Harry Lane was a well-known and respected Oregon politician. A medical doctor by profession, he was the grandson of the first territorial governor of Oregon. He was mayor of Portland after the turn of the century and established a reputation as a man of principle. He was considered the worst enemy of the corrupt politicians, cops and shanghai artists who were virtually running the city when he arrived. He had a reputation as a supporter of women’s suffrage and an advocate for more respectful treatment of Native American tribes in the state of Oregon. And he was a man of peace during a time of war.
Be sure to read more about him using one of the above links. Or go and google him. He's a man worth knowing! Portland actor David Rianda has impersonated Mayor Harry Lane as part of the festival's Living History program since 2007 -- that's ten years as of 2017! Dave is a wonderful man who takes this role very seriously. So David and several members of our staff -- including Marilyn, Angel, Adeena, Suzanne, Christine and me -- started our day in Lone Fir cemetery beside Harry Lane's grave on this very beautiful, sunny day. Soon joined by our 2007 President Leslie and the Court for 2017. Because this is a man worth remembering! I wish I had all the words of the 'Whereas' here in front of me that Marilyn wrote on behalf of the mayor, because it's very cool and very impressive!
After that the Court headed off on their way (they are very busy right now every day). And most of the staff went back to a busy day at the office. But Marilyn went off to discuss security for the festival in light of world events (and especially all the issues happening here in Portland). I met with Donn about the work he was doing in the office today. And with his granddaughter Ashley (who calls Donn 'Grandpa'), who wants to volunteer to help me at the Grand Floral Parade this year.
And soon after Adeena took me to Safeway for deli Chinese food (and peanuts), then home (before heading back to work).
I've been suffering with leg cramps. And today I was also having spleen pain (again). Good grief.
But what a gorgeous day! Perfect for our 'event' for Mayor Harry Lane!
I got a bunch of work done on the computer and rested as much as I was able.
And went briefly over to see June and Jim (who gave me some keyboards for the office).
Then after another crazy day at work, Marilyn came home pretty early for her! We were ready to lie down for a 'nap' around 9:00 -- which is unheard of here at our house! Hahaha.
Now it's past 2:00 and I'm blogging as usual. And I'll take my meds and head off to bed.
Tomorrow I train Tashae, who is my last trainee for this festival season (considering our festival begins on Friday!!!). Normally I wouldn't be training someone this week. But if you check out last year, I was training this same woman on May 25, so... Hahaha. Yes, I'm actually re-training her tomorrow.
And I have my NEW set of training notes ready! We've added a bunch of stuff. More about that later. I really need to head to bed now!
I haven't been this FRUSTRATED in a long, long time. And believe me, when it comes to my work as IT Manager for the festival, there are CONSTANT frustrations. Right now I have a mental list that's making me crazy. Crazier? Hahaha. Ah, so true.
Since I became the IT Manager officially back in 2007, I've always been able to WORK from my home office. Or anywhere that I could get online and use Remote Desktop to access my work computer. And, yeah, the entire time there have been periods on and off where I could NOT access my work computer. So, in other words, struggling with this isn't new.
But somehow I've come up with solutions every time. This time around I'm pretty frustrated, because there doesn't seem to be ANY free solution. I mean, seriously???
Yes, Kris could probably get me back up with Windows Remote Desktop -- but that's NOT free. Kris is actually pretty expensive. And if he has to put in hours and hours of his time, then I'm screwed.
I'm locked out of TeamViewer. The cost is extremely high. Multiple user profiles (which is necessary) on unlimited devices costs $1,689 -- actually, right now it's on SALE until June 30 (two more days), for $1,469 (a savings of $200 -- and that ain't hay). There's no way we could clear this cost in two days, so there's no point to even mention it, anyway. It allows you to manage up to 400 unattended devices, which we would never need (thankfully!). Too bad there's no smaller package that costs less...
I admit, after looking at a bunch of other similar services, at least it's a ONE TIME payment -- and not a monthly fee. I just saw one that had outrageous monthly fees (hundreds of dollars per computer), so I guess TeamViewer isn't the most expensive service around. But still!!!
