Starting my day out in the town of Lockport then heading to The Summit in Wheatfield for a business workshop, I loved driving in the bright sunshine. Music sounded extra good with the day being so warm and pleasant out. What little walking around I did, I enjoyed kicking my shoes through the crispy fallen leaves. Between yesterday and today, I found myself wishing for more of these perfect temperature days. I would have rather have been home working on some outside projects, but I did not want to miss any of the workshops I signed up for either. Besides, I knew I would have a couple hours of daylight once I returned home.
or would I?

Coming home (after being gone since Tuesday eve in general) from a business workshop (in specific), as I went down Lewiston Hill, I noticed a wide spread haze hovering over Lewiston, Youngstown, and Niagara Falls, Ontario. The entire view of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario could not be seen. I was curious as to what I would find once I got into my little neck of the woods. Looks like some heavy fog was rolling in.

I took these shortly after getting home-4ish. Within a half an hour, there was little to see at all.










Just whitish-gray. Then a little while later, the darkness settled in for the night. It always takes me awhile to adjust to the shorter days, feels so much later than what it is.

My hobbies tend to be cerebral. I really need to get back to the gym (especially after the Halloween candy consumption fiasco!). I love being there- it is so energizing and it simply feels good to do something, but I haven't in quite some time for various reasons (and excuses). Anyway, it is just turning 7pm and I want to curl up in bed with a book until I fall asleep. That sounds soooooo good right now. It will be even worse once the cold officially sets in. Maybe I can counteract the need to go to bed early by waking up early.

not likely..

That's it for now!

I didn't have to listen to the radio for updates- something I thought I would have to do seeing as I don't have cable nor an antenna to catch a fuzzy station or two. Thanks again to (e:mrmike) and (e:libertad) for the radio station suggestions. Instead, I headed out to my boyfriends last night and turned on CNN. We switched between every other station anytime there was a commercial, but CNN was the default. Besides, I needed my fix of James Carville, (Skeletor!).

I was attached to my seat for at least five hours. It wasn't until sometime after midnight that I went to bed. I was all tingly and feeling in awe...

Usually after an election, I am disappointed. Sometimes it is because my preferred choice was not elected, sometimes I feel like that even when that preferred person was elected (but I wasn't "all in" for them), or when I, on some level didn't really care- a major lack of affect- simply because I didn't like either candidate, and so I would feel a great sense of being let down regardless.

In the past it was rare that I became engaged or proud or excited. I mean, I follow the world, I am fascinated with politics- but I am rarely really positively moved by the experience of what I learn, watch, read or listen to. And furthermore, I never really felt the sense of "what can I do to help". I know that we have to start with ourselves, start locally to make things better and yet my motivation, inspiration and desires wax and wane a bit, truthfully.

I was totally "in" on my choice for Obama, so last night was really great. I have felt especially engaged throughout the past year during this whole political process (and tired at times too), but the prevailing feeling is that of pride, excitement, intense curiosity, hopefulness all with a stronger sense of thinking about how I can contribute more.

After five hours of tv, it isn't surprising that my dreams were replete with images of Obama. I wish I remembered more.

I really liked McCains speech- humble, positive, classy-- wish I saw more of that these past several months.

Obama's speech was about what I expected- elegant, hopeful, promising. Good luck to you, President-Elect, please, don't disappoint. "yes we can"- lets hope so.

I thought about all of you who may have been out celebrating, hanging at HQ etc. How was it? I imagine the energy was crazy high. What about the city streets- chaos--good, bad? I need to catch up on entries and local news now :)

wow, I have so many more thoughts, but I will end here.

Voted.

Walking up to my local Fire hall, towards the voting booths, always has such an empowered feeling.

Happily, I just missed the rush. Walking out, the lot and street were busy with cars arriving and people walking in.

The sun is shining warm, what a fantastic day.

What is the best radio station and/or web site to listen to election day updates? Not having cable or an antenna to tune in kinda sucks today.

must...stop... eating...

candy.

• hides gargantuan mound of empty wrappers in shame*

and now I've got a serious need for some vodka soaked jello encased gummies. thanks (e:fellyconnelly)

now where was I? oh yeh..

• bites a reeses*

So I am beginning to place plastic on all of my windows. This afternoon I begin with the main living room. This set of windows is relatively easy as there is just a credenza/side board to move out of the way, nothing to move off of it either.

As I finish up the windows and begin to slide that piece of furniture back into place, I look around the room with a temptation to rearrange the furniture. I begin sliding my large couch in one direction, and its matching love seat in another. End tables get pushed around as does the coffee table. The only other piece of furniture in the room is what holds my rarely used cable-less tv. I try different positions, and nothing is pleasing to the eye, yet I am determined to do something different. I just need something different. Everything has been in place for the past five years and I am itching for something... different.

