Diary of a Plate Addict Website

So, I am building a website for my books, Diary of a Plate Addict and Bar Dreams. Yippee! I started by trying to use some online webpage building tools. They are all fine and good - give a professional look and all, but I wasn't feeling it. So I decided to go old school and open up a web design app and just throw something together myself. Goodness, it has been so long since I did anything like this. I think I built my first website in 1990? Wow, could it be that long ago? More than 20 years! I remember opening up the source from a page that I liked and copying it and playing with it to try and figure out how to change things. It was fun!

This go 'round, I am using a beta app called Kompozer. Sometimes it does things I just don't understand. And I have no idea, really, what is happening with the files on the hosting company's computer. Sigh. But I have something up and public at least. I found out that it was possible to test one's paypal website, but I don't know that I want to go through the hassle of doing all of that.

The website is bare bones, to say the least. I do hope to keep tweaking it over the next couple of weeks, but I think it does what I need it to do. My main reason for building it was for accepting credit/debit cards and paypal for book purchases. I have a special page that people can't navigate to unless they know the url. My plan is to have my computer with me and just let people enter their information on the website if they want to pay with a card or through paypal.

Much of yesterday was spent working on the website. I also pulled all of the containers out of the refrigerator to see what there was in there. Lots of leftovers to eat for lunch for the next few days. Later, I cooked french toast and bacon and a glop composed of regular and sweet potatoes, green peppers and pearl onions (since I had neglected to resupply myself with regular onions). All pretty darn tasty.

Late night was game night. It was just three people, so we played a game called Colossal Arena. Fun stuff. Then we worked on whist and bridge. Yippee! I love to play bridge for some reason. Sigh.

All in all, it was a good day.

Pictures from October 30, 2011:

Lots of leftovers in lots of containers!

Glop and yummy!

One monster has already died...

Do you believe in Magic?

I do. Not sure what sort of magic I believe in, but since I believe that anything is possible, magic must be possible. One of the books I have started to write is a fantasy book and in it I have magic -  creating that has given me some solid thought on what constitutes magic. One type is the everyday sort of magic - nature is pretty magical when I think about it. Or there is the reverse magic thought - thinking something won't happen and hoping that it actually will. Or not wanting to jinx something. For instance talking about something and then it not working out the way I would best like. All hoping is a kind of magic, I think. And praying, which is really, in my opinion, just directed hoping. Oh, and by the way, just because anything is possible, doesn't mean that anything is likely. Aliens could knock on my door and ask directions to another dimension, but it probably won't happen...

I wrote a book about relationships.  Well, I started a book about relationships. There is a draft (some 175 pages) of it lying around on my computer somewhere. Possible title: Sex, Attraction, Relationship, Dating - Not Necessarily in that Order - A Collection of Thoughts, Observations and Anecdotes on Like, Love and Lust. Or flip that around: Like, Love and Lust - A collection of Thoughts, Observations and Anecdotes on Attraction, Dating, Sex and Relationships. There are four sections - attraction, dating, sex and relationships. It is completely autobiographical. No extensive research, only introspection and self-examination. I started it probably ten years ago and I doubt it will see the light of day in actual book form. Too much personal stuff in there.

Anyway, the reason I write about that is because I have been thinking, as frequently I do, about those very subjects. There was the infamous Just undateable post. I wonder just what I really have to offer a potential partner, really. Sure, I have the normal stuff: intelligence, wit, charm, attentiveness. But materialistically, not much. And I wonder about the process. I think that part of me blanks out all the frustrating and difficult parts and focuses on the good parts once a relationship gets to the good parts. Dating can pretty much suck, so why would I want to put myself through that. Why does it bite? Because of the uncertainty. When one is in a relationship, there is at least some definition. In dating, it is all up in the air. Sure, the unknown is exciting, but can also be enervating and stressful.

Okey, enough drivel. Time for a quick recap of the events of yesterday. It was opera day. Mom woke up at some point and got dressed - at least she was dressed when I poked my head in around 10 am. I hope she didn't wake up at 5 and get dressed and just lie there stressing out. Sigh. We got out in a timely fashion and headed to Victor, NY, the beautiful Eastview Mall Cinema actually. We sat in seats we have sat in before, or close to. The opera was Don Giovanni (Don Juan) by Mozart. I like Mozart's music. And even his dramatic operas always seem to have a little bit of humor in them. Yay humor! All in all it was pretty enjoyable - though long! Mom also got a smidge bored towards the end. It reminded me of the Emperor's comment to Mozart about the opera Mozart had written: Too many notes!

