Getting Jiggy With It
Date: Thursday May 8, 2008Posted in: Blogging, Emily, Family, Graham, Nathan, Workin' It, me
I *think* most of my computer issues have been resolved. One of the drawbacks to living in the sticks is that the only high-speed Internet you can get out here is via satellite. While it is a billion times faster than dial-up, it usually hesitates a second or five two before loading a page. Matthew called our ISP yesterday, and we decided to upgrade to the next level of service. I do not know the technical term, but it’s SUPER FAST. Wheeee!
As of this morning, gmail is working. Woo! My work website is easily accessible. Yes! I can procrastinate by surfing the Internet get my work done even faster. Huzzah!
I was trying to use the crisis as a means of convincing Honey that this would be the perfect time for me to switch to Mac. He was not convinced. I see his point. If I am using the “But it’s better for photography!” argument, then I really should not spend money on a new laptop until I start making more from my photography gigs. Want to hire me and support my cause?
As for the whole “work” thing in general, I just started a seven-week contract. Those of you have been around for a while will remember that last year at this time I started a seven-week contract. With thirty-five students. I was working fifty to sixty hours a week and ALMOST DIED was a little burnt out by the end. This time around, I only took on eighteen students. That’s exactly half (with one left out for rounding), and should keep me busy a mere thirty hours or so a week. I won’t even have to pull the up-until-midnight shift to meet deadlines. Hooray!
This means that I will have time to do the photography gigs that come my way. Last weekend I was asked to go to a couple of the local wineries that were participating in the Spring Wine Festival and take some photos.
It was a tough gig. I sure hope I don’t have to do another one of those. Ha! It was too much fun to be considered “work”.
In addition to work and “work”, I plan on having time to hang out with the kidlets and Honey. Last year we managed to keep doing a lot of family stuff, but the whole time I would be thinking about all of the work that I knew was piling up in my inbox. Some people are good at compartmentalizing. Me? Not so much.
I should be able to get my work done in a reasonable amount of time, which will leave me to play with wild abandon. With the arrival of spring (FINALLY!), we spend the bulk of our days outdoors when we are not at school/swim class/boot camp. After dinner we usually head back outside to play some games.
The dudes have been loving “baseball”. Basically, they just take turns hitting the ball. I do not have any photos of this game we play, as they like the way I pitch. I cannot pitch and take photos at the same time. I may be a fantastic multi-tasker, but even I have my limits.
I did manage to get some photos of them playing frisbee with Daddy. Here they are waiting to catch it.
I have been having some issues with my computer and my website.
Not this site that you are reading, but the one that I use for my contract work. It is not their fault, and they are working with me to get the issues resolved. They use a third-party service who decided to upgrade to a New! Better! Platform!
Except that the new platform is slower than molasses. After putting the kids to bed last night, I went to log in to the site to quickly (ha!) check my email and it took me an hour to just LOG IN. An HOUR. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to spend ONE TWENTY FOURTH OF MY LIFE IN THE LOG-IN SCREEN.
In addition to that problem (which included trying to log in from ALL THREE computers in our house), my laptop has decided that it does not want to play nicely with the Internet. After (FINALLY!) getting my work done, I thought I could answer a few emails before editing some photos I had taken yesterday.
It ALSO took me a while, but I EVENTUALLY got into gmail. Then (THEN!) I could SEE the EMAILS but could not OPEN them. I had the gmail that was “Loading…” for almost an hour.
I thought maybe I should try some surfing. The problem was (AND IS) that anything I type on the Internet has about a twenty-second delay. I type, sit back and have a sip of DC, and watch the characters I typed slowly make an appearance. I closed the Internet and walked away from the disaster that is my STUPID VISTA laptop before I heaved it over the embankment.
I may or may not be a little frustrated. In the meantime I am working on this boat anchor of a desktop that I have down in the office. It is five (Five!) years old. It also makes my heart sing for joy. Ha!
I should trade them both in for a Macbook Pro. They say once you go Mac, you never go back. ARE YOU LISTENING, LAPTOP?
I think this photo I took of Graham yesterday sums up how I am feeling.
I may or may not have looked exactly like that last night. And possibly as I type this.
I use the Internet for work (WHICH PAYS THE BILLS) and pleasure (WHICH KEEPS ME SANE).
As I lay in bed last night (with a sick baby girl), I decided I had two options:
1. Throw my laptop in the lake and eschew anything Internet related. While I am at it I will give up all modern conveniences, including electronics, appliances, and razors. I will start pumping out more babies to, you know, churn butter and pluck feathers off of the chickens.
2. Call in our computer guy to come and fix my laptop. I can then get my work done and save myself (and my family) from joining a commune. Then I can also possibly get back to being an Internet Member In Good Standing.
I really hope it’s the latter. I’ll keep you posted.
Last week I posted about how I hated the stage that Emily is in. Not everything about it, just the whole I-still-need-a-nap-but-then-want-to-stay-up-late-and-make-Mommy-and-Daddy-crazy stage. Apart from that issue? I actually love the stage that she is in. It is FUN.
Truth be told, sometimes the “fun” is said with a sarcastic tone, as well as “awesome” and “that’s just super“. This girl of mine? Is a little feisty. I have no idea where she gets it from. Nope. Not a clue. Heh.
I had (and still have) a post in my head, but while sorting through and editing the photos I took this weekend, I came across one that stopped me in my tracks.
I took it all stealth-like and Honey did not know it even existed until I showed it to him moments ago.
Somehow, some way, I ended up married to this Man.
A man who loves God with his whole heart. Who loves me more than I ever thought I could be loved. Who treasures and cherishes our children even more than I do. It is true.
My children have a Daddy who exceeds everything I have ever dreamed of and prayed for. I am, and will be, eternally grateful.
Every night after supper, Matthew and the kids have “ice cream”. I use quotes because Honey is the only one who eats real vanilla ice cream. (Topped with cookies, extra chocolate chips, and corn syrup (!))(I think he adds the syrup so I won’t take a bite.)(He does not like to share his food with me.) The kids get “ice cream”, which is low fat yogurt blended with fruit and frozen into a popsicle. They love them, and do not know that they are eating something that is good for them. Shhhhh.
We were out of Honey’s ice cream so we thought we would treat everyone to the real deal at the ice cream parlour in town. It was a beautiful day, as you can see.
The dudes cracked me up because they did not choose their ice cream based on the flavour. Nope. They chose it based on the colour. Graham’s favourite colour is red, so he got Strawberry. Strawberry is an ice cream flavour that I strongly dislike, but Graham was diggin’ it.
Nathan’s favourite colour is green, so he got mint chocolate chip.
