Fresh Start

Holy moley, what a few days it's been!

I believe that I have finally gotten my PC straightened out. I had to reset it twice on Thursday, when it would not let me boot or log in. I would get to the animated circlng dots, either during the bootup process or after entering my PIN, and there it would stay for eternity.

End result: I let the reset process take place (which lasted eons) and worked from my little netbook on Thursday. Finally, on Friday, the computer was at a point where I could work all day on it.

I have since been doing additional cleanup, as well as reinstallation of software. I think I am FINALLY at the point where, once this last little bit of installation is done, I will be recovered from the past four days of agita.

No wonder the freaking Geek Squad is so expensive. Jiminy Cricket, this was a travail!

But the good news is, my computer IS working. I didn't have to take it anywhere to be serviced, and I can continue using it to work from home during social distancing, so hip, hip, hooray!

Carmela

God rest our dear friend Carmela, who was 103.5 years old. She survived the influenza pandemic as a baby, and cancer as an adult. But then COVID-19 ran through the nursing home where she was a resident. 


Thanks and blessings to Carmela for the many dinners at her house, and for consoling us when we wandered over to her home in grief after seeing our friend Joan in the ICU and realizing that Joan was unlikely to rally.

I'm just so sad right now.

That moment when you are working on THREE PCs at once

I strongly suspect that the hard drive on my main PC is on its last legs. Argh grumble mumble swear cuss growl.  The disk usage has been tending to be in the 90-100% range consistently, even when I'm not doing anything particularly intensive.

Therefore, this is the setup I have going today

First, I have my main computer set up (after having spent about 30 hours between yesterday and the day before doing resets and a bunch of other "Dear Lord and Patron Saints of Tech, let this work" stuff. We are finally at a point where it takes a little under 10 minutes to boot up. Which is better than getting stuck infinitely during the bootup and not actually booting at all.

Second, I have my main computer remotely connected to my work computer, so that's two PCs I'm using.

Third, I have my netbook open, so that when things are calm on the work front, I can look up fixes for Windows 10 excessive disk usage, and not cause my main PC to use its disk any more than it absolutely has to. Because too much disk usage equals frozen computer, which equals 10 minutes spent recovering from frozen computer, and I do not need that while I am trying to actually get freaking WORK done.

So there you have it. I am working on 3 PCs at once, because I'm just that much of a geek.

P.S. I have also started to apply any of the fixes I find that don't involve a restart. We have gotten the disk usage down to somewhere in the 80% range.  Go, me! That's still way higher than I want it, but it makes Frozen Computer Syndrome less likely, so I will take it.

Tiny But Mighty

Working from home has just gotten a lot more interesting, in the sense of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times".

My main computer, the 17" laptop, started hanging during boot yesterday. All I was getting was the spinning dots. To make a long story a lot less long, I used Google-fu on my phone and tried a whole bunch of scan and repair techniques, all of which did diddly squat to fix the problem.

So I am left with the nuclear options. First, I am trying to reset the PC such that it keeps the files but reinstalls Windows. In the event that fails, the next option is just do a complete clean install of All The Things and start from scratch.

I am decidedly Not Happy about the fact that it has been showing "Resetting the PC.... 1%" for two hours.

However, this is where the Tiny But Mighty comes in. I have got a 7" netbook, which is barely bigger than my iPhone XS Max Plus screen,  Last night, when it became clear that the likelihood was slim that I would have the main PC up and running by 7 AM this morning, I started setting up the netbook to connect to work.

So that's what I am doing today and, apparently, every day until I get my pain PC back up and running.

What can I say? Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Since this netbook does not have a camera (the one thing I would change about it), I had to go retrieve my webcam from the camera bag and set it up, to ensure that it was working in time for our conference call this afternoon. I actually need the camera more for its microphone capabilities than for its imaging, for the time being, as the netbook's audio drivers got glitched by a Windows update many  moons ago For whatever reason, it doesn't recognize its own microphone anymore, but it does work with the camera's mic, so I set the camera up. Nobody shares audio in these meetings, though we COULD if we wanted to. I don't want to, lol.

So wish me luck in reinstalling Windows on my machine, because I am OVER these blasted problems. #FML

To Do List

I have been building up to starting to write on Medium for a while now. I would say it's been two or three months since I made the decision to start submitting articles. But first, I prepared by creating a list of topics to write about.

It amuses me that the article I submitted last night actually started out as one topic, but quickly morphed into expounding on a different topic. Here I was, thinking that I was going to cover one particular situation, and then my brain said  NOPE and veered off in a different direction. I just went with the flow, edited accordingly, and hit Publish.

