I love my laptop and I am very thankful for it. There were two glitches that caused me some frustration with my operating system, Vista. Yes, Vista had some problems, go figure.
Since I received this laptop as a gift last May--wow! it has been almost a year, there has been a small glitch. Every time I closed an Internet Explorer window a new one would open up. My friend, Deb, who last year invited us to swim in her pool, and whose, power washer I borrowed and whom Nathan called Eb, told me that she had the same problem.
It was an annoying problem, because I would click on the "X" to close the window and it would close with an error message and a new window would open up. The quick fix was to open up new links in Tabs rather than a whole new window. This method allowed the user, in this case myself, to close window without getting that false error message.
Two days ago another new glitch occurred. The automatic update program found a new version of Adobe Flash Player and it failed to install. I don't know why it did and furthermore I didn't understand why I lost my old version of Flash Player. This meant that I got red x's where there was a video program that required flash drive.
So, I went to the Adobe site to download and install the newest version of their Flash Player, and it wouldn't fully install. I was getting frustrated and confused. I tried downloading to my portable Flash Drive on the desktop and then install to my laptop from the Flash Drive and that failed to work as well.
Yahoo was offering a free download of Internet Explorer 8. My thought was that perhaps the latest version of IE would allow for a clean download and installation of the Adobe Flash Player version 10. Well, it didn't. However, the latest version of IE did stop the window glitch and seemed to load faster. I was happy with that, but I still couldn't play YoVille on Facebook.
So, Saturday morning, I sat down with my laptop and read all the trouble shooting guide information on Adobe again. I was up late Friday night trying to solve the problem by changing security and add-on settings for IE 8. They didn't work. Finally I read the last part of the Trouble Shooting guide and found that the Flash Player program did download, but did not install. I found the program on my C Drive thanks to the troubleshooting guide and was then able to install the program.
Now, my laptop is working better than ever before. Web pages load faster and YoVille seems clearer than before.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A responce to Tardis Girl
. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? Wine at about the age 10 at the intermission of Godspell in Chicago.
2. Who was your FIRST crush? Garnet Miller in the third grade.
3. Who did you FIRST dance with? This is sad, it was my mom. I can't dance at all and she was trying to teach me.
4. Who was your FIRST prom date? I never went to prom and I didn't date until I was in college.
5. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? No, I don't talk to her anymore.
6. What was your FIRST job? I distributed magazines for my Step-dads business.
7. What was your FIRST car?A 1965 Chevy Chevette.
8. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? I don't receive text messages on a daily basis. The last message I got was from my wife about a month ago, it said, "get beer"
9. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?My wife when I asked her to hit the snooze.
10. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Nimitz. She scared me and I would cry to my mom that I didn't want to go to school.
11. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? It was a singe engine private plane and we flew over Southwest Michigan.
12. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them? His name is Steve and I haven't talked to him in years.
13. What was your FIRST sport played?softball
14. Where was your FIRST sleep over?My Grandma's house.
15. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? My wife when I asked her to hit the snooze, but the first real conversation I had was with Jennifer at work.
16. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My sister's. I was the best man for her husband to be.
17. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Got out of bed, staggered into the kitchen and started the coffee maker.
18. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? A music recital at my grade school. First Rock Concert was Styx.
19. FIRST tattoo, piercing? I don't have a tattoo or piercing.
20. FIRST foreign country you went to? Canada.
21. What was your FIRST run in with the law? A speeding ticket.
22. When was your FIRST detention? I never had detention.
23. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Michigan, but does confusion count?
24. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart?Debbie Scheffler
25. Who was your FIRST roommate? I lived in a suite with John, Randy and Mike.
26. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride?Never been in a limo.
27. Who will be the FIRST to repost this? No one. It will just drift off aimlessly into cyberspace.
28. Do you really remember all of your FIRSTS?Yes. I am cursed with the blessing of a good memory.
2. Who was your FIRST crush? Garnet Miller in the third grade.
3. Who did you FIRST dance with? This is sad, it was my mom. I can't dance at all and she was trying to teach me.
4. Who was your FIRST prom date? I never went to prom and I didn't date until I was in college.
5. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? No, I don't talk to her anymore.
6. What was your FIRST job? I distributed magazines for my Step-dads business.
7. What was your FIRST car?A 1965 Chevy Chevette.
8. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? I don't receive text messages on a daily basis. The last message I got was from my wife about a month ago, it said, "get beer"
9. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?My wife when I asked her to hit the snooze.
10. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Nimitz. She scared me and I would cry to my mom that I didn't want to go to school.
11. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? It was a singe engine private plane and we flew over Southwest Michigan.
12. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them? His name is Steve and I haven't talked to him in years.
13. What was your FIRST sport played?softball
14. Where was your FIRST sleep over?My Grandma's house.
15. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? My wife when I asked her to hit the snooze, but the first real conversation I had was with Jennifer at work.
16. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My sister's. I was the best man for her husband to be.
17. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Got out of bed, staggered into the kitchen and started the coffee maker.
18. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? A music recital at my grade school. First Rock Concert was Styx.
19. FIRST tattoo, piercing? I don't have a tattoo or piercing.
20. FIRST foreign country you went to? Canada.
21. What was your FIRST run in with the law? A speeding ticket.
22. When was your FIRST detention? I never had detention.
23. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Michigan, but does confusion count?
24. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart?Debbie Scheffler
25. Who was your FIRST roommate? I lived in a suite with John, Randy and Mike.
26. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride?Never been in a limo.
27. Who will be the FIRST to repost this? No one. It will just drift off aimlessly into cyberspace.
28. Do you really remember all of your FIRSTS?Yes. I am cursed with the blessing of a good memory.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Light Saber Tag
The rules of light saber tag or sword tag are really quite simple, but when Nathan decided that our back yard needed six safe areas and a buffer zone, the game got more complex. Rather than tagging someone with their hand, the person who is it tags their opponent with the end of their toy light saber.
I want to make it clear that these are the toy light sabers that light up and make noise. Nathan uses two smaller toy versions that do not take batteries, one red and one green. I wouldn't want anyone to think that I am tagging my children with a real light saber and dismembering them. These plastic ones don't have the power of the real ones--arms stay in tact and they collapse when you try to pierce a blast door on a Trade Federation command vessel.
The fun part about sword/light saber tag is that rather than chasing someone all over the yard you can call for a challenge and duel the person. If you tag them then they are it. If the person who is it gets tagged first in the duel then they can't chase the person for five seconds.
Tonight was the second night in a row that we played sword tag. If we get tired and sweaty we call for a time out and drink Capris Sun. In the end, I end up being it and Evan and Nathan call a victory. The game usually ends when either Evan or Nathan get tired and don't want to play anymore. Tonight the game ended when Nathan wanted to do his homework so he could watch a movie before bed time.
I want to make it clear that these are the toy light sabers that light up and make noise. Nathan uses two smaller toy versions that do not take batteries, one red and one green. I wouldn't want anyone to think that I am tagging my children with a real light saber and dismembering them. These plastic ones don't have the power of the real ones--arms stay in tact and they collapse when you try to pierce a blast door on a Trade Federation command vessel.
The fun part about sword/light saber tag is that rather than chasing someone all over the yard you can call for a challenge and duel the person. If you tag them then they are it. If the person who is it gets tagged first in the duel then they can't chase the person for five seconds.
Tonight was the second night in a row that we played sword tag. If we get tired and sweaty we call for a time out and drink Capris Sun. In the end, I end up being it and Evan and Nathan call a victory. The game usually ends when either Evan or Nathan get tired and don't want to play anymore. Tonight the game ended when Nathan wanted to do his homework so he could watch a movie before bed time.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Silly Little St. Patrick's Day Skit
Had I removed myself from the bed a little earlier than I did, or if I had not brought the mail in, I could have quite possibly arrived at McDonald's before 11 am and thereby purchased Lori a breakfast steak bagel. It felt good to sleep in and I only wanted to get up in time to shower, shave and dress in time to arrive at the Holland Civic Center at 11:30.
I was extremely surprised to discover that we were out of We were out of coffee, so I had an iced tea and two Excedrin then I ate my grapefruit. Lori suggested that I go to McDonald's and get us each a coffee. I showered, shaved and got dressed, then I got the mail and then I went drove to McDonald's. They stopped serving breakfast and I didn't want the homemade cookies that were being offered. I purchased a large coffee for Lori and a carmel cappuccino for myself.
I drank my cappuccino, used the restroom and drove off to downtown Holland. I parked the rusty Blazer at the farthest point from where the rest of the parade marchers were. I didn't plan that; I parked in the first place I found. I walked up and down the road looking for my group for at least 10 minutes before I found my group.