Meanwhile, I'm going nuts not being able to access my work computer from home. I suppose I need to accept the fact that I'm going to have to start going to the office daily and quit assuming I'll be able to work from home in the future.
I don't know why I fight that. I mean, work is work, right??? I'm just ridiculously spoiled by being able to work from my home office. It's not like I don't put in lots and lots of hours here at home. But I can sit around in my pajamas without showering, if you know what I mean. Hahaha. Yeah, that's the ticket! It isn't about work -- it's about comfort. I told you I was spoiled.
Anyway, I've got other IT things to check out, too. This crazy new message from the new Profile (Maleah). It sounds like her Calendar won't share. Good grief! You would have thought by now that I'd have seen every damn bad error message that Microsoft had created. I mean, I've seen tons and tons of them!!! What the hell is this one??? I tried to investigate it last week and wasn't having much success. I need to get on her computer and check it out, I guess. Man, with IT it's ALWAYS SOMETHING. Every single day in some crazy way.
And as I can't Remote in, there's no way to check it from home... (heavy sigh) I need to get my butt in there and sit at the machine. Okay then!
Marilyn is playing Zuma while I blog. She's doing really good! She got home at a reasonable hour tonight and we watched a bunch of TV. Love It Or List It (we love that show). And American Ninja Warrior (we adore it). Plus Wimbledon started today, so tennis was on for hours (starting very early).
Hot. It's hot right now, sitting in our home office. And the AC is running as we speak. I never heard how hot it got today. I just looked it up and saw 86'. I don't know if that's true, or not. But it was in the high 80's in the upstairs of our house for CERTAIN this afternoon when I turned the air conditioning on...
I really need to go wash my hair now. (To say nothing of my sweaty body! Hahaha.) So off I go...
(Yes, I still have a bit of laryngitis. And I'm not over this bug, even now. I just can't talk about it anymore! Some day I'll get my voice back, hopefully. And my energy.)
Today was a big day. I talked to Marilyn -- and then spoke to Jeff -- about giving up my role as Webmaster. So it's official: I'm no longer the Webmaster for the festival.
I've been in that role since August of 2007 -- so it's been around 6 1/2 years. I have to say I really enjoyed the work, overall, as hard as it was sometimes. And I learned a lot! And got to do amazing things.
My role as Webmaster earned the festival an award for the website (in 2008), and had a lot to do with me becoming International Volunteer of the Year back in 2012. I'll never again get to work on a website that is ranked so high and has a world-wide appeal. What an experience!
Anyway, I didn't want to neglect mentioning this, as it's pretty important to my life. As Jeff said, this is just one chapter closing. And obviously I'll continue to be involved with the new website.
The title of webmaster is not going to be filled by anyone else. From now on we'll have publishers -- probably three or four of us who vet the pages as they're finished. But the methods will be totally different, using WordPress. We should be only a few weeks away from rolling out the new site...
Marilyn and I (obviously) went in to the office to get some work done today. Donn was there trying to work on computer 88 -- but we finally just threw up our hands and called it done. He took the machine home to see if he could still fix it, but as far as Marilyn and I are concerned, it's a lemon and we need to quit pouring time and money into it. Thankfully 85 and 86 seem to be working just fine (fingers crossed), so nothing needs to be done with either of them.
We're still struggling with Marilyn's new computer and Win8, but learning more about it all the time. I could stand to actually take a class about Win8, but I doubt that will happen! The goal is to get at least one more machine in there so I could sit and learn some things. Meanwhile, I've changed some settings. Now I need to find out if there's a 'compatibility mode' for WinXP softwares -- because we're having some issues with one of our older applications that we really use a lot...
Boring IT talk -- but with me stepping back from website work, you'll probably hear even more about IT in the future! Hahaha.
Sometimes it probably sounds pretty conceited to toot your own horn. Or maybe it always does, I don't know. But I think it's okay to say you've done good when you have -- and that's the case today for me. (grin) For anyone who doesn't know the story, in 2007 our festival lost around one third of our Staff. It was financially necessary in order to carry on, as a non-profit who had been hard hit after our Centennial year. The Centennial was successful in so many ways. Really a wonderful moment in festival history. But it wasn't a financial success. And the plan to cut back was put in place knowing I'd come in as a full-time volunteer to become the webmaster and IT manager (along with other tasks I'd done for years). I was far from inexperienced doing festival work, but I'd never done either of these tasks previously. And I had a lot of computer experience (all self-taught), but never before working with a small business network. So I started these jobs, now a Staff person (albeit unpaid), in August -- and I've never looked back since.
