Joyfully Rolling Along, Figuring Things Out As I Go: July 2015

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Khet 101

Several people have suggested that I would enjoy playing chess. I think I would, too… Except for this little problem. I tried learning chess when I was about eight. My competition was my younger sisters, and I had the advantage of four or five years. Add to that, if two of us were playing… The third would be left out, so we resorted to trying to invent three-handed chess.

It wound up being more like, "The Red Queen and the White Queen were best friends. They decided to take their 16 children on a campout with knights and bishops while their husbands, the Kings did boring stuff with the economy…"

Now, I can't take chess as some sort of battle simulation. I have found something that I enjoy more…

Developing Confidence in Speaking

I hate to admit it, but I am a bit shy. I would rather listen than talk. If I do speak, I would rather be smart-alecky and be able to write it off as a bit of a joke.

I'm not so sure that I want to stay as a Smart Alec. I'm not sure that it's truly helpful in conversation. So… Book-nerd that I am, I set myself a course of study to improve myself--à la Benjamin Franklin.

While this sounds tedious, I'm having a blast! One of the first books that I tackled is Nicholas Carr's THE SHALLOWS: WHAT THE INTERNET IS DOING TO OUR BRAINS. This was absolutely delightful, even when it was a bit scary. Yes, I have mentioned this book before--I'm mentioning it again. Who knows, I may even mention it again down the road!

The second book is also rip-snorter: Jay Heinrich's THANK YOU FOR ARGUING: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us about the Art of Persuasion. It is funny, well-written, and worth my time. It also is helping me see how easily manipulated I can be.

Don't get me wrong, I'm also learning a little bit about confidence. These books are worth my time, whether I use what I am learning in speaking or not.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

I am such a dreamer! Two blogs?

I don't know why I have two blogs, I don't even keep up with one very effectively. Yes, there is this one. I post random opinions here. There is also http://lmstapp.com/ , which I had to restart. I don't know what I did but it seems to have erased everything. The backup, when reinstalled, did not work right.

One of these days, I will have to consider reading the directions. Not today though…

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

I Have Been Weary This Week so Far

I am weary, and I don't know what is going on! Maybe it's because the weather is so oppressive. We're looking at another 97° day tomorrow, with another heat index of 104°. Since I stay indoors most of the time, you wouldn't think that it would bother me. Maybe it does in spite of all my brilliant logic.

At any rate, I AM WEARY!

At least I have an excuse for yesterday. Sunday night was one of my rare nights--sleep escaped me until after 4 AM. Then I had blood-work--fasting until the vampires worked me in around 10 AM. Even after that and a quick lunch, I was weary. I could tell that I was not effective at the computer, so I played a game called HORIZON.

Yes, it is a game I can actually play. It is turn-based instead of real-time, so if I have trouble trying to do what I want to do… It doesn't matter.

However, I missed posting another Tuesday with Luther until today.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

How Lisa Uses the Computer

I just barely uploaded this, it is not ready to be seen until they process it at YouTube.

People are naturally curious about how I use the computer. Since I'm trying to figure out a new piece of software, I threw this together today. Share it around liberally and critique it mercilessly. I will probably ignore you, but… Maybe not!