price I pay for liking music so much!

In additional news, I managed to get all of my pictures onto the new computer. When I say "all" I mean all of the pictures that I saved the last time I backed up my photos. I did lose some including the intro shots of my hot pad! Darn! I was hoping to show you the progress on that today but didn't get it done. Hopefully tomorrow! Remind me, people!

It is raining proverbial cats and dogs in my neck of the woods and is chilly! In fact, I just ran to the other room to get my fingerless gloves to try to keep my hands from turning into solid chunks of ice! I bought my gloves at Target a while back and I love them! They really help when full gloves would be too much but your hands need some extra warmth around the knuckles. Plus, you can pull your fingers into the main part of the glove if you need additional warmth.

Okay - I am done rambling for today. Have a good one!

Trisha

Voice Update: Ugh. Actually, things are going pretty well. I am slacking, major time, on my exercises though. I think someone needs to hold my feet to the fire! I do have a couple "breaks" in my voice which could be improved with exercises. So . . . "hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go!"

Up and Running?!?

Hi All!

Well, it seems like we are up and running with our new computer but I am still crossing my fingers and holding my breath. I have a lot of music and photos to transfer to this computer. Of course, when the old machine crashed I lost some (which I had neglected to back up in a timely manner! Back up people! Back up!) but most of it had been backed up a while ago. As I am typing this my computer is trying to transfer my iTunes info. Then I will have to transfer my pictures. Doesn't that sound like fun to you???

Anyway - I hope to be back to my "normal" posting schedule this week. As far as I know I don't have jury duty or any other weird thing going on so it should be a relatively "quiet"week.

I spent about 7 hours in the lab at my college on Friday and Saturday getting some things video taped for class. To do the video assignments you need at least two other people to be at lab - that takes some major planning! Anyway - that phase is done. Now I need to do some heavy duty analysis of my video to see what I did right and wrong. I HATE looking at myself on video but I must so . . . onward.

This morning in church our hand bell choir performed. It wasn't anything major - we had only had one practice - but it was fun. We played some pieces while the congregation was taking communion. I didn't realize how much I missed playing bells until I started again! Maybe I will manage to get some video or something of the bells in action onto my blog. We will see how that goes!

I am keeping this short so I can do other things - like crochet! I have started "phase two" of the project and have made some pretty good progress! I will show you a picture tomorrow is everything is still going well then!

I have missed my bloggy friends!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing fairly well. The stress of the past couple of weeks has made my voice a bit worse than "normal" but I am getting back to a nice, clear speaking voice with my exercises.

Monday

Hi All!

Well, it is Monday and . . . the computer is still not up and working. Hubby had the thing working until he tried to reload software. Apparently, the computer didn't like that too well and decided to crash and get rid of EVERYTHING (including the operating system) again. Not good! Hubby has decided to just buy a new computer and let this one crash. Now we just wait until he has researched everything and found exactly what he wants to buy. That might take a while!

So - until that entire process is completed I will be working on my podcasting computer upstairs. And this computer has its own issues. Poor thing! At least it is letting me online. For now!

This weekend was busy for me. On Saturday I led a SD support group meeting. Because of my lovely sedate life lately (read that with about 2 tons of sarcasm, if you will!), I neglected to get the notice for the meeting out in a timely manner so not too many people attended the meeting. Including me there were six of us. However, it worked out well. We got to chat and the one new woman said that she really enjoyed the meeting so . . . it went well. I didn't have my normal preparations completed because they are usually done on my computer and we all know how the computer is doing lately!

Grocery shopping was also on my "to-do" list for the weekend. Luckily, I had made the major "meat run" trip last weekend so this one was a light shopping trip. Unfortunately, it wasn't an easy trip because Sunday is the day when the store restocks and that means that there is someone in nearly every aisle with a HUGE stack of boxes which is nearly impossible to circumvent with a shopping cart. Add other shoppers going the opposite way down the aisle and you have quite an adventure!

After grocery shopping I headed to church to partake in hand bell practice. I haven't played hand bells for several years but recently the leadership has changed and so I thought I would give it a shot! Music is something I really enjoy and so hand bells was fun. The people are friendly and the ringing is fun. I think I will keep it up for a while. We will see how it goes. Right now it actually fits into my schedule but there was some talk of moving practices to Wednesday nights. If that happens I won't be able to attend.

This would be where I might mention my interpreting class. However, I am still not in a mental place where I can talk about it objectively so . . . I decline to comment!

When I got home from hand bells, Hubby had dinner in the oven (he is soooo sweet that way). We had baked stuffed shells (which we buy from Sam's Club already stuffed), English Muffins and fruit. Yummy.