I've helped train personnel for years, because of my computer experience. Plus I've done a huge variety of festival work since first starting to help out, so my historical knowledge is very helpful. I'm a natural born teacher (yes, Mom, you were right about that) who didn't go into teaching, but ironically I'm teaching people things all the time, even so. What we study in school isn't always what we end up doing, after all. (It's okay. The English major and Art minor have stood me in good stead, though I suppose most people assume there was History and Writing in there somewhere -- and actually, that's true, too... smile...) Okay, I'm not going to take too huge a walk down memory lane. Hahaha. That's enough, I'm sure. But thankfully my talents and skills have worked out well for me -- and for the festival. And there's no getting around the fact that there's nobody else at the current time who is capable of doing these tasks I do -- creating new Profiles (for each network User), setting up Phones for new Staff and setting up Profiles on computers for each new person. We used to pay to get this work done by our previous IT Consultant, but nobody else has done it since 2007. Good God, that's more than 13 years! Imagine. Marilyn and I were chatting about it today. I can't begin to give stats on how many computers I've had my hands on, how many people I've trained, how many Profiles I've set up or computers I've prepared for use. But it's a lot! That's for sure.
Anyway (God, I'm so long-winded!!!), today I managed to Remote to the office and set up two Profiles on two different computers. One of these was a computer I was concerned about replacing, but it appears to be a decent machine, after all. If I could work on it Remotely and have it be pretty fast, then it's better than many other machines we have.
I'm mentally prepared for my TWO training sessions tomorrow, by the way. I've worked with both women previously, as they were on Staff back in 2012. They've both married since then, interestingly enough. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing Tiffany and Andy (Amandine) tomorrow. I'll probably take them to Starbucks, as is my custom.
Marilyn loaded the dishwasher today!!! I've never bothered to teach her how before this, but she wanted to learn. It's my job, but I think it's wonderful she wants to help out. She was trying to do some of the tasks I normally do, so I could focus on my other work. (She also went next door to pick up our mail from when we were gone to the beach. That might sound like it doesn't require knowing 'how,' but I have a system with our neighbors -- how I ring the bell so that they know it's me and taking along their house key to open the door for myself...)
ONE OF THE HIGH POINTS OF MY DAY: My dear friend and neighbor June gave me her fuzzy Crocs! She handed them to Marilyn to bring over to me, so I had to dash over to thank her, because I was so surprised and thrilled! I'd admired these when she showed them to me before Christmas -- she had me try them on and they were so comfy. One of the nicest presents someone can give you is something that belongs to them and that they love. And I'm teary-eyed typing this, because it's such a moving gift. I'm blessed by good friends, that's for sure!
Speaking of being blessed, Marilyn is just awfully good to me. She's the breadwinner in our home, but she also does her part around the house. And is so kind to me. She's been sick, too, but the focus is on me so much. There's nothing quite like having someone worry over you when you're not feeling well...
Oh! We got 'poisoned' by some food today! We were both having reactions to something we ate -- and Marilyn ran to the Apple Cider Vinegar bottle and made us both take some. It worked IMMEDIATELY! Just shows that if you use it right away (a good amount, by the way), it WILL help you. Nobody vomited and we were fine enough to be eating dinner shortly afterward, believe it or not! (Take a couple of shots in a glass, neat. Then chase with water. Not kidding, this WORKS.)
Dinner was bacon and hominy, with seasoned kale (we've come to LOVE kale!!!). Basically this was QUICK and easy and I had other things that needed doing, so...
Watched "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" (we didn't used to be Wheel fans, but have started watching it in recent weeks). Then I had a quick nap (mentally exhausted) and got up to do my hair (which I've been doing in between typing this).
That's it for Monday -- our last 'Marilyn Monday' until after the festival in June!
Wish me luck tomorrow with my training. Love you all!
