Author Vs Autocorrect

Posted on January 18, 2019 by

Well, it finally happened. Autocorrect realized I wasn’t talking about ducks, giving a duck, or that something was ducking obvious.

I’ll admit, autocorrect shows a bit of creativity in its interpretation of my vocabulary and sentence structure.

And sometimes it’s also kinda funny in a sick, twisted way.

In my current work in progress, I referred to a clowder of cats. A clowder, for those who haven’t watched Big Bang Theory, is a group of cats.

Autocorrect changed it to a chowder of cats.

Which isn’t anywhere close to what I meant. And, frankly, while I don’t have a problem writing about dining on your fellow man or woman, I don’t think I’d ruin a good chowder by putting chunks of cat in it.

But that’s just me.

Thankfully, I was able to correct it before my critique partner saw it and I ended up eviscerated in one of her novels, as she writes about cats. Big cats. The kind that wouldn’t take kindly to being in a chowder.:D

Until next time.

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Progress Report

Posted on January 16, 2019 by

Sometimes, it seems as if I’ve been writing this book forever. Truly, it’s only been since September.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

I started it back in December of 2013. But that book is long gone, replaced by something better. Much, much better.

But, I’m still writing it.

I had dreams of finishing it by the New Year. That didn’t work out. Then the next week and the next.

I had hoped by this week, I would be down to 5 more chapters to go. I did finish Chapter 36. But then I bracketed out the rest of the story.

And you guessed it.

I have 9 more chapters to go.

Which given writing math could be 6 more chapters but is probably 14. Grrr.

Well, I’ll at least be able to knock four or five more chapters out this weekend. Wish me luck.

Until next time.

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Power up

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

Like many folks, we received a few electronic gadgets for Christmas. Gadgets that charge using a USB port.

Sadly, our Mac only has 4 standard USB ports and 3 are permanently taken.

So what is a person to do? We had considered purchasing a hub, with more places to plug in.

But our son suggested upgrading our surge protectors to ones with 2 extra USB hubs already installed. Costco even offered a 3 pack.

We made the switch in record time, and now have the new strips on our computer and TVs, conveniently located for recharging.

Of course, a system is only as good as its users. Case in point, the hubbinator received a fitness recorder that has its USB charger also as part of the watchband. We were worried we got what we paid for when after 3 days plugged in, it still hadn’t charged. Turned out, the hubbinator had pulled out the wrong side, not the USB side. Go ahead and laugh. It’s funny.

Until next time.

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Collections, Part 3

Posted on January 11, 2019 by

And then there are the items that we deliberately collect. I’m not sad to say that I have many such collections, mostly related to crafts like scrapbooking, jewelry making, and quilting.

There’s my book collection which now spans 3 rooms and causes me to restore my kindle to factory settings because of low memory every few months.

But two collections are in the beginning phases.

The first is my tea collection, which my family took great pains to make fun of over Christmas. I love tea and didn’t really get much variety from the local grocery market so I went online to purchase from a variety of vendors with seasonal blends. Yum.

The second is my minion collection. It doesn’t come close to my sisters but I did finally achieve that holy grail of having a purple minion.

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Of course, it doesn’t end there. The next item on my list is a lipstick taser.

Because the one thing I’ve learned about collections is that they’re always growing.

Until next time:D

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Collections, Part 2

Posted on January 9, 2019 by

I have another collection going. One, I’m thinking I’m not alone in. It’s emails.

I save them.

Not all of them. I’m not that far gone, but one to five a day, which really adds up. I need to get better at culling the masses but what if I need the information in that email.

I used to print out the ones I wanted to review later. I never reviewed them later but got a lot of scrap paper.

Then I sorted them into folders. Which I didn’t look at.

It is a problem and I’m working on it and came up with a new system. If I delete 5 old emails, I can keep 5 new emails. Right? Hmm.

That’s definitely a work in progress:D

Until next time.

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Collections

Posted on January 7, 2019 by

I don’t know about you, but I seem to be collecting things subconsciously.

The first thing was napkins. I, naturally, blame my children for this. You see, when you have small and medium-sized children there is always a need for extra napkins.

Always.

As it has become increasingly just the hubbinator and I, I have managed to limit the number of napkins to two each. Yet, he doesn’t always use his share and I can manage with just one, so now I have 2-3 extras.

Usually, I stuff them in the side pocket of my purse. Where I have been thankful to have them when in a public stall, there has been an absence of toilet paper. Hubbinator tucks them into the center compartment for runny nose weather.

But in my desire to use less, I’ve been mindful of my napkin collecting. So, perhaps, in future, I will opt out of any napkins and just use the cloth ones I have at home when we order takeout.

Life is a work in progress.

Until next time.

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The scariest words

Posted on January 4, 2019 by

Yesterday, I read the scariest words I have read in a long time. It said: Your iPad has been disabled. Try again in 15 minutes.

What?

Apparently, my iPad didn’t like its new carrying case and thought some stranger was trying to hack into it so it locked down.

The easiest way around the problem was to restart and connect to iTunes. Except, I was at work. No Mac or iTunes in sight.

I think I broke out into a cold sweat when I realized I might actually have to be at work all day and not have any music.

Thankfully, I plugged in my iPad, waited the 15 minutes, and the screen came up as normal and I could enter my passcode.

Whew! Now I have to repack my case so my iPad stops feeling molested on the way to work:D

Until next time!

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