We’re just Lab Rats to ’em…

 

 

 

 

Admittedly I am far from being a Computer wiz. I just amble on in my own awkward hunt and peck style. I got my first computer about 3 years ago and started with Internet Explorer. After a while it stared crashing. So I switched to Google Chrome. The Sun rose, the trumpets blared and the clouds cleared. A new day dawned in Computer Land.

I take a lot of pictures. I’m not really good at it so I need a program to pretty them up. I’m too dull and poor for Photoshop, so enter Picasa. I could download my photos to the computer, open the individual folder, send the pics to Picasa, poodle them up in Piknik and save the whole folder in Picasa. Amazing. And the greatest thing was all the editing was saved in both Picasa and my computer. Oh Google. You’re so Cool.

Then Piknik was turned off. Picasa has some editing tricks nut not nearly as slick as Piknik. More importantly none of its changes show up on my computer. Which limits my use of the pictures. Of course Google +; accessible by Picasa; has some editing capabilities but it doesn’t show up directly to my computer. You run up against a wall, you back track, take a different route. Another wall, another track. All inside the little maze.

I found it frustrating. Not so frustrating that I felt compelled to invest the money on Photoshop. I did try Firefox though. As far as picture editing goes I couldn’t see much difference between Mozilla and Chrome. I did like the fact that Firefox was more “ala carte” than Google. I also liked the fact that you could hide your activity from every body. In the light of Google’s pet dog trick for NSA, I found that to be refreshing. 

In the end I went back to Chrome. I just couldn’t quite get used to Mozilla. I am a good little rat. But I am having a good time learning about Paint.net. Maybe that will be my cheese.

 

 

 

Daydreamin’

How old must you be before you stop daydreaming? Actually that is probably a misnomer. In a night dream you don’t really have any control over the subject matter. I know some people contend that dreaming is a product of current events and the affect on your “id” from past happenstance and ” blah, blah, blah. ” But you don’t actually set up a scenario as you do when you daydream. Or more accurately fantasize. 

In daydreaming your mind is just cruising along, not real busy, and you start creating a scenario. A play. Complete with acts, a cast of characters and dialogue. It is a pleasant way to waste time, and an effective method to get to sleep. I utilize it almost every night.

So back to the original question. How old is too old to daydream? I remember back when I was in grade school; maybe 4th or 5th grade. There was a boy in my class that didn’t get along too well with the academics of school. Today he would probably be in Special Ed., and a candidate for medication. Well this kid had a habit of staring out the window. Not acting up; not causing trouble; just staring out the window. Our teacher was not a fan of window gazing. She would yell at him to bring him out of his reverie. She even went so far as to tell the whole class that we should stop him, whenever we “caught” him idly window staring. Because “…that is how people go crazy. “. Evidently she thought 4th grade was over the limit. Of course I am presuming that the kid was indeed daydreaming. Maybe he just really liked looking out the window. 

SO. How old is too old? Is 63 too old? How about 80 or 90?  Maybe age has nothing to do with it. Maybe it is how the individual perceives the dream. I mean, as long as a person knows that it is make believe what is the problem? I mean what sort of threat did Walter Mitty pose? I guess this is a question with no real answer. So all I can conclude is dream ’em if you got ’em.

I watch too much television ( Revised )

I admit I spend ( waste ) an inordinate amount of time watching the Boob Tube; the Vast Wasteland. Most of my time is spent viewing AMC. I find older movies one hell of a lot more artistic and entertaining than the newer ones. They have plots, dialogue and real special effects. Not the green screen computer generated oddities so prevalent today.

I also dig history. And sometimes the History Channel actually shows some actual and factual programs. They also broadcast Ancient Aliens. How and why I got sucked into this particular vortex of scientific inquiry and its cast of academics and scholars I have no idea. All I can say is that I find it fascinating.