After, we went to TGI Friday's for dinner. Mom had shrimp and chicken, we shared fried green beans and I had some beef on a stick. Not terrible and we have leftovers! Yay! Good day!

Pictures from October 29, 2011:

Our friendly ticket taker for the opera

Fried green beans with wasabi mayo dipping sauce

Mom and me at TGI Friday's

36!

I was thirty-six once. Seems like a long while ago now - 14 years? Where was I fourteen years ago. That would be 1997 - still working for Macromedia - maybe that was the year I was based out of New York City. I believe it was. Goodness, I was leading a charmed life at that point. Wow. Thank you for the memory!

But, once again, digression has occurred! Can one digress before one begins? Anyway, a thirty-sixth follower has joined or come out in the open! Yay! Welcome, welcome, welcome! Fear not, the blog will not become any more interesting now that you have officially joined! :)

Onward and backward now - kinda like Rand's journey through the crystal spires in WOT...yesterday was a very good day. Most of my days are good, which is pleasant. Yesterday was better. It was coldish here in Central NY. Not winter cold yet - still crisply fall. And it was sunny. I did a little stealth sorting - for those of you who are new to the blog, stealth sorting is when I do some sorting of mom's papers without her being there. Honestly, stuff that has been in a box for 6 months to 16 years, I don't think she would miss any of it - but the more pithy stuff, I do try to save and give her a chance to sort. Still, I like to do some stealth sorting and haven't done any in quite a while. I played a bit, went food shopping and cooked Salmon and veggies for dinner. Mom does like her salmon. Hey, speaking of Salmon, did everyone see the report that came out that a lot of fish for sale is not the fish it claims to be! Halloween in the fishing industry all year 'round. What a surprise! Ok, not really a surprise. Greed again...

A couple of songs keep going through my head - one of them a Beatles song, one a song from West Side Story.

Work has begun on a down and dirty book website. I hope to have it up and running by the end of Sunday. Bar Dreams and Diary of a Plate Addict both will be available. Though DoaPA won't be shipping until I actually have copies in hand...

Last night was the first Friday night that I have been out and about in a long, long time. Generally I don't like going out on Friday nights as it is too crowded in most places. Last night I went to two and neither was overwhelmingly thronged. The first was a Halloween thing at the Ramada. There was a very tall Little Red Riding Hood, who won a prize for funniest costume. And many other people were dressed up. I did not number in that group. A decent band was playing, whose name I do not know. I am guessing some local one. I certainly don't know the music scene here in Geneva. After a bit, I headed over to Red Dove Tavern, which was remarkably empty! It was easy to find a seat - which is not always the case there. Laura was my server - haven't seen her in a bit. They had changed up many of their beers, so a return visit is going to be necessary. I need to ask them about videotaping and such...And I was feeling a bit peckish - so I ordered the duck wings. Spicier than I thought they were going to be, still enjoyable. I brought most of them home. Yippee! And to top it all off, despite it being cloudy this morning, the sun is still shining. Whatever the heck that means...

Photos from Friday, October 28, 2011:

Sunny fall morning here in Geneva

Another package came yesterday - I splurged a little bit...if $13 is a splurge...

Duck wings from Red Dove Tavern

Package Day!

Not a great day, weatherwise - and except for running out to put the blue recycling bin next to the curb, and to get the mail, I did not go out. It was cold and drizzly all day. A good day to stay in by the fire, except we don't have a fireplace. I think I am going to get one of those DVDs or maybe even a blu-ray of a fireplace for the tvs in the house.  :) Apparently there are lots of them and not very expensive. We shall see.

I studied some Spanish, which is always good thing. Part of me would like to take the next semester of Spanish. But I also know that I want to do a lot of traveling starting in February. Sigh. Decisions, decisions.

Oh, I downloaded the Apple Developer kit for iPad etc. I don't know if I will get around to actually starting to work on my beer application, but anything is possible.

Yesterday was package day. I got three packages, though two contained the same thing. I got copies of Bar Dreams and I got my next set of business cards - still not excellent, but a smidge better than the last ones.