(Forgot to mention. Today is Little Christmas. Mom died 14 years ago today.)
ETA: Because Arizona doesn't use Daylight Savings Time, in the winter it's Mountain Time -- but in summer it's Pacific Time.
(Thanks for reminding me, silver_etoile! I forgot about that. My sister Sue lived there for several years, so I should have said that right away...)
Can I add that I think it's crazy NOT to use DST? We adore it!
Now I just need to get a decent one of the entire world (that makes sense to me)... (grin)
After all, when I'm wondering about something like New Year's Eve, this comes in handy!
By the way, time to wish everyone:
Happy New Year!!!
(Not sure what -- if anything -- we'll do tonight. Marilyn mistressmarilyn isn't feeling that well today, and is currently sleeping on the sofa downstairs. We're usually quiet, anyway. We prefer to stay home and watch TV and/or play games. Then greet the New Year from our own home -- with our traditional noisemakers, etc.)
I'd noticed the hummingbird feeder seemed low, so I mixed up more 'sugar water' (four to one, water to sugar -- for those who care) and let it cool in the fridge. When I took this outside, there was actually a 'hummer' on the feeder...
As it was cold outside (brr), I decided to go ahead and fill the thing. So I took a couple steps closer. I was within arms reach of the little guy and he just stayed there eating!
So I took a half-step closer, wondering what he'd do. He flew to the back side of the feeder (actually the side closer to the window) to avoid me, but didn't fly off!
I'm amazed how tame they've become, considering hummingbirds generally seem a bit jittery (if you know what I mean). I guess having the feeder so close to the window -- with the cats constantly there -- has really got them used to us!
I finally moved right in and he reluctantly departed. I quickly filled it again and headed for the house. Darkness was coming hard on us, and obviously he wanted another 'bite' (sip???) before calling it a day. (And going wherever the heck birds go when it gets dark... ???)
When he flew away, I could clearly hear that distinctive 'hum' of his wings! It was very cool. I love those birds so much.
No, we don't celebrate Boxing Day here -- and frankly I have no real idea of what it's like for those who do... (smile) But at least I know it is Boxing Day in some places today. (heh)
I can't believe it's been over a week since I last updated. Time flies and all that...
I was cat sitting for neighbor June, so I did get up and spend a couple hours next door with her (unnamed) female cat. (I also tended Jim's three outdoor cats, for the record. Maggie, Molly and Mo.) I don't mind doing that at all. The indoor cat loves me just like family, and sat happily on my lap almost the entire time. But I did go home and back to bed afterwards, sleeping through the snow we apparently got around 1 p.m. (smile) All I ever saw was wetness and more rain.
Both cats love the Christmas tree, even though it's not a real one. They're under or around it constantly.
We didn't manage to actually get it decorated until Christmas Eve -- and we did a very minimal job this year. But it doesn't matter. It's quite pretty without a single deco, because of all the lovely white/clear lights all over it. The day I set it up, I just turned it on and then laid down feeling pretty sick on the sofa, staring at the tree and feeling that warm, happy glow. Even sick, it felt good to look at the tree. (Colin climbed up on my lap and we had a nap together. He rarely ever does that, so it was special -- even if he is heavy as hell.)
I did get all the normal decorations up all around the house. And we have our white light tree set up in the front yard (the first deco I got up). Plus our big red berry wreath on the front door. It's very Christmas-y here at our house!
I didn't get our presents out to the neighbors, though. Annoying, considering I had them a couple weeks before Christmas, and had planned to do them early this year (for a change). (sigh) I'll have to do them late, obviously...
Actually, we were very laid back about the entire holiday season this year, which was wonderful. Being sick meant we just had to let some things go -- and we didn't stress that at all. We've enjoyed sleeping -- something we didn't begin to get enough of during the entire year of 2007. And just playing games and watching TV has been so relaxing and lovely.
It's strange for me to go so long without being active at LJ, but I just decided to go with the flow. I have jumped on here and there to comment a little bit, at least. (And I always try to comment to suggestions, which I personally feel is important...) Oh, I'm way (way) behind on moderation duties, but it is what it is. I'll get to it sooner or later.