For those unfamiliar with the topic it appears to be primarily based upon the work of Erich Von Daniken. He’s the guy who wrote the book ” Chariot of the Gods“; among others. His whole premise is that all the Gods worshiped by humans were actually space travelers. I first heard of him in 1971. I ended up reading all his books. I found them both intriguing and thought-provoking. The man did quite a bit of research and had a bunch of swell pictures. But; ain’t there always a but, he and others offer no actual proof. Their main piece of evidence is the contention that all the great structures of antiquity could not have been built by ancient humans because, well, they are ancient humans. Well that seems to be a rather circular sort of reasoning. If you a priori agree with the premise of course you will believe the premise. I think us modern humans just need to accept the fact that our ancient family just knew how to do something we don’t. Given our crazy history it is not too surprising that we have lost a bunch of knowledge. Frankly I think it is compelling to imagine that space mariners visited us 1000’s of years ago and even took an active role in our development. Through DNA manipulation etc. However I find it equally beguiling that there is an ancient skill or bit of lore that we have, as a race, forgotten. As a matter of fact I would think the later would be a hell of a lot easier to rediscover than the former. AND more fun.

Yeah… I’m an Old Dude

I admit that I probably shouldn’t have any Romantic interest in a young lady like this. And I don’t…not really. I just have a great appreciation for beauty. And naturally with age  comes a better appreciation for beauty. When you are young you are fascinated by the superficial, by the flashy. As you mature you become more enamored with the deeper aspects of love. The friendliness as well as  the intimacy. That being said. These are merely pictures. They have no real connection to me. Be it actual or imaginary. I merely picked these photos because I think they are cool. I like tats on women. I like strong and defiant ladies. I also like the old Detroit iron that was so prevalent in my youth. So on that note I have one more thing to add. Aging is natural. Growing disdainful of life is not.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

The Unseen Lives of Miniature Cement People

TwistedSifter

 

Isaac Cordal is a Spanish artist that has been working on his own projects since 1999. His ongoing series entitled Cement Eclipses began in art school in 2002 but he didn’t start placing them on the streets until 2006, with his first piece laid in the city of Vigo, Spain.

Cordal makes the tiny sculptures in his apartment/home studio. He has placed them in major cities all around Europe including: London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Milan, Berlin and Brussels. “Small interventions in big cities,” is how Cordal characterized Cement Eclipses.

In a 2012 interview with Agenda Magazine, Cordal explains:

“Our gaze is so strongly focused on beautiful, large things, whereas the city also contains zones that have the potential to be beautiful, or that were really beautiful in the past, which we overlook. I find it really interesting to go looking for those very places and via small-scale interventions…

View original post 360 more words

I Miss…

Like most folks, I miss a lot of stuff. I miss my misspent youth. I miss Liz. She was my first love in college. She broke my heart.I miss Barb , from Shaker Heights. A beautiful girl with long black hair. I knew her in college as well. I gave her a vibrant blue silk shirt, from Saigon. I miss Maureen. A wonderful redheaded lady that was super smart and super wonderful. And the woman I should have married, the 1st time. I miss Pamela. The only woman who I loved unconditionally. A love that startled me. That went wrong as well. Are we beginning to see a pattern? I miss my travels. Not just the scenery but the actual movement, the transition from place to place. The rush that happens when you relocate to a strange place where no one knows you. And you get bonus points if you can’t speak the language.  What I miss the most are my sons. Not them physically. I see them frequently. What I miss is their youth. When they were young I could protect them. I could hold their hands when we crossed a street. Buckle them into a car seat. I could kiss away a tear, console them when they had a nightmare. Now I can’t. They are grown; with kids of their own. The times now are a lot more dangerous than they were 30 years ago. But I really can’t do much. All I can do is do whatever my sons need to protect my grand daughters. And of course pray for them. And love them all, unconditionally.

Away From Home

I’m a Slave for…

If a Luddite is a person who hates technology and a geek is someone who is obsessed with technology and understands it. What do you call someone equally obsessed,but pretty much clueless? That last soul is me. I have only been active with electronics approximately 3 years ago. When I got my first computer. Since that time I have been fascinated with keyboards, megabytes, flash drives, bitmaps and all the rest of the stuff in that mysterious world of Computer Land. I have learned a little. Probably just enough to be dangerous. However that doesn’t stop me from forging on ahead coveting gadgets. Last year I got a Dragon. That is the program that allows you to dictate into a headphone and the software does the rest. Since I am a better talkist than typist (at least more prolific). And since I am trying to  blog,I thought it was a no brainer. However I know I am not using it to its full potential.