Dinner was pork fried rice (no cream cheese).

Mom and I are pretty sure we are going to close the doors and turn off the lights for Halloween this year - though I don't think that there are going to be many trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood.

Pictures from October 27, 2011:

Stuff on the back - can't decide if I like glossy better or not...

Yay! More copies of Bar Dreams!

Pork fried rice!

Gingerless

Apparently Ginger, the woman from the nursing support service, isn't feeling well today, so she won't be coming. Mom asked me if I wanted to do the things that she was going to have Ginger do and I said, no thank you! :)

I forgot to say that I got a 90 on my Spanish Test. Yippee! Very happy about that. Guess I will pass the class after all. Another test, an oral presentation and a final still to go (not counting quizes). 82 on the in-class essay, 68 on the first test and now a 90. Yippee! Easy C. :) Speaking of Spanish, I have some studying to do today!

XBox - The Force Unleashed was not for me. I enjoyed the game until I got to a place where I was supposed to jump over a gap and the 10 times I tried, I fell - just not worth continuing a game like that. Oh well. That is two that have failed - Red Dead Redemption has a disc error and now The Force Unleashed is going bye-bye. So I restarted Fable 3. Not as good as Fable 2 I think, but still fun. Yippee!

Here I am, not writing about something that is on my mind. Sigh.

I got the final proof of Diary of a Plate Addict yesterday. Awesome! It looks great. Now I just need everyone I know and ten of each of their friends to buy copies! Is that too much to ask? Hmm? My new schedule/plan is to head to NC the first week of December. That gives me enough time to order copies in a leisurely fashion, set up a website for paypal orders, communicate with Jeff at the Raleigh Saucer, etc. Sadly, it is the last week of classes at Hobart, so I am going to miss some stuff that will be on the Spanish final, but life is that way sometimes.

Beer at the Beef and Brew was pleasant. I had two draft beers since the bottled beers hadn't been changed. Hopefully they will be changed by next week. One of the beers I was going to have ran out before I got to have it. Sigh. Instead I had two great beers - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Rogue Dead Guy. Yay! Appropriate beer for the season. And I am not dressing up. I have had no brainstorm/epiphany about what to be. Oh well. Maybe next year?

Oh, I made a yummy "sauce" for the beef we had last night - onions, mushrooms, cream cheese and terryaki sauce - Worcestershire sauce would have also worked. Yum!


Pictures from October 26, 2011:

A beautiful fall morning here in Geneva, NY

New sorting baskets in my room - red for bills - green for things to be filed...one day...

This sign tickled me - Does it mean that Flu Shots are liable to walk in any time? :)

Beef with yummy sauce, artichoke and beans and peapods.

Almost but not quite

I wonder how you say that in Spanish...I like idioms and phrases like that in other languages. Makes one's conversation more fluid and natural sounding. Speaking of Spanish, I got my Spanish test back today and suffice it to say that the studying apparently paid off...

Last night I was going to go to the Cedar Inn for the second time - the first was years ago with Roger Farrand. I had a tuna melt. Weird the things that we remember. This time, it was closed. So off to MacGregor's in Canandaigua instead. They have a great selection of draft beer. I tried a few before choosing Southern Tier's Pumpkin, which had some nutmeg in it and tasted a lot like pumpkin pie. I liked this better than actual pumpkin pie, though. Then I had a beer from Novia Scotia - I will have to look at the picture I took of the taps - Anderson Knight or something like that - they had three styles, I tried the Brown - which was not awesome. I like MacGregor's and don't get there frequently enough. Tami, the bartender, was pleasant.

All in all a pleasant day yesterday. I did some studying, did laundry, did some grocery shopping and ended up making shrimp eggrolls for dinner. Mom asked me why there were shrimp in the eggrolls. I told her it was because she liked shrimp. Me, I would like some variety - chicken and perhaps pork or even vegetable eggrolls, but I haven't done any of those lately. Maybe I will make a few and freeze them...I haven't decided what to do for dinner tonight, yet. But, I have, once again, digressed. Mom got in a cleaning mood again yesterday. And it irked the hell out of me for some reason. I think it was the whining that got to. "I don't know where this came from." "I've never seen this before." "I don't know what to do with this." Grrrr. But we got through it. Barely. Yippee!