I did unfortunately let a planned Email Blast slide (!!!) for work, which makes me feel bad. But we'll do better with it for next year...
I have to be honest, it's pretty damn nice to be looking at another six days (almost a week) of vacation before we head back to work!
(But we certainly earned it this Centennial year, I think...)
I'm listening to the news about people out buying at the after Christmas sales -- and wishing I was shopping, too! No, we never go out on the day after Christmas -- but we will need to go get a few things tonight, anyway...
And why is that, you may ask?
We're expecting SNOW tomorrow -- maybe several inches, actually.
There's no way to REMOVE the huge gap after this code (???!!!) -- sorry! (Oh -- and I made this video back in January of this year...)
(By the way, if you're interested, you can view the large version HERE at YouTube.)
Yes, yes. Snow is a big deal here in Portland. We rarely get it -- and we don't handle it well when we do. Which is not to say that we don't love the idea of some snow, even so. (smile)
Happily, today is NOT garbage day -- which is delayed until tomorrow due to Christmas.
In random news, what do you folks think about the tiger attack in California?
I heard from a little birdy (Marilyn mistressmarilyn) that my sister got flowers at work today...
Now isn't that the sweetest thing ever? (He's so good about that.) He's pretty damn close to perfect. (grin)
It just makes a woman feel fabulous to get flowers -- especially at work!
(That reminds me that we talked about giving flowers to Shari for her 50th bday... I haven't decided yet, but it might be nice. We got her flowers a couple of years back, and she liked them. She'd never had flowers before. And as I said, it makes women feel fabulous to get flowers!)
Oh! You know, I got flowers for my birthday from my friend June...
Well... sort of. (smile) It was a pot of silk (I think) Poinsettias. She gave me a pot last year, too -- but that one is bigger (and a little bit nicer). So I'm thinking I'll take the one from this year in to the office. (I'm not sure if there's room on my desk for them, but I could put them up front, maybe...
Speaking of Tom (we were, remember?), he brought me another big box of Cheetos recently. Thank heaven, as while I was sick I didn't feel like eating much of anything. But I did eat a bag or two of the Cheetos, even so.
I haven't told what Tom got me for my birthday! He gave me two $50 gift cards from McDonald's (!!!) -- and we used that while we were sick, too. Sister Sue was kind enough to run to two stores shopping for us, then stop for food at McDonald's on the way back. She got me chicken soup (yes, sue me, I like Campbell's -- especially with wild rice, or barley and mushrooms) and meds (much needed cough syrup) and picked up Marilyn's prescription, so she wouldn't have to go out.
By the way, I just went shopping with Marilyn -- my first time out of the house in days!
For that matter, I washed my hair (!!!) and had a long, lovely shower. Then I carefully dried it (no damp head for this sicky) -- and after I dressed (no pajamas for a change) I took a rest on the sofa. Both Colin and Henry (the cats) were there with me. We had on a music channel tuned to holiday fare on the TV, the Christmas lit up and glowing, a candle burning and were all three quite content to lie together enjoying the moment.
I still have website work that must be done tonight, so I'm with Marilyn -- it's time for a quick nap before we tackle other things. (Like wrapping presents for office staff and so on...)
Later we plan to have some eggnog (I need to share my recipe sometime -- it's easy, and people always seem to love it) and a snack of some sort. (Hickory Farm beef stick and cheese?)
Anyway, it's been a long, busy day -- so a nap sounds good. (It's currently 9:00 p.m. here.)
I can't wait to see Marilyn's flowers tomorrow! Happily, we'll be bringing them home to enjoy, I'm pretty certain...
I'm heading to wash my hair. We need to do some 'emergency' shopping when Marilyn mistressmarilyn gets home from work tonight...
So far today, I've put up the Christmas tree (Marilyn will need to bend the branches the way she wants them -- and then we'll decorate it together), put out decorations in the livingroom and family room, done a load of dishes and cleaned out the sink, taken out a bunch of garbage, finished the Email Blast for the festival (focusing on parade tickets) and made some festival website changes (especially to the home page).
I have more website changes that need doing soon. And another Email Blast to ready for next week (end-of-year giving related). Tomorrow is my last day in the office for 2007, so I need to get a few things done there, too!
