I guess they needed a sign here. Not sure someone who can’t figure this out on their own should be driving though. Scary thoughts.
The Internet is Truly International
I never thought that I would need an online translation service for anything in my life, but the more I am on the internet, the more I realize just how international we really are. Even with something like Facebook, I have added new friends from a variety of countries. I have a musician friend who lives in the Czech Republic and also know a photographer there who has a wonderful photoblog.
He suggested another photoblog that is run by a French photographer, and I needed service de traduction to navigate her site. Everything on her blog is in French and if I want to make a comment on her work, I need to be able to write in French without sounding like an idiot.
These photoblogs are really interesting. Most of the photographers take a picture of something in their every day life and post it on their site. They take photos all year around, with people walking in the rain, shoveling snow, picking flowers or riding the commuter train. The German photoblog shows street scenes in Berlin and I needed Übersetzungsdienst to read his comments and respond back.
These people do amazing work and put it on the internet to share with the world for free. I admire them and look forward to learning more about life in other parts of the world through their photographs.
E.T.
Last night we caught the movie, E.T. on one of the cable channels. I cannot believe it has been 30 years since that movie came out. It was really strange to see little Drew Barrymore in that movie as a little 4 year old girl!
I remember when that movie came out. Everyone was so excited about the story of a little boy finding an alien and making friends with it, that it was friendly and meant us no harm. I hope that if we ever do have visitors from space arrive here, that their first contact with us humans is with a little boy like the one in the E. T. movie.
Beefing Up the Credentials
Sometimes you just top out at your job, no matter how long you’ve worked for the company and no matter how good you are at your job. At some point, the HR people need credentials to justify giving you a promotion or significant raise. The hard part is finding a way to beef up the credentials while you are still working. That’s why I’m checking into Online Colleges to get my degree. I still need 6 hours to finish up and I’m just going to have to find a way to do that.
I need a college that offers online degree programs in business and then I need to find some financial aid to make it happen. I have been looking at grants and loan programs online, and am not sure which is the best way to go.
The Government has a good web site with some student loan information. I found a free application for Federal student aid http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ and I think there might be a way to get my company to match some of the money with their tuition reimbursement program. There are even programs at the state level because of the lottery money that has been coming in. In fact, making the proceeds available to education was one of the requirements that state had when they approved having the lottery here in the first place.
Helpful Windows Message
Did you ever notice how helpful those Windows error messages can be? They are not as helpful as the Mac messages, but this would be an improvement. I sometimes move files to different folders and then the shortcuts don’t work any longer – it gets frustrating – why can’t Windows shortcuts keep track of where the file moved to?
Newest Latest Greatest
Nothing like a walk through the mall to feel that you are a technology dinosaur. All the teenagers and punk clerks at the trendy stores have the latest cell phones and make mine look like an artifact dug up from an archeology dig.
I went to the Apple Store in Green Hills Mall and decided to take a look at the new iPhone 4 to see if that i something I should get. The salesperson was very helpful, showing me all the different iPhone features and capabilities. I’m not sure it is worth $800, but it is a very cool phone.
Besides all the thousands of apps you can get for the iPhone, you can do even more great things on your home computer, like custom making videos and using an iPhone 4 Video Converter to upload them to your phone. This makes Youtube look prehistoric.
Also got a kcick out of the iPhone 4 Ringtone Maker so that just about every person on my contact list can have their own special ringtone for their incoming calls. Not sure I want to give each one their own ringtone, but then again, why not? Its part of the fun of having the latest and greatest cell phone.
Thinking about an iPhone
My cell doesn’t do much for me besides take incoming calls. If I got an iPhone, I could do so much more. Everyone has heard about all the fantastic apps you can get. But what about some of the other really cool features, like multi-tasking and the facetime?
I have used video conferencing before and have tried Skype, too. But the iPhone facetime is the best feature, in my opinion. I like being able to see the other person and talk at the same time. That is the selling point that got my attention.
Now I just have to figure out if the price is worth it. In today’s tough times, $800 is nothing to sneeze at. There are a lot of more important things that might need that $800. And then again, maybe not.
The Flute
Most of the time when I think of the flute, I think of Native American music. Those are songs that are haunting and very spiritual, usually accompanied by drums and chanting.
This morning I was poking around YouTube and came across two songs, by accident, that featured the flute Celine Dion’s theme song from “Titanic,” and a song by Celtic Woman called, “Scarborough Fair.” The odd thing is that I don’t remember the flute from the first version I ever heard of that song, by Simon and Garfunkel.
So I clicked over to the Simon and Garfunkel version and listened to that one. Their version features acoustic guitar and harpsichord – not the flute.Until the very end – and then there is a flute or possibly clarinet? I can’t really tell and I listened to it twice. Anybody know which wind instrument is featured on the Simon and Garfunkel version of Scarborough Fair?
That put me in the mindset for some old folk rock and I listened to some other Simona nd Gafnkel songs for about 30 minutes, then I had to get out of the house and head off to work.
Appeasing the Sweet Tooth
Some days I want a candy or something sweet, and other days I want something salty or crunchy. I wonder what makes us crave one thing over the the other? The time of day for me to crave candy seems to be after dinner. Did the invention of dessert have anything to do with appeasing a sweet tooth after a big meal?
I know that I used to love chocolate as a kid, and the Halloween and Easter holidays were two of my favorites because they are both big days for candies. I couldn’t wait to go trick or treating and bring home a huge bag of candy to sort through and eat as much as I could before my mom got alarmed and cut me off.
Nowadays I try to hold out for good candy, not just grocery store checkout impulse purchases. I like a quality chocolate and try to measure the good ones against the taste of the famous Sees candies that I used to have as a kid. If its not as good as Sees candies, then I don’t want it.
When my grandparents retired and moved to Arizona, they started mailing a box of Sees candies to my mom and dad for holidays and gift occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries. Since they lived out West, they could buy Sees candies anywhere, but back East we couldn’t buy them anywhere. Of course, now we can order Sees candies online have them delivered. But getting them as a gift from my grandparents was always a big part of the special occasion. Any time I see a box of Sees, it makes me think of my grandparents and their little adobe house out in Arizona.
Old Songs
Feeling a little down and grumpy, so I went on Youtube and started listening to old songs. Some of them are vaguely familiar and some I’ve never heard before. It started with a Celine Dion song from back in 1990 and somehow morphed into a duet by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn – and I don’t even like country music much. The duet is called “You’re the Reason Out Kids Are Ugly.” It’s a really funny noveltys ong from the 1970’s that I am sure my parents listened to and got a good laugh from the lyrics.
That’s part of the fun of Youtube – you never know where your listening buffet will take you.