Then we headed to Wal Mart. I decided to make a "care package" for my friend, Beth, who is in college. Since I don't have any children who will be heading to college, this is my chance! I loaded up on "dorm food" which can be microwaved and doesn't need to be refrigerated. Hubby contributed peanut butter and jelly - he says no college dorm room should be without it.

That is the extent of my exciting weekend. I hope your weekend was just as exciting - or more so!

Oh - I almost forgot! I am finished with the "grid" section of my crocheting project. I am making a grid hot pad and you make a grid first (you may have seen some pictures while I was working on that part) and then you fill in the grid. I am not too sure how to get started on filling in the grid but . . .I always appreciate a challenge. When we get a new computer I will make sure to show you some pictures of my work!

Trisha

Voice Update: Still really struggling. The people at the support group said it was great (and one guy continued to insist that I didn't have SD at all - what a dork!) but I was really having problems later in the day and on Sunday. My voice always seems better in the mornings and then gets weaker in the evenings. Several people at the support group said their voices are just the opposite. It is interesting how SD can be so individualized.

Jury Duty and a Crash!

Hi All!

Some of you may have noticed that it has been a couple of days since my last post. That is due to two things . . . first - jury duty. Second - a major computer crash!

I was called to appear for jury duty this past Tuesday. I sat in the holding room with over 200 other people and watched an educational film about jury duty (rather nicely done with clips from famous movies involving juries!). Then the calling of names began. I wasn't in the first list. Whew! I wasn't in the second list. Yeah! The third list went by with no mention of my name. Then . . . the fourth list was called. I was the very first name called. Lucky me!

Now, the jury selection for the trial my list of people were assigned to didn't start until Wednesday morning so we all left the building to reconvene the next day. I headed back to work since I was going to have to miss another day on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, the twenty of us called gathered and were questioned by the lawyers. I was positive I wouldn't be selected because none of the lawyers could figure out my last name. Why have that in your jury, right? Wrong! I was the first person selected to be on the jury. Then, the fun began.

My jury of six was assigned to an assault case. We heard all of the evidence between being asked to leave the courtroom so the lawyers could argue without us hearing. That happened a LOT! Then we were asked to decide on a verdit. But, first, a "presiding juror" needed to be selected. This is what the "foreman of the jury" is now called, apparently. Anyway - take a wild shot in the dark about who was selected to be "presiding juror!"

That is right! Me! My luck just keeps getting better! Anyway - we came up with a verdict in what seemed like 6 minutes but was actually a bit longer. Then we got to go in and out of the courtroom a few more times before being presented with sentencing information. Then it was back to the jury room to decide on a sentence. This took a bit longer because we wanted to make sure we knew all the facts presented to us for this phase of the process.

The whole thing took all day. We did get a lunch break in the middle somewhere and we were dismissed at about 5:00 P.M.

I then got in my car and drove to class which is from 6 until 10 P.M. It took me an hour and a half to get to school and find a parking spot (in east boofoo, by the way!). When I got into class I was a bit frazzled as you can well imagine.

There will be no more mention of class for the time being on my blog. I am a bit upset with the whole situation and think it best to process more before saying something that I might regret.

So - class was over and I headed home. I got home at about 10:45 to find Hubby upset. Apparently, our computer had crashed - big time - while I was at class. How fun is that?

The crash does not let us get onto the computer to try to fix anything - joy, of joys!

So - I am writing this blog from my podcasting computer upstairs. It doesn't have all the "bells and whistles" as the other computer nor does it have my picture files.

All in all - it has been a stressful week! Here is to hoping that next week will run smoothly!

Trisha

Voice Update: Ush! My voice is showing the after effects of my stressful week by acting up. I have more breaks that a dropped box of pasta! Inhale exercises and massage seem to be destined to take much of my time this weekend. After I have a support group meeting. Yeah!

Keith and Crochet

Hi All!

Thankfully, I was able to get a lot of rest this weekend so I almost feel refreshed this morning! I am not sure that I will ever feel totally refreshed but . . . for now, I feel good! I am looking forward to another full week of work, class, and, joy of joys, jury duty on Tuesday! I can hardly wait!!!

Speaking about class, I must admit that I am a bit apprehensive about the whole class thing. I "turned in" one assignment via the computer already and still have one more to complete prior to class on Wednesday. I have also read my two chapters and taken notes in my overly cautious style. So, why do I still feel like I won't be prepared for class?? I really think that this is the path I want to go down - the whole ASL interpreter thing - but . . . the teacher makes me wonder about myself.