Well, as I proceed, I find that my new and creative configurations continue to not work well. I decide to sit down and look around (and jump on here) trying to decide what to do next as the room is still in disarray yet edging closer to something that might work. I moved one end table out, slid the couch down in its place, then angled the other couch. Basically minus one end table, the couches are in their original configurations, albeit an angled love seat.

Arf. Apparently, I had it the best that it can be these past five years. And while I agree it always looked good, I am just itching for that new, changed up feel. But what I had is the way it needs to be and looks best.. so off I go to put everything back the way it was.

..but maybe I can tweak something a little, something to pacify me, even if only temporarily.

Then off I go to do a few more windows (or maybe all of them), before I get bored from doing that.

My newest installment of ComputerWorld Weekly Top Ten brought me the following delightful little article on the development of disease-fighting beer. Students at Rice University are working on a genetically modified strain of yeast that will yield much higher concentrations of resveratrol (I keep wanting to say/write as though pronounced "reverse-it-all", anyways..) the compound responsible for red wine (grapes, pomegranates) health benefits.

A short article, check it out:

"University Researchers Developing Cancer-Fighting Beer"



I figured a few of you would find it amusing :)

I've been fantasizing over the idea of having a teeny tiny notebook to carry around with me as opposed to the bulky laptop I have now. I am not seriously in the market for anything shiny and new, but I have been checking them out.

Asus brand seems to be one to look at. A few models all weighing in at just 2-2.5 lbs with screens sizes between 7-8.9" (the 10" weighs a bit more at just over 3lbs). I simply like the tiny size of it. I don't touch type exactly, so I don't see the smaller keypad being an interference for me. I played with a couple of them at Best Buy last night, one with Linux installed and one with Windows XP.

I just vision myself pulling it out of my carrying bag/purse, and getting comfy cozy at a coffee house, working on basic things as usual, but not taking up much room. Being able to write without the extra heft. I can bolster my want/need for it in many ways.I know it would be more of a toy, a frivolous buy really, as it would not replace my main laptop, but its fun to look.

Amazon link with reviews:


this picture doesn't really show it, but they are so tiny that they don't look real. awe, so cute! Anyone ever use one/have one??

This started off as a comment. You know how that goes, a comment response ends up so long that it might as well be a post. So here I am, cutting and pasting my comment into the journal box and rounding it out a little. The comment was/is in response to my last post on my finding a less expensive internet provider. (e:tinypliny) and (e:metalpeter) had comments specific to my current plan and potential options. So as I had been writing back to them (probably more than they wanted to know,hehe) and here we go:

I've had Verizon DSL since late 2004. I don't recall what I paid then, but eventually it creeped up to almost $40/mo and has held there for awhile. At the time, they weren't offering various 'speeds', so whatever they had, I was subscribed to. It wasn't until this past year that my money/budget monitoring honed in on this area of expenses. I was irked that new customers got hooked up with great promotional plans (as with any company, right?), but I never did anything about it. It wasn't that big of a deal at the time, and I had no intention of going through the hassle of switching. However, as I noticed that I was spending relatively little time at home on the internet as opposed to just about everywhere else (friends, bf, coffee shops), I finally felt that something needed to be changed. I wasn't using what I was spending that much money for, so if I could downgrade or find another provider, I should very well do it.Let see some options!

A few months ago I called Verizon to inquire of other plans and at that time they supposedly did not have a cheaper rate plan. Going off of this information still, I had begun looking into other providers. It wasn't until I called back to CANCEL (or "buzz off" as (e:mrmike) said it) my subscription with Verizon, that I found out otherwise. They do have other plans. The customer service guy said I was lied too and that they do have other plans that should have been explained to me. I think it is because I had called to cancel, and not called to simply inquire before. hmmph.

Anyway, they have a 'lower speed' plan at $9.95/mo for 6 months followed by $19.95 thereafter- which has a 12 month contract, so there would be early termination fees if I canceled. I though about it, and decided to go with it. If I cancel early, the fees aren't horrendous. I was also thinking about various pros and cons into making this decision, of which I have 30 days to change my mind; I wasn't required to lock myself into this change, fortunately. Therefor, looking from a whole year perspective, I'll pay $180 for the year (instead of $480 like I had), I can keep my phone lines open (being DSL as opposed to dial-up), and I can just carry on as usual and not bother with other companies (making phone calls, getting software, downloads, equipment or whatever etc.) AND it wont be dial-up; I really just can't do it, I decided. No dial-up. That was silly of me to entertain the thought. Good prices though. And yes, I tried it for all of 30 minutes before I canceled it. Before I threw my laptop across the room.Before I had chunks of hair missing.

