Greys & Things

I learned some news this morning that upset me.  I guess I could be one of the last to know.  I learned a big Guiding Light spoiler.  Have you heard?  The show is going off the air in September!  I’m really upset.  I love that show.  I have only watched for maybe the past two years, but I’m in love with Lizzie, Daisy, Reva, Bill and several others.  I went to town this morning so that I wouldn’t miss this afternoon’s show.  There is a story line right now that I just can’t miss.   As you may remember, we do not have a DVR and our VCR is eating tapes. While at the store, I saw the headline on Soap Opera Digest that Guiding Light was going off the air. I came home and checked it out on the Internet and it is true.  I will have to find something else to occupy my time from 2 pm to 3 pm.  I guess I could exercise.  Nah!  LOL

The only other soap that I watch is As The World Turns.  I am not happy with the story lines on that one right now and have switched to watching Ellen many afternoon.

Life is about change and this is just another change in my ever changing life.  I have decided that I will not be posting daily on this blog.  I know I do have some regular readers, so I wanted to give you a heads up.  I didn’t want you to think that I fell of the face of the earth or anything like that. I would like to thank you for reading my blog, learning about my life and leaving comments.  I enjoyed meeting all of you.  I will pop in from time to time to tell you of my latest camping adventures and also any important updates on the lives of the greyhounds, Jack and Scout. You can also visit them at their own blog, Two Greyhound Town . They are pretty good at keeping their blog updated with photos and their latest adventures.

When you see a motor home traveling down the highway, I hope you smile and think about me, my camping obsessed husband and our greyhounds.  I would say to honk, but you might scare the driver.

Bye for now,

Patty and the greyhounds, Jack & Scout

Yesterday, I decided it was time to start loosing weight.  I think about it all the time, but I have a hard time motivating myself.  I decided yesterday was the day.  I started watching what I put in my mouth and in the afternoon, I used my Total Gym.  I purchased my Total Gym in 2001 and really like it.  I haven’t used it regularly in quite a while.  I only did leg exercises yesterday and felt fine when I was through exercising.  I sat back down in the office and went back to work.  When I got up from my chair I realized that I hurt my back.  It was that familiar pain.

I’m not sure why I didn’t immediately soak in the tub yesterday.  It was probably because I was having trouble with my Internet connection and spent an hour on the phone with a representative trying to fix it which was a priority to me over my back.  My Internet is very important to me since I work at home.   I have been very happy with AT&T as my Internet provider.  The representative put in a work order on the issue.  I’m concerned because she doesn’t think it is my problem, but a tower’s problem.  I would rather it be my problem because I think that would be easier to fix.  I’m somewhat worried about it, but after working at home for 14 years and facing many computer problems, I am realizing that stressing over it does not help.  It seems to be somewhat better this morning, but it was better yesterday morning too and then got really bad as the day went on.  I have a strong signal, but we couldn’t even do a speed test on it because it was timing out.

Back to the back… This morning when I tried to get out of bad, I had spasms.  That’s what I call them. I can deal with a sore back, but the spasms are very painful.  I couldn’t stand up straight and it was very difficult to walk.  I took a pain reliever and then a long hot shower.  I then put a pain killing cream on it.  I am now able to walk almost normal, but still very slowly.  I have to take Jack to the vet later today for his annual check up and I just hope that I am able to do that without having spasms.   I really do not want to scream out in pain while I’m at the vet’s office.

I will not be exercising today that is for sure.  LOL

I hope everyone had a nice Easter.  I tried to post my blog yesterday, but my entry kept timing out.  It was very frustrating.

Jack and Scout wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter.   They did not see the Easter Bunny yesterday even though they looked and looked.

We went to my BIL’s house for Easter.  We had a nice lunch.  I brought two desserts.  I had a terrible time preparing them and actually threw one dessert in the trash.  I tried to make my Magic Peach Cobbler and I used the wrong type of peaches.  I used pie filling peaches and even though I rinsed them off, they caused the entire dessert to turn a dark brown.  It smelled burnt.  The Triple Chocolate Cherry dessert did turn out even though I added an extra egg.  I ended up making cupcakes from scratch because I didn’t have anything else in the house.  I topped the cupcakes with butter-cream icing with almond extract.  I spent more time than I planned on the desserts and my back ached after I completed them.  I just can’t stand in the kitchen for an extended amount of time.