Thankfully, I am much better today -- and have been going very slow as I did things. I didn't want to overdo and make myself worse, now that I'm 'on the mend.' (smile)
We're so behind on Christmas, though, that there's no way to catch up! I had a gift to send to Kayt the_kaytinator that hasn't been wrapped, much less mailed. (And we're talking Australia here.) So sorry, Kayt! My box for friend Sandy in Massachusetts hasn't even been started. (In fact, we haven't finished shopping for her...) Our friend Shari has a birthday (her 50th) coming up on December 23, and we need to shop for her, too.
It's just been impossible to worry about Christmas while dealing with being sick -- and trying to keep up on our work.
We won't be as decorated as usual, for one thing. That's okay. I'd like to have a few things out, though.
Gifts will be late. Probably very late. Well, it's the thought that counts!
Cards? I'd thought maybe I'd do some this year, but that didn't happen, either. Verbal and cyber greetings will have to be enough, I guess.
I hope to pick up and clean up a bit, too...
I should do a check list soon -- and then try to work through it. I'm still trying to finish things from the week before last.
But I'm smiling as I type this. What the hell -- I've been listening to holiday music today and taking time out to play with my very excited cats. It's Christmas time -- and there's no good reason to be anything but happy, sick or not. The season is what we make it, after all.
Before I head to bed, I have to make two quick LiveJournal Notes!
My Tags WORK Again!!!
No thanks to LiveJournal, though. I think it sucks that they apparently decided to go from unlimited tags to a cap of 1,000. So as I mentioned (both here and here), none of my more recent tags would display. It was as if my tags just stopped working!
But it was sporadic and weird. Occasionally a tag would work -- and it was totally random.
My 'tags crisis' was that I had nearly 2,000 tags -- but needed to get it down under 1,000 (as mentioned above). In other words, I had to carefully go through all of the tags and remove nearly half.
It took hours and hours. And hours.
(And I've been sick! Whine, whine, whine.)
It's one very complicated procedure (pretty much like everything else here at LJ), I'm afraid. There's just no easy way to remove tags -- and still find a way to keep track of a given entry (such as add it to Memories before deleting said tags).
But I did it. (Go, me!) I'm now under 1,000 -- and plan to get rid of even more.
I've been trying to add things to my Memories, but I've always hated the limitations there, too. Five categories doesn't cut for many of my entries, which is why I'd fallen in love with tags! (Where you can just add and add and add. Or you used to be able to, anyway...)
Anyway, I'm proud. It was a bitch to do, but I'm glad I did it so I can go back to tagging again. (More carefully than before, admittedly. And I'll seriously have to start using my Memories more now.)
In other LJ-related news...
I'm a little out of the loop from being sick. Did we get a notice that the Scrapbook (photo galleries) would be down tonight?
I wanted to load up my icon there so I could share it inside my last post, but ended up having to put it at one of my websites, instead. (yikes) That was annoying!
So hopefully LJ Scrapbook will be back tomorrow -- right???
Okay, I said two notes -- but I have one more. (Sorry!!!) What gives with the new method of customizing your LiveJournal??? It sucks. I can't find any easy way to just select a new layout -- and I'm pretty good at this stuff, usually. (Okay, except for the advanced customization part, I admit. But I'm good at changing my layout and using CSS to 'tweak' it...)
This seems like another case of fixing something that's not broken. (sigh) I get very tired of how frequently LiveJournal makes major changes to how things 'work' here...
On that note, I'm seriously headed to bed! Goodnight, all!
Yes, I'm still sick. But I'm starting to get better, finally. (And I do mean finally.)
But for the record, it's not a cold -- it's decidedly the flu. (And unfortunately I had the runs to prove it at one point -- sorry to be so TMI!)
Actually, it's been ages since I've been this sick. (sigh)
And Marilyn mistressmarilyn has it, too -- but managed to go to work all last week, even so. (Haven't I said before that she's amazing?) Not me! I spent my time flat on my back in bed (when not up at the computer trying to do work that I needed to get done, that is). I wasn't up before noon most of the week...
Happily, we both made it to the staff holiday party at the Embassy Suites on Friday (December 14) -- but after that we came home and went to bed. And that's mostly where I've been since.
