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Tag Archives: internet

Now I Want Some More Wine

Posted on May 27, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I log onto WordPress and hit “Add New Post,” I confess with very little idea of what I was going to post about, and I see this:

Akismet & Privacy.

To help your site be compliant with GDPR and other laws requiring notification of tracking, Akismet can display a notice to your users on your contact form. This feature is disabled by default, however, if you or your audience is located in Europe, you need to turn it on.

Please enable or disable this feature. More information.

Dismiss this notice.

I don’t know whether to enable or disable these things, so I hit “more information.”  And it went on forever!  I don’t have time to read all this shit!  Can’t they just condense it all into a paragraph or two?  Apparently they can’t.  They say in maybe the third paragraph, “To keep things simple…”  That is when I look off to the side to see the size of the bar you can scroll up and down with.  The smaller that bar, the less likely I am to scroll.  At least this bar isn’t a teeny little rectangle. I ought to be able to read this thing.

No, I just can’t.  As I typed in the above paragraph, I kept clicking back to the tab of “Privacy Notice for Visitors,” and I just can’t do it.  In my defense, I have had a headache all day.  This sometimes happens to me on a Saturday.  Regular readers will recall that I was sipping red wine while I posted last night, and I’m sure some of you are judging me and saying I DESERVE a headache.  For heavens’ sake, I didn’t have that much wine!

Regarding today’s post:  I ran this morning and thought I could do a Saturday Running Commentary.  Unfortunately, my headache kicked in shortly after my shower.  Having a headache all day did not bode well for having adventures sufficient for a Scattered Saturday post.  I think a Slacker Saturday post might be eligible, but I just feel paralyzed by this Privacy thing.  Do I enable it or not?

I appeal to my fellow bloggers:  have any of you managed to read the entire “More Information” tab and if so, did you enable or disable?  Once I solve this problem, I feel I can go back to my regularly scheduled posting.  In the meantime, I think I’ll call this a Stymied Saturday Post.  What do you think, does that work?

 

 

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Wrist to WiFi

Posted on December 12, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Oh, I think Wrist to Forehead Sunday is definitely in order today.  My internet is still out.  I went to McDonald’s this morning, where, you may recall, I handily made my blog post yesterday.  This morning I could not get on WordPress.  They told me it was not secure!  What was that all about?

I suppose someone will say that writers are an insecure lot, by and large.  Writers of blogs, I think, have a little more self-confidence, because we just put our words out there.  Come to think of it, that is what any writer does, except, you know, the ones like Emily Dickinson, who famously hid all her poems in the attic (at least I think it was the attic; I guess it wasn’t all that famous if I’m not sure, was it?).

In case anybody was wondering, I am typing this into the word processing feature on my laptop.  I shall presently seek somewhere with wi-fi (probably the library parking lot), try to get onto wordpress.com there, and copy and paste.  I felt clever for thinking of that idea.  I must implement it soon, though, because Steven only works till one and if I am not back, he will wonder where I am.  He cannot call me, because our phone is out too.  Curse you, Time Warner Cable!

Oh dear, I hope that last line does not bring the wrath of a huge corporation down on my hapless head.  Then I really will have a reason for a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

 

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Did You Miss Me Yesterday?

Posted on December 10, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

My whole life is operator error!

OK, got that out of my system.  Regular readers may have noticed that I did not make a post yesterday.  Well, I had internet issues.  I’m still having them.  However, by the miracle of Mid-York Library System, I am making a brief post today.  Yes, I am at Basloe Library in Herkimer, on one of their computers.  I was trying to get onto the internet on my laptop, and it just did not seem to be working out for me.  I re-started the laptop and that may have worked, but then I said, “Oh to hell with it; I’ll get on one of their computers and make my blog post!”  I said it to myself; I did not swear out loud in the library.

Last night I would have liked to go to the library parking lot and get on the internet, but Steven and I had plans for dinner and the theatre.  At least, we had plans for the theatre.  I was supposed to make dinner but I made reservations instead.  It served as our belated anniversary dinner, at Sorrento’s in Ilion.  A delightful dinner.  Then we went to Rabbit Hole at Ilion Little Theatre.  Then we went home and went to bed, where I did not sleep well, but that’s neither here nor there.