The kids had their Easter egg hunt.  They each had to find 23 eggs.  It was a cold day and at times, it seemed like the Easter egg hunt that would never end.  It was fun though.

How was your day?

I work as an employment verifier.  I verify employment, check education and ask questions for character references.  I am on the phone a good part of the day.  I have been hung up on many times.  I don’t understand that since I am only helping a past co-worker or maybe even a friend pass through the screening process to getting a new job.

After three years of doing this type of work, I have developed somewhat of a thick skin when it comes to rude people.  I often wonder how the rude people keep their jobs especially in this economy.  I’m sure there are some friendly people out there who need a job.

Today, I was shocked by what happened when I called a company.  I called for a character reference.  A woman answered and said “I look better with something in my mouth.”  At first, I thought she was talking to someone else and just happened to pick up the phone while she was still speaking.  She then said “Hello?”  I said “Hello, is John there?”  She said, “yes, please hold.”  She then hung up on me.  I could have noted in the file what happened and moved on, but I decided to call back. I was curious.  John answered the phone this time.  He asked if I had just called.  I said I had.  He said he owed me an apology.  He said they thought it was a radio station calling and that is how they had to answer the phone to win concert tickets.  I could hear people laughing in the background.  He said they were all very embarrassed and he felt really bad for asking the receptionist to answer that way. We both laughed about it and we completed the verification.  I wonder how many other people were the victim of the radio station’s contest.  It was funny once I found out the reason behind it, but it definitely could be loosing customers for some companies.

We returned home from camping yesterday afternoon.  It was a rough drive home in that it was very windy.  We were blown around quite a bit, but the motor home is still easier to handle than the travel trailer we used to have.  It was good to get back home.  We were all tired.  I think the wind and the cold weather took a lot out of us.  It was in the 20’s with the windchill.

I was disappointed when we arrived home and the part for Roomba was not waiting for us on the porch.  Later in the afternoon, the UPS man did arrive with the part for Roomba.  Hubby immediately installed the new motor.  It came with new brushes which are different than the ones she came with.  The brushes seem like they will be easier to clean.  After Hubby installed the new motor, I pressed the button and Rosie Roomba took off cleaning.  She looks like a brand new machine.  You should see her cleaning.  It is so nice to have her back and to her wonderful cleaning self.  I will really make her work later today.  She will clean the living room and kitchen.  Yesterday, I just had her clean the hallway and my office as we were in the living room watching TV.   She needs to clean the motor home, too.  Rosie had a long enough vacation and it’s now time for her to earn her keep again.  LOL

Rosie Roomba will once again be cleaning my house.  The replacement part is on its’ way!  I have to say that the Roomba people have been wonderful.  I spoke to them in December when Roomba had some problems. The person I spoke with told me what I should do to try and fix her.   Rosie was only going in circles.  She had some wires that were dirty.  I took her apart and used compressed air as the Roomba lady told me to do and she was fixed.

This week, I emailed the Roomba people because the part I needed was no longer listed on their website.  I received an email the same evening telling me different things to try.  Hubby and I knew that she could not be fixed because she had a melted part.  I replied to the email and yesterday I received an email telling me that the needed part was on its’ way to me.   I am so happy!

It is so refreshing to deal with a company that doesn’t make you jump threw hoops.  They have been nothing but nice to me and solved my problems quickly.  Three cheers for the Roomba people!!!!

I am not sure where I have been, but today was the first time that I have heard about the Conflicker Worm.  It is supposed to strike tomorrow, April 1st.  My heart started racing as soon as it heard about it on the news.  I work at home and rely on my computer and I cannot afford to have a worm infecting my system as I am sure you can’t either.

The news program I watch in the morning kept giving teasers about the worm and that an expert will be on to tell me how to protect my computer.  I waited impatiently.  I turned up the TV really loud so that I could hear it while showering so that I wouldn’t miss anything.  I turned on my laptop and accessed the Internet waiting to find out what I needed to do.  Finally, the expert came on.  I was extremely disappointed in his advice.  He didn’t tell me anything because he doesn’t know anything.  He doesn’t know what the worm will do.  He did not say anything about protecting my computer.  The only advice the news anchor gave at the end of the interview was to visit their website.  I did that and finally I was able to at least come up with a way to know if my computer was infected.