Photos from October 26, 2011:

The rear entrance to our local laundry place

I am getting better at rice!

Cool Magic Hat taps and Alexander Keith is the brewery from Nova Scotia

Thoughtful Tuesday

Maybe today's post will make up a bit for Sunday's post. Maybe not.

Anyway, a couple of things. On the home front - I coined a word - moibles - mom's foibles. She likes to help around the house now and again. One of the things she likes to do, or at least tries to do, not sure if she likes it, is dishes. I don't like her doing dishes for two reasons, one of them is a moible. The first reason is that dishes don't get even as clean as I like them (and I am not all that fussy about cleanliness...). The second is the dishpan thing. That is one of her moibles. Putting things in a dishpan and then leaving them. So I have to stick my hand in cold icky water to start cleaning them. Oh, and she rarely does a pan. Another moible - eating ice cream. I need to buy more, speaking of which - anywho - I bought a six pack of heath crunch Klondike bars - my favorite - and ate one. Now they are gone. Good for her for eating! But she didn't mention that they were gone. Poof. I went looking for one last night and, poof! Oh well.

Daily Challenge has asked me to write 5 minutes about a stressor in my life. And that would have to be money. Sigh. I hate thinking about money, much less writing about it. First off, I don't believe in money. It is a man-made creation and doesn't exist in nature. I don't see a lot of animals going to the bank and giving them their seeds or nuts or whatever and then heading off to the grocery store and giving them, I don't know, a leaf that is worth ten nuts so that they can get a loaf of bread. (And who, generally, owns the banks (like the Federal Reserve)? Rich, greedy, fearful people...) Secondly, I believe in abundance - that there is enough in the universe for everyone in the universe to have enough. Of everything. There is bounty in fact. (On a side note, we might have to husband the bounty here on our teeny weeny planet - but there is still enough here...) Greed comes from a scarcity/fear mindset. Moving on, of course I know the cure for not worrying about money: having lots of it. So far, hasn't happened. It could. But I am choosing not to stress or worry over it over much. For now it is not a life or death situation. And that is my five minutes.

I did ok on my Spanish test. I have to keep telling myself that. I just got a little confused in the heat of the moment. Nothing I can do about it anyway at this point. And I did go to lab last night. Not at all prepared, and it was actually a good lab. Helpful (ish) and fun. I will have to tell Hazel (the TA for the lab) that I thought it was a good one. And I shopped and cooked. Oh and helped out the Chinese woman who took one spoken English class from me and then never contacted me again. I still think it was because my breath was bad. Oh well. Anyway, she had gotten a letter and didn't understand it. An insurance letter, but it was just information and nothing she had to do anything about. Her employer had the responsibility to do stuff.

Createspace sent me a note saying that they fixed the problem and are sending me another proof of Diary of a Plate Addict. Yippee!

At the grocery store, I found spinach. It has been in short supply around here recently. I couldn't even find any frozen spinach at walmart the other day. And I bought a twelve pack of Sausages - because it was $1.50 more than 6 of the very same sausages. Weird.

Pictures from October 25, 2011:

Didn't turn out as well as I imagined - but I still like it...

Fall tree - yay!

Found in the yard - a full can of Genesee beer - I poured it out...

Here they are - twelve for the price of 6 plus $1.50!

Sunday Spanish Study Day

And I think the studying might have actually paid off! I spent a good couple chunks of time going over the future tense and the imperative. When I got to the exam this morning, I did have some mental reservations, but I think I did better than I did on the last test. We shall, of course, see.

Other than that, not a lot happened on Sunday. I reheated leftovers. Oh, I discovered that mom doesn't really like pasta - especially red sauce pasta. Good to know. I can now avoid that like the plague. It does cut some easy stuff out of the line-up. Oh well. Better to know than to not know is usually my motto.

There is a Spanish Lab tonight and I don't want to go. :(

Picture from October 23, 2011:

My elephant pillow guarding the Wheel of Time Audio collection!

I could be hallucinating...

I could be hallucinating, but I hope I am not. Or maybe just wishful thinking... Anyway, I think the change back to the not-so-potent Aricept is being a good thing. Mom doesn't seem to be as cold, doesn't seem to be having the same other issues and is actually participating more in the world. Yippee!