I did not run in the Reindeer Run 5K (I would still be running it if I had) in Little Falls.  For one reason, I could not pre-register because I could not get online.  For another reason, I just didn’t want to any more.  I mean, I kind of did, but I mostly didn’t.  Sorry, other 5K runners who may have enjoyed me puffing and panting and making silly jokes along the way.  Maybe next year.

So now that I have blathered on for some 300 words, I’m going to get on with the rest of my day.  Big plans, mostly of the Mohawk Valley adventure variety. I’ll let you know how they workout.

 

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Keep it Local, Folks!

Posted on June 3, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I wrote a letter to the editor of the Utica O-D.  I felt so pleased with it that I thought I would use it as a blog post as well.  Full disclosure:  Another reason is I could use WordPress’ word-count feature  by typing it in here.  It is a little more serious than my usual stuff, but it is a subject I feel strongly about.

How would you like it if your boss said to you, “I’m not going to pay you for the last hour you worked.”  That is what happens to brick and mortar businesses when customers shop their store but buy on-line.

Take for example an eyeglass shop.  People spend up to an hour with the optician looking at glasses.  They utilize this person’s time and expertise, cause wear and tear on the premises and merchandise, then go and make their purchases on-line, “because it’s cheaper.”

Brick and mortar businesses cannot compete with the internet on price.  They try to compete by offering service and a hands-on experience.  I feel it is wrong for people utilize these things but buy elsewhere.  In the case of the eyewear shop, they have sometimes paid for an exam, but the profit from that does not make up for taking up the optician’s time and using of the merchandise.

Most businesses, especially small locally-owned shops, are not out to gouge the customer.  They merely want to make a fair profit on their time and money invested.

I understand people’s desire to save money.  However, spending money on-line sends it out of the community.  That hurts everyone.  The money you don’t save by spending locally stays here.  It is an investment in our towns and villages.  Please, let’s keep our local shops in business.

 

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Wrist to Turkey Neck

Posted on February 16, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

As usual, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday. It’s not that I want to add to the litany of griping about the cold, but… damn!

I am cooking the turkey I purchased yesterday, in order to run the oven and thus render my house warmer. It is working nicely and smells pretty good too. It was a bit of a process getting it into the oven, as often happens with me.

To begin with, of course I did not plan ahead and thaw the damn thing in the fridge for two or three days. I had it in cold water in my sink all yesterday afternoon and evening. I set the timer and was pretty vigilant about changing the water every half hour, so I felt safe in doing this. By ten o’clock, I thought the bird was on its way to thawdom, so put it in the fridge overnight.

This morning I discovered that it was no such thing. The center was still frozen. I still was not too worried, because yesterday, when I was consulting the marginally helpful Internet for thawing tips, I had discovered that it is not a bad thing to cook a turkey from frozen. Then I thought I had remembered that you aren’t really supposed to rinse the bird, as I have always done and indeed as the plastic wrap said to do. Back to the Internet.

OK, don’t thaw, but take the giblets and neck out. I know a friend of mine once left the giblets inside the bird, still in the little bag, because she didn’t stuff the bird and didn’t know about the giblets (it was her first turkey), so I was not too worried. But I thought the neck might better come out. It was frozen in there. Damn.

I’ll just add than when I search the Internet I usually go to a site called GoodSearch, www.goodsearch.com, because it seems they donate money to charity (should I have mentioned that when I first mentioned searching the Internet? Should I not already know that, seeing as I have been writing for many years? Oh, it IS Wrist to Forehead Sunday).

The sites I was directed to said it was OK to leave the giblets in, as long as they were not in a plastic bag. Well how was I supposed to know if they were in a plastic bag if they were still inside the turkey? Back to the bird. At last I found the giblets in the neck cavity (the irony is not lost on me that the giblets were in the neck end while the neck is stuck up the butt). Not a plastic bag, but I took them out and put them in the pan as I usually do.

I didn’t mind the neck still being in the bird, because I knew it wasn’t in a bag, but there was a plastic doodah I thought I should remove and that was stuck good. Consulting my Goodsearch sources, I was delighted to find a place where the question was not only asked, they referred to it as a “plastic thingy.” Unfortunately, the answers were contradictory.

At last I resorted to rinsing the damn turkey. After all, every other turkey I have ever cooked I have rinsed and I’m not dead of turkey poisoning yet. But how annoying, as rinsing the bird has always been my least favorite part of cooking a turkey (there is that bad moment when it feels like a body, which in fact it is, but I prefer to gloss over my own carnivorousness). And the neck still would not come out.