Speaking of ASL, this weekend I joined up with a group of friends (Hubby calls us "the gals") to take in Keith Wann. If you don't know him, he is a CODA performer. What is a CODA, you might ask? Excellent question! A CODA is a Child of Deaf Adults. That means that both of Keith's parents are deaf and he is hearing. Technically, a CODA can be deaf also but traditionally, CODAs are hearing children of deaf parents.

Keith is a comedian who travels around and performs with the hopes of broadening understanding between the hearing and the Deaf worlds. He is funny, funny, funny. His humor is particularly funny to both people who are deaf (as shown by Beth's boyfriend, Zach, who is deaf and who was laughing the entire time!) and people who are involved in ASL such as interpreters, CODAs, and people who know deaf people.

You can check out some of his videos on uTube, I do believe. He gives hilarious insight into living with Deaf parents.

Despite the fact that I had to travel about an hour to get to the show, it was well worth it.

The ride home was interesting too since I saw an accident where a car ended up on its roof with the driver side window in the next lane of traffic. Everyone was okay - which is what made the accident interesting and not tragic!



















This is our group posing with Keith. Keith is in the center back. Mark is the guy hiding behind Beth's head for some reason.

The other thing I have been doing this past weekend is crocheting. Once again I had to take a number of rows out to redo them but, I feel like I am making progress! I am finished with 20 out of 27 rows! Yeah!




















Have a super Monday!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing well, doing well.

New Addition

Hi All!

My work week is over for another week! Yeah! Now I get to concentrate on my homework and maybe even catching up on some sleep!

Last night after getting home from work and enjoying a lovely meal prepared by my very thoughtful Hubby, I actually was very productive. I called LA - a woman (not the city!) who is taking my place in Destination Imagination this year as the Instant Challenge Challenge Master. We arranged for me to drop off all of the materials which have been crowding my guest room closet for the past billion years at her office. I suddenly feel just a little bit lighter!

Also I finally sent an invitation to all of my SD support group members for the meeting next Saturday. Late notice, I know but . . . I am working on it!

Catching up on email was another project which I got finished. I feel so good about myself! Of course, now I only have to get started on my homework for class . . .

On a different topic. We have a new addition to our house . . .

We finally got another bird feeder! Our old feeder broke when Hubby accidentally dropped it. The plastic had gotten very fragile from our Texas heat and then the cold snap we experienced recently. Without the bird feeder, our "cat entertainment center" had been out of commission. This left Skor with WAY too much free time to get into other kinds of trouble!

Now that the new feeder is up, Skor can resume his former hobby of birdwatching! This is a picture of him this morning.

Today I plan on taking a nap. After I get home from the DAC and from dropping all of the DI stuff off with LA. Doesn't that sound like Nirvana?

Lastly (I don't like this word and always wonder why people use it but I felt that my use of finally in this post had already reached the limits of usage so . . .), here is a picture of my crocheting project!

I am on row 14 of 27! I know - it is taking me a while but . . . slow and steady wins the race, right? My mother is still working on hers and my Aunt Donna (my mother's sister) has already finished, yes, FINISHED, her hot pad. What a showoff!

Have a super Friday!

Trisha

Voice Update: Doing very well. I forgot to do my exercises yesterday in my frenzy of catching up on stuff. That isn't good. Luckily, my voice is still doing well. Now to get into my routine of exercises!

Survival!

Hi All!

Well, I survived the first of many days I will call "suicide schedules!" I had work and then class from 6 until 10 P.M. That is a LONG day! Especially when you add in the 40-45 minute drive home.

Anyway, I survived. It was nice to see so many of my ASL friends in class. The class itself seems like it is going to be interesting but I am going to reserve my final judgement until we really get into things!

Work yesterday was good. Well, it was better than Tuesday since I had a bit more of an idea about what was going on. I also had a speech appointment so I got to chat a bit with Susan while she was working on my throat. Surprisingly, despite everything that has been going on in my life lately (illness and class, etc.) my voice got a seal of approval. In fact, Susan said she was very impressed with how well it is doing. She said that while my neck was a bit "crunchy" it wasn't as tight as she had predicted it to be after hearing that I had been sick. YEAH! I must be doing something right!

One thing I am not doing well at is the whole support group thing. We are supposed to have a meeting in two weeks and I haven't even sent out the notice! I did secure a location but . . . probably no one will show up! Of well! I have good intentions! We will see what happens with that.

Okay - I am going to make this a bit shorter than I could. Have a good Day!

Trisha

Voice Update: I pretty much said it all in the main body of the post. Doing well. Doing well!