Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Copernicus' birthday?

Sometimes those Google-doodle thingies are so cool!  Todays, for example,  is beautiful.  It sort-of looks medieval-ish, except that it shows six planets and the Moon orbiting the sun.

Rather than telling, let me show you the image Nicholas Copernicus 540th Birthday Doodle and Information

I had completely forgotten that today was his birthday.  That's OK, I know what I will put on my wish list so I can be prepared for next year!

    and 

Monday, February 18, 2013

Fun with Latin


Most of you know that I have been playing with learning Latin again.  I like it, but it is frustrating.  I don't particularly enjoy conjugating verbs, but it is cool when I begin to understand what it is going on.  Declining nouns makes my hair fall out, though.  It really makes the language powerful and clear, but learning it is so repetitive!  Declining nouns still has not found a slot in my brain, yet.
I do enjoy translating stories, though.  It's fun.  I also enjoy things like LOLCats in Latin.  Here is an example:

nolite fieri servi hominum = Do Not become slaves of men 
Ha!  I can so hear a cat saying that!



Here is another one:
Non parvum est seipum noscere = It is no small thing to know one's self. 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

LCMS Congregations Near Here



@Mauricealms     asked for a little help with one of his projects.  This is what I came up with…

Next…?

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Starting Again Here

I had blogs all over the place where they were free.  I used them and enjoyed them.  Eventually, I got my own domain and deleted all those other blogs.

Finances will no longer allow domains of my own.  Or several other frivolous ways that I may have spent money.

Free found good to me again.  So…  Here I am!  Again…

Sunday, February 10, 2013

SkillfulSenior.com Computer Tutorials

SkillfulSenior.com (and other links) may also help With Mother's computer-related frustrations.  Don't get me wrong, she is far from computer-illiterate.  She can search the web and do e-mail with the best of us.  She uses an iPhone far better than I would, but then, I don't even want a cell phone of any flavor.

Still, there probably are gaps in her new knowledge of computers.  Uploading and downloading work best with me alongside prompting her.  Saving and retrieving documents work best the same way.

One of my friends pointed out that I'm not quite as patient as I could be when it comes to helping Mother with the computer.  She's right.  I'm trying to remedy that by learning about different tools to help Seniors master the intricacies of technology.  I'm also trying to learn how *I*  can present things more clearly, simply and patiently.

  • The first on this is SkillfulSenior.com  -It Starts with some pretty basic tutorials.  How to sit comfortably at the computer…  What the different mouse buttons do -and why.  Returning to the basics and having that information on hand is an important tool for helping folks retain information.
  • If she decides to stay with Microsoft Word, maybe this tutorial will be useful  http://www.gcflearnfree.org/word2010

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Helping Mother with her computer?

The Mother hates her word processor.  Granted, she is using the free version of Microsoft Word that came with windows seven when she updated.  If that was what I had to use, I would hate it, too.    I replaced it with OpenOffice because it does the kinds of things I need it to do.  As a writer, I use several bells and whistles.
 
I think that OpenOffice would be even more annoying for Her than the one she has.  It needs to be simpler and less cluttered.  I suggested wordpad, but it still doesn't meet her needs.
 
I will be testing various Word Processors for Her.
 
This is the one I am testing this week.  http://www.jarte.com/   it is based on Microsoft's Wordpad engine and retains some of that simplicity.  It has a little bit more to it, though.  I will slowly review it over the next few weeks and let you know what I think.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

A first! A first!

I am excited!  I am now a published writer.  (I have also had to get the approval of the editor AND I got paid $7.50!) It is a start http://www.internettoolboxforchurches.com/internet-outreach-reading-jan30

Please, PLEASE debate what I wrote there.  The more people who read and comment and grow from it, the better for everyone!

Today, I am going to celebrate this victory.  It is a delight to me.

Tomorrow…  A need to go back to work!  $7.50 does not go far…  But I get to mark this off of my bucket list!  Yay!

What *FUN*!

Although SOMETIMES I think that Writers Digest is one wore on and unending commercials for books to distract you from actually writing, some of their is worth a little time.

For example, today they posted an article:
Five Things That Should Be On Every Writer's Bucket List

This led me to the book "A Writer’s Bucket List: 99 things to do for inspiration, education, and experience before your writing kicks the bucket"…  It sounds like a lot of fun and a way to kickstart my writing.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Redecorating… AGAIN

Yes, I decided to redo a few things here.  I got tired of that pretty, but cluttered blogs style.  This looked simpler.  I'm hoping it's an attractive alternative.

Maybe I can claim that I did it so that I would be inspired to blog more?

What do you think of the changes?