I thought about it the other day. Although I don't really know what I am doing, I am helping my mom. She doesn't have to take taxis to places. She doesn't have to worry about burning down the house while cooking. She doesn't have to stress over whether or not her bills are being paid. And she is taking her medications fairly consistently. So, although I am not doing wonders, we are getting by.

Still waiting to hear back from Createspace to see if they fixed the conversion error in Diary of a Plate Addict. The tech people apparently don't work on the weekend, so I will have to hope that tomorrow I will hear back.

Yesterday was pleasant! Mom and I had a night out. I think this is her first non-medical day out of the house in a month. We went to see a movie - Reel Steel - and then to dinner at Schooner's in Canandaigua. I enjoy movies, as long time readers and friends know. There were three that are playing just now that I would like to see - 50/50, Ides of March and Reel Steel. Mom wanted to see A Dolphin's Tale, and since I enjoy movies, I would have been happy to go see that as well. But she chose Reel Steel - because she likes Hugh Jackman and because she thought I would like that one best. Whatever. Despite being formulaic, the movie was still enjoyable. Not awesome, or inspired or anything like that. But good. Definitely would recommend it for a redbox rental - or Netflix. The theatre that we go to most often is the Geneva Multiplex - most of their smaller theatres have digital projections, which I think is great. Must save the whole industry a lot of money not having to ship film reels around.

Next stop, Canadaigua. I had forgotten the name of the place that I wanted to go - a place with a good seafood selection - 'cause mom likes seafood. I got gas at a place in town and asked a man if he knew of a decent seafood restaurant. He mentioned one called Doc's (Or Docks?) down the road a bit - and he also pointed at the one across the street called Schooner's and said the food there was pretty good. Doh! That was the place I had wanted to go to the last time mom and I went out to the movies and dinner. How fortuitous!

The place has been around 25 years. The current owner has run it for 2 years. A nice older gentleman named Jim. It was fairly busy, but Jim told us that there is usually a waiting list on Saturday nights. Good thing for us there wasn't. Mom ordered a cup of lobster bisque and I ordered a dish called Artichokes Alexander. Apparently Alexander liked bacon and feta cheese since the other dishes with Alexander in the name also contained those things. The bacon was a smidge over done, but other than that, the app was awesome! Three of my favorite things together in one dish! Mom's lobster bisque was good too. For entrees, mom had crabbed stuffed halibut and I had Chicken Christina - chicken with portabello mushrooms and other stuff over angel hair pasta. The pasta was a tad over cooked, but otherwise the dish was yummy. I have some to look forward to in the refrigerator. For beverages, mom had scotch and soda - two of them - so she went to bed pretty quickly after we got home. I had Naked Dove's Oktoberfest, which was pretty tasty! Might have to go get a growler of that if they still have it...

All in all a good day. On today's to do list - study Spanish for the test tomorrow! Eeek!

Pictures from October 22, 2011:

The movie poster

Yay! Found it!

Artichokes Alexander

Me and mom out on the town

Sometimes I am surprised

Sometimes I am surprised, pleasantly, about what pictures I have taken on a given day. Sometimes, not so pleasantly. I wasn't sure what pictures I took yesterday, turns out two ok ones. They will, of course, appear below. And so far, I haven't missed a day - at least one picture every day. Yippee!

It is interesting to me to look at iPhoto and see where I was a year ago. At this point last year, I was heading toward a mini-beer festival in Nashville at the Nashville Saucer. Visiting my good friend Melissa (I wonder how she is doing, actually) in Asheville.

Sadly, I got my proof of Diary of a Plate Addict from Createspace yesterday. Sadly because there was a conversion issue and all of the flip book elements disappeared! How weird is that! I called them and they said they would try to fix it on their end - this just adds time. At this point, I am definitely not going to be in NC for Halloween! Poop city! I am hoping that I will just push the visit back a week, but I am not going to schedule anything until I have ordered copies of the book. I wish I could afford to buy 500. Not that I think I will sell 500 at the Raleigh store in one fell swoop, though that would be nice. But it would be good to have that many copies. I still have no sense of how many copies I will sell. I did have a thought - reach out to my meet-up friends and see if they will post meet-ups related to the book. I know Steve from Tri-Beer will. Maybe the Snob Free Wine people will. Maybe one of the social groups will. The more the merrier!