One thing I double-checked before making the plan change was to determine if Verizon tacks on a 'plan change' fee--would there be hidden cost showing up on my next bill. There isn't a fee and that I will only see the charges as described. OK then, plan change please. The 'slower' plan is operating the exact same as I had, so it either never connected at what it could have before, or the difference would really only be in immense downloads, something I don't do anyways. I am pleased that nothing significant has changed, well, besides my bill. Yay.

Time Warner quoted me $29.95, but I don't think a speed was mentioned. $19.95 would be doable for whatever basic plan they- or anyone offers, I rarely download anything, so I don't need it for that. As for FiOS, it isn't available in my area anyways.

The laptop cards are an intriguing idea; I have yet to know know anything about them. Is that something that you have to be already subscribed to Sprint or Verizon with a phone plan or can this be a-la cart?

(e:pyrcedgrrl)- that is hilarious that you found/still have my email address from bluefrog.BIZ That had to have been one OLD email.Even the name I used is SO old. It would have been funny to return to that provider, but I doubt I would have used the email client.

BTW: Check your connection speed with this SPEED TEST:

Ok, thats it.

Now I am off to take my first business workshop through NCCC Summit extension site. A refresher on business plan development,I believe!

This is hilarious to me, but it is something I have been thinking about for a long time now (I'm getting to it).



Seeing as that I am rarely home, and most of my internet browsing takes place outside of my home, I have been rather unamused at paying Verizon $37.95 for the occasional surf. So the idea has been to find an alternate service at a significantly lower price.

I thought of going with a company who offers a six month promotion (ie; Time Warner 29.95 for six months or EarthLink DSL, or QwestDSL etc) then switching to something else when the time came. Then I mused over the hopeful idea that my new neighbor may have an internet service that I might be able to sponge off of. Nothing so far.

Then I remembered BlueFrog.

I believe they are out of Rochester. I used them several years ago for dial up- back when I refused to pay the ever popular AOL prices ( Less than $4 compared to $24). I recall having good a good experience with them, and hope that it will continue. I'm so weirded out that I will be 'dialing up' on occasion. Think the "web accelerator" is real and worth it?

Could I possibly get away with using dial-up for the rare occasion that I am home and just want to check my email? Or will even that much make me want to tear my hair out, throw laptop across the room in exasperation over the sluggish connection? And a super long cord attached to my laptop at that. Oh boy. I don't know, but I can try it for a couple of weeks to find out. If it doesn't seem to work out, I can switch to something else- back to DSL, and get on board with a company that has $20-$30 plans as to the almost $40 with Verizon. But if it really works for me, then $6.95 a month will be worth it during the rare occasion I am online at home.

We'll see. I am hopeful, but I still feel like cringing. Now to call Verizon and give them the boot.

I was looking at the fees associated with registering a domain name. There are several sites varying in price range. Register.com was my initial 'go-to' site, just to check on a few names. Then after confirming that they were available, I began to think about web hosting, which took me onto another search. I see that many of these sites offer packages- such as some amount of web hosting and page creation features along with a free domain name for X amount of money. Such as IPOWERWEB
I'm not necessarily ready to make use of anything. I just want a couple of names to sit on for future purposes, basically register a name and then go from there.

The 'free domain name' with web host/etc package made me curious as to what would happen with the domain name if I chose at a later date to no longer use the company. The fact that it was considered "free" does that somehow make the name I choose to be owned by them- only to leave me at the mercy of buying it off of them at their "price" should I decide after that I don't want to do business with them any longer? Maybe, maybe not. Obviously contacting someone would be a way to find out.

And I wonder how much additional spam-junk mail is received by the domain name owner due to that persons contact info (physical address & phone number) is readily available via "who is" ??hmmm

Gah! In terms of the bigger picture, I have so much to learn, or rather, become aware of. Having information and processes organized in my head helps me to carry out necessary actions with confidence. Some things I can simply jump into and learn/figure out as I go, but other areas, I like to know as much as I can before stepping forward. I comprehend most of what I read and am regularly capable of grasping new information very quickly. So many thoughts, so many questions.

I checked into local business that might offer what I am looking for. I found BuffaloWeb Services. Anyone know anything of them?


I can register a domain name for a fair prices. Then later on, add on to what I need. I believe I would go with one year for now, although a longer length of time would be less, overall. Just watching my cash flow for the time being.