Month: April 2018

Sunday’s Theme Music

The usual nut cluster of dreams swept me last night, providing a sea of material to think about. When the dreams ended, I began streaming an eclectic selection of songs. “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” (G. Thorogood) “Gloria” (by Laura Brannigan), “Wild Horses” (the Rolling Stones), “Will It Go Round In Circles”, Billy Preston, and “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister. But the last song was Bryan Adams, “Summer of ’69”.

Summer of ’69 was a good year for me, a thirteen-year-old white boy living in a middle-class suburban housing plan in Penn Hills, outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. I had a good cotorie of friends, and was playing sports, enjoying school, and meeting girls. Likewise, when the song was released in 1985, I was with a unit I enjoyed. Although I was traveling a lot, the song fit my mood. Released in June, it was a big hit by the time I returned from the field to America a few months later.

The song becomes a unique bridge then, between my early teen years, my early thirties, and now, my early sixties. Let’s rock.

 

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Sneeze

Don’t you hate it when you suddenly sneeze and it ends up all over your computer screen? I could really use tear-aways protective covers on my screen like racing drivers use on their windshields (NASCAR) and visors (Formula 1).

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Late at Night

You ever put something on Facebook or other social media late at night, and have a friend immediately respond to it? Then you think, what are they doing on the Internet so late at night? As a sidebar, do you also sometimes wish you and that person were actually sitting beside each other so you can have an actual conversation?

There are some who remain your friends regardless of how long it was since you last saw them, and the distance between your homes. Good to know such people are out there.

Want to introduce me to a few?

 

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New Gmail A’comin’

It’s been a while. Are you ready for a rant?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

A new version of Gmail is coming. That has some factions of the net wet with excitement. “Have you noticed some new features in your Gmail?” Their words glow, as if this is really exciting.

I yawn. I spit. I curse.

Google has demonstrated a pattern of leaping out with new things that cause people to go, “Oh! Look what Google has done!” Meanwhile, old products and concepts that they brought out that caused people to go, “Oh! Look what Google has done!”, languish.

The Google publishing effort was one of those things for me. Google apparently desired to be like Amazon and publish! I investigated publishing on there to discover it was already gone.

Google Plus is another wanna be like some other company. In this case, it’s Facebook. I follow people and they follow me, but it’s like we’re walking in a circle in a living room.

Introductory rant over, I encounter issues on Gmail. Slow loading is one aggravation. Another is that the deleted emails return like the ghosts of this morning’s mail. Aggravating, yes. I already read this, did that, went there, deleted this, WTF, Google?

Getting help has proven impossible. Searches and scans deliver no tangible results. Most answers assume I’m on a Droid or smart phone and that it has to do with the mail settings. Fucking not applicable, okay? Other responses found on Google take me to Hotmail and Outlook issues. Everything else suggested has been tested. The problem still exists. Damn exasperating, it is.

So, excited about the new and improved Gmail? Fuck no. Still waiting for them to fix the previous edition.

Rant over. Back to the coffee.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

I’m streaming a favorite Led Zeppelin song from a favorite Led Zeppelin album. These lyrics always speak to me, and I enjoy their delivery:

“Walking through the park the other day baby, what d’ya think I saw?”

“I didn’t notice but it had got very dark and I was really, really out of my mind.”

“You really don’t care, if they’re coming. Whoa oh, I know that it’s all a state of mind.”

This was my generation’s music (oh, great, now I’ve started streaming a Who song).

Anyway, here’s a little “Misty Mountain Hop,” from almost half a century ago.

 

 

 

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Floofnetic

Floofnetic (catfinition) – a cat who has frenzied outbursts of energy; a frantic cat.

In use: “One kitten jumped up onto the vacuum cleaner. Scrabbling for a grip, she flipped the machine on, galvanizing the placid kittens into herd of floofnetics.”

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Card Said

I thought for a while before posting an Orson Scott Card quote. His hateful rants have twisted my fond memories of him and his novels. I decided this quote should be posted and remembered because of its truth.

Card’s political views, rants, novels, and this quote reveal the complexity of being a human being. We can be great but flawed. I admire Card’s skills, but his flaws sadden me. Like others celebrities I’ve seen exposed and other people despairing of finding ugly truths about people they admire, I try to separate their work and their life. But it’s a struggle; under the work that I enjoy, I can’t resist knowing the artists’ ugliness. Once known, it’s can’t be forgotten or ignored.

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