Which hopefully explains where I've been, if anyone here has been wondering!
We missed a total of four HOLIDAY social obligations (yes, that means FOUR parties!!!) this past weekend, I'm sorry to say. (sigh) But there was no way we could have gone. (And I doubt anyone would have wanted us around, either!)
Marilyn has work tomorrow (Tuesday) and then on Wednesday. After that she's on vacation until January 2! I'd like to make it to work at least one of those days, but I don't know...
Our top priority is to be well as quickly as possible -- so we can really enjoy this Christmas vaca!
Of course, the good thing is that I'm able to do so much of my work for PRFF from home. I'm working on one email blast (almost ready to go) -- and I have another I'll get ready before the end of the year. I can design the graphics and code those easily here (or at the office), depending on what works out best. I can also do website changes either place -- especially now that I have a jump drive just for the website files, that I carry back and forth! Now I don't need to keep the files I'm working on on the hard drive at either work or here at home, which is a real break. (Thankfully, my new jump drive is huge!)
The staff party was very cool! I need to post all about it soon (and share photos, too). Jeff had me give the 'official' toast, which was so nice of him. But we were all toasting everyone like crazy. We were in very high spirits! (And most of us were also full of spirits, considering we started out in the bar and then ended there, as well...)
Do you guys like my new icon? Funny, huh? (heh)
I decided I needed to make it, considering I didn't have anything really like that...
I have a lot to catch up, so forgive me if I 'spam' a bit in the next few days!
I recently mentioned (here) that I was having an 'issue' with My Tags here at LJ...
My friend imortlnoctrn pointed out that the limit for tags was 1,000. (I also asked at LJ Support and got the same answer, just for the record.)
Only 1,000 tags??? You must be KIDDING me! (yikes)
There's no easy way I can see to tell how many tags a person has (by this I mean the actual tag category -- not how many times you've used it), so I used the above page to gack the list. Then I put it in my beloved NoteTab Pro where I could easily count the lines (one tag per).
Folks, I had almost 2,000 tags. So if anything, LJ has been pretty generous with me -- not cutting me off until I got close to 2,000!
Well, I could be doing much worse, actually! (Wait, wait -- don't be scared!) I just mean that for a change I have time to post -- and tons of things I want to post about.
Anyway, I'm back to work tomorrow, so no worries! (grin)
If you took my sincere advice and added Joey fatjoey to your LJ friends, then chances are you've already read the entry I'm going to link here.
Some of you may prefer not to read what he says, because it's a very frank entry about his life as a gay male.
Me? I'm very impressed by this entry (which he titled: Life is Not Suitable for Children).
This is one of Joey's responses to the new Flagging Policy here at LJ. (See my entries about this, located here and here.)
Take note, please!
Someone who is a minor -- and has been HONEST about listing their age when signing up for LiveJournal -- will be unable to view 'adult' entries here at LJ. But someone who views LiveJournal without being logged in will easily be able to LIE and still see these same entries. (And, naturally, an underage person here at LJ can simply log out and use the URL to come back and view the 'offensive' entry, anyway.)
Just so we know!
I realize it probably seems like I'm flogging this subject to death, but personally I'm very concerned about it. Censorship disturbs the hell out of me...
I thought I should better explain exactly what 'flagging' at LiveJournal is, for anyone that doesn't know. It was pretty foolish of me to refer to it and not make this clear in the first place!
The following is gacked directly from LiveJournal's FAQ.
You can find it here -- BE SURE TO CLICK 'READ MORE,' though (otherwise you won't find all of it!).
And, again, my major concern lies with the current secretive nature of the flagging process. It seems to me that if someone is willing to flag someone else (an entry or journal -- personal or community), then they should also be willing to have everyone know they have done so.
I know we all have different ideas about what's appropriate viewing for minors. (And, of course, the term 'minor' is different in different locations. But note that for LJ it's judged by the standards of the United States, and not any other country, regardless of where you might reside.)
I'm not suggesting that my personal views are the best. And I'm certainly not suggesting they are the only valid views.
All this said, I'm disappointed that only two of my friends responded to this entry about flagging. I'm not seeking to be controversial, but I am really concerned about this new option. Aren't any of you interested?