On a normal Saturday, I wouldn't go to the Civic Center nor would I even consider leaving the house before noon. Today was the St. Patrick's Day parade and skit day. I have never participated in a St. Patrick's Day parade or any parade for that matter. I have never seen a St. Patrick's Day parade except for some clips of the one in Chicago. I really don't care for parades, but these are hard times so silliness goes a long way.
I pulled into the Civic Center and walked around for awhile looking for the Finnish Group. Yes, the Finnish. I am not Dutch. I am not Irish. Holland doesn't have a parade for those like me of the German, English and French decent. However, Peace Lutheran has members that are from Finnish decent and it was for them that I boldly walked in a parade wearing a funky costume.
Parades are really for kids. In addition to walking up 8th Street I had to hand out fliers telling everyone about our skit at the Knickerbocker Theater. The children would wave as the parents would smile. I did see two people that I knew and they waved at me. Our sign said St. Urho saves Finland Grapes from the Grasshoppers. One woman said, "I like grapes, I had several glasses of grapes last night."
We walked to the Knickerbocker Theater and found our way backstage and took off our silly costumes. Then, Paul, Carol, Carol and I went to the New Holland Brewery and had something to drink. Paul had Chardonnay, I had a Dugan's Red, one Carol had hot cocoa, and the other Carol had pressed coffee.
We walked into the Knickerbocker to the sound of children singing. We were told that we were on next. We were told we had to whisper. The children finished and walked passed us neatly in single file. As they passed by us we gave them our best golf gallery applause. I told their director that they sounded good.
We thought we were next, but a man in a kilt walked to center stage and, well, I really can't say he played the bagpipes. He blew into them and an atrocious sound was produced. He finished one song, and then proceeded to play another which sounded a lot like the first song. He finished his set, if you can call it that, with something that sounded like Yankee Doodle. The audience applauded when he was done, I think because they were happy they didn't have to listen to it anymore. I told Gail that I now know why Bugs Bunny attacked Scotsman's bagpipes in that cartoon.
We performed our silly skit. I moved around the grapes in a blowing fashion as the Kitchen Band played Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" What else would I do as my character was The Wind? The play ended and I rode with the two Carols to the Leaf and Bean for soup and a salad. I had some great conversations about the Kingdom of Air and the Holy Breath--the Greek words for Heaven and Spirit respectively.
I went home to restless children, so I took Evan and Nathan to the DeGraff Nature Center. I drove Lori's car. Evan wanted to buy a walking stick, but the building was closed, although we were there during their business hours. So, we spent an hour walking, I walked they ran, on the nature trails.
We got back to find that Lori took the rust Blazer to the store. I helped Adam unload the groceries and we ate Shepherd's Pie around 8 pm.
I was extremely surprised to discover that we were out of We were out of coffee, so I had an iced tea and two Excedrin then I ate my grapefruit. Lori suggested that I go to McDonald's and get us each a coffee. I showered, shaved and got dressed, then I got the mail and then I went drove to McDonald's. They stopped serving breakfast and I didn't want the homemade cookies that were being offered. I purchased a large coffee for Lori and a carmel cappuccino for myself.
I drank my cappuccino, used the restroom and drove off to downtown Holland. I parked the rusty Blazer at the farthest point from where the rest of the parade marchers were. I didn't plan that; I parked in the first place I found. I walked up and down the road looking for my group for at least 10 minutes before I found my group.
On a normal Saturday, I wouldn't go to the Civic Center nor would I even consider leaving the house before noon. Today was the St. Patrick's Day parade and skit day. I have never participated in a St. Patrick's Day parade or any parade for that matter. I have never seen a St. Patrick's Day parade except for some clips of the one in Chicago. I really don't care for parades, but these are hard times so silliness goes a long way.
I pulled into the Civic Center and walked around for awhile looking for the Finnish Group. Yes, the Finnish. I am not Dutch. I am not Irish. Holland doesn't have a parade for those like me of the German, English and French decent. However, Peace Lutheran has members that are from Finnish decent and it was for them that I boldly walked in a parade wearing a funky costume.
Parades are really for kids. In addition to walking up 8th Street I had to hand out fliers telling everyone about our skit at the Knickerbocker Theater. The children would wave as the parents would smile. I did see two people that I knew and they waved at me. Our sign said St. Urho saves Finland Grapes from the Grasshoppers. One woman said, "I like grapes, I had several glasses of grapes last night."
We walked to the Knickerbocker Theater and found our way backstage and took off our silly costumes. Then, Paul, Carol, Carol and I went to the New Holland Brewery and had something to drink. Paul had Chardonnay, I had a Dugan's Red, one Carol had hot cocoa, and the other Carol had pressed coffee.