Lazy day yesterday. I did attend Spanish class - and if my practice test had been graded, I think I would have gotten another 68. Sigh. Studying today and tomorrow for sure! Though I do want to go out tonight. Take mom to a new-to-us restaurant somewhere. I would, of course, like it to be a brew pub, but I don't know any that are near enough, that I haven't already been to.  Hmm, food for thought.

Pictures from October 21, 2011:

I splurged and bought cookies dough in a bag! Yum!

Is it odd that I enjoy doing dishes by hand?!

Readings

Over the years, I have been to a lot of readings. Poetry, fiction, non-fiction, staged etc. Last night I attended one at Hobart and William Smith by an author named Mary Gaitskill. It was surprisingly well attended - though I do think that some of the people there were required to attend - still, a good turn out. Mary read an entire short story. The story was very interesting and kept me intrigued the whole time. She also did a decent job presenting it. Not always the case. Some authors oughtn't to read their own works aloud in front of an audience. She also did well fielding questions. And somehow, I had two lovely women sit on either side of me. Still not sure how that happened. I sat there first! :)

Other than that, not too exciting a Thursday. I studied for my Spanish exam on Monday. I made the leftover sausage and pork into pork fried rice. And thawed and fried four eggrolls. That turned out pretty well, actually, so going forward, that is my new methodology: freeze the raw eggrolls. Though I need to let them thaw over a longer period of time...

Oh, I forgot. I actually accomplished a couple of tasks. One was to order copies of Bar Dreams. I ordered two cartons, 88 copies. I hope that isn't too many. We shall, of course, see. And I redesigned and reordered my business cards. Somehow I had gotten the template wrong which frustrated me for a good bit. I also don't know Gimp all that well. I was mildly frustrated for about half an hour. But I got it done. And if they don't turn out excellently, there will only be 250 of them and I can run through those pretty quickly and try again. Yay for accomplishing things!

Photos from October 20, 2011:

So I like easy crosswords...

A wall of Distinguished Faculty

My father's picture

When did it become Thursday?

Time continues to wobble weirdly. Last I knew it was Monday. Oh well. Yay Thursday!

Waiting on a the second proof for Diary of a Plate Addict. This one is costing more than the first cost, I think, for some reason. I don't understand why. The shipping is costing more. And the time is less quick - Estimated delivery is Monday. Which means that my trip to NC will definitely be postponed. Sigh. But that does give me more time to get my act together. Thank you Brigitte (and others) for your helpful advice. We shall see what comes of it.

Yesterday was beer day at the Beef and Brew. Steve and Mike were there and updated the beer specials just for me. They are still on a German kick, so we had to pick German Beer. Honestly, I now find most German beer to be fairly boring. The choices yesterday were Bitburger from Bremen, Beck's and Beck's Dark. I saved the dark for last and was, sadly, underwhelmed. Long ago it was one of my favorite beers. Mainly because there weren't a lot of dark beers to choose from. But all in all, a good time was had by all. Yippee!

Dinner was beer brats, broccoli and baked beans. I overcooked the broccoli a little. Sigh. Everything else was dandy. Hot dogs and baked beans is one of my comfort foods. Speaking of comfort foods, I really need to clean out the refrigerator of left overs again. There are way too many in there.

What else happened yesterday, you may be asking? Well, can't say as there was a whole lot else of excitement to recount.

Today, some study for the Spanish Exam on Monday, whatever puttering mom wants to accomplish if any. Maybe a "reading" tonight. An author, Mary Gaitskill, is going to read something from something. If I can get my act together in time, I will go. It is not till 7:30. I also hope to accomplish a couple things from my list. We shall see!

Photos from October 19, 2011:

My last Hooker's Watermelon. :(

Turns out mom doesn't like sauerkraut!

Mom's freshly made bed with brand new sheets!

Counter Intuitive

Counter intuitive - not the type of intuition that accountants have - but the type that seems contrary. For instance, I would think in a house that is heated by steam, like the house here in Geneva, that people and things would be more moist, but I seem to dry out incredibly quickly. What is that about?

I post a lot of pictures of food on this blog - especially stuff I cook - so maybe this ought to be a foodie blog? Then again, I post a lot of other stuff as well.