Finally I said to hell with it and put the turkey in the oven, which by now was plenty pre-heated (although some sources say that if you are cooking something for more than an hour you do not have to pre-heat the oven. I must say the last thing I felt like at that point was to write a blog post about the ordeal. However, that was three hours ago, and now that I have actually written the blog post, I feel much better about everything.

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This, Too, Shall Pass

Posted on May 14, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I would like to just say a word about passwords. Only I don’t like to use those words in my blog.

You need passwords everywhere these days, at work, at home, on your computer, on your cell phone. There’s the PIN for your bank card, and if you only have one of those, congratulations. I HATE PASSWORDS!

You must not use the same password for different places. You must not use the same password you had used before. You must have a secure password: caps and not, numbers and symbols. Don’t use your pet’s name or your spouse’s name or your anniversary date or your birthday. How can I remember all these “strong” passwords at all, let along remembering which password goes to which place?

The answer, and this is what makes it a Monday Middle-aged Musing, is: I CAN’T! My middle-aged brain is not that supple. So I make up these super strong, secure passwords, and write them down on a piece of paper next to my computer, in a most unsecure fashion (the computer is underlining “unsecure.” I KNOW the word is “insecure,” but my insecurities could fill a whole other blog post).

I know, somebody else would do something clever like write down the password but leave off one letter. Or mix up where the capital letters go. Or maybe even write it in Arabic (I know the Arabic alphabet, but that, again, is a whole other blog post).

I offer this rant as my Monday post, because, as you may have guessed, I did not write a post while at work today. I trusted to my brain (why in the world I even thought I still had one remains a mystery) to come up with something. First I checked my email. I currently have two emails, since I am in the process of switching from Hotmail to gmail (I could give you a whole other rant about Outlook, but I don’t really want to get the computer honchos mad at me). I just barely remembered the respective passwords and in doing so realized I did NOT remember my WordPress password. I’ll tell you what: I was not in too bad a mood to start with but it just about became Wrist to Forehead Monday!

Be all that as it may, I see that my word count is over 300. Quite enough from someone who is only here to kvetch (then again, I always say, go with your strengths). I must go now to seek out a Mohawk Valley adventure to write about tomorrow.

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Getting There is Half the Battle

Posted on April 23, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

On re-reading this post (before I hit Publish), I realize the lead isn’t really about what the post is about. I mean, I don’t exactly write in the inverted pyramid of newspapers, but still, I also don’t want to have any false advertising. This is actually the first part of a two part post about a community event I attended Sunday.

Every year the Herkimer Crusaders put on a wine-tasting event that is a lot of fun. Area wine makers — amateurs and professionals — get together and have their wine judged by professionals and amateurs. At least, lots of people come in, drink the wine and vote for the one they like best. That’s the category I fall into.

I saw an article in the paper about the event a couple of weeks ago. I made a mental note of the date but neglected to cut the article out (which I often do for blog planning purposes). Last week when a few of us were making plans to go, I thought I’d better double check the time.

Do you think I could find anything on the internet?

Other people seem to find whatever they might be looking for and not even on a real computer. They whip out their smart phones (or whatever device they happen to have; I can just hear somebody saying in that smarty-pants tone of voice, “It’s not a smart phone, it’s an Android.” Or an iphone. Or a blackberry. Or that new thing they’re lining up in front of the Apple store for) (it really does seem sometimes that I live in a cave) and in a short time, give you the answer (usually in the above-mentioned smarty-pants tone of voice). Sometimes they go on to read several paragraphs of what the internet had to say about the subject. I try to avoid those people.

Where was I?

Oh yes, looking for information. It seems all I could find was information on past Crusaders Wine Tasting events. What’s that all about, internet? I even went to the web pages of the two local newspapers and searched their calendars. Nada. (I shan’t mention the names of the papers, since that was not exactly a plug.)

Finally, in desperation, I went to the cardboard box on my living room floor, where we pile the newspapers destined for the One-and-Done recycle can. And found a little blurb printed in one of the local papers earlier in the week. Phew!

Information in hand, I continued to plan my outing. Which I will talk about tomorrow, because I see that I am over 300 words and once again this week, I must try to keep it short.

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