We walked into the Knickerbocker to the sound of children singing. We were told that we were on next. We were told we had to whisper. The children finished and walked passed us neatly in single file. As they passed by us we gave them our best golf gallery applause. I told their director that they sounded good.
We thought we were next, but a man in a kilt walked to center stage and, well, I really can't say he played the bagpipes. He blew into them and an atrocious sound was produced. He finished one song, and then proceeded to play another which sounded a lot like the first song. He finished his set, if you can call it that, with something that sounded like Yankee Doodle. The audience applauded when he was done, I think because they were happy they didn't have to listen to it anymore. I told Gail that I now know why Bugs Bunny attacked Scotsman's bagpipes in that cartoon.
We performed our silly skit. I moved around the grapes in a blowing fashion as the Kitchen Band played Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" What else would I do as my character was The Wind? The play ended and I rode with the two Carols to the Leaf and Bean for soup and a salad. I had some great conversations about the Kingdom of Air and the Holy Breath--the Greek words for Heaven and Spirit respectively.
I went home to restless children, so I took Evan and Nathan to the DeGraff Nature Center. I drove Lori's car. Evan wanted to buy a walking stick, but the building was closed, although we were there during their business hours. So, we spent an hour walking, I walked they ran, on the nature trails.
We got back to find that Lori took the rust Blazer to the store. I helped Adam unload the groceries and we ate Shepherd's Pie around 8 pm.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Skit Rehearsal
I am cast as the wind in a St. Patrick's Day skit. This is the first time I have ever participated in a parade in Holland or a skit. In High School, I was in many plays and skits, but that was many many years ago. Darlene, who has been visiting Peace for three weeks now, asked me if I would be willing to be in a play. My role: The wind. How to personify moving air on a small stage? Well, she made me costume out of a sheer gray material and fake fur sown around the edges.
My fellow actors made a few silly comments about it, but they are dressed as grapes, St. Patrick and St. Urho. These are difficult times in which we live and a little silliness in a humorous can bring a little laughter where it is needed.
Today was the first rehearsal was today at Evergreen Commons. Pastor Mark is the narrator and John whose wife is Finnish, is one of the grapes. It was fun and I think we will get a few laughs out of it. It certainly was something fun to do on my vacation day. Although I am not Finnish nor Irish, I am having a good time being in this funny skit.
This morning felt like a Friday because I got the kids up and off to school. Nathan had T-O-A-S-T with P-E-A-N-U-T-B-U-T-T-E-R and large glass of orange juice for breakfast. I helped Evan get his pencil and pen and pencil refills situated in his planner. Adam was just slow getting up as usual.
After I drove Nathan to school, I went back to bed. Lori seemed irritated with that but she has Mondays off so he had a quite house to herself and with her own laptop to boot!
My fellow actors made a few silly comments about it, but they are dressed as grapes, St. Patrick and St. Urho. These are difficult times in which we live and a little silliness in a humorous can bring a little laughter where it is needed.
Today was the first rehearsal was today at Evergreen Commons. Pastor Mark is the narrator and John whose wife is Finnish, is one of the grapes. It was fun and I think we will get a few laughs out of it. It certainly was something fun to do on my vacation day. Although I am not Finnish nor Irish, I am having a good time being in this funny skit.
This morning felt like a Friday because I got the kids up and off to school. Nathan had T-O-A-S-T with P-E-A-N-U-T-B-U-T-T-E-R and large glass of orange juice for breakfast. I helped Evan get his pencil and pen and pencil refills situated in his planner. Adam was just slow getting up as usual.
After I drove Nathan to school, I went back to bed. Lori seemed irritated with that but she has Mondays off so he had a quite house to herself and with her own laptop to boot!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Stir Crazy
I can't blame the boys for feeling restless today. We haven't had any warm weather in months, or so it feels like it. Today the air temperature didn't get above Fahrenheit degrees. It isn't weather for kids to go outside and play for an hour or two. They got on each other's nerves as well as Lori's and mine.
There were moments where they were all quite golden. Last night when I took Evan to Meijer and Best Buy he was golden. He thought of his brothers and was very patient. He was fun to be around. Then today he was restless, agitated and screeching when he didn't get his way.
Nathan was in a fiesty mood telling us many times that he was bored and he wanted to do something fun. Lori explained that she is not an entertainment director. She feeds them, clothes them, and helps maintain a roof over their heads, but she is not here to provide fun when there is a housefull of toys, books and games.