In retrospect, maybe I need to go through that topic list and make sure that there aren't redundant entries on there. Perhaps a few of the items on the list are a little TOO closely related to one another, and they can be categorized as a single topic.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy writing.  I just heard Todd Rundgren's "Bang on the Drum All Day", and it reminded me of how enthused I am to sit at a keyboard and just create.

Fortunately, the past few workdays have been offering me ample opportunity to deploy my brainpower, which means that I am already in high gear when I log off at the end of the day. I have started handling electronic medical records requests, and it has been a bit of a travail trying to send faxes via email. Once I got it working on my end, the Gremlins started acting up on the receiving end. I got an email yesterday afternoon, saying that we are now to email the requests to a new address set up for this purpose, rather than using Outlook to send the faxes.

It's all good. I started sending the medical record requests the new way as of today, and it works. Take that, Gremlins!

Verbal Abuse is Still Abuse

The latest Medium article:

The Relationship Red Flag That Hides In Plain Sight

Testing an app

I found an app called Blogg that purports to work nicely to manage Blogspot blogs. 

Ok, then, I’ll give it a try. 

Have some SQUEE!

Happy Blogday to Me!

I can't believe it has been 17 years since I started this blog!

I normally gift myself a celebratory trinket of some sort in honor of Blogday, but we might have to postpone that this year. The quarantine has knocked out my two side gigs and eliminated any OT pay, so I have to watch my expenditures.

But I will celebrate this day at some point. Even delayed celebration is celebration.

Kitty Break

Me: [work work work]

[Tiny kitty face appears in my line of sight, looking up expectantly.]

Me: Hi, Merlin! [skritch skritch skritch]

Merlin: PURRRR [Wanders off after his need for a dote has been sated]

Me: [work work work]

When we go back to the office, I will miss having random kitty breaks during the workday.

Star Wars Day

Oh, and BTW. On the departmental conference call today, I told everyone, "May the Fourth be with you!" #nerd

I need to track down some writers groups

I think it's time I seek out some writers groups on Facebook.

Maybe I can find one or more groups geared toward writers on Medium.com. Not only can we give each other feedback, if we are all in the Members Partner Program, our interactions with one another's articles will result in payments to the articles' authors. Win/win.

For the time being, I have resolved to take some of my favorite topics, things that I have been expounding on for years anyway, and write about those things. (Hence, the article I posted on Sunday afternoon.) That sounds like the epitome of "write what you know" to me!

I also seem to write at my best when I am really motivated by emotion. Ironically, for a person who really tries to manage her anger, some of my absolute best writing has sprouted from events that have made me incandescent with rage. Go figure.

I certainly hope that I don't often have the need to pour out words on topics that have me ready to breathe fire, but I certainly have decided to resort to deploying my keyboard regularly when I have something to express... and I don't just mean for brief snippets of writing on social media. I am going to get back to the Real Thing, too, and REALLY write the way I did for all these years on this blog.

Therefore, to do during my lunch break: scan Facebook for writer's groups.

P.S. I was tipped off over the weekend to the existence of another site called MyLot.com . If that is another paid writing site, I will have to look into joining. Income streams FTW. Even pin money is money.

I Never Had to Find Myself

My latest Medium.com post:


I Never Had to Find Myself

Folks who know me offline have heard me opine on this topic, and how early I think the seeds are planted for midlife crisis, multiple times. I thought it would be a good idea to write it out.

I am now officially a writer at Medium.com

I have been a paid member of Medium.com for a few years now. I finally reached the point where the Urge To Write grew too strong to resist, so I started working on articles.

Here's my profile, which I just realized I need to add to my sidebar on here:


Donna's Medium Page

So stop on by and see what's happening! I published my first article over there yesterday. As it happens, I also posted a version of the same article here, but there are going to be times when I post content that is unique to either this blog or Medium, rather than being duplicated.

Here's the article link that allows both free and paid members to read the content:

I Enjoy My Lockdown Work Situation

Enjoy!

Does it make me a terrible person?

I enjoy my lockdown work situation.

Am I a terrible person?

I read a LOT online during my free time. Social media, Medium, news sites, blogs; you name it, I read it. Since every possible pastime that involves leaving the house has been temporarily curtailed by The ‘Rona, that leaves me even more time to sit and read.

Understandably, those of us who partake in social media, we who write online snippets about our day and click the Send button, are opining about what the stay-at-home orders mean to us. I think it’s crucial for people to express these points of view, since the appearance of COVID-19 is going to be viewed as a major historic event. People in the future will be curious to know what it was like to live under a worldwide lockdown, and we owe it to them to give a contemporaneous account of how our lives were impacted.