Like stuff about my mom. I do wonder if I am helping her. Ok, I know I am, but I also wonder if there isn't more I could be doing, or less. Am I enabling her? On the other hand, she is 81 so I think she deserves some coddling. Sigh. The best one can do is do the best one can do and go on - deal with the consequences of one's choices. Yada, yada, yada.

Well, the files that comprise Diary of a Plate Addict are up for review again on CreateSpace. I am hoping the cover will be accepted - then another proof - and then ordering copies! Where to mail them. Here? To my house in NC? To the Saucer in NC? Some here, some there? How many? Do I want to make a website? I think I should have one that people can use to pay with paypal if they want to when I am in Raleigh. I also ought to make new business cards. And order some copies of Bar Dreams. And instead of doing any of that, I sit here, or there, or somewhere, like a lump. Yay lumps!

I am more than a little anxious about the trip to NC. How will mom weather it? How will I? Will I sell enough copies of the book to pay my rent in NC? And cover expenses? And have enough to pay some other bills? I have to write to Jeff (manager of the Raleigh Saucer) and communicate with him about potential signage and times of selling. What else will I do in NC? Who else will I see? What about all of the other Saucers? So far, my plan is to send each of them a copy of the book with a letter saying that they are welcome to buy copies and sell them in their merchandise cabinets. Will any of them take me up on it? How much discount ought I to offer? I am thinking 20% off orders fewer than 25. 45% off copies over 25. Glarg. Where is a business minded person when I need them?

Yippee!

Photos from October 18, 2011:

Remember the pears - they turned into yummy pear juice!

Yay! English muffin pizza!

This is where library books are supposed to live...

What to do...

Hello everyone out in blogoland. Or in the blogosphere, I think it is called. In any case, howdy. I hope this finds you all well and happy - or at least as well and happy as you can be!

All in all a pleasant Monday. Yay! Spanish class was ok. I managed a 17 out of 20 on my quiz! Hurrah for me. Two of my errors, ok, three, were caused through haste. Oh well. Life is that way sometimes. We also started to learn about commands. Very exciting stuff. Soon I will be able to tell people to "Sit!" Later in the lab we did some more on commands. Apparently we have a quiz on Wednesday about them. And an exam on Monday? Eeek? Not sure what all is going to be on that exam, but I guess I will see.

I am really doubting I will be taking a class next semester. I would like to, but I also need to make time to go out to Texas and sell some copies of Diary of a Plate Addict. And visit the newest Saucer. I am leaning towards January or February for that trip. We shall see. In any case, it would be good not to have to use my alarm again. And I don't know what I would like to take. More Spanish? Part of me would like to teach a class. I still think I would be a good professor. But that may have to wait for a while.

Mom has been on the new Aricept for a week and I don't see any changes yet. I think she is less nauseous, but that is about all. Maybe it will take two weeks for her to get back to normal-ish.

Today, I get to go to the library and I get to study some Spanish later. Huzzah!

Oh, two of my friends put up a cool website about the upcoming presidential election. Don't know that I will buy stuff or donate, but I will certainly vote for Obama before I vote for any of the oh, so exciting crowd of, er, hmm...anyway...

Photos from October 17, 2011:

Ready for Netflix on mom's TV!

Fall sky

Weird artifact in the photo - I swear the chicken was normal when I fed it to mom!

Future pear juice!

Is it the New Moon?

Nope, I looked and it isn't. Weird. I don't know why I am feeling a little blue - well, I have lots of reasons, but none new. Hmm. I do feel a smidge better than I did when I first woke up this morning. Now, after having done some yoga and having eaten lunch, my mood has stabilized a bit. Still blue, but not as deep a shade.

Mom woke me up this morning by calling for me on the baby monitor. She says she doesn't recall doing that. Anyway, she was lying there awake trying to figure out something that she was experiencing. She couldn't adequately explain it to me to either of our satisfactions. Then she started telling me about her dream and berating herself for not being able to remember it better. I tried to console her by pointing out that most people have a hard time recalling their dreams...speaking of which, two snippets from my dreams - one was a travel dream - taking a bus from San Francisco to Seattle. And the other, being chosen to represent a sports team, even though I had been out for most of the season, at some special event. Weird.