Evan and Nathan both had showers tonight. That helped them feel better and Evan, Lori and I watched latest Mummy Movie. I hope this cold snap breaks soon.
There were moments where they were all quite golden. Last night when I took Evan to Meijer and Best Buy he was golden. He thought of his brothers and was very patient. He was fun to be around. Then today he was restless, agitated and screeching when he didn't get his way.
Nathan was in a fiesty mood telling us many times that he was bored and he wanted to do something fun. Lori explained that she is not an entertainment director. She feeds them, clothes them, and helps maintain a roof over their heads, but she is not here to provide fun when there is a housefull of toys, books and games.
Evan and Nathan both had showers tonight. That helped them feel better and Evan, Lori and I watched latest Mummy Movie. I hope this cold snap breaks soon.
She got her Toshiba.
I promised Evan that I would take him to Meijer or anyplace to buy him Zebra Eco mechanical pencils. We found them at Meijer on clearance. He also saw PaperMate Erasable pens, and the lead refills for his Zebra Eco pencils. We went to the checkout lane and he picked out candy for his brother's. For Nathan he chose Sour Ice Breaker Mints and for Adam he chose M&M's. I called Lori on my "cell phone" and asked her if Best Buy called. They hadn't, so I went there and checked on her laptop. I was told 20 minutes and it would be ready. So, Evan and I played games while we waited. He played Rock Band and I played College Football. And we waited some more and we played some more, and I checked on the status and we walked around the store. I showed Evan the computer his mom picked out.
I played as Ohio State against Michigan hoping that my lack of game experience would help Michigan win. Well, it didn't work. But, the graphics are impressive and it is a fun game to play.
While I was playing College Football, a Direct TV sales lady was told me about a "great deal." Well, I am not sure of how great a deal this was, but I listening to her sales pitch and talking about "Top Chef" killed some time. I went back to find that Evan was looking for me and I watched him play more Rock Band. Not that I haven't seen him play Rock Band before--we have the game here and he plays it a lot. Well finally I was told that they were waiting for the final updates on Vista. I told them that I can finish those at home, because my wife really wants her new laptop. They packed it up for me and I brought it home.
When we got there I pointed out Venus to Evan and he was impressed with how bright it was. When we left, we couldn't see Venus. I am not sure why, but the moon had moved too. Best Buy must have different method for keeping time. Twenty of their minutes is an hour and 1o minutes on a standard clock.
So, Evan and I came home with all our goods. He was just as excited about his pens and pencils as Lori was about her new laptop. She was surprised to discover that it has a webcam built in.
She got it up and running and with her wireless mouse and carrying case, she is all set. This means, my laptop is mine again!!! She did thank me for allowing her to make the purchase. I wanted her to have her own, and I don't care if it does have a few more bells and whistles on it than mine. I really like this laptop.
I can't believe I am still up playing Mafia Wars on Facebook. But, here I am doing so. I am going to church tomorrow--I mean today.
I played as Ohio State against Michigan hoping that my lack of game experience would help Michigan win. Well, it didn't work. But, the graphics are impressive and it is a fun game to play.
While I was playing College Football, a Direct TV sales lady was told me about a "great deal." Well, I am not sure of how great a deal this was, but I listening to her sales pitch and talking about "Top Chef" killed some time. I went back to find that Evan was looking for me and I watched him play more Rock Band. Not that I haven't seen him play Rock Band before--we have the game here and he plays it a lot. Well finally I was told that they were waiting for the final updates on Vista. I told them that I can finish those at home, because my wife really wants her new laptop. They packed it up for me and I brought it home.
When we got there I pointed out Venus to Evan and he was impressed with how bright it was. When we left, we couldn't see Venus. I am not sure why, but the moon had moved too. Best Buy must have different method for keeping time. Twenty of their minutes is an hour and 1o minutes on a standard clock.
So, Evan and I came home with all our goods. He was just as excited about his pens and pencils as Lori was about her new laptop. She was surprised to discover that it has a webcam built in.
She got it up and running and with her wireless mouse and carrying case, she is all set. This means, my laptop is mine again!!! She did thank me for allowing her to make the purchase. I wanted her to have her own, and I don't care if it does have a few more bells and whistles on it than mine. I really like this laptop.
I can't believe I am still up playing Mafia Wars on Facebook. But, here I am doing so. I am going to church tomorrow--I mean today.
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