We also owe those future people the benefit of our insight, as well as descriptions of how the changes in our world have made us feel. Whoever has not lived through these times will be ill-served if all they are able to access is a bland timeline of events. To make the information come alive, we who are living the experience will have to record our thoughts and feelings for posterity, to shed light on what life was like when the social distancing rules were enacted.

As such, I can’t help but contribute my own point of view to the mix. I am one of the fortunate folks who is able to work remotely while our office space is locked down. I work in an outpatient medical clinic attached to a large medical system. The entire floor of our building has been temporarily converted to house non-COVID patients, in the event that the hospital across the street becomes overloaded by patients with coronavirus. The intent was to give the COVID patients the beds in the hospital, and migrate the non-COVID patients onto our floor.

We were told on April 1 that we had two days to remove our personal effects from the clinic, so that the transition could take place. I dutifully brought a large box to work and packed anything that was mine, so it would not be damaged or misplaced while the clinic was repurposed.

Then I came home, and I have been working from my living room ever since. And I have discovered something about myself that almost makes me feel guilty. Every day, I am seeing people write online and speak on TV about the hardships that the lockdown is visiting upon them. They express how much they miss the things that are currently disallowed, or lament the way their income has been utterly disrupted by all the business closures. But all I can think of, when I assess my own lockdown life, is how much I revel in working remotely.

My revamped workday is an easy thing to enjoy. Reducing my daily commute time from a 3-hour round-trip to ten seconds is outstanding. Instead of leaving the house before sunrise and returning home after sunset, I am actually able to see sunlight coming through my front window on weekdays. Having actual free time after work, and being able to spend it in my own home instead of languishing at bus stops, is a pleasure. For the time being, I have even more downtime than I am accustomed to, because on top of not commuting, I also am not working overtime. A person could get used to relaxing in their own house, you know?

I am very cognizant that I am one of the fortunate people, in that I am still able to work full-time while not being put at risk of contracting coronavirus. I also am grateful that the income disruption I am experiencing, the lack of overtime pay and the suspension of two side gigs, is not a crippling blow. The bills are still getting paid and the groceries are still being purchased (presuming we can find them in the store). And, most importantly, my husband, parents, and I are all in good health. In short, I am well aware that having the ability to like anything whatsoever about La Vida Lockdown is a luxury, and I count my blessings that I can see positives in our current situation while others justifiably lament the difficulties that they are withstanding.

But while other folks are expressing their frustration at the changes coronavirus has made on their daily lives, I frequently think of how much I will miss remotely working once we resume a normal schedule. I feel guilty for enjoying myself in this regard, so I have kept this to myself (until now).

I sincerely wish that all the dreadful aspects of the lockdown were not happening to people. My heart goes out to the ones who are sick or in financial distress, and I adamantly agree that their well-being is just as important as mine. Therefore, once society gradually begins to resume normal practices, I will not complain. Certainly, I look forward to resuming seeing family and friends in person instead of communicating only via the phone and Zoom calls. I will also willingly go back to long waits at bus stops in the rain and snow, working all kinds of extra hours, and only seeing the sun come through my front window on the weekends. We need the world to be healthy and thriving, physically and financially, and that is the only way we are going to achieve it, so I will not bemoan my fate.

But boy, am I ever going to miss the ten-second commutes. Son of a gun, but are those ever nice.

And then the world turned upside-down

Well, it has been a couple years since I have made any major updates. Merlin and Pyewacket are two years old now. Baxter will turn 13 in September. Mark is retired as of a couple years ago, because his employer moved his entire department from PA to FL and cut all the PA jobs. To get the severance package, the PA folks had to train their FL replacements to do their job. He passed his 40-year work anniversary at that company a few weeks prior to the job being cut.

I am still working for the medical system, a job which I started in late 2015 as a temp, and then converted to working full-time with Real Live Benefits nine months later.


In mid-March, the plague known as COVID-19 swept over the US significantly enough that PA started issuing stay-at-home orders. As medical system employees, we were classed as essential, so we could continue working. However, we all converted to a schedule that had us working part of the week in the office and part from home. This would allow for a skeleton crew in the clinic, but keep as few people as possible on the premises to reduce the risk of the staff being exposed to coronavirus.

Two weeks later, though, our schedules were revamped again. We were told that we had two days to retrieve all our personal effects from the clinic, as the entire floor of the building where we work was going to be converted to surge beds. The idea was that if the hospital across the street was overloaded with COVID patients, the non-COVID patients would be set up on our floor, so that the coronavirus patients could take up more hospital rooms. This meant that we were all going to be working full-time from home. And so that is where we stand now. We will be working from home for at least the next two weeks, as we are working on converting all appointments through the middle of May to telemedicine if possible. Folks who absolutely must be treated in person are being directed to other health system locations where the clinic is open.