This is what I learned.  If you can access any of these sites: Microsoft, Symantec, McAfee, AVG, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, F-Secure, Panda, Sophos, SecureWorks or Sunbelt then you are probably not infected. I tested both of my computers and it looks like I am okay.  Here is the link to the site that I found this information. Conflicker Worm

If you have heard anything else about this worm, please feel free to comment.  Maybe it will just be an April fool’s joke and nothing will happen.

Hubby took Rosie Roomba apart yesterday and said that she cannot be fixed without a new part.  He thought he might be able to fix her on a temporary basis, but no, that didn’t work.  I went back to the Roomba website to order the part.  I had looked at it last week and there was a 3-4 week backlog on the part.  The part is no longer listed. What does that mean?  Will they ever have it again?  I will have to contact them today to get some answers.

I checked Ebay and found the part I need for $89.  I refuse to pay that much as the Roomba people had it listed for $49 last week.  I realize that now Roomba doesn’t have the part listed, but I’m not putting that much money into it.  If I find out that they are no longer going to carry the part, which I can’t imagine, then I will continue to check Ebay.  It’s possible that I will find a used Roomba who has some other issues and we can take the part off of it.   I’m beginning to wish that I would have taken the money that I spent on Roomba and purchased an Oreck instead. It sure is nice to push Roomba’s button and have her do all the work though.  I really miss her.

I’m feeling down today.  I feel like I’m loosing an old friend with the loss of Entrecard.  There will be no more trips to McDonalds dropping cards until my laptop battery goes dead.  I could usually drop for about an hour and a half.  It was a nice way for me to get out of the house, eat lunch and do some work.  I really enjoyed doing that.  My Internet plan limits the amount of mbs that I can use, so I would go to McDonalds because I could use their Wi-Fi and save my mbs for home use.

I really am sad about loosing some of blog buddies.  Oh, sure, we say we will keep in touch, but you know how it is.  People get busy, new blogs come along and you are left out in the cold.

I joined Facebook last night thinking that maybe I could promote my blog there.  I don’t think that is going to work too well.  I really wasn’t sure what it was all about.  I have avoided joining.  A friend popped up in chat and said something like “I guess he** has frozen over.”  I thought that was pretty funny.

Life goes on and I will just have to pick myself up again and find another way to promote my blogs.  Life is hard.  LOL

On the brightside, Survivor and Lost are both on tonight.  Survivor being on a Wednesday is really going to mess with my mind.

Happy Wednesday!

We left the house at about 9:10 a.m. It took us about 1.5 hours to arrive at Onondaga State Park. Reservations are not being taken until April 1st, so it is on a first come basis. We were surprised that so many people were already here when we arrived, but there were still a lot of sites available. We found a site that is basically by itself. It’s really nice for the dogs. We have a hugWe left the house at about 9:10 a.m. It took us about 1.5 hours to arrive at Onondaga State Park. Reservations are not being taken until April 1^st, so it is on a first come basis. We were sWe left the house at about 9:10 a.m. It took us about 1.5 hours to arrive at Onondaga State Park. Reservations are not being taken until April 1st, so it is on a first come basis. We were surprised that so many people were already here when we arrived, but there were still a lot of sites available. We found a site that is basically by itself. It’s really nice for the dogs. We have a huge area to walk them. The skies are very blue. The temperature is 60. It’s very nice today. Tomorrow, it may rain a few times.We took the dogs on a nice walk. We took a trail that passes a spring and an old mill. We walked along a water way. There were a lot of turtles on branches in the water. The dogs were not impressed with the turtles.

I am not sure what is on the agenda for the rest of the day. In order to publish this on the blog, I will need to head towards town to get a signal. There is not cell phone service here. That normally does not bother me, but since I have a laptop now I would like to be able to get online.Guess what? I successfully completed a dog collar last night. I had tried a few times and discovered that my fabric was too thick which caused me to have problems sewing it. I bought a different fabric and it came together easily. I’m very happy with it. I can’t wait to make more now.

Happy Friday!