Love this bit from page four, on why people love to save files to their desktops:
The reason is simple: the desktop is the one “place” on the
computer that every user knows how to get to. People don’t even
think of it as existing in the file hierarchy (though, of course,
it does); to them it’s a location in the physical sense, and
items placed within it behave almost as if they were real objects.
A file can be “lost” in the file hierarchy — irretrievably, as
far as novice users are concerned — but finding something on the
desktop will never be any worse than rummaging through the
messiest real-life junk drawer. And that bargain, that task of
keeping things neat by placing, removing, and arranging, is
something that people are comfortable with, and that their innate
human abilities are tailored for.
Today, on a 16 hour car ride my kids were being unusually rowdy. After finally losing my patience, pulling to the side of the road and spanking them both. I said, “no speaking for one hour.” Exactly one hour later my daughter informed me I left my son crying on the side of the road. FML
I try not to set resolutions, to be honest. January is a horrible time for agreeing to do something – the weather is awful, the days are short, it’s quite depressing – and way too easy to fall off the wagon.
It’s hard to believe that I only posted a handful of times at the start of last year and that was it. The Irish “blogosphere” (for want of a better word) definitely seems to have slowed down over the last few years, especially with the advent of Twitter and Facebook. Why bother logging into a blog backend and having to click multiple buttons when you can share something in Google Reader with 2 clicks – hardly seems worth the effort…
In fairness, that wasn’t the only reason that my blogging tailed off. At the start of 2009 I finally went to see my doctor and admitted that something wasn’t right. After a few questions, it became clear to us that I was experiencing another period of depression. Nothing specific seemed to have caused it, my brain just wasn’t producing the right balance of chemicals.
Depression is an ugly condition. When it drags you down, it drags you way down and stops you from living life the way you should. Yet when you are in good form, you are on top of the world. It messes with your appetite, sleeping patterns, leaves you with no energy, causes you to pick fights with love ones for no reason at all. It’s a cruel and vicious circle that many people have trouble escaping from.
I confided in a few close friends once I started getting treatment, and told a few people in work (my manager was the first one, I had to get him to stop yelling at me and leaving me in tears). The reaction that I got from most people was shock – there was no way that I could be depressed, sure wasn’t I the one that was always making them laugh?
I had become an excellent actor, so adept at hiding my depression that I couldn’t even admit it to myself for a long time. I’d managed to pull the wool over the eyes of my husband, who is my closest friend and saw me every day. But deep down, things were bad. I was plotting escape routes, wondering how I could leave my husband, get away from it all, run to another country. But none of that would have helped.
The doctor started me on the normal dose of anti-depressants and we gave it 3 months to see how they worked. After that time things were better, but still not back to “normal” (although I wasn’t sure any longer what normal was supposed to be). We upped the dose and within days I was feeling so much better – the world seemed brighter again, I could think clearly and was able to rationalise problems and issues instead of fretting over them.
In December, my dose was finally reduced, with a plan to wean me off the drugs over the next 6 months. I think it’s working, but sometimes it can be hard to tell. On 2nd Jan, my Aunt Alice passed away. She was 92 and I hadn’t seen her in nearly 10 years. I’ve cried several times since then, but it’s hard to tell if it’s me or the depression. She was a cousin of my father’s, but more like a sister to him all those years. She was the last of that generation, which makes me feel lonely for some unexplainable reason. But I can’t help asking myself, is it natural that I am this upset, or is it sneaking back in again? It’s so hard to tell…
someone parks across 2 spaces out the back of my house, I’m printing this off with the word “warning” across the top and sticking it to their windscreen… Do you think that laminating it would be a step too far??
Updated: Now in PDF file format: park_nice_sign
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
The next time my wonderful, sexy, witty husband lends me his fast, sporty, gorgeous car, I WILL NOT leave one of the internal lights on, thereby draining the battery.
I think I have it drilled into my skull now…. Sorry sweetie!
Been swamped at work the last few weeks, but in the current climate that’s nothing to sniff at! All these 12 hour days take their toll however, and even though I’m nearly fully recovered from my ergonomic injury (8 months of physio later), the last thing I want to do when I come home of an evening is pick up my laptop!
So I’m very behind in posting the news that I won “Maxi Cane and Sextoys.ie’s Filthy Butt Fun Award” (God, that’s a mouthful!!) earlier this week.
Apparently Maxi saw through my wholesome and innocent exterior (I am Grannymar’s daughter after all) and noticed my naughty side when I was building my snow-woman last month.
Thanks a million to sex-toys.ie for letting me pick a prize from their catalogue – I’d tell you what I chose, but unfortunately my mother reads my blog, and in her eyes I’m still her little angel, so I’d hate to dispel that and shock her!
This subject, along with people thinking that the Irish Blog Awards are “fixed” has been done to death over the past week, and I’ve had my say on several blogs (on the ones I was able to comment on!). But I was writing a comment over on The Dossing Times this morning and wanted to re-post it here. A few people seem to think that you need to be a sponsor or a friend of Damien to win, they forget that judges are involved and they vote and make the final decisions.
I didn’t really agree with all the winners this year myself, but since I wasn’t able to participate in judging (I did the previous year), I’ve held my tongue, as I didn’t have a right to comment on it.
Photo owned by simplified complication (cc)
All this talk of cliques within the Irish blogosphere is driving me nuts though, so I tried to explain my feelings about it with the following comment:
I don’t really mean to target a minor point, but many of the bloggers out there could easily name (and do follow) more than 20 irish blogs. They tend to be the people that are accused of being in the clique (“friends of Mulley“) because they go to many of the events and network and get to know people and then continue communicating off the blogs (whether on or off-line). This networking and communications has helped many people and businesses grow because they can turn to others for advice when needed.
As the UK lottery slogan used to run “You’ve got to be in to win”. If you put in time at real-world networking events you become known and communicate in a more friendly manner on-line because you actually know the people. I’ve barely blogged myself last year due to an injury severely limiting the time I could spend on a computer, but I continued going to events. This meant at the awards ceremony I’d guess that at least half the people knew me (or knew of me), even though I may only have posted about 50 times during the entire year.
It’s not just about the blogs, it’s about the people behind the blogs.
Robbed from K8 the GR8 – all the things I’ve done are BLUE, all those I want to do are in RED.
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. I have played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (and fed it too)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (well a 99% one, as I was just outside the perfect region)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (Keep meaning to, but never seem to get around to it!)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (Hoy, Hubbie! You reading? )
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check/cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican (Passed by on the outside, on my way to hospital…)
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant
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