We passed on the hike today. It was probably a good decision. or, maybe not - cabin fever sets in quick with a 30 foot home!
Jim and I spend from 4 to 12 hours on the computer every day. What *are* we doing all that time? Sometimes I struggle to answer that question, so I paid attention one day, and now I have an answer. The bulk of our time - up to 50% - is spent learning. Another 30% is spent communicating; reading, writing and managing emails; reading and writing blogs. That leaves 20% devoted to productive work.
Jim is reading technical newsletters and other articles about networking, Wi-Fi, and all things hardware, software and operating systems.
I am watching Lynda.com video tutorials on website development, CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks - I love Lynda.com! I am reading newsletters and forums on Blogger, Picasa, and general computer issues.
And we both spend time on what we call 'playing', but I could just as easily call it 'learning by trial and error'.
I'm teaching a hands-on class here at Palm Creek starting next week. I'm calling it 'Computer Confidence Class: For Women Only.' 2 sessions/week for 3 weeks, maximum 6 students. I'm hoping to impart an expectation of lifelong learning. There's no such thing as 'learning how to use your computer.' There's just too much. The best you can hope for is to develop the confidence that you can figure things out - and to enjoy the process.
I've been learning, and teaching, computers for 24 years now and I'm learning more new things each day now than ever before. Not only is there an infinite amount to learn about using computers, but there's an infinite amount to learn by using a computer!
I've learned how to cook artichokes in the microwave by researching on the computer (I used to boil them till google showed me another way.) We had some corn on the cob to go with our chicken last night. Jim asked me, "how are you going to cook that?" I answered, "I'm going to google it." Betcha didn't know that google is a cooking method!
Here's Captain Brent:
We were lucky to spot a total of 4 bald eagles! I had to put the camera on extreme telephoto to get them.
I sure wish we could be there at sunset time for better photos, but - till then, I just played around with color settings in Picasa to make a more interesting photo
Picasa is SO much fun! Here's the original photo, untouched by Picasa:
We wish Health and Happiness to all of you on this Thanksgiving Day!
As for me, I'm just writing and doing web-work. Not much to take a picture of there. So, here's a picture of pretty flowers! With the Arizona setting sun for lighting, they're even more brilliant than normal.
It was an interesting event, not at all what I was expecting. It was about a new website by the founder of Monster.com - Jeff Taylor. The website is a social networking site for those of us, "Lovin Life on the flip side of 50." The name of the site is eons.com and it does look pretty interesting. Here's Jeff Taylor lovin' this 55 - 80 year old crowd.
So, the event was a little bit about Jeff Taylor, a little bit about the joys of middle age :-) and, then the headliner was Jane Seymour - their celebrity spokesperson. I really liked her! Lots more photos on our web album.
This quilt was started by my grandmother ... when she was pregnant with my mother! She painstakenly created all the squares in the design of 'dresden plate'. When my grandmother died, I inherited the box with all the squares and, eventually, I got around to getting it quilted. I love that I have something to remember my sweet grandmother by.
The darker colored 'tshirt quilt' is our winter quilt and we put it on last night. No, it's nowhere near winter here ... 80 degrees and sunny right now ... but it's past time to make the switch if we're going to use each quilt half of the year.
This quilt is made up of pieces of all those tshirts that we just couldn't throw away because of memories, but we knew we'd never wear again. I love staring at each piece and remembering those times. There are tshirts of Jim's before we met as well as some of mine from before we met, then there are a lot of memories from our early years together.
We don't have many possessions in our tiny home, but the ones we do have are meaningful.
We saw old friends, and met some new ones. The woman seated beside me at the table had the same name as my grandmother - Zella - I enjoyed talking with her.
And, my sweet husband was on my other side. People asked us if we are newlyweds! They say we're so nice to each other!
The food was excellent (pulled pork and taco fixin's) and the entertainment was inspiring. Flamenco guitar and dancers - see CBJmusic.us. My only regret is that we didn't take the video camera.
Lots more photos on the Web Album.
I think 55 plus ain't gonna be so bad!
That's right ! After sending Jim off to work this morning ....
Here he is in his 'office' ... the Palm Creek computer room
I did a little computer work, and a little laundry, then I prepared to meet Lynne and John for lunch at the Hog's Breath Saloon in Key West Florida! You see, there's a geocache there, and it was my job to record their photos from the webcam to prove that they found the 'cache'.
After lunch it was back to work. Then, after dinner we played pickleball. That makes two nights in a row that we played after dinner. What a great time. They have bright lights you can turn on at the courts, but nobody else is there. We get to make fools of ourselves all alone! I took some pictures at the courts earlier in the day to show how busy it is getting ...
Much too intimidating! I just go to walk Odie in the dog run that's right next to the courts.
