Rocks in the Dryer

Look Before you Leap on the Lion

Are you a Mac or a PC?  If you are a Mac I have a public service announcement to make.  Beware of Lion. 

                                                                                  - female lion tamer image source

This is not a tech blog and the person who writes this blog is dangerous at best with the little amount of tech savvy possessed.

I had a big idea that backfired in ways I can not begin to comprehend.  As a new years "let's get off to a fresh start" resoltuion I set off upgrading all of my apple equipment to the newest operating system, Lion.  This year I was going to stay on top, do it right, have all my devices working nicely with one another, be current.  It took a long time and a many step but I did it.  I was so proud and pleased ...... and then.

With all updates in place and all old things gone and disabled, I sat down to start some good, solid, new year work.  To my utter dismay, I was welcomed with an unforeseen side effect.  None of my software is supported by Lion.  None.

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of all things Apple, HUGE I tell you, but none of my software is supported by my new operating system? WTF!

The ramifications took a while to sink in.  I no longer have a single program that works.  That really, super, major sucks.  In my own unique fashion I started the research (yes, a day late and many dollars short) to find many a friend in my shoes airing their frustrations on forums all over the web.  Poor suckers are we.  There is no real going back.  What's done is done and my new, new resolution has me learning new programs and learning to work in new ways.  I am appreciative to the folks at Adobe for offering a free trail download of InDesign - at least I could get my Valentine project done.....what next, it expires in a few days? I am not so sure. But maybe some day I hope to learn to look before I leap...

 

Whoopsie Daisy

I posted yesterday about a funny book-comes-to-life-event here at home.  In an effort to be Little Miss Social Media I decided to post the link to the book's author's facebook page.  It was so 2011 of me and I was very excited. 

The day was going along as normal (normal for a very rainy day in the first week of summer vacation) and the boys and I were at Chuck E Cheese for lunch, it's sad but true.  In came a facebook update from Gretchen Rubin the author of The Happiness Project.  I was so excited that my communication had been read, acknowledged and responded too.  How totally cool is that..... until:

 

Yep, that's right, the excerpt I referenced wasn't from her book!  Oddly, my immediate reaction was to insist that she was wrong.  I know what I remember .... then the actual thinking side of my brain kicked in and calmly alerted me that surely the actual author of said book would really be the one who truly knew.

I plowed through another likely suspect last night until I found it.  The instance I was referencing was from The Blessing of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel.  It too is really a great book and the two of these (amoung a few others) are ones I continue to read and re-read. 

Yesterday's blunder did add a light and laughter to my day, quite a bit of it.  I still can't get over my innate insistence of my rightness, perhaps that is an example of something I need to look at further.  It was also fun to test out the open world of social media.  Making contact with the author of a book that I have read and love so dearly was an absolute thrill.   I think I will try it again, though maybe with a little more attention to the facts, before I hit the publish button.

Poolside Privacy Policy

I was so excited when my 7 year old finally got up the nerve to launch himself off the diving board at our swim club today.  This was a first. This was a big. 

Finding myself disappointed with the fact that I didn't have my camera (no mother of the year points today) I swiftly decided a phone photo would have to do.  I had to capture this, we haven't had a first in a while.

Positioned appropriately, phone held high, son on diving board ready to take the plunge, I was approached by a life guard.  Apparently it is against the pool's privacy policy to take photos ............  I had to have her repeat this concept.  Pardon me? It is what?  It is against your privacy policy for me take take a photo of my kid jumping off the diving board?  For clarity, it's against policy for me take take any photos on the property.  No photos of my kids swimming this summer.  A privacy policy enforced black hole in our summer excursion documentation.

It's a bit hard to fathom really that this overly tech-ed space age world we live in has come to this (look at me I am blogging & tweeting about it).  But really?  What did some freak show do, to whom and where that has brought upon this result?  Some days more than ever I wish I were a pilgrim, at very least I wish I was Betty Draper.  It's a give and take I know.  I would have to give up a lot, but at least it would be acceptable to take photos of my kids swimming the summer away (well, then the pilgrim thing wouldn't work now would it).  Whatever.  Now I will just have to invest a lot of time in figuring out how to be really sneaky with my poolside photo taking.  I have always been a firm believer that plenty of rules do not really apply, they certainly don't apply to me and they clearly do not need be followed. 

Batteries are charged, tomorrow is going to be a scorcher again.  Say cheese boys!

The Accused

I noticed a significant traffic increase this week at Rocks in the Dryer.  It was a happy thing, I thought, to share with my husband upon his return from work last night.  He had other suspicions.  Apparently some of his co-workers have taken to catching up with my content from time to time and are not impressed, to say the least, that I refer to him as "DH".

I presume that this group of men don't normally read blogs like mine.  It is safe to assume they are not my target audience.  It is clear, only now, that the abbreviations used in some circles do not mean the same thing, universally speaking.

They thought I was calling my husband: D*** Head.  Over and over again, post after post DH, DH, DH, DH.  I wanted to throw up.  Still do.  In their eyes and interpretation what else could it mean?

Let's investigate, shall we.

Internet Slang confirms:  DH = Darling Husband

Chat Ref:  Dear Husband, Dear Hubby

Answers.com :  Dear Husband, Dear Hubby 

So fine, I redeem myself.  There is the proof and more where that came from.  I didn't make it up and the only thing I can speculate is that most of the on-line content this group normally reads is from Barstool Sports most specifically from the esteemed writer "el presidente".  What confuses me though is that el presidente wouldn't bother with abbreviating.  So why was that egregious assumption made on my behalf?

There is a post buried in my archives (I will not be linking it here as I am trying to redeem myself),  I made specific note that I was altering the meaning of DH for that post to mean Damn Husband.  There was a meatball and laundry incident that had me a bit hot under the collar.  The rest of the time, I have typed those letters while speaking to myself; Darling Husband.

So that's it, no more abbreviations for me.  I will say it like is, call the kettles black as they may be. I do have to find a new way to refer to my husband that leaves no room for failed interpretation.  He does supply me with a wealth of good content, though fresh as I may be, I do not and would not ever call him a DH.  He is, most of the time a DH, and only sometimes a DH.

LOL.