I am less and less sanguine that  anyone is going to buy copies of Diary of a Plate Addict. Especially since the book is now going to be obsolete as soon as it comes out. The Flying Saucer chain is opening a new restaurant in the suburbs of Houston. Funny, I can't imagine that their base has been clamoring for that. I am guessing it is another opening of opportunity. They found an inexpensive deal that they couldn't pass up - rather than opening one in a market that would be excellent for them - like Ithaca, or some other middle sized town with a big student/transient population. Whatever. It isn't my business to run. Regardless, this means that I will have to revise the book fairly soon. Crap! It isn't even done yet. I sent it off to be reviewed by the printing company - once they ok it I will send for another proof. Hopefully there will be nothing glaringly wrong with it and I will go ahead and order copies. I was leaning towards 300, but don't know if I ought to at this point. Grr and sigh. Sigh and grrr. Grigh!

Photos from October 16, 2011:

Mom's DVD player ceased functioning, so I got this one - haven't set it up yet...

I love the Dollar Tree where everything is a dollar (or less),

but I oughtn't to be allowed to go - I went to buy a pizza slicer, which I did - and then this other stuff jumped into my cart!!

Weird Ear thing

I seem to have ear issues. Nothing horrendous, but off and on, it seems that my ears concern me. Right now, I have an interesting phenomenon occurring: I can hear my heart beat in my right ear - ok, not the beat, but it feels and sounds like I can hear the blood flowing, pulsing, through my ear. Weird, right?

It was a cold and rainy day yesterday. Not as bad today. I am going to go see if there are any Ida Red apples at Red Jacket at some point. And it might be game night tonight, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Back to yesterday. I did end up going out, to go shopping yesterday. Went to Walmart. I was going to go to several places, but it was just too icky. I am still not, nor will I ever be, a fan of Walmart. Just too many bad things they have done over the years. So many little stores that they have destroyed, local economies messed up. Sigh. And our Walmart, recently expanded to be a super duper Walmart, just doesn't thrill me. Oh well, I still end up buying stuff there sometimes, as it is less expensive. Like mom's mixed nuts - in Rite-Aid they are over $10 - at Walmart they are $7 something. That is almost a gallon of gas! Eeek!

And that is about all I did yesterday. I cooked dinner and played. Today I will have to do some Spanish homework. And I probably ought to do all 16 verbs that Carlos gave us conjugation sheets for again. Couldn't hurt!

Have I mentioned that I dislike Flash sometimes? Well, I do. It seems to crash just when something interesting is happening. Hulu uses it to stream movies. I wish they didn't...I watched Glee and Warehouse 13 last night - and somewhere in the middle of Warehouse 13 Flash freaked out! Grrr.

Photo from Saturday, October 15, 2011:

Daily Challenge Stress Relief (not that I feel stressed) suggested I meditate on something from nature - so I picked this leaf!

New to me place!

Friday was a funday, all things considered! It started with a Spanish quiz, which I think I passed - which will be the first one that I have passed! Yippee! Carlos wasn't there - off at another conference - and our TA was there instead - she did great, despite my fellow students being even more reticent than usual...as a fellow student, I just don't have enough energy to lift them all up. Sigh.

Most of the rest of the day was spent hunkered down in the house avoiding the rain. And the coolness. I did venture out for ingredients for pizza. It turned out ok, not great. I got the crust too crispy and there was not enough oregano and garlic on the thing. Next time, better for sure.

Lastly, I went to a new-to-me place - Stonecutters - the Belhurst's bar. Interesting place to which I may have to venture again one day. There was a wedding happening in the building so guests were all around - the bride actually made an appearance as well - lovely dress!

No exciting plans for the weekend. Yippee!


I just saw on Facebook that the Flying Saucer is opening a new branch in a suburb of Houston. Fie! Makes my book, Diary of a Plate Addict, obsolete and it isn't even on the shelves yet. Speaking of which, Heather put up the new cover which is excellent! And I am just waiting on new innards before sending off for another proof. I am going to go ahead and sell what I have - and then update it in the summer. After I have been out to visit the new location. On my book tour. With mom. Which is going to be a joyous experience. (This is positive mental imaging...)

Pictures from October 14, 2011:

I liked this picture - I just wish the lime green bike popped a bit more

Yay clouds!

Does this say fall to anyone?