This past week I bought a scanning wand.That is a portable version of the scanning thing in some printers. It is a hand-held device that you traverse over a surface and it copies the image in some magical or mysterious way onto a memory chip. Then, you take it home and download it to your computer into any file you choose. And you can pre- select to JPEG,for pictures or PDF for print. Don’t you just love tossing around words like that. It makes me feel so Sheldon Cooperish.

It is a shame I don’t have more discipline. Were I more committed I could probably learn a lot more. I was very disciplined when I was younger. I thought discipline grew with age. I think will power,discipline,strength of will. What ever you want to call it is parabolic in nature. It increases for a while. Hits a maximum limit then plummets. Oh well. So it goes. Can’t dwell on things you either can’t or are unwilling to change.

Why is Led Zeppelin so Awesome?

Sunday I had a great afternoon. All I did was clean the kitchen,cook a bunch of food and drink a good amount of beer. Who says old dudes don’t know how to have a good time. And all my time wasn’t spent on Zeppelin either. Although Black Dog and Kashmir can certainly get your blood flowing and your heart beating I have a diverse appetite. I threw in some others as well. Like Simply Red. I know they aren’t hip and the lead singer looks a little like Howdy Doody,or Carrot Top but the guy has a great voice. And what man cannot like Infidelity? While we are on the subject of killer voices how about Sally Ford? Her voice; in all it’s breathless, lispy, sexiness could make a grown man cry. I mean “…suck you up with a straw…” now I don’t care if she is talking to a man,woman or a Big Gulp,that is one provocative line. It ranks right up there with Lauren Bacall‘s “You do know how to whistle…”. Well I seem to have strayed off topic. Of course I have no idea what the topic is/was.

Maybe it has something to do with creation. I don’t mean Big C like Big Bang I mean little c; as in the making of something nice or pleasant to share. In some ways cooking for people fits that niche. Most people don’t know that I used to cook for a living. I did reasonably well at it. Well enough to send two sons to college and raise 3 ex-wives. Of course I have no idea where they are. I do know where the 4th is; my baby’s mamma. Houston. So my ex is a Tex. The point I am slowly getting to is that if you have a yearning;or an itch to create something and share with others you will. You probably can’t help yourself. So a musician will write a song or make a tune or sound that will make the listener feel. Personally I think feeling is under rated. Even feelings of sadness or pain. The alternative is numbness. Which is not cool. I think the same is true of a humble chef;although in a lesser way. Instead of the ears being the method of sharing the chef uses the belly. So now it all comes together. Cooking,running a dish machine and music. It all fits. As for the beer. Hell that’s just fun.

Celebrate Spring

ODE TO SPRING

SPRING HAS SPRUNG.

THE GRASS HAS RIZ.

NOW I WONDER

WHERE ALL THE BIRDIES IZ.

A TRADITIONAL HOOSIER SPRING TIME POEM.

THIS IS WHAT WE HOPED FOR

 

Since spring has finally arrived I wanted to do my civic duty and offer some valuable advice and tips on spring cleaning. However since it is currently 28 degrees and snowing my guess is any advice on the subject of “spring” cleaning is,at best,unnecessary,and at worse stupid. Around this neck of the woods we have an adage ( Hoosiers have a lot of adages ). March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb;and vice versa. This year March entered like a snarling panther and it’s still smacking us around the way a cat plays with a mouse.

NOW WHAT HAVE WE HERE? A HELPLESS LITTLE GUY AT MY MERCY.

The first week of March was cold and snowy. The second week wasn’t AS cold but super rainy. The third week was overcast ( 8 hours total sunshine ) and COLD. This last week we are having a high light reel of the previous greatest hits. Rain,snow, sleet and cold.

WHAT WE ENDED UP WITH.

Needless to say spring cleaning is out of the question. Normally if you live in a house your days would be occupied with flowers and the lawn and all that tedious crap that goes with home ownership. Now you have to torture your back and risk a heart attack pushing snow out of the drive way and off the sidewalk. If you live in an apartment all you need to do is make sure you have  provisions. Meat and beer being two of the main necessities. But I’ll bet cash money that I, like everyone else will be complaining about the heat and humidity in 4 to 5 months. There is just no pleasing some people. Another one of our adages.

CAN’T KEEP A BIG BOY DOWN.