We all miss socializing on weekends. The Misfit Toys have a weekly Zoom call at 5:30 PM. JFM, KR, Mark, DH, and I have been regulars. BAS and ES have joined in when they could, but BA has had work meetings that have kept her from coming in for the past couple weeks. I actually subscribed to Zoom to make sure that we wouldn't get cut off after 40 minutes on the conference call. I can have up to 100:participants now. I think I will not be running afoul of that limit any time soon, lol.

So, that's all the news that's fit to print.

Except this: I have a new project. I want to start writing for Medium.com. I think I am going to have to create my posts elsewhere and import them, though, because the freaking editor page looks utterly blank. I even double-checked to make sure I was using a compatible web browser, and I am. Therefore, Step One is going to be to find a tutorial or three that explains how to create a post on their FREAKING BLANK PAGE screen. I am used to Blogger where the fields are clearly marked so you know what you're writing, and where you're supposed to write it.

When I publish a new post on there, I will link it here.

I am reminded that other people's opinion of me is none of my business.

So be it.

Whoops!

Upon reviewing my blog contents, it appears that there were NO posts for 2019. That will never do!

Therefore, by the power vested in me by the Scheduled Post option, I shall now repair that error.

Behold! A 2019 post.

Kittenfest!

[Two black kittens step up to the microphone]

Merlin: A-*hem*. Is dis fing on? It is? Oh, good.

Ohai, I'm Merlin, and dis my brofur Pyewacket. We's THREE WHOLE MONTHS old, and dat's a longlong time! 

Our three sisfurs dat we was borned wif are already out ruling houses. Now it's our turn to take ofur ruling DIS house.

I is da great magician kitty, and Pye here is my second-in-command.

Pyewacket: EXCUSE YOU, I don't fink so! We are equals and we rule togefur!

Merlin: You can be my familiar.

Pye: Yes, I am familiar wif you. You're my brofur.

Merlin: Dat's not what "familiar" means! It's... oh, nefur mind.

Oh, look, bowls of fud! [Kittens run to see and crash into each other]

Pye: Excuse you, I was here first!

Merlin: Were not!

Pye: Was too!

Merlin: I'll turn you into a toad! Hocus Cadabra!

[A pawful of glitter materializes from thin air and drifts to the floor.]

Pye: Cool trick, bro.

Merlin: I MEANT to do that. [washes paw]

Pye: Anyway, your technique's all wrong. Rememfur how they teach it at Hogwart's? Swish and flick, swish and flick. Watch my tail, I'll show you. [swish] [flick] [swish] [flick]

[Merlin watches swishing, flicking tail. His eyes get ever larger until...]

Merlin: AAAAHHHH! GET DA TAIL! [pounces]

Pye: Ow! Hey! OK, if you wanna be DAT way about it, then... [wrestling match ensues]

[Wrestling ball of kittens rolls off and exits, stage left]

---

The new Royal Felines are currently exploring the basement. They'll stay down here for a few days until they get acclimated; then they can explore the house.

Good Mourning, America

I grieve for my country today. Our Founding Fathers' foray into democracy has been usurped by a narcisstic, thin-skinned, vulgar, vengeful, ignorant, crass, affluenza-ridden manchild.

I don't do adult beverages, but I dealt with my feelings today via copious amounts of hot cocoa.

There's only so much depression-relief to be gained from consuming carbs, however. So its impact was, necessarily, limited in scope. Drinking enough hot cocoa to drown sorrows THIS all-encompassing would land a person in the ER.

You Shall Not Pass

On Tuesday night, Baxter went partway up the stairs to the second floor. Captain sat at the foot of the stairs. I became aware of that fact when the dog decided he wanted to return to the living room, and found the cat blocking his way.

"Yip yip yip yip yip yip" went Baxter. Captain just sat and looked at him. I sat and watched to see what would happen. To my great amusement, even though the dog has chased the cat in the past, he seems to have found a newfound respect for Captain in recent days. Possibly, this started when Baxter attempted to chase the cat, and Captain just sat there. Either that, or Baxter has a memory of being swatted by the Paw of Doom. I haven't seen the cat smack the dog upside the head in recent days, but it's always possible that there was some Paw of Doom usage when I wasn't there to see it.

In any event, Baxter showed enough deference to Captain (and the Paw of Doom) to just yip at him until he finally moved out of the way, allowing Baxter to get past him and enter the living room.

😂😂😂 I have such #spoiledcritters .