This is the second time this week that I've had Firefox auto update...
What gives???
I have to admit, I really do love that browser!
I can't use it for everything, though. For example, when I remote access [actually: Remote Desktop] work, I have to use an Internet Explorer clone. (sigh) But that's okay. It's great for almost everything else!
LiveJournal's New Flagging Policy -- Right or Wrong?
I came home today from the Davis Cup Finals (mentioned here) to find my friend Joey fatjoey completely up-in-arms about the latest news (see this entry at that community for the December 2007 post) here at LiveJournal.
So...
LiveJournal Flagging
How do YOU feel about it?
Joey is an extremely intelligent and well-educated young man -- who happens to be openly (and outspokenly) gay. He has a minor in political science and is fascinated by political history.
Many of Joey's entries here at LJ focus on slash (male/male fanfic) and political satire. He's a very funny guy -- but also a serious guy.
We sat and discussed the issue for some time. For those of you who might not know about this, it's now possible for people to FLAG individual entries and/or entire journals here at LJ. This means if someone is unhappy with the content of your blog, then they can click a button that flags -- letting the LJ ADMIN know how they feel.
As I said to Joey, my personal issue is that people can flag secretively. I feel that every time an entry or journal is flagged, the person posting the entry and/or the journal owner should be notified about the flagging -- and should see who flagged them.
Further, I think there should be a new tally added to the Profile page -- one that shows exactly how many times the owner of that journal has flagged entries and journals. With the current system, there's no way for us to know if we've been flagged or not.
I'm fine with the idea that we should 'self-govern' our blogs -- though I have to admit that I don't believe in CENSORSHIP of any form. If the question here is keeping minors from reading certain materials, then I think it's up to whomever governs these minors to manage that -- the same way my own parents managed what I was exposed to as an underage person.
By the way, it's utterly ridiculous for us to even pretend that teenagers don't know about and think about sex. However much adults might wish that this weren't true, we should know better. Just think back to when YOU were in high school, for heaven's sake.
I used to work as a volunteer for the major AIDS organization here in the Pacific Northwest -- and I'd like to mention that there are two forms of sexual activity that are extremely safe: fantasy and masturbation. Allowing youth to read fanfics -- and other sexually explicit materials -- encourages fantasy and masturbation more than any other type of sexual behavior. Yes -- I know that there are a lot of people who are opposed to masturbation, but it seems to me that this is certainly preferable to activities that expose minors to possible venereal disease, AIDS (a possible death sentence) and pregnancy. No, I'm not suggesting that reading fics will prevent minors from engaging in other sexual behaviors. I'm just pointing out that providing 'fantasy fodder' can be a good thing -- not a bad one.
Joey mentioned that he's received feedback for his slash fics where people have praised him for helping them to come out (as being gay). He's also been told that his work helped people to better understand what gay sex was really like. Some of this feedback has come from parents of gay children, by the way. So I fail to see how this can be a bad thing.
I was lucky that even though my parents were conservative in many ways (they were Republicans most of their lives -- and both voted for Nixon, if you can believe that), they were liberal about censorship. My sisters and I were allowed to read what would today be labeled as 'Adult' books from a very young age. My parents felt that this meant we'd take our questions to them -- rather than try to find answers on the street.
My parents were smart. Because we could read what we wanted and look at what we wanted we never had the feeling that there was some 'forbidden' thing that we needed to strive for. Young people find censored items more appealing -- not less! (Don't we all?)
Joey is convinced that certain people who have been stalkers and trouble-makers here at LiveJournal will see this as their chance to cause more problems. He's a cynical guy, but with good reason, I'm afraid.
Personally, I hope this won't turn into a Salem witch hunt -- but I have a bad feeling about it...
I'm not sure what any of us can do to reasonably display our unhappiness, but I'd like to find a way. Sticking our heads in the sand isn't the answer -- but neither is beating up the LJ ADMIN. There must be some middle ground.
Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think, so please share!
And if you don't have Joey fatjoey as a friend, considering adding him. He's a very decent and fun-loving person who has sometimes gotten a raw deal. But I think he's really worth knowing.
